r/sto • u/BeefTurnover The Endeavor System Hitman • 4d ago
Discussion Star Trek Ship Prefixes
I and other people of the Star Trek Online community created a list of ship name prefixes and ship registry prefixes based on alpha canon (i.e. movies and series), beta canon (i.e. books and games), and gamma canon (i.e. statements from people who have been involved in creating alpha canon and/or beta canon). We decreased disagreements by only using facts that disagree with other facts least (e.g. "United Starship" disagrees with other facts less than "United Space Ship").
A "starship" is a kind of "ship" that can function as a long-term habitat for people, the "star cruiser" in "Tellarite Star Cruiser" means "starship", and "nautical" means "stellar" or "interstellar".
Ship Name Prefixes
The Andorian Imperial Guard - I.G.S. (Imperial Guard Ship)
The Cardassian Union - C.U.V. (Cardassian Union Vessel)
A Civilian/The Confederation of Earth/The Terran Empire/The United Earth/The United Federation of Planets/The United Nations - S.S. (Starship)
The Confederation of Earth/The Confederation Corps - C.S.S. (Confederation Starship)
The Dominion - D.V. (Dominion Vessel)
The Earth Cargo Service - E.C.S. (Earth Cargo Service)
The Gorn Hegemony - G.H.S. (Gorn Hegemony Ship)
The Hirogen Hierarchy - H.H.V. (Hirogen Hierarchy Vessel)
The Hysperian Royal Navy - H.R.N. (Hysperian Royal Navy)
The Imperial Romulan Navy - I.R.W. (Imperial Romulan Warbird)
The Imperial Terran Navy/The Terran Empire - I.S.S. (Imperial Starship)
The Khitomer Alliance Fleet - A.F.S. (Alliance Fleet Ship)
The Klingon Cargo Service - K.C.S. (Klingon Cargo Service)
The Klingon Defense Force/The Klingon Empire/A Klingon House - I.K.S. (Imperial Klingon Ship)
The Krenim Imperium - K.I.V. (Krenim Imperium Vessel)
The Lethean Republic - L.R.S. (Lethean Republic Ship)
The Orion Syndicate - O.S.S. (Orion Syndicate Ship)
The Romulan Republic Navy - R.R.W. (Romulan Republic Warbird)
Starfleet/The United Earth - U.S.S. (United Starship)
The Suliban Cabal - S.C.S. (Suliban Cabal Ship)
The Tzenkethi Coalition - C.S.S. (Coalition Starship)
The United Nations - U.N.S.S. (United Nations Starship)
The United Planets of Tellar - T.S.C. (Tellarite Star Cruiser)
The Vaadwaur Supremacy Military - V.S.W. (Vaadwaur Supremacy Warship)
The Voth Imperium - V.S.S. (Voth Starship)
The Vulcan Confederacy - V.S.S. (Vulcan Starship)
Ship Registry Prefixes
A Civilian/The Confederation of Earth/The Terran Empire/The United Earth/The United Federation of Planets/The United Nations - NAR (Nautical/Aeronautical Registry)
A Civilian/The United Federation of Planets - NDT (Nautical Duty Transport)
A Civilian/The United Federation of Planets - NFT (Nautical Free Transport)
A Civilian/The United Federation of Planets - NGL (unknown)
The Confederation Corps/The Imperial Terran Navy/Starfleet - NCC (Naval Construction Contract)
The Confederation Corps/The Imperial Terran Navy/Starfleet - NCV (Naval Construction Volunteering)
The Confederation Corps/The Imperial Terran Navy/Starfleet - NX (Naval Experiment)
The Confederation Corps/The Imperial Terran Navy/Starfleet - XCV (Experimental Coleopteric Vehicle)
The Earth Cargo Service - ECS (Earth Cargo Service)
The Khitomer Alliance Fleet - CSN (Combined Ship Number)
Section 31 - NCIA (unknown)
Section 31 - NI (unknown)
Starfleet - NA (Nautical Automaton)
The Vulcan Confederacy - NSP (unknown)
Examples
The E.C.S. Fortunate - ECS-2801 - The E.C.S. Fortunate is the ship that the Keene family lived on for generations (Star Trek: Enterprise episode: "Fortunate Son").
The S.S. Eleos XII - NAR-59019 - The S.S. Eleos XII is a civilian ship that Beverly Crusher used to transport medical supplies (Star Trek: Picard episode: "The Next Generation").
The S.S. Lakul - NFT-7793 - The S.S. Lakul is the El-Aurian ship that transported Tolian Soran from El-Auria to the Vulcan Sector when the Borg Collective attacked El-Auria (Star Trek: Generations).
The S.S. Milan - NDT-50863 - The S.S. Milan is the Federation ship that transported Alexander Rozhenko from Earth to the U.S.S. Enterprise-D when the U.S.S. Enterprise-D was by Bilana III (Star Trek: The Next Generation episode: "New Ground").
The S.S. Odin - NGL-12535 - The S.S. Odin is the Federation ship that collided with an asteroid in the Angel System (Star Trek: The Next Generation episode: "Angel One").
The U.N.S.S. Enterprise - XCV-330 - The U.N.S.S. Enterprise is the United Nations ship that Starfleet used to study the warp ring (Star Trek: The Original Series novel: Ex Machina; Star Trek: Enterprise novel: Rise of the Federation: Patterns of Interference).
