The USS Stargazer (NCC-82893) was a Sagan-class Federation starship operated by Starfleet in the early 25th century. It was the third starship to bear the name Stargazer and the first of its class of ships to be equipped with components derived from research on the Borg technology of the Artifact.

Having helped save Coppelius from a Romulan attack in 2399, Cristóbal Rios subsequently received a promotion to Captain upon his return to Starfleet and command of the Stargazer.

In 2401, the Stargazer was assigned to investigate a recently appeared spatial anomaly. After picking up Doctor Agnes Jurati from Raritan IV, the Stargazer raced to the anomaly and found La Sirena and Seven of Nine already there. Shortly after, the anomaly began broadcasting a message pleading for help from Admiral Jean-Luc Picard. When Picard arrived and responded, the massive Singularity emerged from the anomaly.

The Borg announced their intention to send their Queen for negotiations. Rios was unwilling to allow her aboard his ship, but the Borg ship's transporter beam penetrated the Stargazer's shields and materialized the Queen on the bridge. Stating that she first needed "power", the Queen began assimilating the Stargazer by taking advantage of its Borg-derived technology. Using the ship as a hub, she was also able to obtain command codes for the entire Starfleet armada reinforcing the Stargazer. With their hand phasers useless against the Queen, Picard saw no choice but to activate the Stargazer's self-destruct before she gained total control.

Moments before the explosion, after being returned from 2024 by Q, Picard stopped the auto destruct, recognizing the Queen as the same one who had merged with Dr. Agnes Jurati in 2024. On Picard's order, the Borg Queen was allowed to coordinate the fleet and her own ship to use their shields to block an approaching energy wave that threatened millions of lives. With Rios having chosen to remain in 2024, Picard gave Seven of Nine a field commission to the rank of captain and command of the Stargazer for the mission. Seven subsequently became the first officer of the USS Titan-A rather than remaining in command of the Stargazer.

In April of that year, the Stargazer participated in Frontier Day celebrations near Sol Station. Along with the rest of the fleet, it was seized by the Borg Collective after its younger crew were assimilated by a Borg signal transmitted via Jack Crusher. It survived the subsequent attack by the Titan-A that was aimed at buying Earth more time. Along with the rest of the fleet, the Stargazer was freed of Borg control when the USS Enterprise-D rescued Jack and destroyed the Borg cube that was transmitting the command signal.