Starfleet starship registry
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Starfleet starships in the fictional Star Trek universe are identified by a unique registry consisting of a two- or three-letter prefix, a string of digits, and, in some instances, a one-letter suffix. The combination is also called a ship's registry number despite the presence of letters. The most well-known registry among Star Trek fans is "NCC-1701", which belongs to the original USS Enterprise.
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[edit] Use
Registry numbers are emblazoned on numerous portions of a starship's hull. There are instances in which a ship's crew identifies another vessel based on its hull markings, particularly when examining debris.<ref name="BoBW">Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"</ref> However, the primary means of identifying starships is not through hull markings, but rather through a transponder with an effective range far greater than reading hull lettering allows.<ref name="Wounded">Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Wounded"</ref>
Tactical and other displays often represent a ship's position with an icon for its affiliated organization (e.g. a Starfleet shield) next to both the ship's name and its registry number.<ref name="Wounded" />
[edit] Prefixes
[edit] NCC
| NCC doesn't stand for anything. It was devised by Matt Jefferies, art director of the first Star Trek series. Jefferies, who is a pilot, based NCC on 20th century aircraft registration codes. In such 20th century usage, an "N" first letter refers to an aircraft registered in the USA. A "C" second letter refers to a civil aircraft. Jefferies added a second "C", just because he thought it looked better. Think of it as being like the arbitrary three-letter code that's part of automobile license plate numbers in many states. |
In The Original Series, the only registries seen on a ship's hull are for vessels of the same class as the Enterprise. The speculation by fans at the time was that "NCC" was a code like the United States Navy's hull classification symbols; the suggestion was that ships with "NCC" in the registry are cruisers and that other prefixes exist for other types of ship. However, this theory is discredited by the USS Reliant, which is a different design than the Enterprise yet shares "NCC" in its registry.<ref name="TWoK">Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan</ref> Nevertheless, in the non-canon game Star Trek: Starfleet Command, "NCC" stands for "New Command Cruiser"; other prefixes, such as "ND", denote different ship types.
According to non-canon print sources, "NCC" is short for "Naval Construction Contract".<ref name="Joseph">Joseph, Franz (1975). Star Trek Starfleet Technical Manual. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-34074-4.</ref>
[edit] NX
Three pathfinders seen on screen have a registry beginning with "NX".
The USS Excelsior first appears as the "NX-2000" as a pathfinder for the Excelsior class,<ref name="TSFS">Star Trek III: The Search for Spock</ref> but it is later recommissioned as the "NCC-2000" for regular duty.<ref name="TUC">Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country</ref>
The USS Defiant is the first of a class designed to fight the Borg.<ref name="TheSearch">Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "The Search, Part I"</ref> Although the ship sees extensive service before and during the Dominion War, it never loses the "NX" in its registry, even though other ships of its class bear "NCC" registries (e.g. the NCC-74210 for the USS Valiant<ref name="Valiant">Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Valiant"</ref> and NCC-75633 for the USS São Paulo<ref name="TDoW">Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "The Dogs of War"</ref>).
The experimental USS Prometheus has the registry number "NX-59650".<ref name="MiaB">Star Trek: Voyager: "Message in a Bottle"</ref>
The non-canon Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual claims that the USS Galaxy' is the pathfinder for the Galaxy class, and gives its registry as NX-70637. A Galaxy-class USS Galaxy is later seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, with the registry NCC-70637.<ref name="Tears">"Tear of the Prophets." Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. </ref>
[edit] NX class
A significant use of "NX" is in "NX-01": the registry for the centerpiece of the titular starship in Star Trek: Enterprise.<ref name="BB">Star Trek: Enterprise: "Broken Bow"</ref> However, in that series, "NX" is not the designation for an experimental starship; rather, it indicates the vessel's class. The NX-01 is an NX class starship<ref name="BB" /> in the same way that some starships in "later" series are Constitution or Excelsior class vessels.
