A Jeffries NCC System

[FatherRob]

This was originally composed as a response to the thread about the Starbase 11 chart in Stone's office. It evolved as I typed. It is mostly ruminations, but I didn't want to hijack that thread.
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If we use the Jeffries concept of starship numeration (with a slight adaptation or two) we can resolve some of the problems:

The Constellation was an earlier cruiser. She was a part of design 10, and would have been the eighteenth hull contracted/constructed (take your pick). NX-1000 would be the prototype (USS Fundamental Declaration anyone?) and then the NCC-1001 would be the first full-on production ship. As the design is built, it alters... just as naval vessels today do.

Perhaps the NX-1600 was the USS Magna Carta, the NX-1700 was the Constitution, and the NX-1800 was the Miranda (or, if you prefer, Avenger). NCC-1601 may have then been the USS Zaphod, we know of NCC-1701 as the Enterprise, and let's say the NCC-1800 was the USS Larry Marvick.

Over time, these ships would change and develop, either through refits to existing builds or updates to the blueprints.

For instance:

The US Navy Carrier Enterprise (CVN-65) had a radical refit to her island during her lifetime. The 'dome' was removed and the Island modernized.

The various ships of the Nimitz class are very similar, but the ships on each end of the spectrum have significant cosmetic differences.

So, at the risk of overstaying my welcome, let me use the real US Navy (though grossly simplified) as an example of NCC numbers...

Let's arbitrarily start in 1909 with the commissioning of the USS Michigan (the first US 'dreadnought' type battleship) and call it the 'advent' of the Modern Navy. Let's say that, at that time, the US Navy issued NCC numbers to their ships.

The NCC-100 series were first generation Battleships. They comprised several classes: South Carolina, Delaware, Florida, Wyoming, and New York. Since these ships were of a similar design, they were all hull-numbered in the 100 series.

For the sake of argument, let's say the next new ships were Submarines, and were classed NCC-200. All the 'letter-class boats' were registered in the 200's.

Next we move to Cruisers, and all cruisers that share a similar design philosophy are in the 300 range.

Now, we move to carriers, in the 400 range. Here we have the Langely, Lexington, and Saratoga. No other 400 ships exist.

Next, let's say, are destroyers. They get the 500 range.

Next, the Ranger pops up, a new design carrier. It gets the 600 range.

Next, Battleships get a major upgrade beginning with the Nevada class. They get the 700 range.

Moving on, new carriers, the Yorktown class, are brought in. There are 3 Yorktowns, but, truth be told, the Wasp is very similar and is designed as a slimmed-down Yorktown, so they are all lumped together in the 800's.

Next, we get a new crop of submarines, and they get the 900's.

Next, new destroyers, in the 1000's.

Now, the Essex class carriers are designed, and they get 1100's.

Next come Destoyer-Escorts, 1200's

Next come Escort Carriers (i.e., light carriers) 1300's

Then come the Iowa and South Dakota type superdreadnought BB's, 1400's.

Next, the Midway class of carriers, 1500's.

Next the early nuclear subs: 1600's.

Next the Forrestal carriers: 1700's... but the Kitty Hawk class and the John F. Kennedy class share the 1700 registration since they are all based on the same hull design.

Then comes the Enterprise, an 1800. It is later determined that the Nimitz hull design is close enough to lump them in together.

The 1900's go to SSBN's, and several classes are similar enough to get lumped together there.

Time goes on, carriers continue under the 1800 registration until the Ford class, when someone says, not close enough, and moves it to the 2300 series.

I know this is long and tedious, but it's kinda how I make sense of things.

So, in this example, looking at Commodore Stone's chart in Court Martial:

Ships of several classes and types are present at Starbase 11... including light cruisers (like the 1800), heavy cruisers (1700) and even earlier generation cruisers (1600?).

Rob+

 

[Albertese]

Pretty much exactly how I imagine it.

