Federation Ship Recognition Manual
The Federation Ship Recognition Manual was a starship reference published by FASA as a supplement to their Star Trek: The Role Playing Game.

Summary 
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.

Contents 
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 contained in the manual is considered apocryphal.

Support vessels

Freighters

Warpshuttles

Repair vessels and facilities

Tenders

Repair facilities 
Pearl-class

Defense outposts 
Alamo-class

Recognition silhouettes

Timelines

Background information 
The Federation Ship Recognition Manual was a gaming guide used for  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  and the . It contained many more designs than were contained in the original Starship Combat Simulator. 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  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

Links and references

Characters

References

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

Role-playing games