Which ships would you include in Starfleet during TOS?

[JJohnson]

I know that on-screen, we really only saw the Constitution class ship, and know of "12 like her in the fleet." But, which ships do you often include as part of the Starfleet at that time (2245-2270)? Do you include any of the FASA designs? And how big do you imagine Starfleet being? 1000 ships? 500?

I'm working on a "New Prime" series and want to include some other ships besides Constitution, but wanted to get some other ideas as to which ships you thought would be great to have seen around the time of TOS.

 

[Last Redshirt]

There's some fansites about which have made drawings of ships from the TOS-era. We only really know of the Constitution as canon from that period.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The older, massive Starfleet ships seen in ST'09, like the Newton, Kelvin, Armstrong and Mayflower types which by the time of TOS are being phased out in favour of the smaller but more advanced Constitution-class and derivatives.

The size of the fleet varies so much throughout Trek that whether you go for 12, 40 or hundreds you can point to a source (TOS, TNG or DS9) and say you based it off of that.

 

[Ithekro]

I tend to mix and match what fits better for me. I tend to lean more towards FASA than Franz Joseph for most things, but keep some of the designs aspects from Ships of the Starfleet to FASA to keep the models different.

Vintage Starships II site I also tend to use for ships older than the TOS era, just because we won't have much else to go on. With Star Trek: Axanar coming soon, I might add in their USS Kelvin inspired starships to the mix. They also are using FASA a bit as well.

In the fan film "Of Gods and Men" I did notice something interesting. The alternate reality used Star Fleet Battles universe inspired ships (as does Phase II, at least for the Franz Joseph designed ships in the TOS era), but the regular timeline of the very late 23rd to early 24th century uses FASA based designs (Loknar-class inspired ships).

 

[CorporalCaptain]

There's some fansites about which have made drawings of ships from the TOS-era. We only really know of the Constitution as canon from that period.

TOS-R has added some craft with Starfleet/Federation markings, such as the NCC-501 Antares and the Medusan vessel. Although the Medusan vessel might not be Starfleet, you can see the indicative red stripe on its port nacelle which IMO strongly suggests that in fact it is Starfleet.

 

[Ithekro]

The Antares there was of course based on the drone freighters from the TAS tribble episode. Just with a forward bit added for the bridge and crew section.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The Antares there was of course based on the drone freighters from the TAS tribble episode. Just with a forward bit added for the bridge and crew section.

Right. And if we count TAS (which I do), there is also the USS Huron.

 

[Nightowl1701]

Most fans seem to think there were pre-refit versions of the Miranda class flying around during TOS, and probably the Oberth class too (given the Grissom's low NCC number). The Loknar class frigate has also gained a lot of credibility by being a (retconned) extension/evolution of the NX-class configuration. Rick Sternbach's Baton Rouge class as well, due to its' no-doubt-unintentional resemblance to the Kelvin.

 

[Timo]

Most fans seem to think there were pre-refit versions of the Miranda class flying around during TOS

...Well, the "Court Martial" wall chart that indicates "Star Ship Status" seems to list the registry number of the Reliant. So this ship of ST2 fame and her sisters might well have been around back then, although in what shape or form, we don't exactly know.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JJohnson]

I just found that on Trekcore, I didn't catch that before!

From FASA, there are these TOS-styled ships:

Aakenn Class Freighter
Anton Class Cruiser
Cassard Class Missile Destroyer
Cochrane Class Colonial Transport
Derf Class Tender
K'Kmark Class Research Scout
Larson Class Destroyer
Loknar Class Frigate
Mission Class Commercial Transport
Nelson Class Scout
Pompeii Class Destroyer
Tyrannis Class Research Cruiser (FASA FSRM 2)

Several of those I think I'd be a-ok with including, mostly the hyperlinked ones. The others, I'm not completely sold on, either name-wise or design-wise. Tyrannis is a poor name for a research cruiser. I'd go with Solkar (Sarek's grandfather) or something else as a class name. It looks like something from the era though.

Starfleet Technical Manual (Franz Joseph):
Federation Class Dreadnought
Hermes Class Scout
Ptolemy Class Transport/Tug
Saladin Class Destroyer

Of these, I'd keep all but the dreadnought. The design simply never appealed to me for some reason.

Overall, that gives 11 ship classes (hyperlink + Tyrannis), 12 including the Oberth, which I guess would work given the low registries.