--Alex

 

[Uxi]

I like it. really wish they had used NX-3000 for Excelsior (or at least NCC-3000 for the service instead of experimental version) and left room for the Dreadnoughts to be in the 2000s. Maybe they're NCC-1800s and 1900s in my mind.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I've favored an idea that the TOS era was a period in which Starfleet used standardized hull components (nacelles, pylons, deflector dishes, etc.) for the majority of its designs. This could allow some older designs to be upgraded into newer ones, and I imagined that such a scenario played out for the Constellation (starting off from one earlier design but then being converted into a Constitution-class later).

 

[Wingsley]

I had envisioned a vaguely similar scenario, which would introduce new starship classes once every generation or two, with older starships of previous classes being either rebuilt-refit/recycled or retired from service.

I know this may seem like a silly question to ask, but the only place I've ever seen any specific ship-type-names "officially" applied to the "Mk" number series (such as Mk IX being a "heavy cruiser") were in the 1975 FJ Tech Manual (not much there) and the SFPO Federation Reference Series from the 1980's). I ask this because I'm not sure how these "Mk" numbers would be applied.

For heavy starcruisers, I envisioned the Constitution-class vessels as a link in an evolutionary chain. Earlier links would be of historic starship classes whose members were either modernized to newer specs (Constellation, for example) or decommissioned. This would explain how starships in service during the TOS era could retain earlier registry numbers.

So, it might work like this:

2160's: The first starcruiser class vessels, the Declaration-class, are built and deployed in space. These cruisers are a hybrid of the retired Earth NX-class and other designs. These new hybrid ships are sarcastically derided by their critics as "the great experiment", since such collaboration had limited success during the Earth-Romulan Conflict. The design was highly experimental, the newborn Federation Starfleet's first attempt at mass-production deep space vessels with multi-species crews and advanced ("Warp 7"-capable) warp drive. Registry was limited to NCC-100 to 124, with the Daedalus-class cousins being NCC-150 to 199. By 23rd-century standards, Declaration and Daedalus were crude and rough, with severe limitations. (Limited crew facilities, evolving quality/reliability issues, only able to sustain Warp 7 for less than half and hour at a time) Still, Declaration and Daedalus were the first Class I starship-of-the-line designs off the drawing board and in production. Because "the great experiement" had some issues, its tenure in service was limited. Starfleet began phasing these early "first generation" starship designs out of service in the 2180's, with the last of these ships leaving service in 2196. Other early Federation starship designs drew on the successes of these pioneering ships, with registries in the 200's. Declaration evolved into later starcruiser designs, while Daedalus evolved into later scout designs such as the Oberth.

2170: Declaration- and Daedalus-class starships are modernized with "block 2" subclass specs for each. Older class ships are refit and some new ships are built to the new spec. Of the original 18 Daedalus-class ships built, 11 remain in service. The prototype Declaration Block 2 ship, the U.S.S. Baton Rouge (NX-119) is capable of sustain Warp 7 for only 44 minutes, 20 seconds, failing to reach the desired 2-hour "sprint spec". The Federation Council carefully evaluates Baton Rouge-subclass ships for nearly a decade before deciding to discontinue the "first generation" and begin work on replacement designs.

2185: Starfleet announces the second generation of Federation starship designs, starting with the flagship Magna Carta-class. The Federation decides to implement this new generation more slowly, taking older Baton Rouge-spec ships out of service to be completely rebuilt to the new spec. This refit/recycle program allows Starfleet to produce ships much more slowly while maintaining fleet strength. The U.S.S. Magna Carta, NX-300, can reliably sustain Warp 7.0 for up to three hours under ideal conditions.

2195: Starfleet declares the second-geenration Magna Carta-class starships and related Class I designs to be an unqualified success, with performance and hull endurance exceeding projected results. Refit design work begins on a "block 2" subclass.

2205: On the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Magna Carta-class, the 51st second-generation starscruiser hull, U.S.S. Mann, NX-350, is launched. This new ship is built to the Mann subclass spec, able to sustain Warp 7.0 for up to 5 hours. All surviving ships of the early first block of the Magna Carta class, plus those few refit ships still in operation from the first-generation, are rebuilt to the new Mann spec.