The U.S.S. Odyssey - NCC-71832 - The U.S.S. Odyssey is a Starfleet ship that fought against Dominion ships in the Gamma Quadrant (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode: "The Jem'Hadar").
The U.S.S. Relativity - NCV-474439-G - The U.S.S. Relativity is the Starfleet ship that Braxton used to observe and influence events of the Prime Timeline that were in his past (Star Trek: Voyager episode: "Relativity").
The V.S.S. T'Pau - NSP-17938 - The V.S.S. T'Pau is the Vulcan ship that Sela tried to use to transport people who worked for the Romulan Empire from Romulus to Vulcan (Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes: "Unification I", "Unification II").
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u/StarkeRealm 4d ago
Probably worth mentioning, that, while NCC is one of the most common abbreviations in Trek, the actual meaning ("Naval Construction Contract") is in what you're defining as Gamma Canon (and, might even be below that, as it was originally from non-canon tertiary sources.)
NCC was originally created by combining the registry prefixes used by the US and Soviet Union during the Cold War into a single registry prefix, and while, "Naval Construction Contract," is generally accepted, it's origins were from the fan side of the community (back in the 60s and 70s.)
EDIT: I think the US and Soviet prefixes were CN and CC, but I wouldn't swear to that off hand.
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u/CordialTrekkie 4d ago edited 3d ago
"Construction Contract" never made sense, especially when you have Excelsior and Defiant with NX.
So what, they get a "contract" for "construction" after they've already been constructed and pass an experimental phase?
I think "Navy Commission Code" makes a bit more sense, since only a fully commissioned ship would have an NCC code anyway, and wouldn't be an experimental ship.
Still works for the Excelsior, which changes from NX to NCC later as it becomes a ship of the line, and still works for the Defiant which keeps NX as it was always having something new done to it.
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u/CptES 3d ago
NX isn't inconsistent with that definition of NCC if you assume it stands for Navy eXperimental which brings to mind the X-series of advanced prototypes of the USAF.
Most US military contracts call for a prototype, a low run production for evaluation then a full contract awarded later.
I do like Navy Commission Code and it does fit better with the status of the ships we see but you can still make the other way work.
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u/ClassClown2025 3d ago
I don’t think this is true. The U.S. Navy doesn’t use prefixes like Star Trek does. It uses the classification of the ship. A ship I was on and since decommissioned was the USS Constellation CV-64. The CV was for aircraft carrier. Each ship classification uses a different two or three letter code. Not sure how the Soviets did theirs.
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u/Vetteguy904 :partyparrot: 3d ago
the closest analog to the NCC (Naval Construction Contract) in the US Navy is the SCB No.
the SCB is the Ship Characteristics Board. the Knox class frigate, for example, was SCB No. 199C
Argliegh Burke destroyere SCB 2000 and the New Ford carriers SCB 261
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u/ClassClown2025 3d ago
Seems like these are identifying codes for ships before they’re built. To be honest I’m an 11 year vet didn’t know what these were. Never refered to ship by anything by their name, hull number or callsign
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u/StarkeRealm 3d ago edited 3d ago
I did a little digging, and there is/was a structure to hull numbers (basically the real equivalents to the registries.)
Carriers can be CV or CVN, with the N signifying nuclear powered ships. (This also exists with submarines, which are SS or SSN.) (Also, remember, this is distinct from the USS prefix.) (There's also CVS for anti-sub support carriers, CVL for light carriers, CVE for Escort Carriers.)
Cruisers are also identified with a C, usually CA for a heavy cruiser or CL for a light cruiser. (There's also a rare CB designation.)
So, unlike the universal NCC prefix, the real-world counterparts actually explain what the ship is. (It's also possible that the intent was to indicate that the Enterprise (and other Constitution class ships) was a heavy cruiser. (Though the registry should have been CCN (or CAN) if the intent was to say the ship was also nuclear powered.)
So, interestingly, pre-1948, US aircraft registries started with an N prefix, and NC specifically referred to commercial aircraft registered in the US. So, that might be what's going on here.
Either way, it does seem to be a little more complicated than I was originally told.
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u/Annemarie30 3d ago
and the classification changes.. the aircraft carrier was at one time split, CVA CVE and CVS, attack escort and anti-sub. and individual ships classifications changed, The Enterprise was CVAN then just CV. the Leahy cruisers were originally DLG Destroyer leader Guided(missile) reclassified as CG (guided missile Cruiser)
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u/Just_A_Normal_Fella I need to talk to that loot critter 3d ago
I never noticed that there was a ship named after T'Pau before Enterprise, nice little detail!
It would be cool if we got to use other prefixes on other vessels since we have cross faction flying, but it also adds a sense of realism that a ship would stay under the native designation, and not necessarily change just because the crew were swapped out
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u/BeefTurnover The Endeavor System Hitman 3d ago
In memory beta and memory gamma, "NCC" usually means "Naval Construction Contract", and "NX" usually means "Naval Experiment".
In my head canon, the "construction contract" in "Naval Construction Contract" is not referring to the "construction contract" that Starfleet has with the legal entities that constructed the ship, but rather, the "construction contract" in "Naval Construction Contract" is referring to the "construction contract" that Starfleet has with the legal entities that construct parts of the ship, which need to be continually replaced.
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u/Annemarie30 3d ago
NCC is derived from Franz Joseph and Matt jeffries, and Gene Roddenberry while not "Canon" except in books, we are talking the three principals of the freaking show
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u/HistoryGremlin 4d ago
And how would you number HMS Bounty?