Kermit's Unofficial Guide to Starship Registry
While the information provided by this guide is based on mostly-canon sources, the conclusions presented are based almost entirely on my own personal speculation and justification. If you like what I've come up with and want to follow/use it in your RP, great! I'm really glad. If you don't like it, well, too bad. Nobody's saying you have to use it.
While the information provided by this guide is based on mostly-canon sources, the conclusions presented are based almost entirely on my own personal speculation and justification. If you like what I've come up with and want to follow/use it in your RP, great! I'm really glad. If you don't like it, well, too bad. Nobody's saying you have to use it.
What is a starship registry? How does it work?
A starship registry is a database of information used to identify individual starships. The Federation keeps records of its own ships as well as civilian ships operating within its borders. Each ship is assigned a registry number, which allows easy look-up of the ship's name, class, owner, affiliation, status, etc. Each ship is equipped with a transponder, which is part of an automated system that allows ships to easily identify each other. When within range, each ship's transponder broadcasts and receives registry information, which can then be verified using the database.
Do all ships have registries? What about aliens? What about criminals?
Other governments (including all of the major powers) register their own ships similarly to the Federation's method, though we don't see this in quite the same detail as we can with the Federation. My take on the registry system is that all legally owned ships are registered somewhere. In the case of government/military ships, this is easy, but for civilians it can be a little more hazy. At least as far as the Federation is concerned, it's probably a pretty safe bet that unregistered ships are illegal. But it's also probably a safe bet that it's not too difficult avoid getting caught as long as they aren't trying to dock at a Federation starbase. It's also probably possible to fake/forge registration information, though the success rate of that probably varies pretty widely.
Enough background! What do the letters before my ship's name mean?
When registered, often, a ship prefix is assigned. This prefix is the one that becomes part of the ship's name, declaring its affiliation. The most common one that everybody knows is, of course, the USS prefix used by Starfleet. But it's not the only one out there. STO is pretty good about only allowing you to use the ones that are relevant to the ship you're flying, but here's an abbreviated reference list:
Spoiler: Show
| SHIP PREFIX | EXPANDED | AFFILIATION |
| U.S.S. | United Starship | Starfleet |
| V.S.S. | Vulcan Starship | Vulcan Government |
| I.G.V. | Imperial Guard Vessel | Andorian Imperial Guard |
| I.G.S. | Imperial Guard Ship | Andorian Imperial Guard |
| S.S. | Starship | Federation Civilian |
| R.X.S. | Risian Experimental Ship | Federation Civilian |
| I.K.S. | Imperial Klingon Ship | Klingon Defense Force |
| I.R.W. | Imperial Romulan Warbird | Romulan Star Navy / Tal Shiar |
| R.R.W. | Romulan Republic Warbird | Romulan Republic |
| C.U.V. | Cardassian Union Vessel | Cardassian Union |
| O.S.S. | Orion Syndicate Ship | KDF-Aligned Orion |
| N.F.V. | Nausicaan Free Vessel | KDF-Aligned Nausicaan |
| G.H.S. | Gorn Hegemony Ship | Gorn Hegemony |
Blah blah blah, get to the numbers!
Almost there! In addition to the ship prefix, the registry number gets a prefix also. This is the NCC before the numbers. There are multiple registry prefixes in use by the Federation, denoting each ship's function. Here's a list:
Spoiler: Show
| REGISTRY PREFIX | EXPANDED | MEANING |
| NCC | Naval Construction Contract | Starfleet |
| NX | Naval Experimental | Starfleet Prototype |
| VS | Vulcan Ship | Vulcan Government |
| AT | Andorian Imperial Guard | |
| NAR | Federation Civilian |
Gaaaaaahhh! Tell us about the numbers already!
Fine! I'm only going to discuss Starfleet registry numbers, because we really don't have much info at all about anything else. Canon is full of inconsistencies and issues that make it difficult to nail down exactly how registry numbers are assigned, so for the purpose of our collective sanity, I'm going to blatantly ignore some of the outliers. So, let's get to the meat of it:
Registry numbers are assigned incrementally at the time that construction is ordered. This means that every time Starfleet decides it wants a new ship, a number is assigned. This also means that not every registry number will result in a completed ship. For example, if Starfleet says today, "We want 15 new Galaxy Class ships," then 15 new NCC numbers will be created. Let's say those are NCC-101 through NCC-115. Tomorrow, Starfleet says (for some reason), "I want a new Miranda Class!" That Miranda's registry will be NCC-116, even if it's launched before any of those Galaxies. This is how the newly-launched Prometheus was able to have a registry of 59650 even though ships had been commissioned up through as high as 74xxx, even years before. (yes I know this was a production mistake, but it's a great example anyway)
Not every registry number becomes a ship. From the previous example, if Starfleet decides later, "15 Galaxies was a bit excessive, let's cancel five of them." The registries of those five cancelled ships don't get reassigned. Additionally, Starfleet may sometimes intentionally skip blocks of numbers in order to start a new class of ship at an 'even' registry (NCC-1700). These two factors account for how high the recent registry numbers are, allowing for chronological numbering without each ship specifying exactly how many ships were actually built before it. Additionally, this means that not every registry number has a name associated with it. Sometimes, a ship will not be given name until well after construction has started.