2220: With the Magna Carta, Mann class starship celebrating its 15th anniversary, the Federation announces a third subclass, or "block 3" of the Federation's second-generation starscruisers. All but a few of the original "first generation" hull numbers are decommissioned. New hulls will be mass-produced in the many shipyards of the buregeoning Federation. The NCC-1000 series and NCC-1300 series hulls will be commissioned over the next 15 years, bringing the total number of heavy starcruisers projected to be in service by 2235 to around 175 to 235, depending upon loss figures. The new ships can sustain Warp 7.0 for up to 3 days, but higher warp velocities remain problematic.

2232: With deep space losses higher than expected, a "block 4" of the Magna Carta-class starcruisers NCC-1600 series is constructed.

2245: Former Federation President Jonathan Archer is on-hand for the launch of the "third generation" of Federation starcruisers, regarded as "true warp drive" starships because they are able to sustain Warp 7 for several days at a time. The prototypes, U.S.S. Constitution NX-1700 and Enterprise NX-1701, built from recycled scrap of earlier cruisers, exceed design parameters during trial runs. The prototype Constitution, still undergoing trial runs, is rushed into emergency service to help hold off Klingon advances in the Battle of Donatu V. The ships are eventually rebuilt as all-new, with a projected 23 more to follow on the same spec. 20 ships are built and 7 of those are lost by 2265. The radical program's swoopy, ultra-high-tech design exceeds expectations, however, and an early "block 2" program (Bon Homme Richard-subclass) is authorized in the mid-2250's. Modifications enhance the existing "original 13" cruisers of this class, and large numbers of surviving Magna Carta-class ships are refit to bolster fleet strength with the greatly enhanced technology.

2270: As the the refit of all "old-style" Magna Carta-class ships and the construction of more all-new Constitution-class ships is finally complete, the Federation authorizes design work to begin on "block 3" Constitution-class starships be equipped with the new Klingon-derived linear (fourth-power) warp drive. A replacement for the recently lost-in-the-line-of-duty all-Vulcan U.S.S. Tzaled (Intrepid; NCC-1631) is quickly built to the new spec. The Achernar-class "block 3" ships begin construction immediately. (Loosely derived from Diane Duane's novel "My Enemy, My Ally")

2285: With the success of the Federation's linear warp drive refit program, the Federation Council orders an ambitious two-pronged starship design and construction initiative. Improved "block 4" Tikopai-subclass-spec starships will push the total number of Federation heavy starcruisers to over 300. Starfleet will also begin trial runs on the new Excelsior NX-2000 "galaticruiser" project, experimenting with both enhanced linear warp drive and a prototype transwarp drive.

2290: While the transwarp technology fails to produce results, enhanced linear (fourth-power) warp drive allows Tikopai-spec and Excelsiors-spec ships to sustain Warp 7 for weeks, and eventually Warp 8 for days.

Early 24th century: the Constitution-class starships are mostly phased out of service, as the successful Excelsior-class long range "galacticruisers" become the new deep-space pioneer ships.

 

[Uxi]

Pretty well put. Only change in my mind is that Declaration class is another subclass of the "Starship Class" we see on the TOS Enterprise dedication placard. On a side note, I think "Starship Class" is more accurately a "type" than what we're thinking of as a "Class" (which we're calling a "sub-class" since I don't think there would have been a USS Starship, though it's possible and not unworkable, either). I think I would have the Starship Class as a later far more capable follow on to the Daedalus ships, as well, probably introduced where you have the Magna Carta, which would be a subclass of the Starship As far as the Federation and Starfleet itself was concerned, at least in the TOS era they were "Starships." The engineers and Fleet architects and technical types broke them down into sub-classes, but I think you capture the spirit of it perfect. Republic-class, Constitution-class, Enterprise-class are all later improved sub-classes of the Starship-class. At some point, there was some confusion from the press/public/whatever and Starfleet changed dedication plaques to start using the sub-classes on the dedication plaques.

Dreadnought, Saladin, Miranda/Avenger, Excelsior are all separate lines but anything in the 1701 TOS mold of saucer, secondary hull and 2 nacelles was a member of a Starship Class sub-class.

Dreadnought, in particular would have it's own sub-classes the latest of which the last was Star Empire-class (Excelsior-esque nacelles, etc) but all with the same general mold: 3 nacelles, beefier saucer, etc