In starfleet battles, these ships would have been the (if I remember right) monitors.  All guns little warp capabilities.

Sounds like the job of the airforce mechanics.  You know the ones who tie a rope around their waste and climb down into a running jet.

The way I see it.  A steller empire would need three defense forces.

Force one would be planetary defense otherwise known as the police.

Force two would be steller defense these guys would only need to be able to do warp one or two.

Force three would be empire defense again lots of guns and maybe warp 4 to 7 capable.   Depending on how big the empire was.

In the federation there is a second empire force called starfleet.  They go out and find new planets and deal with new species.  They would need to be able to get into and out of trouble just as fast as they could.

The Klingons would also have a second empire force called the attack fleet.  They would be used to expand the empire through military conquest.

As far as I can tell the other empires would consider all the above fleets as one.  But the would still have the three main groups.

The Klingons have the KDF..."Klingon Defense Force" fleet. The Klingons, for one race, are not too concerned with scientific knowledge beyond that which advances their empire and it capabilities. Similar are the Romulans, only more sneaky and devious. they're th eones, after all, who developed the Cloaking Device and the Bird-of-Prey concept ship, both likely obtained by the Klingons in the brief Romulan-Klingon alliance of 2268-70. That's also how the Romulans ended up with D-7 Class Klingon Battlecruisers; at least, that's the official story. The real story was that the show couldn't afford any more models, and they wanted bigger, more vicious-looking ships for the Romulans.+LOL+

As a lifelong Star Trek viewer, Starfleet is the only entity I know of defending and expanding the Federation.

They're the scientific, exploratory, tactical and defensive body for the entire Federation. Of course, there are thousands of ships in the fleet, including battleships; the Dreadnaught Class. They're relatively short-range, from what I gather, heavily armed and shielded, of course, and are stationed at Starbases and outposts in the sectors they defend, much like the Navy (Pacific Fleet, Atlantic Fleet, Persian Gulf, etc.).

That's how I see it.

Yes, I see the Federation Marine Corps as the Federation's ground troops, while Starfleet is essentially a navy. In fact, the unfortunate red-shirts from TOS might actually BE Federation Marines. I think the main reason you don't see them in action a lot is because the UFP is a LOOSE confederacy of planets, and a lot of the grunt work is done by local security forces.

Also because they needed a way to get around the plot-hole they'd made when they originally said Romulans didn't have warp tech. They gave the Klingons warp drive and they "traded" it for the Cloaking Device. I guess that's a fair trade...

Good point.

"It probable was during the serious but in the movies it is called the flagship at least once.  Don't remember which movie tho."--danielost

They mention it in "Generations", when wondering why the Durass sisters don't attack. Picard says "They're just wondering if they have what  itakes to defeat the Federation flagship." Or something like that, anyway.

GOIN' TO SEE "STAR TREK" TONIGHT FELLAS!!! I'M GEEKIN; OUT, MAN! GEEKIN' OUT!!!

i meant kirks ship

Did any of you see the movie, yet? I posted a spoiler-free review:

"Star Trek: The Re-Machined Picture"

https://forums.joeuser.com/351120/#2196948

I'd like to discuss it with some serious fans.