Flagship

Flagship was a term referring to the status conferred upon a starship. Typically, a flagship was a starship commanded by a flag officer (an admiral or similar rank). The term also properly applied to the ship of whatever commanding officer was in charge of a grouping of vessels (i.e. a fleet, task force, etc.). A third, more colloquial usage of the term was that the ship in question was considered an "exemplar" of the best capabilities and virtues of the force it represented. Throughout the history of the United Federation of Planets the starships Enterprise were typically considered the Starfleet flagship.