Federation Fleet Numbers

Starfleet's approach to Starship design is significantly different than that of most Alpha Quadrant powers. The Klingons tend to regard a ship as a method of carrying heavy weapons into battle in order to engage the enemy, or to land troops on the surface of a planet. The Romulans tend to look upon their ships as a statement of political and military might, producing large vessels intended to intimidate all who see them. Cardassian ship design tends to be led by the compromises necessary for of fighting against foes considerably larger and more powerful than themselves.

But a Federation Starship is an exercise in skill, almost a work of sculpture. Throughout its history the Federation has routinely pushed the envelope to the absolute maximum with each new generation, striving for an unmatched level of perfection almost for the sheer pleasure of it. This manifests itself in many ways; while a Federation ship typically devotes between 5 to 30% of its internal volume to combat equipment, they are usually more than a match for dedicated warships of similar size built by other powers. Starfleet ships tend to be faster, more agile and far more flexible than their competitors.

Starships also tend to have a somewhat longer life span than most Alpha Quadrant vessels. The recent Galaxy class has a designed life span of 100 years,1 by no means unusual for a Federation vessel, while examples of the Miranda class remain in full front-line duty more than one hundred and five years after they were commissioned. This allows Starfleet to maintain a significantly larger force for a given industrial capacity. For example the 50 year life span of the Cardassian Galor class battlecruiser means that their production of 63 ships of this class per year2 allows them to maintain a maximum fleet of up to 3,150 ships of this class; a similar production schedule for Norway class ships would allow a fleet of over 5,000 ships, while for Galaxy class ships the number would rise to 6,300.

Prior to first contact with the Dominion, Starfleets total production for all major ship classes stood at one hundred ships per year, allowing them to maintain a total fleet of almost 8,000 capital ships3 - a capital ship in this case being defined as any vessel capable of sustained independent operation. With the loss of the USS Odyssey at the end of 2370,4 the Federation began a series of dramatic and highly secret preparations. The president ordered Starfleet to halt all planned retirements and increase ship production to the maximum possible level; by the outbreak of the war three years later Starship production was up to three hundred ships per year and the standing fleet was at 8,726 ships. The onset of the war allowed the president to openly make ship production a top priority, and by the end of the first year of war a further 370 ships had been built. The second and final year of fighting saw 402 further vessels put into service. Production was almost entirely based around the more combat capable vessels, with production of heavily science-biased ships such as the Nova class cut back almost to nothing. Various measures were also taken to increase the combat capability of vessels already in service, resulting in a significant increase in Starfleets war fighting capabilities.

Unfortunately, the Dominion war took a heavy toll on Starfleet,5 far exceeding vessel production. The first three months of war alone cost nearly a thousand capital ships, leading many analysts to claim that the hostilities could not possibly be maintained for more than twenty eight months before it simply ran out of ships. Indeed, this was regarded by many to be an optimistic estimate since Starfleets ability to mount serious opposition to the Dominion would surely fall as its numbers reduced.

While ships losses continued to greatly exceed production throughout the war, those first three months proved to be the low point. The re-taking of Deep Space Nine is hailed as preventing any further Dominion reinforcements arriving via the wormhole, but that operation also led to the first major defeat suffered by a Dominion warfleet.6 The Romulan entry into the war just a few months later complicated matters for the Dominion,7 while the allied offensive into Dominion space shortly afterwards marked a major shift of initiative towards the allies.8

Nevertheless, the loss rate remained above 220 per month for most of the remainder of the two year war. When hostilities ceased Starfleet had lost a total of 5,800 capital ships, nearly 60% of the total operated during the period. Fatalities totalled 1.6 million personnel, not including those lost on starbases or in ground combat. The post-war fleet numbers only 4,116 ships, and although ship production is highly unlikely to remain at its wartime level it is probable that it will continue at a higher than normal rate until the fleet has returned to something approaching normality.

The following table shows the number of Starfleet vessels both in service at the start of the war and built during it, the losses sustained by each class, and the number of ships remaining in service.

