Starfleet Celebrates 150 Years...

Starfleet Celebrates 150 Years... by Pope Torak

In 2311 Starfleet held a Fleet Review to celebrate the Federation's sesquicentennial. The event marked a sharp contrast to the Centennial Fleet Review held in 2261 and illustrated the changes in Interstellar Politics. Rather than being the target of the Federation's show of force, the Klingon Chancellor was an honored guest, with members of her Honor Guard participating in the Review as the Qo'noS Squadron. The Federation had grown from 51 to 104 member worlds while its territorial responsibilities had tripled in volume.

Like the Federation itself, Starfleet had changed substantially in the intervening fifty years. Fleet size had nearly doubled from 600 to 1,000 starships while the mainstay of the fleet had gone from the 210,000 cubic meter Constitution-class derivatives to the 1,000,000 cubic meter Excelsior. Warp drive, structural and material engineering, and tactical systems had all seen substantial increases in effectiveness. A Miranda-class starship commissioned in 2311 might look externally identical to one built in the 2270s, the SIF-integrated truss and beam system of construction combined with modern modular interior components made the 2311 vessel a vastly superior starship.

The success of the modernization program of the early 24th century could not entirely calm the tendency for fleet planners and the Federation Council's Security Committee to fret. The unveiling of the initial dozen Ivarix-class Warbirds during Empress Ael's funerary procession in 2305 caused a stir within the Federation Council and led to several Committee hearings on Starfleet's military readiness. Despite protests from Starfleet Command that the Romulan Star Empire could not field more than a handful of the new warbirds, the Security Committee's recommendations eventually led to the cancellation of further Constellation-class hull construction and an early 20-year modernization refit of the fleet flagship Enterprise in 2307.

The Security Committee (along with members of the Appropriations and Logistics Committees) also recommended that Starfleet's ammended decennial plan include expanding its procurement base into new territories. This was partly an economic decision, intended to promote greater integration between member worlds further from the Federation core worlds. Existing dockyard facilities used to build Miranda-class hulls were sold to civilian contractors at Qualor Prime, Tau Ceti, Salazaar, and Tri-Rho at a substantial discount. To make up for the lost capacity, the Council authorized the construction of additional large drydock facilities at Starfleet dockyard facilities in the Sol, Tellar, Proxima Centauri, and Andor systems.

The new facilities nearly doubled Starfleet's ability to built and maintain hulls of one million cubic meters or greater. Construction of Excelsior hulls continued at 15 hulls per year, but the new capacity gave Starfleet room to experiment with new configurations. A particular priority was the construction of a design that could slot between Excelsior and Miranda. While the Constellation often filled that role in frontier sectors, in the Federation proper the choice was often between an over-equipped Excelsior or under-powered Miranda.

ASDB proposed two competing designs: The Apollo-class design with a brand new hull configuration, and the Centaur-class derived from a Miranda style reorganization of Excelsior components. Both designs had hull volumes of roughly 600,000 cubic meters, with a good combination of spacekeeping, durability and multi-mission capabilities. Despite similar performance, the Centaur's hull frame compatability with the Excelsior hulls in Ordinary ultimately resulted in larger series production.

The increased building programs would continue through 2315 as tensions in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants remained high. Most members of the Federation Council regarded the Romulan Star Empire's "Neo-Sakoku" policy of isolation after the Tomed Incident with marked skepticism, and the assassination of Chancellor Azetbur in 2311 led to a gradual deterioration of relations with the Klingon Empire. The dreams of a "Long 24th century" of peace and stability seemed hopelessly naive by the time President Gan Laikan gave his First Inaugural Address in 2313.

Fleet Strength as of 2315

Excelsior-class Starships

In Service: 122

Ordinary Reserve (Hull only)*: 80

Undergoing Refit/Repair: 9

Lost/Missing: 0

*Note: Excelsior-class hulls in reserve were also used for Centaur-class construction.

Miranda-class Starships (Note Includes only post-2293 builds)

In Service: 805

Ordinary Reserve (Hull only): 510

Undergoing Refit/Repair: 50

Lost/Missing: 3

Constellation-class Starships

In Service: 26

Ordinary Reserve (Hull only): 0

Undergoing Refit/Repair: 8

Lost/Missing: 3

Centaur-class Starships

In Service: 76

Ordinary Reserve (Hull only)*: 0

Undergoing Refit/Repair: 0

Lost/Missing: 4

*Excelsior-class hulls in Ordinary are used if Centaur-class production is needed for activation purposes.

Apollo-class Starships

In Service: 15

Ordinary Reserve (Hull only): 6

Undergoing Refit/Repair: 0

Lost/Missing: 3

All Other Ship Classes (Note: By 2315 most pre-2300 starships have been retired. This category instead refers to auxiliaries such as the Istanbul, Sydney, Mediterranean and Shelly-class ships)

In Service: 577

Undergoing Refit/Repair or in Reserve: 173

Lost/Missing: 20

Total Fleet

In Service: 1,621

Ordinary (Hull Only): 596

Undergoing Refit/Repair or in Reserve: 274

Lost/Missing/Decommissioned: 33

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