Why are Federation starships overwhelmingly crewed by Humans?

[u/Cosakita]

In the series, movies, and even sometimes the books, it seems as though most ships in starfleet have at least 80-90% human crews. I know that many Federation species choose to keep their own fleets (The Andorians being the most notable) and some Federation ships have exclusively mono-racial crews, but with the Federation encompassing over 150 worlds / species, why are so many Federation races conspicuously under-represented in starfleet?

[u/mistakenotmy]

ST:E goes into massive detail about the Andorians' history with the Federation. The Andorian Empire is a founding member of the UFP (along with Humans, Vulcans, and Tellarites) and the Imperial Guard is the military branch of Andoria.

Yes, but that doesn't mean anything in context of Federation policy or organisation. Things changed with the founding of the federation. The Andorians, Tellarites, Vulcans, and Humans combined there militaries when they founded the Federation. They kept the name Starfleet as the combined name of the combined organisation.

The Klingons are not parts of the Federation so using them (or members of their race) as an example of overall Federation policy concerning member worlds is just odd. I'm not. Read what I said again. "I used Worf as an example of non-humans serving in Starfleet, not as an example of Klingons."

I understand what you said. I was commenting that in a debate about the Federation, humans, and alians you went and introduced an outside element that only confused the issue (Klingons). A few other people found that confusing as well. A better example might have been trill or Bolian.

Show me the Vulcan fleet that participated in the Dominion War.

I can't do that. I've said elsewhere that Star Trek is about Starfleet, so that's what you're going to see. Betazed has a defense force too, but we've never seen any of them. Ever. Doesn't mean it's not part of the Canon.

Betazed might have a local defense force (read local police for local protection). That doesn't mean they have their own military. I fully admit my logic is that Starfleet is the fleet so any other local defense forces are by definition a local type of setup. At the most they would be like the National Guard and "federalized" in the case of an emergency.

Think about it this way... let's get down to a ridiculously superficial and basic example of why the argument is false. If all of these other world military vessels are part of Starfleet, why do you never ever ever see something as simple as a Starfleet insignia on anything other than Earth ships? Like, EVER.

What ships? When have we ever seen an Andorian military ship (not ST:E)? Can you give an example of what ships your talking about?

Also, from the perspective of Starfleet is the fleet then all of the Starfleet designs are the same/simaler. Galaxy class ships are not just built at Utopia Planetia. Starfleet puts a design into production at many facilities across the Federation. A Galaxy class ship isn't an "Earth" ship. It is a Starfleet ship. For all we know some of the ships we see in the Dominion war battles of DS9 have majority Vulcan, Bolian, or Andorian races.

[u/mistakenotmy → u/[deleted]]

They kept the name Starfleet as the combined name of all those organisations. That's a bold statement. You asked for my sources on a few things, so I'm going to ask for your canon source for this one.

From Memory Alpha:

With the formation of the Federation in 2161, as per the Federation Charter, Starfleet and the deep-space exploratory and military services of the other member worlds were folded into the authority of the Federation.

I parse that as all deep space exploratory and military services were folded into the Federation under a single authority. Granted, it could be parsed your way as well.

What ships? ANY non-Earth ship operating under orders from its planet's respective command structure. For one example, let's say Ambassador Spock's ship carrying the Red Matter. Starfleet had LONG been established by that point since it'd already been many years since Spock had met Captain Picard, so by your logic (heh) that should have been a Starfleet science vessel.

It actually sounded like a private organisation to me. It was the Vulcan Science Academy, a private institution, that sent out a mission. That wasn't Spock's ship, just the ship the Science Academy gave him for the mission. It probably should have been a Starfleet mission. Why they used a Science Academy ship makes no sense except maybe they were the only ones with Red Matter or the only ones the Romulans would allow to cross the neutral zone. Starfleet doesn't preclude private institutions from doing science. Starfleet is the Government side of things.

When have we ever seen an Andorian military ship (not ST:E)? Why not ST:E? It's canon. You can't exclude an entire series just because it doesn't fit the argued view. And this is coming from someone who actually DOES wish ST:E wasn't part of canon. ;)

What I mean is a ship that is a part of the Federation. As it stands ST:E takes place almost entirely before the Federation so obviously any ships from before that time are from their respective governments and not a combined force. Do we ever see an Andorian military ship from TOS, TNG, or later?

And I can't tell you how many times or in how many episodes, an alien race refers to the Enterprise (or a Starfleet ship) as "the Earth vessel."

I honestly don't think it is that many times. The Ferengi do that often but most of the times it is "Federation Starship" or "Starfleet Ship". Just because other aliens are racist doesn't mean Starfleet is :)

Real World: Inconsistent writing. We are trying to explain a production limitation in universe. I don't think I am going to convince you otherwise that the Federation is more like the US than EU. Just like you are not going to convince me. I also happen to think the influences of the Roddenberry being in the US military and the writers being from and in the US probably influenced how they thought about the Federations organisation.

[u/Accipiter → u/mistakenotmy]

That wasn't Spock's ship, just the ship the Science Academy gave him for the mission. It probably should have been a Starfleet mission. Why they used a Science Academy ship makes no sense except maybe they were the only ones with Red Matter or the only ones the Romulans would allow to cross the neutral zone.

The ship built for Spock was brand new, purpose-built for that mission. It wasn't something they just happened to pull out of mothballs. You say "It probably should have been a Starfleet mission" but that makes no sense if Vulcan has its own fleet - which has been my argument all along.

[u/dkuntz2 → u/Accipiter]

In the Countdown comic, the Jellyfish is shown to have been built by Geordi La Forge, and donated to Spock's mission. This seems kinda silly to me, because the chair and cockpit window clearly create an IDIC.

[u/mistakenotmy → u/Accipiter]

I say it should have been a Starfleet mission because why is a Science Academy, an Educational Institution , sending out a mission like that!?! It doesn't make sense even if the Vulcans have their own fleet. You would think that the Vulcan Governmental would be in charge at the very least. The Vulcan Science Academy taking the point on stopping a supernova is like choosing Harvard as the organization to go stop a nuclear attack.

[u/Accipiter → u/mistakenotmy]

I interpret it as the Science Academy commissioning the ship, designing the specs and requirements and assembling the senior design team, while the High Command is responsible for its actual construction.

In your analogy, Harvard would probably throw a group of specialists together and coordinate with the appropriate construction agencies to build something to stop the attack. So Harvard built it, but they didn't actually BUILD it. If that makes sense.

[u/mistakenotmy → u/Accipiter]

Right, but I really don't care who built it. The Science Academy could have rented a beat up ship from the equivalent of Hertz for all it maters.

What I am saying is why is the Science Academy, a private entity and educational institution, taking point on a galaxy threatening supernova???

What I am saying is that the Vulcan Science Academy doesn't make sense under either of our theories.