Starfleet

**Starfleet** is the scientific and military arm of the United Federation of Planets.

## Purpose

The Starfleet is primarily a military defense force, a stellar navy, serving the defense of the Federation. When not acting in a defensive role, the Starfleet is tasked with exploration at the behest of member nations, including finding and analyzing new colony worlds and stellar phenomena.

## History

The planet Earth had an Earth Stellar Fleet, officially Earth Starfleet began in the late 22nd century in the aftermath of the Third World War (aka the Eugenics War). In 2072, the United Earth Space Probe Agency was founded as a unified exploration agency for Earth, and Starfleet in 2071 a year prior as the defense force.

For the first 80 years, Starfleet grew slowly, with UESPA ships often competing for scientific crews. Earth nations vied for colonies as a means of 'national pride' with India, Japan, China, Russia, Rashidi Arabia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, the United States, the Confederate States, Brazil and Portugal, and Mexico all claiming planetary systems when the Vulcans showed humans how many inhabitable planets there are. The Vulcans were shocked at the number of ships humans were building to transfer large populations off-world; they knew that the humans, barely out of a catastrophic war, could cause an interstellar incident with their blind rush to escape war-torn Earth. So the Vulcans slowed their technology transfers, with the hope that humans could evolve into a more mature species. Having given artificial gravity, deflector technology, and a few other very basic technologies, the humans were able to construct a number of ships, with some difficulty, and begin sending colonists to their claimed planets. It was at this time the Vulcans signed a treaty with the humans that they would claim no new colonies outside of a sphere of 20 light years away from Earth.

In 2093, Alpha Centauri, with a human population of 89,000, declared its independence from Earth, nearly causing war until the Vulcans negotiated a treaty whereby the two populations would treat each other as sovereigns.

During this time, the Starfleet grew from a fleet of 12 vessels (2076) with a top speed of 8c, to a fleet of 52 (2150) with a top speed of 80c. One of the scientists working with Starfleet was Henry Archer, who had an experimental Warp 5 engine, which would be first installed on the NX-01 Enterprise. This Enterprise launched in 2151 and established friendly contact with a number of new species, and broke the communication lag with the Earth colonies, including the lost Terra Nova colony. It had its share of conflict with the Orions, a mysterious species called the Romulans, Andorians, and Tellarites. Captain Archer was critical in helping bridge the trust divide with Andorians and Tellarites, caused by the current Vulcan government. With their help, Captain Archer participated in a peaceful overthrow of the Vulcan regime, and return a legitimate government to Vulcan.

The NX-01 helped bring the human colonies into agreement with Earth to allow Starbases to be built in their systems and to provide personnel to Starfleet to help defend the colonies from interstellar conflict. In 2156, Archer returned the ship to Earth for a major refit, adding a secondary hull component that greatly extended the range of the ship and its durability. The first 8 ships would rotate into dock to have this component added to extend their service life. Humans discovered there were certain pathways in space that allowed ships to go faster at the same warp speed than others, as if there were 'rivers' or 'corridors' within subspace, making what should be a year-long journey happen in a week without damage to the ship or its crew. These interstellar 'highways' would become more frequently traveled and important trade routes for many species.

From 2157-2161, Earth faced war with the Romulans over Earth expansion towards their claimed space, forcing Earth to fight with primitive (by 24th century standards) atomic weapons. Starfleet expanded from the 2156 80 ships to 220 ships, mostly crewed by humans, but with Andorian and Tellarite stellar assistance. By the time peace was declared, Earth, Vulcan, Andoria, Tellar, and the similarly human Alpha Centauri, the first independent human colony, realized that they needed closer cooperation, and formed the United Federation of Planets. The Earth Starfleet was federalized into the Federation Starfleet as of 2161. This new fleet, based on Earth ships, due to Andorian and Tellarite wariness about Vulcans lingering from before the war, used Earth technology and designs (which were found most adaptable to new technology), and was largely populated with humans, with Andorians and Tellarites making up the balance of crews, though initial difficulties in working with alien crewmen kept adoption of new members into the fleet slow for a few years. Vulcans declined to join Starfleet for several decades for a number of reasons at this time, until Spock joined in the mid 23rd century.

From 2161-2205, Starfleet expanded with new technology and new ship designs. Earth colonies like New India, New Japan, Britannia Nova, and others gain their independence and join the Federation as sovereign powers, and allow Starfleet bases in their territory. This era was a wild era, very similar to the colonial era of Earth, with stellar pirates and Starfleet competing to keep up, and the first two of four wars with the Kzinti. It is during this time that Starfleet's lasers, protonic torpedoes, and polarized hull plating were taken to the highest limit of their potential.

