The USS Stardiver was a Federation solar research vessel operated by Starfleet during the 23rd century.
In 2260, the Stardiver was conducting research in the Shangdi system. The ship observed an unusual series of coronal mass ejections from Shangdi, and was attacked by the Gorn immediately after. Only one crew member, Lieutenant jg Montgomery Scott, escaped. Scott had constructed a transponder using parts from the Stardiver's Hubble K7C Stellar Assessment Array, which fooled the Gorn vessels into seeing his shuttle as one of their own. However, the shuttle had been damaged, and Scott was forced to land on Parnassus Beta in the adjacent system. (SNW: "Hegemony")
Scott was later assigned to the USS Enterprise where he displayed survivor guilt over the destruction of the Stardiver. Scott admitted to Una Chin-Riley that he blamed himself for the ship's destruction because, a week before the attack, Scott had picked up anomalies while working on building a sensor array. Scott had asked his CO for help, but she never gave it to him before the anomalies turned out to be the Gorn who destroyed the Stardiver. (SNW: "A Space Adventure Hour")