Would the signing of the Khitomer Accords have been a good point for the Klingon Empire to also sign onto any interstellar agreements governing starship identification protocols? Including registration numbers, specifically? I ask because of a bit of online-games merchandising just announced a day or two ago. According to the website from which they got that news, IKS Rotarran is logged as IKC-62127.
I mean I think such things would arise by convergent evolution after a while. Once you have a lot of ships of the same class, numbers begin to pop up just as construction and organizational duties dictate. Even the Klingons would do that. IKS Fek'lhr is apparently (454435)
...Although whether that is a Klingon registry number, or merely a number slapped on a warp signature by Starfleet's sigint division, remains to be decided. Is the Rotarran even "Imperial"? Or just a House of Martok ship? Timo Saloniemi
An interesting distinction to draw. Certainly the lines could be blurred for reasons of cultural and legal tradition on the part of the Klingons.
A diplomatic agreement on ships registry is realistic, perhaps more so than a one sided NATO like naming scheme in the form of a registry. It should be hard to identify exact ships With a scan and no license plate like system, as apposed to just the class.
...OTOH, which one should Starfleet trust more: an identification beacon signal volunteered by a foreign vessel, or a warp signature recorded in Starfleet databases? The C part in the IKC is dubious as well. Since when have Birds of Prey been Cruisers? (Or does C also stand for Corvette, perhaps?) Romulan ships get that universal IRW, too, but at least we actually do see Warbirds exclusively. Timo Saloniemi
IKC - registration prefix assigned to Klingon warships, regardless of specific House affiliation, per the terms of Klingon accession to the Interstellar Registration Treaty/Treaties? Effective as of date of accession? As for "IKS", we've had that "Imperial Klingon Starship" routine for years now, right?
Question being, couldn't the warp signature be changed fairly easily? Car engines noises can be changed quite easily by changing out tailpipes, mufflers, etc.
Ships altering their warp signature as a method of disguise is fairly common. They're altered to impersonate specific ships a bit less often, and looking at MA, it seems like attempting to mimic a specific ship is less successful than mimicking a type of ship, which suggests that the aspects of a warp signature that are specific to an individual ship and not a whole class are produced by variations that aren't easily altered.
Speaking to naval registration numbers- they are more of a "in house" governing body tool, for keeping track of, and specifically identifying a particular vessel to friendlies. Obviously it's very possible that aggressor states may pick up on that usage, and pretty quickly as well (e.g. the Ferengi ship in "The Last Outpost"). That said, I could see them starting a new numbering system to conform with UFP systems, since the two powers were essentially working together, and probably would want to keep miscommunication to a low level.
Well, it's the ID code they display on Federation screens. Might be Jaglom Shrek never knew his little yacht had an YDT registry associated with his warp signature... Timo Saloniemi