Forum:Organizing ships (Registry vs. Alphabetically)

Having started this in the decommission article, it occured to me that this would be a markedly better location to discuss this.

When having a series of ships in an article (Like Decommission), which should be used:

A, Alphabetically:


 * USS Ajax    (NCC-73342)
 * USS Beatrix (NCC-321)
 * USS Calamari (NCC-11992)
 * USS Detroit (NX-42)
 * USS Zebra   (NCC-101)

or B, By Registry:


 * USS Detroit (NX-42)
 * USS Zebra   (NCC-101)
 * USS Beatrix (NCC-321)
 * USS Calamari (NCC-11992)
 * USS Ajax    (NCC-73342)

Now, the arguments to date are as follows:

For Alphabetizing:


 * "The name is the first thing seen. Alphabetical order appears more orderly; going by registry (which typically comes after the name) just looks chaotic. It makes everything appear to be in a jumbled mess and one can't easily find the ship one may be looking for. – SAS undefined 14:01, 25 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Organising by registry is all fine and good as long as you have a organised and consistent system, which Trek does not have. Also you will (almost) always have a ships name but you don't necessarily get a registry along with the ship.  Given this organising by ship name is the best system as it removes an ambiguity that arises from the lack of a registry. -  15:33, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

For Registry:


 * I'm following United States Naval tradition, for example; http://www.navy.mil/navydata/navy_legacy_hr.asp?id=139, and Cruisers are here: http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=800&ct=4 . Franz Joseph lists all ships in the Star Fleet Technical Manual by registry, as does Jackill (If memory serves... I haven't had a Jackill book in more than a decade). All military ships are logged by registry, all civilian ships are logged alphabetically... Or that seems to be the current tradition. To me, who has worked with ship registries for many a year, the Alphabetized listings are chaotic and disorganized looking.

Now, these things said; Let's continue the discussion:

Continuing Discussion
Jrofeta, you commented that there will always be a ship without a registry... in my experience, that ship always goes first (Assumed to have a registry of NCC-000). If there is more than one registry-less ship, then they are alphabetized.

Using the above example:


 * USS Ajax    (NCC-73342)
 * USS Beatrix (NCC-321)
 * USS Calamari
 * USS Detroit (NX-42)
 * USS Zebra

By Registry:


 * USS Calamari
 * USS Zebra
 * USS Detroit (NX-42)
 * USS Beatrix (NCC-321)
 * USS Ajax    (NCC-73342)

And I disagree with the comment that Star Trek does not have a consistant system. If that were the case, this wouldn't seem so odd to me... I wouldn't think... Part of the reason this bothers me is that there does seem to be a consistant system... at least with published works... they are all following military tradition.

So, anyway, what do you folks think? Aabh 22:25, 26 November 2007 (UTC)