Class	Type	Strength	Number Built	Number Lost/Retired	Number Remaining	Original Class Strength	Current Class Strength
Akira Class	Heavy Cruiser	1,493	191	57	134	285,163	200,062
Ambassador Class	Enhanced scientific/diplomatic explorer	723	58	27	31	41,934	22,413
Centaur Class	Frigate	200	403	100	303	80,600	60,600
Challenger Class	Light Cruiser	254	42	33	9	10,668	2,286
Cheyenne Class	Enhanced scientific/diplomatic explorer	381	136	106	30	51,816	11,430
Constellation Class	Cruiser (obsolete)	224	9	4	5	2,016	1,120
Defiant Class	Escort9	1,551	31	5	26	48,081	40,326
Excelsior Class (standard)	Explorer / Cruiser	374	414	222	192	154,836	71,808
Excelsior Variant 1 (1701-B)	Explorer / Countercloak Cruiser	414	102	44	58	42,228	24,012
Excelsior Variant 2 (Lakota)	Combat Enhanced Cruiser	1,301	1	0	1	1,301	1,301
Federation Raider	Specification for gamma type assault craft	92	480	330	150	44,160	13,800
Freedom Class	Destroyer	423	59	46	13	24,957	5,499
Galaxy Class (basic)	Explorer / Heavy Cruiser	1,000	18	4	14	18,000	14,000
Galaxy Class (uprated)	Explorer / Heavy Cruiser	1,355	31	6	25	42,005	33,875
Griffin Class	Destroyer	265	26	20	6	6,890	1,590
Holo Ship	Special purpose holo-environment	72	1	0	1	72	72
Intrepid Class	Light Explorer / Scout	591	50	15	35	29,550	20,685
Miranda Refit (refit)	Destroyer	262	820	467	353	214,840	92,486
Nebula SWAC (Basic)	Explorer / Heavy Cruiser	841	50	3	47	42,050	39,527
Nebula Class (Basic/Pod)	Explorer / Heavy Cruiser	1,153	25	2	23	28,825	26,519
Nebula Class (Uprated/Pod)	Explorer / Heavy Cruiser	1,329	25	2	23	33,225	30,567
New Orleans Class	Frigate10	328	456	358	98	149,568	32,144
Niagara Class	Fast Cruiser	480	144	52	92	69,120	44,160
Norway Class	Destroyer (science/diplomacy enhanced)	303	299	231	68	90,597	20,604
Nova Class	Science Vessel	255	18	1	17	4,590	4,335
Oberth Class	Science Vessel11	116	2,186	1,049	1,137	253,576	131,892
Olympic Class	Medical Vessel	124	101	80	21	12,524	2,604
Polaris Class	Frigate	158	66	52	14	10,428	2,212
Prometheus Class (docked mode)	Attack Cruiser	1,340	1	0	1	1,340	1,340
Prometheus Top (MV mode)	Attack Cruiser	2,060	1	0	1	2,060	2,060
Raven Class	Research Vessel	38	137	19	118	5,206	4,484
Rigel Class	Long Range Explorer	485	84	70	14	40,740	6,790
Saber Class	Scout	217	724	572	152	157,108	32,984
Shelley Class	Cargo Vessel	109	389	306	83	42,401	9,047
Sovereign Class (basic)	Enhanced Deterrence Explorer	2,765	3	0	3	8,295	8,295
Sovereign Class (uprated)	Enhanced Deterrence Explorer	3,084	5	0	5	15,420	15,420
Springfield Class	Frigate	122	18	6	12	2,196	1,464
Steamrunner Class	Light Cruiser	513	240	80	160	123,120	82,080
Trident Class	Cruiser	279	20	15	5	5,580	1,395
Yeager Class	Scout	329	13	10	3	4,277	987
Totals			7,877	4,394	3,483	2,201,363	1,118,275