[edit] Other prefixes
A handful of other prefixes sporadically appear in various Star Trek series.
| Registry | Name | Class | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| NA-01<ref>Star Trek: Enterprise: "First Flight" - The Intrepid's identification as the NA-01 is conjecture based on one of the mission patches visible in the 602 Club.</ref> | Intrepid | NA | Earth starship |
| NAR-18834<ref>Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Hero Worship" - visible on an Okudagram</ref> | SS Vico | Oberth | Federation research vessel |
| NAR-32450<ref>Star Trek: Voyager: "The Raven"</ref> | USS Raven | Unknown | Federation research vessel |
| NCV-474439-G<ref name="Relativity">Star Trek: Voyager: "Relativity"</ref> | USS Relativity | Wells | Starfleet time ship |
| NDT-50863<ref>Star Trek: The Next Generation: "New Ground" - visible on an Okudagram</ref> | SS Milan | Unknown | Starfleet transport |
| NFT-1327<ref name="GenOk">Star Trek: Generations - visible on an Okudagram</ref> | SS Lakul | Whorfin | Federation transport |
| NFT-7793<ref name="GenOk" /> | SS Robert Fox | Whorfin | Federation transport |
| NGL-12535<ref>Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Angel One" - visible on an Okudagram</ref> | SS Odin | Unknown | Federation freighter |
| NSP-17938<ref>Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Unification" - visible on an Okudagram</ref> | SS T'Pau | Unknown | Vulcan transport |
[edit] Numbers
Whereas the majority of known starships share the "NCC" prefix, the digits following that prefix (separated from it by a hyphen) are, with few exceptions, unique to each known vessel.
Two freighters in the non-canon animated series have the only two registries known to mix letters with the registry's digits: an unnamed robot freighter ("NCC-G1465"<ref>Star Trek: The Animated Series: "More Tribbles, More Troubles"</ref>) and the USS Huron ("NCC-F1513"<ref>Star Trek: The Animated Series: "The Pirates of Orion"</ref>).
[edit] Mid 22nd century
Only two Earth Starfleet ships' registries are legibile on screen: "NX-01" for the Enterprise<ref name="BB" /> and "NX-02" for the Columbia.<ref name="Affliction">Star Trek: Enterprise: "Affliction"</ref>
[edit] Late 22nd century
Few episodes refer to ships from this era and fewer still reveal those ships' registry numbers. Among the handful of known late 22nd century registry numbers are "NCC-173" for the USS Essex<ref name="PP">Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Power Play"</ref> and "NCC-189"<ref name="Okuda" /> for the USS Archon.<ref name="Archons">Star Trek: The Original Series: "The Return of the Archons"</ref>
[edit] 23rd century
Most starships seen or mentioned in The Original Series have four-digit registry numbers beginning with "16", "17" or "18".<ref name="Court Martial">Star Trek: The Original Series: "Court Martial"</ref><ref name="Doomsday Machine">Star Trek: The Original Series: "The Doomsday Machine"</ref> One exception is the "NCC-1017" registry for the USS Constellation: the show's modelmakers used an old Enterprise model and simply rearranged the registry numbering.<ref name="Okuda" /> Because the USS Constitution's registry number is "NCC-1700", the Constellation's number is an inconsistency to the pattern of the first ship in a class having the lowest registry number among ships of that class.
