Federation Ship Recognition Manual

Starship referenced published by FASA as a supplement to Star Trek: The Role-Playing Game.

Contents

 * From the book jacket:
 * Classified – Authorized Personnel Only. The Federation Ship Recognition Manual is intended for Star Fleet personnel with a "need-to-know" concerning information on the Star Fleet vessels. This comprehensive study discloses all known combat, visual and historical data on 42 different Federation ships and their variants. Also included is a chronology of service and silhouette recognition chart. This manual is a must for all Star Trek enthusiasts.

The cover depicts a cutaway view of the Remora-class escort, while the opposite back cover continues the image with several Scorpio-class corvettes.

The information here is not reliable

Freighters

 * Aakenn-class
 * Liberty-class

Warpshuttles

 * Greyhound-class
 * Pulsar-class

Tenders

 * Derf-class
 * Cle Dan-class

Repair facilities

 * Pearl-class

Defense outposts

 * Alamo-class

Background Information
The Federation Ship Recognition Manual was a gaming guide used for Star Trek: The Role-Playing Game by FASA. It showed designs and described the combat abilities for several Federation ship types and gave brief histories for them. The ships were from the timeframes of the original Star Trek series and movies. It contained many more designs than were contained in the original Starship Combat Manual. There are even some older designs from the time of Captains Christopher Pike and Robert April that have lasers and accelerator cannons. The contemporaries include the Nelson-class scout and Larson-class destroyer (both of which have only one warp engine much like the  and ), Loknar-class frigate and Anton-class cruiser (an early Miranda design). Later designs include the Andor-class torpedo cruiser, Reliant (Miranda)-class cruiser, Enterprise (Constitution refit)-class cruiser, Wilkerson- and Baker-class destroyers, Chandley-class frigate and the Excelsior-class cruiser. Many of these ships have different upgrades which extend their lifespans. The Constitution-class had four different upgrades before being changed to the Enterprise-class. Those upgrades included the specs from Pike's time with lasers, and another which came near the end of Kirk's first five-year mission but was not performed on the Enterprise. One of the strangest designs was the Baker-class, which in its original design did not bring enough firepower to bear in any direction. In checking against the Ship Construction Manual, it was a design that should not have been able to be put together because of weight limits. There were occasional problems where the information would not match the other guide. Another problem was that most Federation designs could not fire 60 degrees aft. It is interesting to note that the Federation held a big technological edge, especially when the Enterprise-class came out. The Excelsior-class widens that gap, even when considering Romulan and Klingon battleship designs.

Credits

 * 1st Edition:
 * Product Concept: Jordan K. Weisman
 * Graphic Design: Dana Knutson
 * 2nd Edition:
 * Historical Consultant: Commander Hikaru Sulu
 * Editor-in-Chief: L. Ross Babcock III
 * Proofreading: Donna Ippolito
 * Layout and Pasteup: Dana Knutson, Todd F. Marsh, Jane Bigos
 * Typesetting: Karen Vander Mey

Starship and station types

 * Assault ship
 * Battleship
 * Corvette
 * Cruiser
 * Cutter
 * Destroyer
 * Escort
 * Frigate
 * Monitor
 * Scout
 * Transport
 * Freighter
 * Warp shuttle
 * Tender
 * Repair facility
 * Defense outpost