A word on Starship classes.

[valkyrie013]

Been having some thoughts.

What kind of classes of ships does the Federation Starfleet need?

So what does Starfleet do? Exploration mainly, but you have border patrol, science ships, cargo etc.

So let me do a brief synopsis of what classes they may need, please add or subtract based on what ever ya'll think. And this is just an initial list.

So.. lets say around 2370 or so for examples of classes but would probably be good for any era.

Exploration:
Heavy Cruiser: Galaxy class/ Ambassador Class
Medium Cruiser: Intrepid Class/ Excelsior class
Light Cruiser: Nova/ Rhode Island Class/ Miranda Class

Workhorse:
Medium Cruiser: California class / Excelsior Class

Patrol/Border/Defense:
Frigate: Sabre Class
Destroyer: Norway Class
Medium Cruiser: Steamrunner
Heavy Cruiser: Akira Class

Science:
Light Cruiser: Oberth Class / Nova Class

Was just having a thought, why are there so many different ships? what do they do?

 

[FredH]

Sell toys.

 

[Unicron]

Some classifications like frigate have varied a lot over the years in relation to their naval counterparts, as those roles have changed. Sources like FASA and Jackill/SotSF use frigates as major support vessels, kind of hybridizing the roles of a cruiser and a destroyer. Others like Starfleet Command 3 use them as light support vessels, in keeping with the modern naval use of a frigate being the smallest warship class.

I myself have never had any issue with Starfleet building dreadnoughts or other tactical vessels, in generally smaller ratios than cruisers and other multi-role platforms. I think given the Federation's long history of dealing with enemies and rival powers, it makes a degree of sense. I also think modern enemies like the Borg and the Dominion would make such vessels more necessary, if still a specialized support role. I do understand some of the real world rationale towards claiming Starfleet isn't solely a military body, but I also think it's silly to argue they'd never build real warships. I'll say no more on that subject.

I also think it's reasonable that the needs of the Federation evolve over time, as well as by plot. Picard's view in TNG that Starfleet wasn't primarily military makes sense in an era when one of the major enemies (the Klingon Empire) had evolved into a political ally and another major enemy (the Romulan Empire) was in self-isolation. In that context, it's quite logical for Starfleet to build fewer tactical vessels and a lot more exploration and multi-role vessels.

Perhaps it would be interesting to explore how readily these sorts of "build emphasis" shifts could happen if needed, as "The Wounded" implies the war with the Cardassians put a strain on the fleet economy and it's stated that Starfleet doesn't want a renewed war as a consequence of the USS Phoenix, as it's not prepared. The Dominion/Cardassian alliance certainly had a big edge early in that war, in no small part because the Dominion doesn't seem to have a lot of traditional civilian resources.

 

[DEWLine]

Sell toys.

You're not wrong!

 

[Dukhat]

Been having some thoughts.

What kind of classes of ships does the Federation Starfleet need?

So what does Starfleet do? Exploration mainly, but you have border patrol, science ships, cargo etc.

So let me do a brief synopsis of what classes they may need, please add or subtract based on what ever ya'll think. And this is just an initial list.

So.. lets say around 2370 or so for examples of classes but would probably be good for any era.

Exploration:
Heavy Cruiser: Galaxy class/ Ambassador Class
Medium Cruiser: Intrepid Class/ Excelsior class
Light Cruiser: Nova/ Rhode Island Class/ Miranda Class

Workhorse:
Medium Cruiser: California class / Excelsior Class

Patrol/Border/Defense:
Frigate: Sabre Class
Destroyer: Norway Class
Medium Cruiser: Steamrunner
Heavy Cruiser: Akira Class

Science:
Light Cruiser: Oberth Class / Nova Class

Was just having a thought, why are there so many different ships? what do they do?

Early TNG used naval terms to describe their starships (Heavy cruiser Horatio, frigates Renegade & Thomas Paine, light cruiser Drake), but after the first season those designations went out of use, probably because they sounded too military and that wasn't the direction they wanted to go.

Later on they continued to use the 'science vessel' term, but that wasn't dependent on the studio model they happened to use. Sometimes they used an Oberth, sometimes they used a Miranda, etc. And missions that seemed to fall under the aegis of what a science vessel would do were given to the Enterprise-D as well.

Also, the Starship Mission Status Okudagram seen in the background in several episodes showed that a specific vessel class could perform a variety of missions (i.e. an Excelsior class could be on border patrol, exploration duty, transportation of VIPs, etc.)

So it really seems like ships weren't constructed for any specific purpose. Which, in reality, wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to have 50+ different classes of starship essentially performing the same functions. Why build both a Nebula class starship and a Galaxy class starship when they do the exact same things? Why not have just one design?