United Federation of Planets Starfleet

The United Federation of Planets Starfleet, commonly known as Starfleet, is the primary exploration and defense agency of the United Federation of Planets. It is a federal, multi-purpose fleet answering directly to the Federation Council. Although it serves as the Federation's main defense force, its primary role is exploratory and scientific.

Structure and Missions
Main Article: Starfleet Organisation

The head of Starfleet is Commander, Starfleet, currently Admiral Patricia Chen. Starfleet is subdivided into a number of subordinate commands, some of which, like Starfleet Colony Command, generally operate outside of the scope of To Boldly Go.

Explorer Corps
The Starfleet Explorer Corps is a elite unit, consisting of long-range explorers, tasked with seeking out new life and new civilizations, scientific research, and diplomacy. The most famous ship in the Explorer Corps is likely the USS Enterprise.

Sector Garrisons
Starfleet has 21 distinct sector patrol areas, all of which are garrisoned by Starfleet vessels, often assisted by member fleet units. Additionally, there are 3 theater fleets, but they have no ships assigned to them at the present time.
 * Sol Sector
 * Vulcan Sector
 * Andor Sector
 * Tellar Sector
 * Amarkia Sector
 * Ferasa Sector
 * Rigel Sector
 * Apinae Sector
 * Alukk Sector
 * Rethelia Sector
 * Okatha Sector
 * Paddah Sector
 * Romulan Border Zone
 * Klingon Border Zone
 * Cardassian Border Zone
 * Sydraxian Border Zone
 * Licori Border Zone
 * Horizon Border Zone
 * Gabriel Border Zone
 * Imelak Border Zone
 * Ruby Eye's Folly Patrol Zone

Task Forces
Starfleet operates a number of Task Forces in order to address problems too large for a single vessel and outside the range or capabilities of a sector garrison. These range from temporary formations of only a few ships to massive formations of tens of ships, including member world vessels, intended to operate for years at a time. During times of war, Starfleet also forms numerical task forces as parts of larger fleets.

Current Task Forces

 * Task Force Beyond-Tasked with countering Harmony of Horizon Influence.
 * Task Force Royal-Tasked with helping the Florist strains in Gorn society.
 * Task Force Goodfoot-Tasked with affiliating the Ur'razzi.
 * Task Force Chorus-Tasked with diplomacy with the Ittick-Ka
 * Task Force Righteous-Tasked with diplomacy with the Righteous Allupii Empire
 * Task Force Reassure-Tasked with allying the Ashidi
 * Task Force Liberty-Tasked with resolving slavery issues among the Hishmeri Septs

Historical Task Forces

 * Anti-Slavery Task Force-A key Federation contribution to the Orion Civil War, the ASTF was tasked with ending Syndicate slaving activities.
 * Eternal Empire Crisis
 * Task Force Aqua-Tasked with racing Empress Hayant to her fleet during the Eternal Empire Crisis.
 * Task Force Burgundy-Tasked with hunting down Eternal Empire forces during the Eternal Empire Crisis.
 * Task Force Jade-Tasked with denying the Eternal Empire allies, and making sure Starfleet had them, during the Eternal Empire Crisis.
 * Task Force Handshake-Tasked with opening secret diplomatic channels with the Dawiar, one of the few Starfleet task force missions to have ended in failure.
 * Task Force Shield-Tasked with deterring Hishmeri raiding.
 * Task Force Boldly-Tasked with exploring the Adrazzi Gulf.
 * Task Force Forward-Tasked with deterring attacks on the Trill
 * Task Force Relief-Tasked with cleaning up the Yizgisi homeworld.
 * CLASSIFIED-Task Force Breen-Tasked with providing signals intelligence to Romulan Forces during the Breen-Romulan War.
 * Coreward Border War
 * Task Force Unity-Tasked with first preventing the Coreward Border War, and then assisting negotiations to end it.
 * Task Force Buckler-Tasked with protecting Federation shipping during the Coreward Border War.

Personnel
Starfleet, like most semi-military organizations, has an officer/enlisted split. Officers are graduates of Starfleet Academy in San Fransisco, or from one of a number of satellite locations. Enlisted personnel can also pass through Starfleet Academy, along with several other service academies throughout the Federation.

Ships
Main Article: List of Starfleet Ships

Starfleet operates one of the largest fleets in known space, including 33 explorers of the Ambassador and Excelsior-A classes, 37 cruisers of the Renaissance, Constellation-A, and Patrol Cruiser-A classes, and 82 frigates of the Kepler, Centaur-B, Comet, Miranda-A, and Oberth classes.

Facilities
Main Article: List of Starfleet Facilities

Starfleet operates one of the single most powerful industrial operations in known space, with the second largest known shipyard at Utopia Planitia.

State of Emergency
During times of crisis, Starfleet is empowered to request from the Federation Council the declaration of a State of Emergency. This SoE provides extremely broad and comprehensive powers to compel cooperation from Federation members, and is thus only taken at great need. It is also the reason why the role of Commander, Starfleet is appointed directly by the President of the Federation and is a matter of such careful consideration. A state of emergency has only been declared twice since the 2301, for the Ulith III Biophage Crisis and the Licori War.