Starfleet strength

Starfleet currently has a fleet of approximately 1 200 starships at any one time, discounting vessels under repair, refit, missing, decommisioned or otherwise mothballed. Starfleet starship types are as follows:

Starship class	Size	Compliment	Class strength
Excelsior	Exploratory Cruiser	600	30
Hokule'a	Cruiser	500	20
Constitution	Heavy Cruiser	500	10
Constellation	Cruiser	500	50
Renaissance	Light Cruiser	240	30
Miranda	Light Cruiser	360	90
Apollo	Heavy Cruiser		100
Phobos	Frigate	184	70
Scimitar	Fast Destroyer	320	50
Saladin/Polaris	Scout/Destroyer	200	100
Phantom	Super Scout	300	10
Akyazi	Perimeter Action Ship	108	50
Dupleix	Perimeter Action Ship	311	50
Okinawa	Frigate	90	130
Oberth	Scout	80	150
Dolland/Doppler	Tug	220	50
Sydney	Transport		70
Deneva	Transport		50
Antares	Transport	48	150

Authors Notes:

This is another cup of tea moment. Sit down carefully and we shall painlessly discuss the mathematics of starship quantities, NCC registration numbers and fleet turnover.

There have been very few references to the size of the Starfleet in Star Trek. The only series [to date] that has given any clues was Deep Space Nine, although storylines in the movies and The Next Generation also give hints.

In Deep Space Nine episode 'A Time to Stand', Bashir talks of the decimation of the Seventh Fleet, to which General Martok talks of there being one-hundred and twelve ships in the Seventh Fleet. The other major indicator of fleet size comes from an article in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Models Magazine issue 32 which features an interview with Foundation Imaging, the CGI company responsible for later Trek series computer wizardry. In the article 'Deep Space Nine: Sacrifice of Allardice' John Allardice states that there is fully 'half of Starfleet's capacity' involved in the episode 'Sacrifice of Angels'. In 'Favor the Bold', O'Brien states that there are '1254 [Dominion] ships', to which Bashir notes they outnumber the Federation fleet two to one. Therefore since this is supposed to be half of the Starfleet, the full fleet must number around 1200 ships, approximately.

Other clues to the size of Starfleet come from episodes such as 'Best of Both Worlds part 2 [TNG]', where Starfleet clearly has a problem assembling a fleet of forty starships to engage the Borg. Now there are various factors to take into account with this: There were only a handful of Federation starship models that the studio could use in this pre-CGI period, and secondly, storyline-wise, this was the heart of the Federation. Now if Starfleet numbered barely 1200 ships, then 40 starships clearly is a large proportion of this concentrated into such a small area.

Another factor to consider when discussing the size of the fleet is the size of the Federation which the fleet serves. The Federation grows exponentially. If the UFP started life as size x, then by the time of Kirk's original command the UFP would be size x(10) and by Star Trek VI would be x(100). In short, as time passes, so the size of the Federation increases at an ever faster rate [exploration is a 3-dimensional process]. Therefore Starfleet needs to increase the number of starships in the fleet at an equal rate in order to maintain the same level of operations over the increased volume.

Connected, and counterbalancing the need for more ships to cover the increasing area of space is the increase in both the size and capabilities of the starship designs that comprise the fleet. For simplicity, these factors shall be taken to negate each other - the larger the area that the Federation is covering, the more capable the starships are becoming at covering the larger areas.

In the time of Deep Space Nine, and the Dominion War, there were references to at least ten fleets [Tenth Fleet was outflanked during 'In the Pale Moonlight'], each having approximately 120 ships in the fleet. Obviously during Star Trek the Interim Years the Federation is not at war, thus starships are only loosely associated with fleets [for administrative rather than maneovre reasons]. How many fleets would control the Starfleet in the dawn of the 24th Century? With only 77 starbases, ten fleets seems a little too much - not to mention some of the fleets assembled in DS9 were purposefully assembled for the war. Six or seven fleets seems more than adequate for 'normal' operations in peacetime.

Twelve hundred ships is a good number of ships for a number of reasons, not least of which concerns the logistics of maintaining, constructing and fuelling so many starships, and also from a writer's point of view, maintaining good names for the starships without going into the unknown or incomprehensible. Starship names tend to be either the names of explorers, scientists or discoverers, mythological beings and characters, stellar phenomena and astronomical bodies, famous places or descriptions of positive attributes [such as Valiant, Courageous, Intrepid etc].

