Authors Notes
As a amateur Naval historian, it annoys me to no end when Star Trek or Star Wars goes off an invents ships out of nowhere. It's particularly inexcusable for Star Trek because the show is set on what is ostensibly a Naval Vessel. (Though whether Star Fleet is actually a Navy is a debate for another time).
For the Sublight Universe I aimed to do better. Each faction has a finite capacity to make new ships. Their existing fleets require continual maintenance. Every disruptive new technology causes decades of ripples in inventories. You also see surges in production immediately before and after wars.
I built a half-assed computer model in Microsoft Excel to track when ships are ordered, commissioned, destroyed, or retired. Each ship under construction occupies a graving yard until it is launched. I assume there is a massive delay in building the first ship to incorporate a disruptive new technology. I assume there is a moderate delay when a graving yard builds a new type of ship. After the first hull, I assume they can crank out ships more or less at a steady rate. That rate depends on the faction and the complexity of the vessel.
ISTO has a habit of designing an entire fleet concept at a time. They call these "projects". Each project has a code word, and represents an era of their history. During each "project" they will design a brand new version of each capital ship and support vessel.
The dates used in this chronology are according to Metric Time. 6680 is around about 1945 A.D. The events happen in a parallel universe to ours that diverged in 1777.

Historical Timeline

Project Oregon

Project Oregon represents the founding years of the ISTO, 6680-6690. During this period the ISTO was mainly concerned with the construction and defense of outposts. Technology in this age was still confined to chemical rockets.

Andromeda Class Station

A standardized space platform, with limited propulsion for station keeping. These were constructed at commercial yards in the Near Earth Asteroids.

Number built: 4

Number lost: 3

Regulus Class Destroyer

A small warship intended to defend the Andromeda class. Four were lost during Krasnovia's surprise attack during the Inner System War of 6697. These were constructed at commercial yards in the Near Earth Asteroids

Number planned: 10

Number built: 8

Number lost: 4

Number retired: 4

Number cancelled: 2

Project Challenger

After a nuclear testing accident in 6688, ISTO discovered that thermonuclear fusion could be catalyzed with lithium 7. This discovery lead to the first practical fusion drives. This era also saw the start of ambitious mega projects to settle the main asteroid belt.

Persius Class Station

A city-sized self-contained habitat. Constructed to be anchored to larger bodies, and rotate to provide artificial gravity. The first were constructed in-place on the planetoid of Psyche.

Challenger Class Survey Vessels

A small craft designed for long-duration mapping missions. These were constructed at a leased facility on the asteroid Ganymed.

Number planned: 4

Number lost: 3

Notable Craft:

pennant name ordered laid_down launched decommissioned fate
XR-01 Challenger 6687 6691 6695 6725 Retired - Preserved as museum ship
XR-02 Discovery 6687 6691 6695 6703 Presumed lost. Rogue A.I. killed crew and commandeered vessel.
XR-03 Columbia 6687 6695 - 6697 Destroyed while under construction
XR-04 Atlantis 6687 6695 - 6697 Destroyed while under construction

Gienah Class Frigate

The Gienah Class Frigate adapted the lessons learned from the Challenger class into a general purpose military vessel. These were considered the "low capability" ships capable of patrolling space, search and rescue, and pirate interdiction. The 4 cancelled ships were destroyed during the Inner System War of 6697 while under construction.

These vessels carried an autocannon for ship-to-ship warfare.

Number planned: 10

Number built: 6

Number lost: 3

Number retired: 3

Number cancelled: 4

Pennants: F-01 thru F-10

Antares Class Support Vessels

The Antares Class Support Vessel was a modified Gienah class that was optimized for cargo hauling and logistics. The two cancelled ships were destroyed during the Inner System War of 6697 while under construction.

Number planned: 8

Number built: 6

Number lost: 0

Number retired: 6

Number cancelled: 2

Pennants: AF-01 thru AF-08

Polaris Class Destroyer

The Polaris Class Destroyer was a modified Gienah class that was optimized for anti-ship warfare. Three were finished at the outset of the Inner System War of 6697, two under construction were destroyed, and the final planned hull was cancelled before construction commenced.

These vessels carried an autocannon for ship-to-ship warfare, as well as rocket pods for stand-off attacks.

