Musing on the size of Starfleet and its ships.

[Jedi Master Spock]

From Ex Astris Scientia, and ST-v-SW.net, we have 142 Federation vessels which we have a good official or semi-official idea of the name or NCC/NX catalog number, class, and volume. This includes all classes which we have more than 4 members identified, and includes a significant supermajority (three quarters or more) of the ships seen onscreen.

This is not a random sample, but it is a pretty large sample.

The most common class is the Excelsior (25 seen) while the most cumulative cubage is from the Nebula class (37% of the cubage of this subset of Federation ships). The Galaxy class makes up 6% of this subset, with 23% of the cubage. Ambassadors and Excelsiors have 15% and 11%, meaning these four classes have a total of 85% of the cubage of our subset; they would probably still have over three quarters the total cubage if we included all the other ships whose size is not identified on ST-v-SW.net (many of which are unique or not seen onscreen). A half dozen other classes are in the 1% to 4% range - Akira (3.5%), Constellation (2.8%), New Orleans (2.2%), Constitution (1.8%), Sovereign (1.2% - just one ship), and Miranda (1.2% - with 11 ships).

The mean ship of this subset has a volume of around 1.4 million cubic meters, about the size of the Akira; the median (i.e., splitting the difference between the Constellation class and the Prometheus class, which give the 71st and 72nd largest ships in this subset) is 700,000 cubic meters.

If we exclude vessels with 4 or fewer digits in their registries, which conveniently excludes both "old" ships and ships named Enterprise, our sample drops to a convenient 99. Our mean ship size increases to 1.8 million cubic meters, and our median sized ship is a 870,000 cubic meter Excelsior class. Our top four classes include 90% of this subset's cubage. Only three other classes exceed 1% of this cubage - Akira (4%), New Orleans (2.5%), and Intrepid (1%).

Thoughts: The Nebula may just be the backbone of the fleet, and the Excelsior class has been refitted from flagship to a basic typical workhorse.

While there are a good number of very small ships, the data we have doesn't really support the NCC catalog numbers going crazy just on account of runabouts.

The Ambassador seems to be underrated as a part of the TNG-era fleet. While we may not have seen Ambassadors in DS9 or Voyager, what we've seen of the class represents about a third more cubage than the Excelsior class; it's the sixth most common numerically, the third largest, and the third largest investment in cubage.

Speculation: While the larger and newer Nebula and Galaxy class share a number of common parts and are the backbone of the fighting arm of Starfleet in the Dominion War, the Ambassador class explores the more distant reaches of space and guards the rear areas of the Federation from attack. I doubt they've been retired.

[Mith]

From Ex Astris Scientia, and ST-v-SW.net, we have 142 Federation vessels which we have a good official or semi-official idea of the name or NCC/NX catalog number, class, and volume. This includes all classes which we have more than 4 members identified, and includes a significant supermajority (three quarters or more) of the ships seen onscreen.

This is not a random sample, but it is a pretty large sample.

The most common class is the Excelsior (25 seen) while the most cumulative cubage is from the Nebula class (37% of the cubage of this subset of Federation ships). The Galaxy class makes up 6% of this subset, with 23% of the cubage. Ambassadors and Excelsiors have 15% and 11%, meaning these four classes have a total of 85% of the cubage of our subset; they would probably still have over three quarters the total cubage if we included all the other ships whose size is not identified on ST-v-SW.net (many of which are unique or not seen onscreen). A half dozen other classes are in the 1% to 4% range - Akira (3.5%), Constellation (2.8%), New Orleans (2.2%), Constitution (1.8%), Sovereign (1.2% - just one ship), and Miranda (1.2% - with 11 ships).

The mean ship of this subset has a volume of around 1.4 million cubic meters, about the size of the Akira; the median (i.e., splitting the difference between the Constellation class and the Prometheus class, which give the 71st and 72nd largest ships in this subset) is 700,000 cubic meters.

If we exclude vessels with 4 or fewer digits in their registries, which conveniently excludes both "old" ships and ships named Enterprise, our sample drops to a convenient 99. Our mean ship size increases to 1.8 million cubic meters, and our median sized ship is a 870,000 cubic meter Excelsior class. Our top four classes include 90% of this subset's cubage. Only three other classes exceed 1% of this cubage - Akira (4%), New Orleans (2.5%), and Intrepid (1%).

