Starfleet
"The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth. Whether it's scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth. It is the guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based."
– Captain Jean-Luc Picard, 2368
Starfleet was the deep space exploratory and defense service maintained by the United Federation of Planets. Its principal functions included the advancement of Federation knowledge about the galaxy and its inhabitants, and knowledge of all areas of study, both scientific and non scientific fields and all others. Starfleet's ancillary duties included the defense of the Federation, and the facilitation of Federation diplomacy.
As per its mandate of deep space exploration, its personnel were frequently brought into contact with cultures and sentient species whose existences were unknown to the Federation. Starfleet officers therefore acted as official representatives of the Federation in these cases. Starfleet vessels were also frequently used to ferry ambassadors on diplomatic missions.
Culture
The Prime Directive
While Starfleet currently benefits from subspace transmissions which facilitate extremely fast transmission of communications throughout the Federation territory, it was not always that way. In Starfleet’s formative and developing years, captains of interstellar vessels had to represent the Federation in all of their dealings with different forms and civilizations without the benefit of guidance and feedback from Starfleet command or Federation diplomats. Captains were given an extraordinary measure of independence as a result. Although it has a great deal of faith in its officers, Starfleet has established a substantial number of guidelines and regulations that control how they carry out their duties. The most important, General Order Number One, also known as the Prime Directive, essentially prohibits StarFleet personnel from interfering with the normal development of any culture. The directive was framed to prevent the cultural contamination of the new societies that Starfleet encountered. The Prime Directive prohibits Starfleet officers from making their presence known to pre-warp cultures and prevents Starfleet from interfering with internal disputes in neighboring powers, such as the Klingon Empire. The Prime Directive does not apply if an individual or government request Starfleet’s assistance without being prompted. The Prime Directive was not introduced until Starfleet had been operating for some time, so the earliest explorers often interacted with less advanced cultures. On occasion this had disastrous consequences. For example, the USS Horizon NCC-176 in 2168 visited the planet Sigma Iotia II where the crew made contact with the native inhabitants and left behind a book called “Chicago Mobs of the Twenties.” After the crew of the Horizon had departed, the Sigma Iotians adopted the book as a model for their society. Within several years, the planet was dominated by a mob culture. Over the years, many Starfleet captains have chosen to violate the Prime Directive if they believe that by doing so they are protecting a culture from destruction or repairing damage done by a previous contamination. For example, when the Mintakans witnessed Federation technology in action in 2366, Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D chose to explain what had really happened to prevent the Mintakans from falling back into a period of superstition.The Many Missions of Starfleet
The primary missions of Starfleet remain exploration and defense. But there are many other secondary missions of Starfleet that help direct time and resources of the ships and crew that compose the fleet.Scientific Missions
Not all Starfleet’s missions involve sentient life forms. Most Starfleet vessels have a large number of science labs – Constitution-class vessels such as the original USS Enterprise NCC-1701 had 14 – and a major part of the starship’s duties involves collecting data on stellar phenomena such as nebulae and comets. The crew of Starfleet vessels also include a number of academic specialists such as botanists and historians. One of the most important departments on a Starfleet vessel is stellar cartography. This is used to analyze stellar phenomena and collect data about the position of stars and other stellar bodies. This information is then combined with data gathered by subspace telescope to generate the galactic condition database, which provides vital navigational data to all starships. Starfleet maintains a massive network of starbases to support its ships. Some of these are based on planets, while others such as Starbase 74 are effectively spaceborne cities. These stations provide a number of important facilities. Most starbases have large populations and are home to offices of Starfleet Command and the Judge Advocate General, which conducts Starfleet’s legal affairs. Almost all starbases have facilities and resources that allow tired crews to recuperate.Medical Endeavours
Starfleet ships perform important medical functions and are often required to transport medical supplies to Federation worlds, especially supplies that may only be produced in small quantities or in specific places in the Federation, like vaccinations, antibiotics, and antivirals. Starfleet regulations also require its ships to make regular calls on remote colonies to perform medical checkups. Starfleet doctors have one of the most demanding jobs in the Federation. They have to be able to treat hundreds of different races, some of which are not even humanoid. All Starfleet doctors contribute to databases on the different races and conditions that have been encountered. This information is available to all Federation vessels and on some advanced ships have been incorporated into an Emergency Medical Hologram – a holographic physician that can support the ship’s normal medical staff when necessary.Supply Lines
All Starfleet ships make regular calls at starbases for routine maintenance and upgrades. This can be as simple as taking on new supplies of deuterium, which is an essential component of the warp and impulse drives, or as complex as repairing major damage sustained in battle. It is extremely difficult for a starship to function without making these regular stops. But starbases also benefit as ships ferry supplies to Starfleet’s bases, especially the ones in more remote locations. Starfleet also operates a system of subspace relays that allow ships and planets to communicate across vast distances. These relays can send messages at faster-than-light speeds, up to 60 times faster than the fastest starship. The subspace network contains thousands of relay stations. Starfleet vessels deploy more as they explore new areas of space, and make repairs to the network if they come across damaged systems. Without this communication system, the Federation would barely function; although it is often overlooked, maintaining it is one of Starfleet’s most important duties.Public Agenda
The primary missions of Starfleet remain exploration and defense.
Assets
Bases and installations
Aside from its headquarters, located on Earth, the Federation's capital world, Starfleet also maintained installations throughout Federation territory.Starbases
Starbases were facilities set aside for resupply of the service's vessels and the relaxation of vessel crews, were maintained in all sectors of Federation space. In addition, the service also maintained facilities beyond Federation territory. The most well-known of these is Deep Space 9, in the Alpha Quadrant.Shipyards
The service also maintained a number of shipyards at which it constructed its vessels and designed and tested new vessels and vessel types. Among the most famous of these shipyards were:Training facilities
Apart from Starfleet Academy, the service also maintained several training facilities for both officers and enlisted personnel. These included a number of Academy annexes, located in different systems. Known annexes were Starfleet Academy (Beta Aquilae II), Starfleet Academy (Beta Ursae Minor II), and Starfleet Academy (Psi Upsilon III). The service also maintained at least one testing facility to evaluate prospective Starfleet Academy undergraduates for admission into the academy. This facility was located on the planet Relva VII. Starfleet Academy also had a training program for enlisted personnel. In addition, at least one other such facility was located on Mars, known as the Starfleet Technical Services Academy.Vessels
The single most important asset that Starfleet possessed, apart from its personnel, was its vast number of vessels.Starships
The backbone of Starfleet's operations were its starships. These vessels, all warp-capable, were capable of supporting and providing the ability and resources to carry out all of the service's mandates: exploration, the defense of the Federation, the transport of supplies and resources, and providing emergency medical care. A large range of starship classes existed. Some were multi-purpose and other were designed for a specific use. By the 24th century, Starfleet's mandates stated that no warships, or ships designed purely for defensive purposes, would be built, but an exception was made when the threat of the Dominion became evident. The most famous ship of pre-Federation Starfleet was the NX-class Enterprise NX-01. That ship was the first to be equipped with the Warp 5 engine, and made first contact with over thirty species. Under the command of Captain Jonathan Archer, Enterprise established Earth as an interstellar power after negotiating treaties between the Vulcans and Andorians in 2152, saving the galaxy from the Sphere-Builders and the Xindi in 2154, uncovering the lost teachings of Surak on Vulcan and preventing a Vulcan invasion of Andoria later in 2154, helping to instigate a cultural and political coup d'état against the dictatorial Vulcan head of state Administrator V'Las, and facilitating peace talks between the Andorians and Tellarites following a series of attacks on both races in late 2154. The United Earth Starfleet also built the NX-class Columbia, launching that ship in late 2154, with at least two more NX-class ships on the drawing board. The United Earth Starfleet did not have any jurisdiction over what happened aboard vessels operating in the Earth Cargo Service. That responsibility remained in the hands of the Earth Cargo Authority. By 2257, there were seven thousand active ships in Starfleet. The Constitution-class was historically one of the service's most important starship classes. Starships of this class were the service's front line vessels in the 23rd century, designed for long-term exploratory missions lasting five Earth years. The most storied of these vessels was the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain James Tiberius Kirk. During his historic tour of duty as captain, countless new civilizations, planets, and anomalies were studied. In the late 2260s to early 2270s, the Constitution-class starships underwent a major refit program. The actual refitting took eighteen months of work and essentially a new vessel was built onto the bones of the old, replacing virtually every major system. These upgraded Constitution II-class ships provided a bridge in capability until the next class of modern Starfleet cruiser could take their place at the forefront of galactic exploration, diplomacy, and conflict. Thus, the Constitution II-class continued in service for a further twenty