Class	Type	Strength	Number Built	Number Lost/Retired	Number Remaining	Original Class Strength	Current Class Strength
Argo Class	Shuttle	45	1	0	1	45	45
Danube Class	Multirole interstellar craft12	51	1,865	665	1,200	95,115	61,200
Delta Flyer	General purpose interstellar craft	82	2	1	1	164	82
Federation Scout	Scoutship	75	380	105	275	28,500	20,625
Federation Trainer	Pilot training craft	29	1,035	73	962	30,015	27,898
Orbital Shuttle	Inter-orbital and surface to orbit transport	27	2,624	1,394	1,230	70,848	33,210
Peregrine Class	Medium fighter	53	10,897	7,840	3,057	577,541	162,021
Type 6 Shuttle (standard)	Shuttlecraft	29	2,208	1,010	1,198	64,032	34,742
Type 6 Shuttle (uprated)	Shuttlecraft	29	450	110	340	13,050	9,860
Type 7 Shuttle (standard)	Shuttlecraft	32	6,432	2,105	4,327	205,824	138,464
Type 7 Shuttle (uprated)	Shuttlecraft	32	1,217	612	605	38,944	19,360
Type 8 Shuttle (standard)	Shuttlecraft	33	2,839	779	2,060	93,687	67,980
Type 8 Shuttle (uprated)	Shuttlecraft	32	1,012	587	425	32,384	13,600
Type 9 Shuttle	Shuttlecraft	41	13,600	4,815	8,785	557,600	360,185
Type 11 Shuttle	Shuttlecraft	54	12	0	12	648	648
Type 15 Shuttle	Shuttlepod	31	2,185	923	1,262	67,735	39,122
Type 18 Shuttle	Shuttlepod	29	1,759	624	1,135	51,011	32,915
Work Bee	Repair pod	29	20,436	7,251	13,185	592,644	382,365
Totals			68,954	28,894	40,060	2,519,787	1,404,322
Grand Totals			76,831	33,288	43,543	4,721,150	2,522,597

There are many who regard the Dominion war as the greatest disaster ever to befall the Federation. But while it cannot be disputed that the loss of life has been little short of disastrous, the unswerving dedication and self-sacrifice with which Starfleet and its allies faced - and, ultimately, defeated - their foe has gained the admiration of the entire quadrant. Throughout its history the fact that Starfleet not only regards its military role as a relatively minor one but is positively proud of this fact has led many to suggest that it is somehow weak, even soft. This is a criticism that has seldom been heard since the start of the Dominion war, even from the Federations traditional opponents.

With the end of the war Starfleet has already begun shifting its dispositions to a peacetime basis. While it is likely that several of the larger combat fleets will be retained for at least the next year or two as a deterrent to further hostilities, many ships are being transferred back to their more normal roles. The diplomatic mission especially is likely to take up much of Starfleets time over the next few years. During the war the Federation was desperate to make as many alliances as possible in an attempt to gain reinforcements against the Dominion. Such a hurried and haphazard process has already resulted in some severe strains, even leading to one major political scandal within the Federation itself.

Despite the many pressing concerns of the present, Starfleet is unlikely to forget that its main goal is to ensure the future. Ultimately the Federation must continue with its scientific and exploratory missions if it to remain the vibrant and active culture it has always been. Starfleet is the principle instrument of this process, and as such it will surely continue to prosecute to the fullest the mandate outlined in the motto of its most famous vessel - "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before".

Yellow text = Canon source

Green text = Backstage source

White text = DITL speculation

References

#	Series	Season	Source	Comment
1			Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual
2			Star Trek Deep Space Nine Technical Manual
3			Generic official information
4	DS9	2	The Jem'Hadar
5	DS9	6	A Time to Stand
6	DS9	6	Sacrifice of Angels
7	DS9	6	In the Pale Moonlight
8	DS9	6	Tears of the Prophets
9	DS9	3	The Search, Part 1
10	TNG	1	Conspiracy
11			Star Trek III : The Search for Spock
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Last updated : 5 Apr 2013

Series:	DS9 Season 2 (Disc 7)
Source:	The Jem'Hadar

Series:	DS9 Season 6 (Disc 1)
Source:	A Time to Stand

Series:	DS9 Season 6 (Disc 2)
Source:	Sacrifice of Angels

Series:	DS9 Season 6 (Disc 5)
Source:	In the Pale Moonlight

Series:	DS9 Season 6 (Disc 7)
Source:	Tears of the Prophets