KNOWN LAUNCH DATES	EARTH YEAR	STARDATE	SOURCE
ENTERPRISE 1	2151	-	TAKEN FROM EPISODE 'BROKEN BOW'.
ENTERPRISE 1701	2245	-	TAKEN FROM DEDICATION PLAQUE.
ENTERPRISE 1701-A	2286	8442.5	TAKEN FROM DEDICATION PLAQUE.
CONSTELLATION 1974	2284	--	TAKEN FROM RICK STERNBACH ARTICLE.
EXCELSIOR 2000	2285	8205.5	TAKEN FROM DEDICATION PLAQUE.
HATHAWAY 2593	2285	-	TAKEN FROM CHRONOLOGY BOOK.
STARGAZER 2893	2285	--	TAKEN FROM RICK STERNBACH ARTICLE.
BRATTAIN 21166	2345	22519.5	TAKEN FROM DEDICATION PLAQUE.
TSIOLKOVSKY 53911	2363	40291.7	TAKEN FROM DEDICATION PLAQUE.
GALAXY 70637	2356	-	TAKEN FROM 24TH CENTURY TECH. MANUAL.
SUTHERLAND 72015	2367	44820.5	TAKEN FROM DEDICATION PLAQUE.
DEFIANT 74205	2370	47538.5	TAKEN FROM DEDICATION PLAQUE.
VOYAGER 74656	2371	48038.5	TAKEN FROM DEDICATION PLAQUE.
PROMETHEUS 74913	2373	50749.5	TAKEN FROM DEDICATION PLAQUE.

As can be seen, the NCC registry numbers increase at a much higher rate as time progresses. This is consistant with an ever expanding fleet size - by 'fleet' I mean Starfleet ships, science council ships, Federation ships, Federation freighters and starships associated with member world fleets. NCC and NAR numbers also do not increase in a standard manner - this can be seen by NAR 25820, the shuttle in ST VI, being in service at the same time as NCC 2000 and the Constellation class ships are still relatively new.




From the table of dates and registries, a number of features can be highlighted: Registry numbers are not allocated in an orderly fashion, but by construction order not by class. The numbers are allocated like contemporary Royal Navy standards - hence there may be a great range of NCC numbers in service. Registry numbers by Earth calender date 2301 are into 5-digit figures, according to the known dates. There are some inconsistencies brought about by Okudagrams and chronology entries clashing. Other inconsistencies have arisen from incorrect details/errors by model makers or set designers. These anomalies have been ignored by myself in order to provide a little consistency [and in most cases these errors are far too small to be seen onscreen] - one notable example being the U.S.S. Zhukov which was shown as 62136 instead of 26136.

Finally on the subject of NCC registry numbers, a couple of points. One, NCC 1701 was appointed to Enterprise as it was a number easily visible on a TV set. Model makers arbitrarily pick registry numbers for their models, U.S.S. Bozeman [NCC 1941] being a notable example. One noticeable and important case is the executive shuttle that transports Kirk and party to the Enterprise-A. This shuttle has the registration NAR 25820. This registration number would suggest that starships have a range of numbers in operation at any one time, hence Oberth class new builds are in the 600-range [NX 602, rather than somewhere in the region of 2500], and Excelsior class starships are mostly 14000-range. Another point to make is that there are always exceptions to the rules: Constellation [NCC 1017] has a lower number than class prototype Constitution [NCC 1700].

Main point to consider is that classes are constructed in batches. So the main batches of Excelsior class starships are in the 14000 range, with later 40000 - 42000 range construction in later years. the later batch of Excelsiors is [logically] going to be launched before the Ambassador class phases them out in the 2330s. Therefore NCC 42296 will be launched before NCC 10521.

Terminology.

The main difference between fan versions Star Trek is the philosophy. There are some from a background of Franz Joseph's technical manual and Starfleet Battles [products of their time?], whereas I come from the movies/TNG/DS9/VOY school.

Starfleet is the scientific, exploration and defensive arm of the Federation. As Michael Okuda is oft to quote, it's kinda like a cross between NASA and the US Coastguard. I won't deny that when the going gets tough, Starfleet gets the military missions, but I think we have to start from a place away from the military terminology in some cases.

My cases in point are the uses of the words 'dreadnought', 'battle-anything', 'war-anything' and even 'destroyer'. Why? simply put, these terms have unambiguously aggressive tones to them that if you tried to explain your ship to a First Contact alien race, they'd get a rather nasty first impression of you.

