http://trekbbs.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/000833.html
 

Although everyone's going to have their own theories about registry. I for one simply think that registries were NOT consecutive during the TOS and early movie period, but were later made into a more orderly consecutive listing later for pre-TNG, TNG, and thereafter.

My reasoning is also simple. In a production standpoint, during TOS & the movies, I really don't think there was anyone like Michael Okuda really keeping track of (or caring about)registries. So therefore you had a Constitution class ship with a lower registry than the prototype for the class. For the movies, TPTB at the time probably got together and said "Hey, let's make the Excelsior's registry NX-2000, 'cause it's a big ship and it needs a big number. Also, let's make the Grissom 956 or whatever, 'cause she's a small ship." Never mind that these numbers contradicted any kind of consecutive numbering system.

However, during the new shows, a more concerted effort was made by the people in charge to make a better registry system than was (or wasn't) used previously. The same was true for stardates.

If you make a ship list by order of registry number, I think you'll see what I mean. It's actually interesting to be able to group the unseen conjectural classes in with the others registry-wise, so at least you can see what level of technology the ship was probably based upon. (i.e. the Deneva class NCC-6XXX was contemporary with the Excelsior & Constellation, or the Andromeda class NCC-7XXXX was contemporary with the Galaxy class, etc.)
 

--Jonah
 

Also, your post brought up a good point. I remember watching TOS as a kid, and specifically the episodes mentioning other ships such as the Intrepid, Farragut, and Republic. I also remember thinking that the latter two couldn't possibly be of the same class as the Enterprise, simply because Kirk was just a young cadet/officer when he served on them. They had to have been of an older class, especially since there was NO proof in the episodes that they were indeed Constitution class ships, as they were made into later. As for the Intrepid, I basically thought it was a Vulcan ship, but that was before I knew there was a battleship named as such.

Also, even though I have great respect for Greg Jein's work, I find it rather disappointing that he decided to match the names with the registries as he did, in contrast to Jeffries' true reasoning behind the registries. Why did he feel that these registries HAD to go with the 13 Constitution class ships? I for one have never bought into the idea that 13 starships was all the Federation had during the TOS era. If so, then what class was the U.S.S. Carolina?
 

"I also remember thinking that the latter two couldn't possibly be of the same class as the Enterprise, simply because Kirk was just a young cadet/officer when he served on them."

The Enterprise itself was launched when Kirk was twelve.
 

Haven't you people read "The Making of Star Trek"? I thought that was required reading...