Thoughts: The Nebula may just be the backbone of the fleet, and the Excelsior class has been refitted from flagship to a basic typical workhorse.

While there are a good number of very small ships, the data we have doesn't really support the NCC catalog numbers going crazy just on account of runabouts.

The Ambassador seems to be underrated as a part of the TNG-era fleet. While we may not have seen Ambassadors in DS9 or Voyager, what we've seen of the class represents about a third more cubage than the Excelsior class; it's the sixth most common numerically, the third largest, and the third largest investment in cubage.

Speculation: While the larger and newer Nebula and Galaxy class share a number of common parts and are the backbone of the fighting arm of Starfleet in the Dominion War, the Ambassador class explores the more distant reaches of space and guards the rear areas of the Federation from attack. I doubt they've been retired.

I actually think that the Ambassador's production was cut short by the war with the Cardassians. Because despite it testing new weapons and abilities, I just don't think it was made for the art of war, and hence the replacements with the newer ships.

I think we even see a Nebula and a Ambassador engage the cube in BoBW, which suggests that the Ambassador was slowly being replaced with newer ships.

[Mike DiCenso]

I think we even see a Nebula and a Ambassador engage the cube in BoBW, which suggests that the Ambassador was slowly being replaced with newer ships.

In the "Emissary" flashback sequence for the Wolf-359 battle, we see the ill-fated USS Yamaguchi fighting the Borg cube alongside the USS Bellerophon.

There are several other supposedly Ambassador class ships that were involved in the Dominon War, but they are ambigous backstage references at best.
-Mike

[Jedi Master Spock]

A good point. If we discount the backstage/noncanon source references, we do only have 6 Galaxies, 17 Excelsiors, 12 Nebulas, and 5 Ambassadors seen onscreen and identified. If we slice it that way, it edges the Ambassadors down to fourth and the Excelsiors up to third in total cubage.

I'd still hate to discount it. It's one of the more significant classes in terms of fraction of fleet tonnage, and it did spend something like three decades being the largest class in Starfleet by a factor of three.

I suppose the Ambassador, Galaxy, and Nebula were all oversized. The Sovereign actually displaces less than all three according to the ST-v-SW.net volume chart. I suppose it's the introduction of the Sovereign that really made the Ambassador look obsolete.

[Mith]

A good point. If we discount the backstage/noncanon source references, we do only have 6 Galaxies, 17 Excelsiors, 12 Nebulas, and 5 Ambassadors seen onscreen and identified. If we slice it that way, it edges the Ambassadors down to fourth and the Excelsiors up to third in total cubage.

I'd still hate to discount it. It's one of the more significant classes in terms of fraction of fleet tonnage, and it did spend something like three decades being the largest class in Starfleet by a factor of three.

I suppose the Ambassador, Galaxy, and Nebula were all oversized. The Sovereign actually displaces less than all three according to the ST-v-SW.net volume chart. I suppose it's the introduction of the Sovereign that really made the Ambassador look obsolete.

Actually, the Ambassadors would have been pulled back into service for the Dominion War, and surely any survivors would remain while the fleet is being rebuilt.

Although I have a feeling that the Exceslior is going to be staying for a long time, as is the Galaxy and Nebula, just due to their popularity with the fans.

If we ever get something that's set in the TNG+ era ever again that is.

[Mith]

I think we even see a Nebula and a Ambassador engage the cube in BoBW, which suggests that the Ambassador was slowly being replaced with newer ships.

In the "Emissary" flashback sequence for the Wolf-359 battle, we see the ill-fated USS Yamaguchi fighting the Borg cube alongside the USS Bellerophon.

There are several other supposedly Ambassador class ships that were involved in the Dominon War, but they are ambigous backstage references at best.
-Mike

Perhaps I was mistaken then...

[Mike DiCenso]

A good point. If we discount the backstage/noncanon source references, we do only have 6 Galaxies, 17 Excelsiors, 12 Nebulas, and 5 Ambassadors seen onscreen and identified. If we slice it that way, it edges the Ambassadors down to fourth and the Excelsiors up to third in total cubage.

Actually, the Excelsiors and the Mirandas gain a huge amount based on just visually identifying the ones seen throughout the Dominion War fleet scenes (they all cannot be the same ships as many of them are destroyed in the fighting), as does the Galaxy class, where 8 GCS are visually seen together on screen in "Endgame" [VOY, Season 7].
-Mike