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I'm trying to get a feel for the size of the Federation during the time of The Original Series.
The following commentator writes that during the time of TOS there were only 12 Constitution class warships.
My question is: During Star Trek TOS were there only 12 Constitution-class starships in all of Starfleet?
Yes, at least according to Kirk.
CHRISTOPHER: Must have taken quite a lot to build a ship like this.
KIRK: There are only twelve like it in the fleet.
That being said, when we learn of the USS Defiant (no, not that one, the earlier one) there may have actually been 13 or more, although some are known to have been destroyed or fallen out of operation.
Within the series we actually see (or hear about) 13 Constitution class vessels, although at least two are known to have been destroyed.
A significant number of other Constitution-Class ships were mentioned in the various films and episodes that occurred after TOS: Tomorrow is Yesterday including the the USS Eagle and the replacement USS Enterprise.
According to The Making of Star Trek page 165, " The following names have been established for starships: Enterprise, Exeter, Excalibur, Lexington, Yorktown, Potemkin, Republic, Hood, Constitution, Kongo, Constellation, Farragut, Valiant, and Intrepid. The latter four are listed as destroyed in various episodes."
I do not know why the book lists fourteen names it was written by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry. There are two memos in the book to Gene from D.C. Fontana and Bob Justman with other suggested names for starships.
No there were 12 like the Enterprise (Constitution class) at the time of the episode "Tommorrow is Yesterday" when Kirk utters the line: "There are only twelve like it in the fleet."
The Star Trek Writer's guide established there were fourteen Constitution Class starships: Constitution, Constellation, Enterprise, Yorktown, Lexington, Farragut, Republic, Intrepid, Exeter, Hood, Excalibur, Valiant, Kongo, Potemkin. The original AMT model decal sheet validates these names.
The Constitution Class had been around for at least 13 years and probably longer (The Menagerie) and Kirk had served aboard at least two of them before assuming command of the Enterprise. The USS Republic (Court Martial) and the USS Farragut (Obsession.)
It is almost certain the Farragut was lost or destroyed when it encountered the Cloud Creature, and that would make Kirk's statement in Tomorrow is Yesterday true when he said it. There were only twelve like it (that were left) in the fleet.
The Star Trek Reference manual lists four as destroyed. We saw at least two of them destroyed, Intrepid in Immunity Syndrome and Constellation in Doomsday Machine. These episodes occurred after Tomorrow Is Yesterday. We heard of the destruction of Farragut in Obsession. We also probably saw the destruction of the Excalibur in Ultimate Computer but it was never established that it was destroyed beyond salvage.
This leaves the Valiant. This is problematic. It may be bad writing. Other than the ship named 'Valiant' that disappeared two hundred years before the episode 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' we saw no Constitution class USS Valiant. We did however see a USS Defiant (Tholian Web) that wasn't on the writer's guide list. Like the other ship names used from history there was an actual British battleship named Valiant. There was never an actual ship named 'Defiant.' There was a fictional HMS Defiant in the film 'Damn The Defiant' I think somebody messed up, meant to type Valiant but chose to type Defiant instead and it became hard to explain canon.
Either way there were fourteen original Constitution Class and thirteen left when Kirk made his statement in Tomorrow Is Yesterday.
And they were all Constitution class. The model gave you a Constitution class starship and 14 names to choose from.
The existing answers are focused on naming the original Constitution class starships. I'd like to focus on the question's incredulity regarding such a small number and what people should think what the rest of the fleet looks like per "I'm trying to get a feel for the size of the Federation during the time of The Original Series". This is a photo of the Enterprise with the Antares from "Charlie X" remastered. The new CGI effect was based on a cargo ship from the animated series. Point being that in its time the Constitution class was as much of a technology leap as the Galaxy class was 75 years later over older classes. And in TNG the original intent was to only have a dozen Galaxy class ships in the fleet too.
Starships are expensive even in a post scarcity society - they take a decade to design and build and require crew. Before JJ the adults in charge of star trek realized you can't just launch thousands of these and have them maneuver underwater.
Here is a link to a similar question:
And my summary should be noted:
Finally, it should be remembered that there are three separate things in the era of TOS: Starships, Constitution Class ships, and the Twelve like the Enterprise.
It is common to assume that the three are all the same, that Starships equate to Constitution Class ships that equate to the Twelve like the Enterprise.
But it is possible that only two of them are the same.
Thus:
Starships could equal Constitution Class ships and be different from the Twelve like the Enterprise.
Starships could equal the Twelve like the Enterprise and be different from Constitution class ships.
Constitution Class ships could equal the Twelve like the Enterprise and be different from starships.
or:
All three - Starships, Constitution Class ships, and the Twelve like the Enterprise - could be different and separate, some being subcategories of others perhaps.
12 Constitution Class Starships:
Other TOS Starships
