Admiral Marrow informs the crew of the Enterprise that the aging craft will not be refit after he devastating battle with Khan in the Mutara nebula.

Leonard Nimoy directs James Doohan for the ’stealing the Enterprise’ scene of The Search For Spock.

“Klingon Commander, this is Admiral James T. Kirk. I’m alive and well on the planet’s surface. I know that this will come as a pleasant surprise to you, but our ship was a victim of an “unfortunate accident”. Sorry about your crew, but as we say on Earth, c'est la vie…”

The crew of the late starship Enterprise await the fate of their friends, Spock and McCoy.

Interesting story/factoid about this scene: Shatner fought against “Let them die” being Kirk’s (final) reaction.  He fought hard.  To the point that director Nicholas Meyer agreed to film it so that “let them die” wasn’t the final reaction.  If you pay close attention when watching the film, Kirk says the line - they switch to Spock’s reaction - and then they go back to Kirk.  And Kirk, you can tell when you know what to look for, is coming off a different emotion than anger.  He’s coming off of regret:

It’s tough to capture, as its so fleeting; this screen capture doesn’t quite do it.  But it does show a glimpse of the reaction Shatner wanted that Meyer didn’t include in the final cut.  That Kirk says “let them die” full of anger; and then realizes quickly how unworthy and reactionary a response that is and waves his hand dismissive of his own statement. 

In the final film that realization moment is cut in favor of what we see, but I always find it interesting to know these things.  Shatner didn’t like “Let them die” without a counter-balance showing Kirk regretted saying it.

The same was true of a lighter moment in “The Search for Spock” when Sulu flips the security guard and tells him “Don’t call me tiny” - George Takei didn’t like that line at all, and director Leonard Nimoy had to agree to cut it later if it didn’t work in Takei’s opinion to get George to film it.  George did like it in the end, which is why it made it to the film.  But it’s another interesting tid-bit.

Star Trek III: Search for Spock - Early Excelsior Concept Art by Nilo Rodis-Jamero

Star Trek III: Search for Spock - Early Excelsior Concept Render (Nilo Rodis-Jamero Variant)