Number planned: 6

Number built: 3

Number lost: 0

Number retired: 3

Number cancelled: 3

Pennants: DF-01 thru DF-06

Project Gilgamesh

Project Gilgamesh was a clean-sheet redesign of Spacey Doctrine based on the lessons learned from the Inner System War of 6697. This project also incorporated several new fundamental technologies:

The Klint Class Battle Carrier

The first class of vessel to incorporate muon Catalyzed fusion. This vessel was a mothership for smaller attack craft, and twice the mass of an Andromeda class space platform. Her immense volume is dedicated to the launching and landing of a fleet of assault craft as well as a squadron of escorts.

Each vessel can operate for 25-30 years, before they are brought back in for a mid-life rebuild and overhaul. The vessels are essentially torn down to the frame and reconstructed during this process.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched midlife relaunch
BB-2 Klint Hilma af Klint 6697 6697 6701 6726 6729
BB-4 Carr Emily Carr 6697 6701 6706 6730 6734

The Amaral Class Battle Carrier

Officially the Amaral Class was simply a refined the Battle Carrier concept based on lessons learned from the Klint class. The design introduced improvements and refinements to the propulsion and engineering systems. The main improvement was to replace a number of smaller reactors with a reduced number of large, more efficient reactors.

Recently declassified documents, however, reveal that the real purpose was an emergency redesign. The design of the Klint utilized a number of 9000 series AIs inside of virtually every key system. The accident investigation into the loss of the Discovery identified a number of flaws with the concept of relying on artificial intelligence, and with the 9000 series in particular. Every one of those systems had to be redesigned to utilize simpler computers. Retaining the two Klint class vessels was deemed an acceptable risk, that would be addressed with safety training and retrofitting during normal maintenance.

Externally, Amarals and Klints are very hard to tell apart. Every effort was made to keep the design as close as possible to the Klint, in order to exploit the facilities that were already built and under construction for the planned class.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched midlife relaunch
BB-6 Amaral Olga de Amaral 6705 6705 6710 6735 6739
BB-8 Agar Eileen Agar 6705 6790 6714 6740 6744
BB-10 Nampeyo Nampeyo 6705 6713 6717 6745 6749
BB-12 Höch Hannah Höch 6705 6716 6720 6750 6754
BB-16 Skłodowska Marie Skłodowska 6720 6723 6726 6760 6764
BB-18 Franklin Rosalind Franklin 6720 6726 6729 6765 6770
BB-20 Carrington Leonora Carrington 6730 6731 6734 6770 6775
BB-22 Lehman Inge Lehman 6730 6735 6749 6775 6780
BB-24 Hypatia Hypatia 6740 6750 6754 6780 6784

The Hokusai Class Mobile Logistics Platform

The Hokusai adapted the engineering section of a Klint class battle carrier, and replaced all of the military hardware with agriculture and fabrication facilities. The class does retain some docking facilties for support craft, but only for a squadron of shuttles and two escort vessels.

The Hokusai uses an innovative gimbaled habitat that permits accelleration from the engine's thrust to be balanced out with rotational gravity to produce a near-constant direction for gravity.

The Hokusai are much larger in volume and mass than the Klint class battle carriers they are derived from. And thus they need special docking and service facilties. One particular difficulty is that the habitat must be kept rotating, even while in dock. For this reason, the engineering module can be detached. A special "parasite" connection allows the habitat to connect to an external source for electrical power.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched
AB-1 Hokusai 葛飾 北斎 (Katsushika Hokusai) 6697 6697 6707
AB-3 Podkowiński Władysław Podkowiński 6697 6698 6705

The Van Gogh Class Mobile Logistics Platform

The Van Gogh and Paul Cézanne were intended to be a one-off experiment which added a third habitat vessel to evaluate less tegically intense cultivation practices. The extra 50% capacity was mainly to implement crop rotation. They were also designed at the same time as the Amaral class. Instead of tuning the extra reactor performance toward propulsion, the Van Gogh's applied it to power generation.

The extra mass on essentially the same engine output made the Van Goghs slower to accelerate , and less maneuverable than the Hokusais. However, their primary design requirement was for long term endurance. Time to station is not an important consideration.

Early success with both of the Van Gogh hulls led to the decision to finish all of the AB series with the modified design.