I'll look into the others. What do you think of the hyperlinked ones? Which are your favorites?

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

OP: Anything from TAS and Franz Joseph. The ships created from both sources were designed not long after TOS production years, so they are the most "honest" in the sense that TOs was the one and only influence, not traces of Star Wars, or any other style of designs which emerged in the late 1970s - forward.

 

[Dukhat]

OP: Anything from TAS and Franz Joseph. The ships created from both sources were designed not long after TOS production years, so they are the most "honest" in the sense that TOs was the one and only influence, not traces of Star Wars, or any other style of designs which emerged in the late 1970s - forward.

And to add to this, FJ's Saladin, Hermes, Ptolemy and the "outline" of the dreadnought were shown on display screens in STII and III, making those designs canon. Also, two Hermes class scouts and one dreadnought from the manual were mentioned by name and registry number in TMP.

 

[Warped9]

The Antares there was of course based on the drone freighters from the TAS tribble episode. Just with a forward bit added for the bridge and crew section.

And I don't understand why they didn't just use the Huron design from "Pirates Of Orion."

I include the Gemini type design which is basically a TOS era version of the Miranda. I also include my the Masao-class which is my version of the FJ destroyer/scout.

I include the two freighter designs from TAS.

There are a number of designs on Masao's Starfleet Museum website that I think fit right into the TOS universe with just a bit of fleshing out. He has a Predator and Avenger class designs that look awesome. He also has a transport/tug that makes more sense than FJ's. I think Masao's 22nd century designs make more sense and are far more interesting than ENT's.

...the dreadnought. The design simply never appealed to me for some reason.

Me, too. Never cared for it. Same with FJ's transport/tug.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

OP: Anything from TAS and Franz Joseph. The ships created from both sources were designed not long after TOS production years, so they are the most "honest" in the sense that TOs was the one and only influence, not traces of Star Wars, or any other style of designs which emerged in the late 1970s - forward.

And to add to this, FJ's Saladin, Hermes, Ptolemy and the "outline" of the dreadnought were shown on display screens in STII and III, making those designs canon. Also, two Hermes class scouts and one dreadnought from the manual were mentioned by name and registry number in TMP.

Yes. Anything that appeared on a monitor in the films should count too.

The only wiggle-room is that perhaps it was built after TOS/TAS and before the year the films take place. New ships could theoretically have been rolling off the line with round nacelles circa TMP, as the refit block-nacelles were still experimental. Closer to TWOK, though, given how Reliant looks, I'd expect all new ships to have the block-nacelles.

 

[Wingsley]

It would be neat if the Captain Kirk and the Starship Enterprise found a damaged, yet intact, Earth space vessel from the Romulan War era, like maybe an NX-class, unpowered and with the crew trapped in suspended animation.

 

[Warped9]

Please, no.

 

[Nerys Myk]

 

[Warped9]

The plus is in all likelihood we'll never see it anyway. Thankfully.

 

[Ithekro]

I like the Dreadnought design, when it is modified to fit better into the more modern techno-babble. Removing the aft navigation deflector and added another shuttle bay for one thing. I mean it can stay there, but in the current canon, the only reason to have that would be in the ship was designed to be able to go to warp in full reverse for long distances.

Though I like the Vintage Starships reduced version of it. The Heston-class battlecruiser. Basically a Dreadnought without the upper nacelle. Listed as a combat ship based on the Constitution-class, but with slightly inferior engines due to its size. its size increased to handle more weapons and troops. Makes use to the design, while also giving reason for not keeping it updated following the war, verses upgrading the Constitutions and the like (a lack of labs and such on the Hestons).

 

[Wingsley]

If not an NX, then it would be equally interesting to see an earlier class of Federation starship, from maybe the late 22nd or early 23rd century, derelict in deep space with the crew trapped in suspended animation. It would be intriguing to see the captain and crew of the ship trying to cope with being thrown forward in time by some accident or attack that rendered their ship too damaged to sustain itself, and then being awakened by Kirk and company ("Space Seed" style) and having to suddenly realizing the young Federation they knew was 100 years old.

I still like the idea of an NX from the Romulan War, though.

It would also be great to see a pre-TMP Miranda, and my prime candidate for that would be Forbin's Minmus. (Forbin's web-site was unavailable last I checked).