My preferred terms in this case are: Explorer, Cruiser, Light Cruiser, Frigate, Scout/ Surveyor, Escort, Auxiliary. This way alien Zog won't get the wrong impression.

The term destroyer currently means a vessel that defends against air attack, whereas a frigate is anti-submarine role. Clearly inappropriate for the time of Star Trek. [although they did use a model of Red October in Best of Both Worlds part 2.....]

Construction times.

From an e-mail and table by Scottish Andy:

Special Project: 6 to 10 years

Explorer: 5 to 6 years

Heavy Cruiser: 4 years

Cruiser: 3 to 3.5 years

Light Cruiser: 2.5 to 3 years

Destroyer: 2 years

Frigate: 1 to 1.5 years

Auxiliary Ship: 6 to 12 months

Now bear in mind that these are the average construction timeframes for production-batch ships. It doesn't include the conception-to-prototyping stage and for entirely new designs. For the prototyping phase, I'd imagine anything from 4 to 10 years' worth of design conception to finalisation stage, and (for an Explorer-type) another 6 to 10 years' construction of the prototype(s).

In 2290, these types are filled by the following main classes:

Explorer: Excelsior

Heavy Cruiser: Constitution

Cruiser: Constellation

Light Cruiser: Miranda

Destroyer: Saladin

Frigate: Okinawa

Auxiliary Ship: Oberth/Logistical freighters

(Note: In 2280, the Constellation and Excelsior prototypes would have been in the "Special project" position.)

In 2330, the main classes would be:

Explorer: Ambassador

Heavy Cruiser: Excelsior

Cruiser: Constellation

Light Cruiser: Miranda

That was my first point. The second one is that I think the advances in ship construction techniques would mirror the ability to build the larger ships, such that an Ambassador-class explorer of 2320 would still take 5-6 years to build, same as an Excelsior-class explorer of 2290 would. Along these same lines, the advanced techniques that allow the Ambassador-class to be built in 5-6 years would push down the construction timeframe in 2320 for an Excelsior-class (now a heavy cruiser) to about 4 years, and a Miranda that originally took 3 years to build would now take 2.5. Each major advance in construction methods would take maybe a fifth or a quarter off the current time taken to build a simpler design (thus allowing for the application of diminishing returns). It also goes (almost) without saying the fact that such a shipyard would have to be upgraded to the latest tehnology levels for this to happen.

Currently [April 29th 2006] HMS Clyde, an Offshore Patrol Vessel [Large] is being built. She was laid down last year and will be ready by this summer. Type 45 HMS Daring [first of the class] is curently fitting out in Glasgow [very very very nice piece of kit]. Despite being a destroyer, she is actually light cruiser in tonnage [8000 tonnes] . All about her design times and construction can be found at: http://www.type45.com/ and other Royal Navy products and projects can be found at: http://navy-matters.beedall.com/ - the Type 45 section is excellent.

Construction yards.

In Star Trek they have established the following fleet yards over the years, usually from mention in the dedication plaques:

Utopia Planitia [Mars], Copernicus [Luna], San Francisco [Earth], 40 Eridani-A [Vulcan], Tranquility Base [Luna], Beta Antares [Antares sector], Starbase 134 [Rigel VI], Earth Station McKinley and Baikonur Cosmodrome [Earth].

It is safe to also assume that the major powers from the time of ST:Enterprise also have major fleet yards: Andor, Tellar and Vulcan will have at least one.

I have added one or two to the list with Clyde yards as a tribute to our current main construction yards in 2006 - used on the plaque of U.S.S. Hood.

I could therefore see the Federation having about 20 or so Starfleet construction yards or various sizes, probably 5 - 8 of them major ones, and then an additional supply of civilian yards numbering 50+ of a smaller scale. Civilians are never going to have a yard the size of Plymouth Devonport naval base, they tend to have a small yard in Appledore, Devon.

Table of Construction Yards

Starfleet has seven main starship fleet construction yards:

Fleet Yard	Classes Constructed:
Utopia Planitia, Mars	All
San Francisco, Earth	All
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Earth	Oberth
Tranquility Base	Oberth, Miranda
Copernicus, Luna	Oberth, Miranda, Constellation
40 Eridani-A	Oberth, Miranda, Constellation
Beta Antares	Oberth, Miranda, Constellation