The loss of the Discovery did have some impact on the design. Management tasks that were handled by expert systems now had to be assigned to human experts on-site. The central control system that managed Quins was eliminated, meaning that the android workforce had to be assigned using a much less capable remote console. Several 9000 series systems were retained, but only in non life-support/mission management roles. In particular the automated distance learning system, and several to manage the agriculture systems. These systems employ a full-time psychologist to monitor their well being, and act as an emissary to the crew.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched
AB-5 Van Gogh Vincent Van Gogh 6715 6715 6722
AB-7 Cézanne Paul Cézanne 6715 6721 6728
AB-9 Frölicher Otto Frölicher 6715 6727 6734
AB-11 Købke Christen Købke 6715 6633 6740

The Rigel Class Frigate

The Rigel was an emergency build program to replace the Gienah frigate, with improvements based on lessons learned in the Inner System War. Most of the design changes were incremental technological improvements, as opposed to wholesale changes in role. The principle change was the elimination of the autocannon, and the installation of anti-ship missiles. The sensors enhancements to support the missiles also allowed the class to take on basic scouting missions.

Number planned: 10

Number built: 10

Number lost: 0

Number retired: 10

Number cancelled: 0

Pennants: FF-11 thru FF-19

The Betelgeuse Class Support Vessel

The Betelgeuse was an emergency build program to replace the Antares support vessel, with improvements based on lessons learned in the Inner System War. The production was cut short in favor of the Cervantes class.

Compared to the Antares, the engineering systems on the Betelgeuse were far more complex. This class tried to introduce Muon-catalyzed propulsion on a scale far smaller than had been attempted before.

Number planned: 10

Number built: 5

Number lost: 0

Number retired: 5

Number cancelled: 5

Pennants: AF-09 thru AF-13

The Bellatrix Class Destroyer

The Bellatrix was an emergency build program to replace the Polaris destroyer, with improvements based on lessons learned in the Inner System War. The production was cut short in favor of the Cervantes class.

Like the Betelgeuse, the Bellatrix attempted to incorporate Muon-catalyzed propulsion into a small vessel. At the same time the design added a tremendous number of dubiously considered sensor and weapon systems.

Number planned: 10

Number built: 3

Number lost: 0

Number retired: 3

Number cancelled: 7

Pennants: DF-16 thru DF-18

The Cervantes Class Platform

In the 6710s, a decade after the Inner System War, the realities of a massive military buildup were becoming obvious to the public in ISTO. Stakeholders were looking at the disasters that were the Betelgeuse and Bellatrix projects, and noting that neither design, even if the bugs could be worked out, could be manufactured on an industrial scale.

The result has been deridingly called "the swiss-army ship". While it can perform each of those roles competently, it is not as capable in any specific job as a dedicated vessel. However, what it lacks in quality it makes up for in quantity. There is also little argument that having one platform to maintain has greatly simplified ISTO's logistics train. A full description of the Cervantes is here.

While the ships serve a number of roles, Spacey has assigned every hull an F- series penent number.

In production: 6710+

Number planned: 84

Number built: 84

Number lost: 5

Number retired: 0

Number cancelled: 0

Pennants: F-20 thru F-104

Project Iliad

With the G-drive in the hands of both superpowers, a race began to be the first power to reach another star system.

The Payne Class Battle Carrier

The Payne was intended as a one-off project to evaluate the reaction-less drive technology (G-drive) captured from the Krasnovians in 6741. The Payne was originally laid down as an Amaral class, but was decommissioned in 6739 following a catastrophic accident which wiped out her entire engineering section. As her mission areas were still serviceable, it was decided to use her as a test hull to evaluate the G-drive, with a stretch-goal of devising a refit strategy for the existing Amaral class.

As with the Amaral, every effort was made to introduce new technology while still allowing the vessels to interoperate with existing port and logistics facilities. After a very long teething period, the configuration was copied verbatim as the new Payne class. The final design needed so many structural changes that it was deemed impractical to try to retrofit to the existing Amarals.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched midlife relaunch
BBG-14 Payne Cecilia Payne 6720 6719 6723 6741 6750
BBG-26 Clapp Cornelia Clapp 6755 6755 6760 6790 6795
BBG-28 Mayer Maria Mayer 6755 6760 6765 6795 6800
BBG-30 Murray Grace Murray 6755 6770 6775 6800 6805
BBG-32 Agnodice Agnodice 6770 6775 6780 6805 6810
BBG-34 Mirzakhani مریم میرزاخانی‎ (Miriam Mizakhani) 6780 6780 6785 6810 6815
BBG-36 Meitner Lise Meitner 6780 6785 6790 6815 6820
BBG-38 Elion Gertrude Elion 6780 6790 6795 6820 6825