Two of the major Starfleet vessels introduced in the TOS-era films – the USS Reliant and USS Excelsior – also have four-digit registries: "NCC-1864"<ref name="TWoK" /> and "NX-2000"<ref name="TSFS" /> (later "NCC-2000"<ref name="TUC" />), respectively. Other vessels generally follow this pattern,<ref name="TVH">Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home</ref><ref name="TUC" /> although there are a few vessels with three-digit registries. The most obvious one is the use of "NCC-638" for the USS Grissom.<ref name="TSFS" /> Other examples include "NCC-621" and "NCC-595" for the scouts Columbia and Revere, respectively.<ref>Star Trek: The Motion Picture - names and registry numbers audible amid communications chatter during the Epsilon 9 establishing shots</ref>
[edit] 24th century
Starfleet ships in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager generally use five-digit registry numbers. The most frequently seen "guest" ships are Excelsior class starships whose registries range from the USS Berlin's "NCC-14232"<ref name="Brothers">Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Brothers" - visible on an Okudagram</ref> to the USS Crazy Horse's "NCC-50446".<ref name="Pegasus">Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Pegasus"</ref> Most vessel registries in The Next Generation fall within this range. Registry numbers in the 60000s and 70000s are more common in Deep Space Nine (featuring the "NX-74205"<ref name="TheSearch" /> and "NCC-75633"<ref name="TDoW" /> USS Defiants) and Voyager (featuring the titular NCC-74656<ref name="Caretaker">Star Trek: Voyager: "Caretaker"</ref>).
[edit] 29th century
The time ship USS Relativity has the six-digit registry "NCV-474439-G".<ref name="Relativity" />
[edit] Suffixes
In Star Trek canon, the addition of a one-letter suffix to the registry is most notably used by successors of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).
[edit] USS Enterprises
Starfleet reuses the original Enterprise's "NCC-1701" registry with each newly commissioned Enterprise, differentiating between vessels by affixing a letter to the end; "NCC-1701-E" is the registry for the sixth starship Enterprise to carry "NCC-1701" as part of its registry.<ref name="FC">Star Trek: First Contact</ref> These Enterprises are generally differentiated by referring to them as, for example, "the Enterprise-B" for the NCC-1701-B<ref name="Generations">Star Trek: Generations</ref> or "the Enterprise-C" for the NCC-1701-C.<ref name="YE">Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Yesterday's Enterprise"</ref> When facing the destruction of the Enterprise-E, Captain Jean-Luc Picard quips that Starfleet will likely build another Enterprise because there are "plenty of letters left in the alphabet".<ref name="FC" /> Although not canon, an Enterprise-F appears in two Star Trek novels.<ref name="Imzadi">David, Peter (1992). Imzadi. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-86729-6.</ref><ref name="Mill">Reeves-Stevens, Judith and Garfield (2002). Millennium Omnibus. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-7434-4249-0.</ref> An Enterprise-J serves in an alternate timeline's 26th century.<ref name="AP">Star Trek: Enterprise: "Azati Prime"</ref>
[edit] USS Excaliburs (non-canon)
After the destruction of the Ambassador class USS Excalibur (NCC-26517) in Peter David's non-canon New Frontier series,<ref>David, Peter (1999). Star Trek: New Frontier #8: Dark Allies. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-02080-3.</ref> Starfleet commissions a Galaxy class Excalibur with the registry "NCC-26517-A".<ref>David, Peter (2001). Star Trek: New Frontier #11: Restoration. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-7434-1064-5.</ref>
[edit] USS Relativity
The 29th century time ship USS Relativity has the registry NCV-474439-G. Following the pattern used with the Enterprises, this suggests that the Relativity is the eighth ship to carry the name. However, the vessel's dedication plaque indicates that it is the seventh Relativity.<ref name="Relativity" />
[edit] USS Yamato (error)
Commander William Riker reads the registry of a phantom USS Yamato as "NCC-1305-E".<ref name="WSHL">Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Where Silence Has Lease"</ref> However, this conflicts with the shooting model, which bears the registry "NCC-71807" in both this and a subsequent appearance.<ref name="Contagion">Star Trek: The Next Generation: "Contagion"</ref> Despite the dialogue, "NCC-71807" is the correct registry number.<ref name="Okuda" />
[edit] References
Unless otherwise indicated below, registry numbers cited in the article are either clearly visible on a ship's hull or clearly spoken aloud.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Registry article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki.
