Ultimate Star Trek: Starships and a Word on NCCs

Funnily enough, as I write this I am watching Empire of Dreams.  Heh.

So the uniforms are in the bag, for the most part, so next up is the other most important part of Star Trek that is always very personal.  Yes'sir it's time to talk about starships.  Specifically the ships of Starfleet.

Now instead of getting into a big intro about what Star Trek ships are and whatnot, I am going to launch right into it by saying;

Isn't she beautiful?

That's the deal for me, the movie gen of starships is what I think of when I think of Star Trek.

See that blue thing at the front?  It is NOT a "Navigational Deflector" it is a "Sensor Dish", which is why the Enterprise is such a good science vessel.  Think about it, the Reliant doesn't have one and is unable to detect human lifeforms on Ceti-Alpha V.  I bet the Enterprise would have found them right quick... but I digress.

Now which is my favourite Starfleet ship?

Yarp!  The Reliant is my baby.  In fact the USS Athena (NCC 26282) was the first ship I ever commanded in a Star Trek campaign and she will always hold a special place in my heart.

Now the other thing I love about the movie era of ships is that between FASA Trek, modellers and fan artists, there is literally hundreds and hundreds of designs to draw on allowing for a diverse and exciting Starfleet!

Here are some of my favorites;

There you have it...  Oh right... I promised you a word on NCCs.

First up it is the name that matters, not the number.  So no 1701A or any of that nonsense in Ultimate Star Trek.

Second is that NCC, in Ultimate Star Trek stands for Naval Construction Code, indicating this is the number assigned to the ship on the day she leaves drydock.  More on why I choose deployment later.


Much like Stardates, nothing generates for fan discussion than the purpose and sequencing of NCCs. FASA took the ideal that each Starship class had a similar numbering scheme (IE; all cruisers are 1000 - 1999), but that doesn’t hold up due to on screen evidence that showed us Connies with NCCs as low as the USS Eagle’s NCC-956 and as high as the USS Intrepid’s NCC-1831. Too be fair though, FASA did list the Eagle as 1738, the later one comes from a chart in Star Trek VI.

At first I figured since this was Ultimate Star Trek I could just retconn the whole thing and make it work. But then I started wondering why the USS Excelsior would be NX-2000 and other ships could be later 2100 and 2200. Confusing just a tad and required heavy handed reasons. Not making me happy it was.

So I decided to use the linear timeline of NCCs. Using the Daedelus in 2162 as NCC-001 and the Excelsior or NX-2000 in 2249 as the guide. I get 87 years of time, leading to 23 ships a year if production is constant, giving us 2000 ships commissioned in that time frame. Obviously it would be inconsistent, less ships to start, more during war time or other expansions, etc…

My other first choice was to decide that the first batch of Connies, 14 in all, would have sequential hull numbers as they were ordered up in a batch.

So with a rough guideline I add in this variable; the USS Constitution (NCC-1700) is commissioned in 2225, a difference of 63 years since the Daedelus. That averages out to about 27 ships a year, leaving 300 more to be commissioned by 2249. With 300 more ships to be commissioned in the next 24 years (taking us to 224) that gives us about 13 ships year.

If we take 23 ships a year from 2162 to say 2200 we will be at NCC-874. That means to jump the next 826 ships by 2225 we need to see production increase to 33 ships a year. Again these are not absolute numbers, just guidelines. We have wars in this period that would require more ships built in those years, and less in the non-war years.

Still given this basic numbering we can, through a little math, figure out roughly when a ship would be deployed. A ship with the NCC-1821 would be commissioned roughly in 2235, since we know from the timeline that the USS Miranda (NCC-1800) entered service in 2234. Again this is not exact science, but certainly something that can be used as a guideline. So the question becomes do we go by commission or deployment? Those deployments might go faster during wartime and slower during peacetime. So from this point on, we will use deployment as it is an easier and more solid point of reference. A ship might be commissioned up to 5 years before being constructed and that would throw a monkey wrench into the whole works. The notable exception is the Excelsior, since she was hailed as “The Great Experiment”, I measure her NCC from commission.

So in conclusion, while not an exact science, it does give a basic idea and as they say “Is close enough for government work.”.