years. The Excelsior-class was initially constructed during the early 2280s at Starfleet's San Francisco Fleet Yards orbiting Earth. Starfleet had high hopes for the first ship of this class, the prototype USS Excelsior, which was equipped with transwarp drive, and was regarded as that century's "Great Experiment." Despite the failure of the "Great Experiment," Starfleet forged ahead with employing the Excelsior design. After remaining in Spacedock One until at least 2287, the prototype Excelsior was subsequently recommissioned for active service by 2290. In 2293, the Excelsior design was given greater notoriety when Starfleet passed on the name of a legacy. The launch of the USS Enterprise-B opened the door for the Excelsior class to become one of the most widely used designs in all of Starfleet, a design lasting well into the late 24th century. In the 24th century, the Excelsior design was gradually replaced as the service's front-line vessel class by the Galaxy-class. Primarily designed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, this class was the most technologically sophisticated in the history of the service. Vessels of this class were the largest in size of any ever produced in Federation history, and became well-known, both within and outside of the Federation, for their capabilities in both scientific inquiry and exploration. Due to continual advancements in design, the Galaxy-class vessels were eventually replaced by those of the Sovereign-class. This class featured innovations in weapons, warp propulsion, and computer processing power. The most noteworthy vessel in this class was the USS Enterprise-E, again commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Another very well known class was the Intrepid-class. This class was older than the Sovereign-class, but more advanced than the Galaxy-class. The Intrepid-class proved itself many times beyond what was expected of it when a ship of this class, the USS Voyager, commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway, was cast nearly seventy thousand light years away from Federation space, deep into the unexplored Delta Quadrant, in 2371. The ship supported Captain Janeway and her crew through dangers never before encountered by a Starfleet crew, and successfully returned to Federation space in 2378. For those seven years, the ship had no access to any kind of Starfleet supplies or maintenance whatsoever. Other noteworthy starship classes were the Akira-class, the Nova-class, the Olympic-class, the Defiant-class, and the experimental Prometheus-class. The Defiant- and Prometheus-classes were primarily designed for tactical operations. The Olympic-class was designed to be used as mobile emergency medical centers. Starfleet starships had navigational lights, red on the port (left) and green on the starboard (right), fitted to the hull. These have been seen on vessels from the late 2100s through to the late 2300s.Other vessels
Aside from its starships, the service also operated other vessels. Among these were several types of shuttlecraft, which were typically used to transport personnel over relatively short distances, such as from a starship orbiting a planet down to the planet's surface. Starfleet shuttlecraft of the 23rd and 24th centuries also were equipped with limited warp capability, allowing transport of personnel within a range of several light years from the starship.History
Starfleet began as a defense and exploration organization for Earth and the solar system, and until the founding of the United Federation of Planets, its aim was narrowly focused to benefitting the people of Earth.
At the founding of the Federation, Starfleet’s purpose broadened to a far larger scope of defense and exploration. It was tasked with pushing the horizon of the Federation, defending its worlds, and making contact with species previously unknown.
The motto of Starfleet was, and remains, “to boldly go where no one has gone before.” This motto has greatly influenced the character and mission of the organization.
Starfleet’s mission has always been carried out by a corps of highly trained officers and a fleet of interstellar spacecraft. Most ships are designed to serve multiple functions and are equipped as research and military vessels.
Ad Astra Per Aspera
Founding Date
2130s
Ruling Organization
Subsidiary Organizations
Controlled Territories
Organization Vehicles
Notable Members
Comments