USS Victory NCC-9754

Unlike previous Contellation-Class starships, which were primarily science ships, Victory was originally planned and built as a dedicated fast response cruiser able to intercept possible Klingon incursions into Federation space. Victory was commissioned a few months following the signing of the Khitomer Accords however, so it was equipped for a role no longer deemed necessary in the political climate of the time.

Following an initial period of uneventful patrols of the Tholian border while Starfleet Command reviewed its sudden surplus of starships, Victory quickly proved its usefulness when a plague struck Epsilon Canaris III on stardate 13408.7. Despite not being assigned to the relief efforts, Victory's powerful warp engines allowed the ship to reach the afflicted planet faster than any other vessel, and its vast shuttlebays were quickly converted into quarantine areas for the sicken population, helping to quickly isolate the virus and develop a cure. By the time the medical ship USS Houssay reached the planet, Victory already had the situation under control, impressing both the Epsilon Canarians and Starfleet Command.

Initially thought of as a ship doomed to obsolescence before even leaving drydock, thanks to the ingenuity of its crew Victory became an example of how cold-war era starships could excel at peace-time roles.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C

After the disappearance of the Enterprise-B in 2329, Starfleet spent 18 months looking for the lost starship. Officially there was no mention of a new Enterprise being in consideration at that stage, quietly however the third spaceframe being built for the brand new Ambassador class at Utopia Planitia was left unnamed, just in case the search for the Enterprise-B proved unsuccessful.

In 2332, the Enterprise-C was commissioned and launched from Earth Station McKinley, under the command of 33-year-old Captain Rachel Garrett, who was promoted after an impressive tour of duty as the XO on Hood. One of the largest starships ever built at that time, Enterprise was designed first and foremost for deep-space exploration, and served with great distinction for 12 years.

In 2344, while on course to Archer IV, Enterprise received a distress call from the Klingon outpost on Narendra III. When the ship arrived, the outpost was under attack by 4 Romulan Warbirds, standing no chance of survival. With sensors showing the nearest Klingon ship was still hours away and wouldn't arrive in time, Captain Garrett took the decision to engage the Romulans, despite being heavily outgunned. The Enterprise-C was able to destroy one of the Warbirds before being overpowered and eventually destroyed by the three remaining Romulan ships.

However, Captain Garrett's decision to defend the outpost despite the insurmountable odds didn't go unnoticed. By the time the nearest Klingon ship arrived at Narendra III, the Romulans had withdraw victorious, but the picture of what had transpired was clear from the remaining debris. Enterprise's sacrifice was regarded as both honorable and glorious by the Empire, and proved in the Klingon's eyes that the Federation could be a worthy ally.

• This description incorporates elements written for the reference book "USS Enterprise Owner's Workshop Manual".
  
• The dedication plaque is based on its depiction on the 2016's release of the "Star Trek Encyclopedia", which is suposedly how the plaque looked like on the set.

USS Lalo NCC-43837

Mediterranean-Class ships like Lalo are small freighters often tasked with urgent cargo deliveries inside Federation space. They have a modest complement of only 30 crewmembers, most of which are non-commissioned officers or Ensigns on their first deep space posting. The commanding officer is usually a Lieutenant Commander, as the uneventful and routine assignments provide a good first test of command in relatively safe conditions.

Lalo specifically had an uneventful service for over 17 years, until stardate 43994.8. While on a freight run from Zeta Alpha II to Sentinel Minor IV, it became the first Federation starfleet to encounter the Borg incursion of 2366. The crew was able to sent a partial distress call before the ship was presumably destroyed with all hands.

• While Lalo was only mentioned by name in TNG, the class name comes from an internal production memo. The exterior shape of the ship is a fan-made design by Bernd Schneider, which was eventually used in official novels and comics to represent the ship.
  

USS Potemkin NCC-18253

A ship of the line when first commissioned in 2308, by the late 2360's Potemkin was an old but reliable workhorse mostly assigned missions inside Federation space, such as outpost resupply runs, VIP transport, or low-level diplomatic assignments. The ship is currently under the command of Captain Marcus Bertrand, its 11th commanding officer.

USS Appalachia NCC-52136

Appalachia was among the first Steamrunner-class heavy frigates completed on Copernicus Fleet Yards in 2373, with the starship class having been introduced only a couple years before. Its shakedown cruise on the outskirts of the Sol system coincided with the Borg incursion into Federation space, and Appalachia proved instrumental in the hours leading up to the Battle of Sector 001.

With only a skeleton crew on board, the ship shadowed the cube at maximum sensor distance and took detailed readings before the rest of the fleet was in a position to attack. This tactical information proved the basis for Vice Admiral Hayes' battle plan. After finishing repairs following the battle, Appalachia was properly commissioned and placed under the command of Captain Ahmed al-Rashid.

• This description incorporates elements written for the ebook "Star Trek: Corps of Engineers #22" and for the RPG sourcebook "Star Trek Adventures: Utopia Planitia".

USS Budapest NCC-52136

Norway-class starships were developed mainly as rapid crisis response vessels, intended to quickly provide assistance to planets or installations suffering from emergency situations. Different ships of the class would be specialized to provide different kinds of medical, engineering, or logistical help. