The Ships of STF

Histories & Notables

In the beginning, there were only the ships. Each ship had a captain, each captain a ship, and that was that.

In the beginning of STF, that is. In mid-1992, more than a year after STF's founding, role-playing began with a new concept: ships with crews, not just captains! This, known as the Kowalewski Plan (KP), has remained STF's core concept since then: Role-playing on a few ships, with seven or so crewmen around, interacting, sharing the experience.

Today STF's Prodigy contingent has three ships, down from as many as fifteen in 1993. Two additional ships were only decommissioned as recently as June 1997, and of those two, one will probably be "recommissioned" in September 1997.

What follows is a list of active and recently active ships in STF, and a short (and by no means definitive) history thereof. There are separate pages for the ships of STF's WeBB (Online Roleplaying third fleet) and STF's very old ships.

The Ships of the WeBB -- a listing of the vessels of Fleet 3.

STF's Historical Ships -- some you may remember...

The Non-Crewed (N.C.) Fleet of STF.

**U.S.S. Ark Angel NCC-2014-A**

The vagaries of the alphabet place this Fleet One ship at the forefront of our current shiplist; The "Angel," as she is called by her crew, has an illustrious past with STF. The AA is known for producing STF leaders: Mike Cathcart, former President; Randy McCullick, same; Greg Hertzsch, current President; And Dennis Hannigan, one-time Fleet Commander and general "morale lifter" of sorts to the fleet -- all AA crewmembers at one point. The ship is currently commanded by "Den" Hannigan; Greg Hertzsch is the Chief Science Officer.

As a ship the Angel has been pretty consistent over the years in terms of engineering. Randy McCullick, the former Chief Engineer (and one of the first members of STF) made the AA one of his Nimitz-Class Dreadnoughts long before the Engineering Department began keeping track of ship classes. With beefed-up weapons and multilayered shielding, the Angel is definitely a force to be reckoned with (and then some) in a fight. This ship's influence is such that at one point, it spawned a namesake -- the short-lived USS Ark Angel II -- in STF's Second Fleet. And don't forget the blue lightning bolt that's been painted in place of the Starfleet banner on the side of the ship -- just another great contribution from the flagship of Fleet One.

**U.S.S. Aurora NCC-3314-B**

For some reason the two ships of Fleet One are both at the head of this list; In bygone days, the Apparition, Ark Angel II, and the Arleigh Burke, all of STF2, would have come before the Aurora.
The "AU" has been, for quite some time, the province of Commodore Aaron Holland but other STF luminaries such as Adam Steiner, Greg Weir, Sarah Wilcox, and (wow!) Brian Misamore have all called the Aurora "home" at some point. Another notorious member was Dave Morris, an outspoken critic of President ~Z~'s government, demoted all the way to Ensign at one point.

Today's Aurora is the prototype of the Aurora-Class "Refitted Galaxy" Heavy Cruiser. The first STF Aurora -- 3314-A -- was an Ambassador-Class vessel. The Aurora class is based upon the Galaxy class, with a minor upgrade of technology to bio-neural cells and Emergency Medical Holograms. The current captain of the Aurora is Aaron Holland, who also commands Fleet One.

The Official USS Aurora Homepage, maintained by Aaron Holland.

**U.S.S. Constellation NCC-1017-H**

Perhaps the oldest starship in STF history, the Constellation (a.k.a. "CONST." or "Connie") can trace its roots back to the days when STF was less than a year old: In those pre-crew days, Jim Midyette -- future four-term STF President -- named his ship Constellation. When he gave it up to pursue the Presidency, he left it in the capable hands of future Admiral Grace "Sunshine" Larsen. Larsen went on to become Fleet Commander of Fleet Two, and up until 1995 the Connie was the flagship of Fleet Two. Other recent captains include Adrianna West, David Brown, Jim Midyette -- after stepping down from the Presidency for the final time -- and, most recently, SNN Publisher and Fleet Two FComm Commodore Mike Ballway.

In late 1992, as far back as any documentation goes, the Constellation in use in STF was the Constellation-Class Connie-E. In late 1992, the -E was destroyed in spacedock when a "glob" of Blue Jello (a constant Const joke) off-set the precise balance of the Matter/Antimatter Reaction Chamber. An explosion of this kind would normally do serious damage to the drydock also, which is why Starbase 93 has earned a reputation as "indestructible." The next Connie, the 1017-F, was Galaxy-Class and lasted until August of 1993, when it was decommissioned due to personnel lossage. This Connie was perhaps most famous for facing down 71 Romulan Warbirds. Its final voyage took it to the Klingon border before self-destructing. Then came the Trinitron (Mark I)-Class Connie-G, actually the first of the Trinitron-Class ships. In May of 1997 the Connie-G was decommissioned to make way for the new Trafalgar-Class Connie-H, a Tactical Destroyer. The Connie-H was decommissioned in July 1997 due to personnel lossage (again!); It will be the second ship reactivated when membership figures justify it.

