Federation starship classes

The following is a list of starship classes operated by the Federation.

Class Name	Type	Century
Class III neutronic fuel carrier	Fuel carrier/Transport	23rd century
Class 4 stardrive vessel	Survey vessel	23rd century
Akira-class	unknown	24th century-25th century
Alita-class	unknown	25th century
Alka-Selsior-type	unknown	24th century
Ambassador-class	Heavy cruiser	24th century
Angelou-class	unknown	31st century-32nd century
Antares-class	Freighter	24th century
Antares-type	Survey ship/Transport/Freighter/Science vessel	23rd century
Apollo-class	unknown	24th century
Aquarius-class	Embedded escort	24th century-25th century
Archer-type	unknown	23rd century
Armstrong-type	unknown	23rd century (alternate reality)
Attack fighter, Federation	Attack fighter / Support courier	24th century
B-24-CLN-type	unknown	unknown
Bonaventure-type	unknown	unknown
Bradbury-class	unknown	24th century
California-class	Support ship	24th century
Cardenas-class	unknown	23rd century
Centaur-type	Destroyer	24th century
Challenger-class	unknown	24th century
Cheyenne-class	unknown	24th century
Constellation-class	Star cruiser	23rd-24th centuries
Constitution-class	Starship-class / Heavy cruiser	23rd century
Constitution-class	Starship-class	23rd century (alternate reality)
Constitution II-class	Heavy cruiser	23rd century
Constitution III-class	Exploration vessel	25th century
Constitution-class	unknown	31st-32nd centuries
Courage-class	unknown	31st-32nd centuries
Crossfield-class	Science vessel / Warship	23rd century
Credence-type	unknown	32nd century
Curiosity-class	Heavy cruiser	24th century
Curry-type	unknown	24th century
Daedalus-class	unknown	22nd century
Danube-class	Runabout	24th century
Dauntless-class	unknown	24th – 26th century
Defiant-class	Escort / Warship	24th century
Dreadnought-class	Dreadnought	23rd century (alternate reality)
Dresselhaus-type	unknown	31st-32nd centuries
Duderstadt-class	unknown	25th century
Echelon-class	unknown	25th century
Edison-class	unknown	25th century
Eisenberg-class	unknown	31st centruy
Elkins-type	unknown	24th century
Engle-class	unknown	23rd century
Erewon-class	Personnel transport	24th century
Excelsior-class	unknown	23rd-24th centuries
Excelsior II-class	unknown	25th century
Farragut-type	unknown	23rd century
Federation-class	Dreadnought	23rd century
Federation cargo vessel	Cargo vessel	23rd century
The Festoon-type	unknown	23rd century
Freedom-class	Starship-class	22nd century (alternate reality)
Freedom-class	unknown	24th century
Friendship-class	unknown	31st century
Galaxy-class	unknown	23rd century
Galaxy-class	Explorer	24th-25th centuries
Gagarin-class	unknown	24th century
Hermes-class	Scout	23rd century
Hiawatha-type	Medical frigate	23rd century
Holoship	Holoship	24th century
Hoover-class	unknown	23rd century
Huron-type	Freighter	23rd century
Inquiry-class	Heavy cruiser	24th century
Intrepid-class	Explorer	24th century
Intrepid-class	unknown	31st century
Class J starship	Cargo ship / Transport / Space cruiser / Cadet vessel	23rd century
Jein-class	unknown	25th century
Kelvin-type	Survey vessel	23rd century
Korolev-class	unknown	24th century
Lancelot-class	Cruiser	24th century
Lotus Flower-class	unknown	24th century
Luna-class	unknown	24th century
Magee-class	unknown	23rd-24th centuries
Malachowski-class	unknown	23rd century
Mars-class	unknown	32nd century
Mayflower-type	unknown	23rd century (alternate reality)
Merced-class	unknown	24th century
Merian-class	unknown	31st century
Miranda-class	Science vessel/supply ship	23rd-24th centuries
Mission scoutship, Federation	Scout ship	24th century
Model HB-88	Timeship	29th century
NCIA-93-type	Stealth ship	23rd century
Nebula-class	unknown	24th century
New Orleans-class	Frigate	24th century
Newton-type	unknown	23rd century (alternate reality)
Niagara-class	unknown	24th century
Nimitz-class	unknown	23rd century
Norway-class	unknown	24th century
Nova-class	Science vessel/Scout ship	24th century
Obena-class	unknown	24th century
Oberth-class	Science vessel	23rd-24th centuries
Odyssey-class	unknown	24th-25th centuries
Olympic-class	Medical ship	24th century
Osler-type	unknown	24th century
Parliament-class	unknown	24th century
Pathfinder-class	unknown	25th century
Pax-class	unknown	32nd century
Peregrine-class	courier	24th century
Phoenix-class	Medical ship	24th century
Pioneer-class	unknown	24th century
Prometheus-class	Deep-space tactical assignments	24th century
Protostar-class	unknown	24th century
Provider-class	unknown	24th century
Ptolemy-class	Tug/Transport	23rd century
Radiant-class	unknown	23rd century
Raven-type	Science vessel	24th century
Renaissance-class	unknown	24th century
Reliant-class	unknown	24th century
Ross-class	unknown	24th century
Saber-class	unknown	24th century
Sabrerunner-class	unknown	24th century
Sagan-class	unknown	25th century
Saladin-class	unknown	23rd century
Salcombe-type	unknown	23rd century (alternate reality)
Saturn-class	unknown	32nd century
Shepard-class	unknown	23rd century
Sombra-class	unknown	23rd century
Sovereign-class	unknown	24th century
Scout ship, Federation	Scout ship	23rd century
Soyuz-class	unknown	23rd century
Springfield-class	unknown	24th century
Steamrunner-class	unknown	24th century
Sutherland-class	unknown	24th century
Sydney-class	Transport/shuttle	23rd century
Texas-class	Automated starship	24th century
Tikhov-type	unknown	27th-32nd centuries
Trading vessel, Federation	Freighter	23rd century
Universe-class	unknown	26th century
Walker-class	unknown	23rd century
Wallenberg-class	Transport	24th century
Wells-class	Timeship	29th century
Yeager-type	unknown	24th century
Yellowstone-class	Runabout	24th century