As a side note I should mention that the term NX has only been used 5 times on screen (USS Enterprise NX-01, USS Dauntless NX-01-A, USS Excelsior NX-2000, USS Defiant NX-74205, USS Prometheus NX-59650). 4 of those times are not canon for Ultimate Star Trek, but the 5th (and the original) is very much so. NX-2000 was meant to show a great experiment  Therefore I agree with certain camps that suggest like the rank of Fleet Captain, NX designations are rare and very very special. Ships that break new ground and change the norm deserve this, not simply the first ship in the line.

Of course your mileage may vary, but that is why I made Ultimate Star Trek, to have a playground for my ideas.

Below is the table I use to track ships from the first right up to campaign start.  You will find an easter egg or two within as well.

Year	# of Ships	NCC Range	Notable Ships
2162	5	001–005	USS Daedelus NCC-001
2163	10	006–015	USS Horizon NCC-008; USS Essex NCC-013
2164	15	016–030	USS Archon NCC-020
2165	20	031–050
2166	25	051–075
2167	23	076–098
2168	22	099–120
2169	20	121–140
2170	30	141–170	USS Demarko NCC-169
2171	27	171–197
2172	22	198–219
2173	21	220–240	USS Anisantae NCC-222
2174	28	241–268
2175	33	269–301
2176	25	302–326
2177	33	327–359
2178	31	360–390
2179	21	391–411
2180	21	412–432
2181	21	433–453
2182	21	454–474	USS Albert & Walter NCC-461
2183	21	475–495
2184	24	496–519
2185	23	520–542
2186	24	543–566
2187	25	567–591
2188	24	592–615
2189	24	616–639
2190	20	640–659
2191	24	660–683
2192	28	684–711
2193	24	712–735
2194	25	736–760
2195	23	761–783
2196	23	784–806
2197	23	807–829
2198	23	830–852
2199	22	853–873
2200	23	874–896	USS Atlas NCC-874
2201	24	897–920
2202	30	921–950
2203	34	951–984
2204	34	985–1018
2205	35	1019–1053
2206	30	1054–1083
2207	25	1084–1108
2208	30	1109-1138
2209	25	1139–1163
2210	20	1164–1183	USS Arrow NCC-1171
2211	35	1184–1218
2212	40	1219–1258
2213	60	1259–1318	USS Valiant NCC-1300
2214	50	1319–1368
2215	60	1369–1428	USS Kelly NCC-1402
2216	23	1429–1451
2217	25	1452–1476
2218	22	1477–1498
2219	22	1499–1520
2220	45	1521–1565
2221	45	1566–1610
2222	22	1611–1632
2223	22	1633–1654
2224	23	1655–1677
2225	29	1678–1706	USS Constitution NCC-1700; USS Enterprise NCC-1701; USS Republic NCC-1702; USS Hood NCC-1703; USS Bismarck NCC-1704; USS Yamato NCC-1705; USS Farragut NCC-1706
2226	20	1707–1726	USS Constellation NCC-1707; USS Excalibur NCC-1708; USS Lexington NCC-1709; USS Eagle NCC-1710; USS Exeter NCC-1711; USS Yorktown NCC-1712; USS Defiant NCC-1713; USS Ticonderoga NCC-1717
2227	10	1727–1736
2228	11	1737–1747
2229	7	1748–1754
2230	10	1755–1764
2231	7	1765–1771
2232	7	1772–1778
2233	11	1779–1789
2234	14	1790–1803	USS Miranda NCC-1800
2235	14	1804–1827
2236	12	1828–1839
2237	14	1840–1853	USS Reliant NCC-1846
2238	10	1854–1863
2239	15	1864–1878
2240	15	1879–1892
2241	13	1893–1905
2242	20	1906–1925	USS Rodger Young NCC-1918
2243	10	1926–1935
2244	15	1936–1950	USS Grissom NCC-1940
2245	15	1951–1965
2246	14	1966–1979
2247	10	1980–1989	USS Constellation NCC-1974; USS Stargazer NCC-1987
2248	8	1990–1997
2249	8	1998–2005	USS Excelsior NX-2000
2250	11	2006–2016
2251	13	2017–2029	USS Bannockburn NCC-2028
2252	13	2030–2042
2253	18	2043–2060	USS Enterprise (formerly Ticonderoga) NCC-1717
2254	22	2061–2082
2255	25	2083–2097
2256	30	2098–2127	USS Voyager NCC-2117; USS Proxima NCC-2123
2257	45	2128–2172
2258	20	2173–2192	USS Farscape NCC-2181
2259	15	2193–2207
2260	16	2208–2223	USS Enterprise (formerly Proxima) NCC-2123

More to come...