The Picasso Class Mobile Logistics Platform

In 6741, the ISTO captured reaction-less drive (G-drive) technology from the Krasnovians. Picasso was originally planned as a Van Gogh class. However, the construction was early enough along to allow significant structural modifications. While she was built from the keel up with the G-Drive in mind, her habitat had provisions to allow her to be retrofitted back to the Van Gogh specification if the technology proved to be not worth the effort.

The modifications made to the Picasso were deemed impractical to retrofit to the Hokusais or the Van Goghs. It was also not economical to reproduce, and instead the Einsteins and Leonardos were built as a clean-sheet designs.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched
AB-13 Picasso Vincent Van Gogh 6715 6740 6750

The Einstein Class Mobile Logistics Platform

The Einstein class is a G-drive replacement for the niche fulfilled by the Hokusais and the Van Goghs. They are only intended to operate inside the Solar System, however their tremendous speed allows them to easily work in the scattered disk, and even as far out as the Oort cloud. They utilize essentially the same habitat vessel as the Hokusais and the Van Goghs, but they install 6 to the Van Gogh's 3.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched
ABG-15 Einstein Albert Einstein 6742 6742 6747
ABG-19 Pasteur Louis Pasteur 6742 6755 6760
ABG-23 Takakazu 関 孝和 (Seki Takakazu) 6740 6760 6765
ABG-25 Newton Isaak Newton 6760 6765 6770
ABG-27 Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan 6760 6770 6775
ABG-29 Archimedes Archimedes 6780 6780 6785
ABG-31 Milanković Milutin Milanković 6780 6785 6790
ABG-33 Germain Sophie Germain 6780 6790 6795
ABG-35 Khayyam Omar Khayyam 6780 6795 6800

The Leonardo Class Interstellar Platform

The Leonardo class began as a modified Einstein, but adapted for Interstellar exploration. While they superficially resemble the Einsteins, there are a number of internal differences that permit the vessel to operate for the extremely long durations required for Interstellar travel at sublight speed.

Detailed description of the Leonardo Class.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched destination distance
IB-17 Leonardo Leonardo da Vinci 6742 6742 6750 Alpha Centauri 4.31 ly
IB-21 Gim 김정희 (Gim Jeong-hui) 6742 6750 6755 Bernard's Star 5.95 ly

Two hulls were originally constructed for project Iliad, but later finished as modified Einsteins:

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched
ABG-42 Adams Douglas Adams 6742 6742 6805
ABG-43 Pratchet Terry Pratchet 6742 6742 6810

The Wells Class Interstellar Platform / Iliad Block II

For the next Iliad Missions, ISTO took a clean-sheet approach. ISTO's space administration had been lambasted for being too conservative with their designs. Their engineers sought to combine the endurance of the Leonardo class with the sheer speed of the Krasnovia's Jörmungandr. The result was ... wel... the Wells class.

Detailed description of the Wells Class.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched destination distance
IB-40 Wells Herbert George Wells 6750 6760 6762 Xi Boötis 21.8 ly
IB-41 Verne Jules Verne 6750 6760 6763 Beta Hydri 24.33 ly

The Clarke Class Interstellar Platform / Iliad Block III

The Asimov Class was a return to the style of the Leonardo class. Slow and steady. Early on it was determined that return flight from distant stars was utterly impractical. The resources that were stowed for a return flight could be better spent on providing a bootstrap to allow the colony to flourish.

Detailed description of the Clarke Class.

pennant name namesake ordered laid_down launched destination distance
IB-45 Asimov Isaac Asimov 6810 6815 6821 Mu Cassiopeiae 24.6 ly
IB-46 Clarke Arthur Charles Clarke 6810 6820 6827 18 Scorpii 46.1 ly
IB-47 Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein 6810 6825 6832 47 Ursae Majoris 46 ly
IB-48 Kroeber Ursula Kroeber Le Guin 6820 6830 6837 TBA
IB-49 Shōichi 佐野 昌一 (Sano Shōichi) 6820 6835 6842 TBA