The Official USS Constellation Homepage, maintained by Mike Ballway.

**U.S.S. Trinitron NCC-10301-C**

Nobody, Nobody, in STF knows how we got a ship named after a television set made by Sony. The bottom line, though, is that the Trinitron has been a fairly consistent supplier of leaders to Fleet Two and to STF Command. Former Vice-President Nick Oven was the last CO of the "Trin"; Mike Barclay (STF's last Admiral, and an active member of STF Command) was a Trin captain in the past. Ken "Velos" Marklan, one-time Acting President and also a major player in STF history, was a product of the Trin as well. Ever since Mike Barclay became FComm-2 in 1995 the Trinitron has been Flagship of Fleet Two.

The first documented USS Trinitron was the Galaxy-Class 10301-B; About a month after the Connie, the Trin recieved the upgrade to Trinitron-Class (the Trin is subclassified as "Mark II"). The 10301-C was decommissioned and destroyed in June 1997 because of membership losses but is expected to be recommissioned -- as the Trinitron Mk. III-Class 10301-D -- in August 1997.

**U.S.S. Victorious NCC-1929**

The Victorious was originally part of STF's Fleet Three, which at one point was on the Star Trek Bulletin Board on Prodigy (as opposed to Fleets 1 and 2, which are on the Game Bulletin Board). Fleet 3 was recalled back to the GBB and later disbanded, at which time its three ships -- the Daedelus, the Dresden, and the Vicky -- were distributed among the two remaining fleets. The Vicky is currently the only ship remaining in Fleet Two, and is captained by ex-Trinitron CO and ex-Vice-President Captain Nick Oven.

As one can tell by the absence of any suffix on her registry, the Vicky has not recieved any upgrades or decommissionings in her career with STF. She has always been of the Nebula Class, and is the last ship to hold out against an upgrade to the New Fleet. The Chief Engineer on the Vicky is none other than Vice-President and current Engineering Director Commander Owen Townes himself; Adam Scurr and Adam Steiner are two famous crewmembers dating back to the Fleet Three days.

Other Ships

U.S.S. Apparition: The "App" was an early Fleet Two ship whose last captain was Jason Brocklesby; Old-timers reference this ship often because of the stink Brocklesby made when his ship was decommed (he actually resigned over it). Former Vice-President Michelle Michalski and Brian "Scoop" Macfarlane were both Apparition crewmembers.

U.S.S. Ark Angel II: Fleet Two also played host to this ship, a blatant attempt at copying the original Ark Angel, right down to its Nimitz-Class indestructibility. One notable captain was Paula Lorenzo.

U.S.S. Arleigh Burke: The Burke was pretty much thoroughly unremarkable in every way, and as such was one of the first STF ships decommissioned during the "Black July" membership losses in 1993.

U.S.S. Daedelus: One of the Fleet Three "Colony" ships, when the Colony was brought home the "Daed" took its place in Fleet Two, where it was decommissioned in 1996. Fleet Captain Aaron Bryant, known for his essay "Duties," commanded this ship in the STBB Colony. Another famous commander in the Arts BB days was Kate McCarthy, after whom the traditional STF Anniversary celebration, the "McParty," is named.

U.S.S. Dresden: The other Fleet Three ship (along with the Vicky there were three), assigned to Fleet One when "brought home." Adrian Kowalewski (architect of the Kowalewski Plan), Stef Scholsberg (former Colonial Governor and active Admiral), Ryan Lucas (former STF Vice-President), and Dan Barbarisi were all crewers at one point aboard this Ambassador-Class ship, decommissioned in 1996.

U.S.S. Hubble: Dan Hardy is the name most closely associated with the Hubble, which was once part of an attempt by STF to conduct RPGs or at least stay in touch via the Post Office.

U.S.S. Lexington: Little is known about this ship, except that STF great Churlsan Han left the Constellation to take the CO spot there shortly before it was decommed (around the same time as the Burke).

U.S.S. Snapple: It sounds like a joke but it wasn't. During the Midyette Presidency of 1993 and 1994, STF was a large club and most of the Admiralty did not serve on ships. Midyette commissioned the Snapple as a role-playing ship for the leaders of the club, so basically everyone of note during that time served.

U.S.S. Survivor: This ironically named ship was decommissioned in 1995 along with the Daedelus and Dresden. David Brown and Scott Vandehey were two of its last officers (XO and CO, respectively). Greg Crosswhite and Anthony Fenili were also officers at one point.

U.S.S. Zhukov: During the Jerry Phelps presidency the Zhukov was commissioned as an experimental ship. Instead of having one person at each post, the Zhukov employed as many as three people to a post, so less-active crewmen wouldn't slow down RPGs. Phelps thought it would attact new members (or at least stem the membership exodus that was happening because of Prodigy's price hikes). It didn't, and the Zhukov didn't last beyond 1995.