Appendices

Background information

Because of the strong connotations with the real world United States Navy, Star Trek: The Original Series Producers Gene Roddenberry and Robert H. Justman (a World War II navy veteran himself) had imbued Starfleet with (The Making of Star Trek, p. 112, et al.; These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One, 1st ed, pp. 28-29; see also in this respect: Aircraft carrier), it came hardly as a surprise that the US Navy ship class naming convention was also followed for the vessels of Starfleet. This convention has it that a class is named after the first, or lead, vessel authorized by US Congress, which is not necessarily the one first laid down, launched, completed or commissioned (formally taken into service), and after which the British Royal Navy for example name their ship classes. While not canon, it can serve as a potential real-world rationale why there are Constitution-class vessels with lower registry numbers than the lead vessel USS Constitution. Nonetheless, in his influential "The Case of Jonathan Doe Starship" article, then fan and future Star Trek alumnus, Greg Jein, had postulated an alternative theory for the discrepancy, albeit equally non-canon.

Additionally, while it is highly unlikely that all alien races follow the same naming convention as Starfleet does – even on present-day real-world Earth, the US Navy convention is far from being universal – there is a real-world counterpart for this as well. The defense organization NATO uses a variant of the US/British class naming convention for ship types of their adversaries, particularly those of the former Soviet Union, who themselves classified their vessels according to project number, such as – where a Star Trek related example is concerned – their Project 705/Alfa-class submarines.

See also

• Earth starship classes
• Federation starships
  • Unnamed Federation starships
• NCC

External links

• Star Trek Ships: Expanded - UFP: Starfleet and Prehistory at The STArchive
• Ship class at Wikipedia