Registry
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference
A registry was a place to record or register information. One such registry is the Vulcan Genome Registry. (ENT: "The Forge")
Vessels were often registered by agency. They may record a vessel's name, registry number, history, and basic ship information. (TOS: "The Ultimate Computer")
Ship registries were used as early as the 19th century. In 1893, after overhearing a time-lost Data mentioning a starship, Samuel Clemens asked, "What registry is that!?" (TNG: "Time's Arrow")
In the 23rd and 24th century, Starfleet vessels were able to check both historical registries from Earth and Vulcan as well as the Starfleet Registry. (TOS: "Space Seed", "The Ultimate Computer"; TNG: "Unification I")
The SS Botany Bay was not listed in any registry, although this might have been a result of the lack of unfragmented records in that era. (TOS: "Space Seed")
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[edit] Registry numbers and prefixes
In some governments and agencies, a ship entered into a registry received a prefix that was placed before the vessel's name. This prefix was used to easily identify the vessel as belonging to that agency.
A registry prefix should not be confused with a ship's prefix code.
Vessel prefixes include:
† With Earth's national prefixes (British HMS and Russian VK) still in use up to the founding of the Federation, it is probable that USS still meant United States Ship in the same time-frame, but we only have one example to look at.
Items listed in a registry generally had a number or code to help identify the specific entry.
In some registries, the registry number was preceded by an abbreviation as well:
Aside from the registry prefixes, Starfleet at one time also used letters after the main registry prefix to further define specific types of craft. This was seen in the freighter USS Huron, with its registry of NCC-F1513 and the Antares-type ships with the registry NCC-G1465. (TAS: "More Tribbles, More Troubles", "The Pirates of Orion") The the first Earth ship to have warp drive installed, Bonaventure, had an anomalous arrangement of the registry numbers, 10281NCC. (TAS: "The Time Trap")
Starfleet would also use sequential lettering after a registry number was repeated to honor a former vessel. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Examples of this include:
| Starship | Registry number | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| USS Dauntless | NX-01-A | 2374 |
| USS Enterprise-A | NCC-1701-A | 2286–2293 |
| USS Enterprise-B | NCC-1701-B | 2293 |
| USS Enterprise-C | NCC-1701-C | 2344 |
| USS Enterprise-D | NCC-1701-D | 2363–2371 |
| USS Enterprise-E | NCC-1701-E | 2372–2379 |
| USS Enterprise-J | NCC-1701-J | 26th century |
| USS Relativity | NCV-474439-G | 29th century |
| USS Yamato | NCC-1305-E | 2365 |
[edit] Background
The most famous registry number, of course, is NCC-1701 of the original USS Enterprise. It was chosen by Matt Jefferies, who was a pilot before joining the Star Trek staff, and based the registry number on 20th century aircraft registration codes. In the early 20th century, the letter "N" indicated a United States origin, and the letter "C" indicated a civilian aircraft. Jefferies arbitrarily added a second "C" for aesthetics. Several close-ups, in TAS: "Mudd's Passion", of a registry number on an Enterprise shuttlecraft, show the prefix given as "N.C.C.", suggesting the letters are in fact an abbreviation. Star Trek Blueprints designates the abbreviation to be "Naval Construction Contract". In a sketch of the Enterprise, drawn by Jefferies, he states the numbers "1701" stand for the 17th cruiser design, serial number #1.
The prefix NX was formerly used for experimental aircraft registered in the United States, and was also used in Star Trek series and films to denote an experimental starship, such as the USS Excelsior.
According to Rick Sternbach, the NAR prefix indicates "Merchant-type vessels," further stating that the meaning behind its use "goes back to Mike and me and others in the National Association of Rocketry." [1]
Based on usage – VK Yuri Gagarin and VK Velikan – it is probable that the VK prefix means a Russian ship in Star Trek. In the real world, the Russians do not use prefixes for their ship names.
- In the book The Hunt for Red October, the primary Alfa-class attack sub is named V.K. Konovalov, in honor of Vladimir Konstantinovich Konovalov. This suggests that the use of VK as a Russian prefix is either an error on the part of the Star Trek writers or an homage to Tom Clancy.
- VK might also be used by the Star Trek writers to mean an acronym for Военный Корабль (Military Ship, Voenny Korabl) which is not used in the real world either, but at least makes some sense.
[edit] Apocrypha
According to the novels of Diane Duane and Peter Morwood, Klingon starships use a "KL" registry number prefix. Diane Duane's Rihannsu novels give the prefix ChR for Romulan starships.
NCC was stated to stand for Navigational Contact Code in a novel.