THE REGISTRY SYSTEM
As is noticeable with several classes in the listing, the registries are all over the place, appearing completely non-sequential in some cases, such as the Constitution Inconsistencies. It's possible that there may be a totally unknown factor at work which would explain the properties of Starfleet's registry system. Part of me is from the school of thought which suggests that registries are sequential, and are so assigned to vessels as they are commissioned. This is easily noticeable to the lay person with a Daedalus Class ship from the 22nd century having a registry of NCC 173 for instance, and the latest ships in the 24th century having a code of NCC 80154 as an example. But this would mean that Starfleet have had eighty thousand ships in service in two hundred years, so could this be true? For this to be correct Starfleet would have to churning out around 400 ships per year. That's a lot of ships, so I think there is something else going on here. Like stardates, registries have similarly chaotic chronology, and it would be very difficult to sit down and figure out a logical system which could explain all the inconsistencies and incontinuities. If for instance I submit a theory that Starfleet are able to complete the construction of 100 starships per year, this would included Cruisers, Freighters, transports etc - anything that carries a Starfleet prefix, it would mean that they have had 20,000 ships in service since the Federation began. And the latest ships would be carrying registries in the NCC 20000 region.
So lets examine the possibilities on three separate levels....
THEORIES TO CONSIDER...
#1). Let's say that in about the late 23rd century, a brand new registering system was implemented. The first thing I think happened is this (as is also found on the conjectured Ranger Class page):
Up to mid 23rd century, all registry numbers seemed to work in the sequential sense, as ships were constructed and coded using such a system. But from herein, they became less coherent. For instance, as the Federation began to expand and advance into the 23rd century, one must assume there was a natural increase in Fleet Construction Yards. So, for example, with Ranger Class under a set construction line at perhaps a couple of yards, sequential ordering would've been curtailed due to other vessels of other classes being constructed and launched at other yards. So in this context, perhaps 30, 40, or even more ships of other classes would have been assigned their codes which may disorient the NCC numbering system of any one class. Because, as yards expand, construction technology and techniques improve, ships are launched much more quickly, which in turn creates an overall plethora of mixed, non-sequential codes. In the example portrayed in the Ranger Class listings, 106 ships were commissioned throughout the Federation between the construction of the prototype Ranger and one of its sister ships, the Assurance. This may have occurred over a period of a couple of years. Such a theory as this may begin to explain the complete chaos of Constitution Class registries, that range from NCC 1700 -the prototype, down to NCC 956 (See Here). Also, yards would invariably be involved in the construction of many ships of different classes at any one time.
#2). But this is just part of the story, for, after the commissioning of Excelsior Class, there seems to be a massive and sudden increase in registry increments. For with the prototype Excelsior having a code of NX - 2000, there seemed to be a sudden jump to the NCC 11000 region within a period of just a few decades. This can be explained by possibly two different forces at work. Firstly a radical and new registry technique being implemented at the turn of the century, whereby previously unlisted ships such as Cargo Carriers, Runabouts, Executive Shuttles, Tankers and other Utility ships being suddenly integrated into the Fleet registry makeup. This I think is quite possible. The second possibility is a general increase of Starship construction, mainly in number of ships, but also in generally increased number of new classes for various fleet applications, for this was in essence the Klingon Cold war, and the need for greater defensive and stability was an important issue. So this increased turnaround at the Fleet Yards is another possible answer. Thirdly, one has to take the omni-directional expansion of the Federation into account. With newer, faster starships, and increased numbers of Federation member worlds it takes a larger taskforce of vessels to patrol, defend and provision such a growing territory.
So basically it's about the number of ships. A). Registries are largely sequential. B). Starfleet has many registered ships on its books - from starships down to Freighters and Runabouts. It's that simple. It may even incorporate alien ships into its fleet - that is the ships of new alien races that join the Federation. For instance, if the Bajorans entered the Federations, some of it's military defense forces would be incorporated into the 'Federation Fleet'. So, being assigned a registered number, this too would boost the ever expanding figures for registries.
#3). An altogether different theory to submit may surround the actual method of how the registry system is structured and layered. Lets speculate this for a moment: Perhaps Starfleet scrapped the old system and started afresh at NCC 10000 at the very beginning of the 24th century, and rather than continue sequentially, a unique system was employed by assigning a new digit at the beginning of each decade. In the year 2310, NCC 20000 began, in 2320, NCC 30000 began, and so forth. After the first digit, the remaining four may refer to a class's individual coding structure, or perhaps it was related to the particular yard where it was constructed, like an address. Either way, this new registry system would bear little, or no resemblance at all to the previously utilized sequential ordering. Sounds unlikely, but this is the precise system of car registration numbers in the UK. For example, my car registration begins with the characters R784. R stands for the year 1998, for when the car was built and registered. 784, stands for the 784th car off the production line at the plant. After 784 follows three generic letters, this is the code for the city or region where the car was manufactured.
In a way, a seemingly large jump in registry numbers every few years such as this at least has the potential to initially disorient and startle enemy powers - when one would suppose they'd be casting a keen eye over the fleet numbers of the Federation...
At the end of the day I'm not sure of what the final answer is. So for the sake of argument I'm operating in the middle ground. So on the Stats Board I've accounted for a grand total of somewhere in the region of 20,000 ships since the Federation began, and I speculate that Starfleet currently have about 7000-8000 ships in service, as of the year 2378. As for the missing 60,000, let's just assume they are simply 'unlisted' vessels and other auxiliaries....
(For Starship registry problems, and other anomalies, see Conundrums Page)
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