The Federation Starfleet, commonly referred to simply as Starfleet, is a fictional space agency and peacekeeping service branch featured in the Star Trek franchise. It was first introduced in the original Star Trek television series and serves as the backdrop for the entire franchise. All of the central protagonists featured in the various programs, films and media spin-offs are members of Starfleet.
Starfleet is the central service arm of the United Federation of Planets and is headquartered at Fort Baker, California across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Starfleet's purview is that of a peacekeeping organization, whose duties also includes diplomatic, medical and rescue missions as well as military defense operations. Starfleet's primary mandate is to "explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations" and to "boldly go where no one has gone before". To facilitate these goals, Starfleet employs a navy of starships of various classes and models. The flagship of Starfleet is often considered to be the starship USS Enterprise, even though that ship has generally not been commanded by a flag officer.
Divisions
Starfleet Command
Starfleet Command was the authoritative branch of Starfleet and maintained the operations center for the fleet from Starfleet Headquarters back on Earth. Starfleet Command was in charge of the various divisions of Starfleet including, Starfleet Operations, Starfleet Acadmey, Starfleet Intelligence, the Starfleet Engineering Corps and Starfleet Medical.
Starfleet Command was once under the juridiction of the United Earth Space Probe Agency prior to the formation of the United Federation of Planets. The highest ranking operation officers at Starfleet Command bore the title of Admiral followed by Commodore (which was later replaced with the rank of Rear-Admiral). Some of the earliest known pioneers of Starfleet Command include Admiral Maxwell Forrest, who was in charge of the NX Project during the 2140s. The NX Program eventually led to the first Earth starship to carry the name Enterprise, the Enterprise NX-01. [1]
Another Starfleet Command official from this era was Admiral Daniel Leonard, who was one of the first Starfleet officers to establish First Contact with members of the Klingon race, although he mistakenly referred to them as Klingotts. [2]
By the late 22nd century, the United Earth Space Probe Agency became a part of the United Federation of Planets. Admiral Jonathan Archer, formerly the Captain of the Enterprise NX-01 was elected as a member of the Federation Council, which oversaw Starfleet Command operations.