The registry of each ship within a class will be higher than that of the lead ship of that class. The first ship of a class that's ordered (usually sharing the name of the class) will have the lowest registry number of all ships of that class. The USS Excelsior was NCC-2000. There are no excelsior class ships with registry numbers lower than 2000. This is important, because it gives us a starting point when we're going to pick out a registry number for our ship. If you look up the registry of the lead ship, then you know you need to pick a number higher than that.
Registry numbers can change. In some cases, ships will be re-registered when they're commissioned, refit, renamed, or for any number of other reasons. The most noteworthy example of this is when ships are named in honor of previous ships. The initial registry number will be replaced with the older registry of the namesake and a letter will be appended to designate the difference (ie. NCC-1701-A). It's also worth noting that the letter is appended to the registry NUMBER, not the ship's name. Use of the letter as part of the ship's name (ie. Enterprise-A) is technically incorrect, and should only be used informally.
It's also worth a mention that in the history of Trek canon, there are only two ship names (Enterprise, Relativity) that we've seen with a lettered registry. In virtually all cases where ship names are repeated (Hood, Saratoga, Endeavour, Constellation, Prometheus, Challenger, and many many many others) the new ships don't use the namesake's registry number. I realize that people love to add letters to their registry, so rather than suggesting that you don't do it at all, I'd just recommend that you keep in mind how significant it's supposed to be and keep your letters low.
Not every registry number becomes a ship. From the previous example, if Starfleet decides later, "15 Galaxies was a bit excessive, let's cancel five of them." The registries of those five cancelled ships don't get reassigned. Additionally, Starfleet may sometimes intentionally skip blocks of numbers in order to start a new class of ship at an 'even' registry (NCC-1700). These two factors account for how high the recent registry numbers are, allowing for chronological numbering without each ship specifying exactly how many ships were actually built before it. Additionally, this means that not every registry number has a name associated with it. Sometimes, a ship will not be given name until well after construction has started.
The registry of each ship within a class will be higher than that of the lead ship of that class. The first ship of a class that's ordered (usually sharing the name of the class) will have the lowest registry number of all ships of that class. The USS Excelsior was NCC-2000. There are no excelsior class ships with registry numbers lower than 2000. This is important, because it gives us a starting point when we're going to pick out a registry number for our ship. If you look up the registry of the lead ship, then you know you need to pick a number higher than that.
Registry numbers can change. In some cases, ships will be re-registered when they're commissioned, refit, renamed, or for any number of other reasons. The most noteworthy example of this is when ships are named in honor of previous ships. The initial registry number will be replaced with the older registry of the namesake and a letter will be appended to designate the difference (ie. NCC-1701-A). It's also worth noting that the letter is appended to the registry NUMBER, not the ship's name. Use of the letter as part of the ship's name (ie. Enterprise-A) is technically incorrect, and should only be used informally.
It's also worth a mention that in the history of Trek canon, there are only two ship names (Enterprise, Relativity) that we've seen with a lettered registry. In virtually all cases where ship names are repeated (Hood, Saratoga, Endeavour, Constellation, Prometheus, Challenger, and many many many others) the new ships don't use the namesake's registry number. I realize that people love to add letters to their registry, so rather than suggesting that you don't do it at all, I'd just recommend that you keep in mind how significant it's supposed to be and keep your letters low.
Wow, that was really interesting! But how does it help me pick a registry for my ship?
I'm so glad you asked! It's actually pretty simple. Here's what you should consider:
Pick a number that's higher than the lead ship of the class. While we don't have a definite start-number for every class out there, we do have a lot of them. When that's not available, I recommend staying higher than the lowest number we have seen on-screen (or in-game). For your convenience, I've made a list for you:
Pick a number that isn't taken by a canon ship. This one's easy. Just check your number against this list and make sure it isn't taken.
Pick a number that isn't taken by a STO canon or Argo canon ship. This one would normally require a bit more research, but luckily, Coby did most of the work for you already (Thanks Coby <3). Check out this spreadsheet to see what registries are in use by STO and by Argo. Once you've picked your number, feel free to add your ship to the list, so nobody uses it in the future!
Don't go too high. Especially if you're picking a six-digit registry, try not to go too much higher than the existing registries. Remember, if you make your ship NCC-999999, that means that every single registry available in-game is ICly reserved, and no ship can ever have been ordered later than yours.
Spoiler: Show
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Pick a number that isn't taken by a canon ship. This one's easy. Just check your number against this list and make sure it isn't taken.
Pick a number that isn't taken by a STO canon or Argo canon ship. This one would normally require a bit more research, but luckily, Coby did most of the work for you already (Thanks Coby <3). Check out this spreadsheet to see what registries are in use by STO and by Argo. Once you've picked your number, feel free to add your ship to the list, so nobody uses it in the future!
Don't go too high. Especially if you're picking a six-digit registry, try not to go too much higher than the existing registries. Remember, if you make your ship NCC-999999, that means that every single registry available in-game is ICly reserved, and no ship can ever have been ordered later than yours.
Kermit! Where did you come up with all this crap, and why should we listen to you?
Because I'm a giant nerd and I've spent way too much of my life thinking about nonsensical things like the logic of registry numbers. If you're really interested in seeing where all of this came from, or prefer to draw your own conclusions, here are some good sources to get you started: