The Klingon fleet is divided into squadron commands, and probably has a fleet on the general order of 1350 active and functional modern warships; unlike the Federation fleet, it would appear as though it has expanded little in the past 25 years. It's quite common for Klingon ships to deployed in groups of three; although Klingon battlecruisers appear not to be a complete match for a top-of-the-line Federation or Romulan vessel, three can capably handle the ships used by any of their nearest rivals.

The Romulan fleet is shrouded in mystery. Romulans make squad deployments on occasion, and also make frequent use of paired warbirds. One is usually sufficient to handle problems.

The Federation's members operate their own independent fleets. The Starfleet headquartered in San Francisco seems the largest of these, and is largely staffed by Humans. It appears as though the total number of ships operated by the UFP and/or its member governments is somewhere around 20-30,000; we may estimate that about 2,500 qualify as active duty warships. The Federation normally operates ships singly, although when fleet actions seem required, deployments of dozens of ships are not unusual. Federation ships are built with a fair safety margin and internal control systems and have relatively little downtime; high levels of automation allow Federation ships to be easily operated with reduced battle crews.

The Federation is also covered by a network of nearly a thousand Starbases. Most are orbital. They range in size and shape from the spiderlike Starbase Montgomery (barely large enough to fit a Galaxy class) to the mushroom like Lya Station Alpha (5-6 miles wide.)

The Duras sisters already have commitments from seven squadrons of the fleet. The Mogh brothers gained the commitments of three additional squadron leaders - enough to "control seven key sectors." They earlier gained four additional squadrons. Kurn states that most of the fleet is uncommitted; as at least 15 squadrons are, this means there are at least 16 uncommited squadrons, i.e., at least 31. 50 is also a reasonable guess and 100 entirely possible.

Four Klingon squadrons are enough to wage war, control multiple sectors, etc. 13-21 Federation starships are not and are "spread thin" over the radius of a day's travel. Considering the Klingon focus on threes in military deployments, a squadron most likely consists of 27 ships, although anywhere from 9-81 could be justified with a little work.

We could therefore estimate very roughly that the Klingon fleet contains around 1350 (279-8100) warships. The comparisons of "Yesterday's Enterprise" suggest that the Klingon fleet used to be a closer match for the Federation fleet than it is during TNG.

The Benzites have their own fleet, per "A Matter of Honor." There are multiple Vulcans on board the Enterprise, per "The Enemy." We are told there are people from thirteen different alien cultures on board the Enterprise, and no Andorians - at least, not when (INSERT EPISODE NAME HERE) took place.

Galaxy class vessels have NCC numbers in the low 70,000s. Ambassadors, produced 25-30 years prior, have 26,000s. Constellation class vessels have registries well down in the 4 digit range, some having been built 75-80 years prior to the beginning of TNG. Therefore, the Federation has constructed roughly forty five thousand vessels the 25 years prior to TNG, 70,000 vessels constructed in the century prior, and 72,000 in the prior 200 years. Assuming an median service life of 10-20 years and a maximum service life of 80 years, we arrive at a current fleet of 20,000-30,000 ships. Presumably this includes all member fleets, but it is possible it does not include all ships within member fleets constructed while a member of the UFP. If we assume that roughly 10-25% can serve as active duty warships, and these vessels are active 65% of the time, then the UFP has somewhere around 1300-4900 warships on active duty. Taking the geometric means suggests ~2500 warships.

In "Redemption," Lursa states clearly for the record: "Twenty ships aren't enough to wage a war," referring to a report of "over twenty" UFP vessels massing on the Klingon-Romulan border, including the flagship of the entire fleet; earlier, it was stated that only a dozen other Starfleet vessels were within a day's travel, with 7-8 more in dock being repaired, refitted, etc. Fighting having continued in the Mempa sector for three weeks after their supply bases in that sector had been destroyed being unusual suggests that a sector could well be a day's travel in radius, possibly more. This is described as being "stretched thin," but gives us an idea of downtime in the UFP fleet as well as normal sector deployments. Out of a sample of 21 starships marginally capable of active duty, 13 are fully active. We may therefore expect that a starship still on the duty roster and not in the scrapyard has somewhere in the general neighborhood of 38% downtime, including major repair and upgrade cycles. In "Descent," 15 starships are deployed, broken into 5 task forces of 3, to patrol a sector.


Eighty year old Constellation class starships can be crewed fully for battle by forty, and are still around intact, as in "Peak Performance;" they may also be operated in combat by a single officer on the bridge, as in "The Gift." The crew of the Enterprise D is roughly a thousand, and the crew of the Enterprise C roughly seven hundred, per "Yesterday's Enterprise." A Nebula class vessel operated in the TNG era has a crew of only ~400, per "Interface." In an emergency, the Enterprise can be entirely run by a single individual from the bridge - even thoroughly run and controlled against internal opposition, as Data manages in "Brothers." A sample Cardassian warship has a crew of six hundred in "The Wounded." The USS Brattain had a crew of 35, including one Betazoid. In general, smaller starships on the general scale of the old Constitution class seem to have crews of a few dozen. As explored in a very large number of episodes, Federation ships are equipped with emergency bulkheads and internal force fields. "The Next Phase" demonstrates that the Romulans are also bright enough to equip their ships with emergency bulkheads. "Chain of Command" - Federation ships may be operated on a three shift schedule - or a four shift schedule. "Force of Nature" tells us a Ferengi Marauder has a crew of 450.

Seven Romulan battlecruisers floating around are considered an urgent threat to the border in "Angel One," although nothing came of it. Two Romulan warbirds might be worth trying to bluff with a Galaxy class; five of the giant beasts are not. A single D'deridex warbird and a Galaxy class appear a similar match, although the Galaxy is faster; a single Klingon battlecruiser is not, as per "A Matter of Honor." Three Klingon battlecruisers, however, can give two Warbirds a serious pause and give a single Galaxy class cause for hopelessness, per "Yesterday's Enterprise" and INSERT EPISODE NAME HERE. After all, two B'rel birds of prey crewed by Ferengi handed a GCS its tail in "Rascals."

There are Outposts (primarily along the Romulan Neutral Zone), Starbases (numbered or named), Deep Space stations, research stations, subspace relay stations, subspace telescope arrays, and simple stations; all assembled, there are perhaps a thousand major bases operated by the Federation. Some are groundside facilities; some are operated in partnership with allies. Most are orbital, ranging in size and shape from the cradled arms of Starbase Montgomery barely large enough to fit a Galaxy class to the great 5-6 mile wide mushroom of Lya Station Alpha.