I'm thinking about random Star Trek stuff and trying to think of what the Federation is really like beyond the limited view we have of it from the TV shows and movies.

One organization that has caught my attention was mentioned in an episode of Voyager. The Federation Naval Patrol. This organization has been tasked with the defense, research, and exploration of the oceans of worlds within the Federation.

I'm thinking this organization would do search and rescue, oceanographic research, marine biology research, defense of Federation interests, and more.

I can imagine that a Federation Naval Patrol ship would have been the organization operating the type of Federation Science Vessel that Dr. Gillian Taylor would have been assigned to after traveling through time in Star Trek IV.

I think the ships would be similar to Starfleet ships without the need for warp drive. They would likely use some form of supercavitation for traveling beneath the surface of the oceans. There wouldn't likely be a need for aircraft carriers, I'd say the largest of these ships would be 200 meters long, with a crew of 150 with similar crew quarter sizes to the USS Voyager. I can imagine the ships being slightly squid-like in appearance. Sort of like if you took the warp engines, pylons, and saucer section off of the Enterprise-E and had it fly backwards.

The uniforms I think would be more utilitarian than Starfleet uniforms. The comm badge would be a different symbol, maybe incorporating an anchor.

In conclusion I think this is a rather interesting organization within the Federation that hasn't been explored nearly enough within the universe and extended universe. I'm on the search for fan fiction now, maybe I'll even do something of my own, I haven't tried doing a fan fiction in a long time.

I'm thinking that another job the FNP would have been involved in could be the Atlantis Project on Earth, and similar projects elsewhere, building new land masses in already existing oceans.

They would enforce conservation efforts and pollution control. Investigating incidences of piracy and other crime.

Tabletop holographic projectors?

Yes they used them!

A few episodes in season one and two of TNG had the crew using holographic projectors on desks and tables. The use of these devices fell out of favour during the remainder of the series and beyond. At least until the holographic communications systems were used. It seems likely the reduction and elimination of this technology was likely budget related, but the inclusion of these has made be think that they would be common place.

Stellar cartography, engineering, medical, tactical... All of these departments would benefit greatly from this technology.

Stellar cartography could present holographic representations of star maps. A 3d projection of a nebula would allow for greater manipulation of the map... Just grab a corner of the nebula and give it a spin.

Engineering could have holographic displays of the insides of dilithium chambers while they're in use.

Medical could present biological holograms like the Voyager episode that has B'Elanna and Tom's baby on display in sickbay.

Tactical would be able to use them in analyzing defensive systems on enemy ships.

Just a few potential uses. Entertainment uses would be endless as well.

The size of the Federation, Starfleet, and other organizations in the Star Trek universe has me thinking.

I think the novel Articles of the Federation has the Federation at 155 member states with 9.85 trillion sentient life forms spread around the Federation. It's been said that certain organizations are absorbed into Starfleet and other Federation agencies as they expand and increase the number of member states.

Canada has 3 people in active military service for every 1000 citizens, the US has 7. If you apply those numbers to the Federation it would have between 29.55 billion and 68.95 billion people on active duty in various military style organizations. Of course that number per 1000 citizens could be a significant amount lower than 3 or 7, but I like those numbers.

Not all of these organizations would be Starfleet. Federation Naval Patrol, Starfleet, Starfleet Marines, and various planetary defense organizations would have a share of that number.

I do think that Starfleet is a lot bigger than they make it out to be on screen, I'd think it would be more like how it's portrayed in DS9 and would operate in a similar manner.

It would be broken up into smaller groups like a carrier group in the US navy.

The Enterprise E would be the lead vessel, it would be accompanied by an Akira class ship, maybe a Saber class or two, maybe a cargo ship, and a defiant class ship, maybe some other ships to go along with it. Maybe up to 20 ships total.

That's just how I see it.

Reminds me of Seaquest DSV. I like it. I'd like to see a show based on a Federation Navy vessel on a newly discovered water planet. Defending it from smugglers, studying all the weird creatures, and then accidentally (with hints throughout the first season) discovering the planet's sentient life.

That's actually almost a dead on description of what I'm thinking about doing for a fan fiction.

Essentially my brainstorm so far goes like this:

The Federation discovers a world that is mostly oceans, there's two continents, one is about the size of Australia, the other is about twice that. There are some small islands spread about the planet.

They establish a colony on the planet with a Federation Naval Patrol base and a number of ships tasked with deep sea exploration and development. There would also be a ground based Starfleet base.

The only differene being that I wasn't going to have a sentient species living on the planet, just archaeological sites from a species that once lived on the ocean floor, sort of a merpeople type race. But I could add them in as a living race.

The crew of the main ship would include at least a dolphin or two. Dolphins are apparently sentient creatures that even serve in Starfleet.

I've got a few ideas in my head for the ship design, I've done some rough pencil sketches. I have a Wacom pen tablet for art somewhere around here, I think I'll pull it out and draw some stuff on screen, might even give Blender a try on this computer since it runs significantly faster than my laptop, it might be a more enjoyable experience.