During the 23rd century, Starfleet developed new designs incorporating the sensibilities of new races, and altered the uniforms to incorporate new materials. As of 2215, UESPA was integrated into Starfleet as one of the controlling organizations, as the UFP realized UESPA and Starfleet had a duplication of services, with UESPA having older and less capable ships, which were less able to defend themselves in comparison to Starfleet, resulting in the need to redirect Starfleet to help or rescue them when in trouble. It was decided that from 2215 onward, UESPA's ships would become Starfleet ships and be upgraded as possible, but would thereafter be phased out when newer ships came online. This era, 2205-2245 was an era of consolidation and a slowdown in exploration, with a few skirmishes with the Klingons in 2223, culminating in the Axanar War from 2244-2245, which was ended with the stellar performance of the new Constitution class ship.

Starting in the 2230s, newer designs began to be drawn up, in service starting in 2235, culminating in the Constitution Class in 2245. This era (2245-2271) was again an exciting and opportunity-laden era, Starfleet swelling with new members and new ships, up to 859 total active ships of all classes.

Later during this time, Starfleet began experimenting with newer technologies, dubbed by some the 'Phase II' technologies, with a few ships built to these new specifications or refit into these new designs, but newer, more powerful designs were eventually tested and released, starting with the USS Enterprise, becoming the first of the Mark III Constitution Class ship, leading to a new design era with many ships being refit into the new designs, and existing ships halted to be reconstructed along the new design. This became another era in Starfleet expansion (2271-2305), reaching 1113 total ships.

## Organization

* Fleet: (Admiral)
* Battle Fleet: two or more task forces (Vice Admiral)
* Task Force (temporary formation): two or more flotillas/divisions/squadrons, ships from one or more fleets; (Vice Admiral)
* Carrier Battle Group: A capital ship, plus support, up to 25 ships; (Vice Admiral)
* Flotilla: up to 20 ships of the same class, 2+ squadrons; (Rear Admiral)
* Squadron 3-10 ships; (Rear Admiral or Commodore)
* Divison: 2-4 ships; (Commodore)

## Ranks

* Officers:
	+ Ensign (O-1)
	+ Lieutenant, JG (O-2)
	+ Lieutenant (O-3)
	+ Lieutenant Commander (O-4)
	+ Commander (O-5)
	+ Captain (O-6)
		- Fleet Captain: A senior captain in charge of several vessels for the duration of a mission, not a permanent rank, but a position.
	+ Commodore: lowest flag rank (O-7)
	+ Rear Admiral (O-8)
	+ Vice Admiral (O-9)
	+ Admiral (O-10)
		- Fleet Admiral: a senior admiral in charge of multiple fleets for the duration of a mission; this is a position, not a rank
	+ Admiral of the Starfleet (O-11): seniormost Admiral of Starfleet
* Warrant Officers:
	+ Junior Warrant Officer (W1)
	+ Senior Warrant Officer (W2)
	+ Sergeant Warrant Officer (W3)
	+ Master Warrant Officer (W4)
	+ Chief Warrant Officer (W5)
* NCO:
	+ Crewman Recruit
	+ Crewman Apprentice
	+ Crewman (E-3)
	+ Petty Officer Third Class
	+ Petty Officer Second Class
	+ Petty Officer First Class
	+ Chief Petty Officer
	+ Senior Chief Petty Officer
		- Command Senior Chief Petty Officer; used at smaller commands without a Command Master Chief
	+ Master Chief Petty Officer
		- Command Master Chief Petty Officer
		- Fleet/Force Master Chief Petty Officer: Seniormost enlisted officer advisor to an admiral in a Fleet or Task Force
		- Master Chief Petty Officer of the Starfleet: Senior enlisted person of the Starfleet

## Player Guidance

Starfleet is primarily military and members of Starfleet should remember that they are a navy first and foremost. Your player characters should be physically fit, and engage in PT every day as in most Earth navies of the 20th and 21st century would expect. So, Lilly from Discovery would not make it in Starfleet, as she is not physically fit. However, someone such as Alexia Clark or other fitness models (physique-wise) would be more likely to be found in the fleet, fitness-wise. There should be military discipline on your ships and for the fleet, but Starfleet acts as an exploratory agency as well, so in times of peace, the ships act in a more relaxed fashion. That said, salutes, standing at attention, etc. would still be observed.

## Uniforms

### 2220-2271

Starting in 2220, Starfleet adopted a new set of uniforms for on-ship duty with three primary division colors, as a result of surveys with over 80 different species, finding the three colors most visually distinct at a distance and compatible with their cultures and preferences.

Later on, a black undershirt was added to the uniform for the sake of comfort, using a new silver-infused fabric that prevented bacteria growth and was more comfortable, breathable, and moisture-wicking.

## Federation Members

2161: 5
2169: 27
2175: 28
2181: 30
2196: 43
2205: 49
2245: 74
2264: 98
2271: 129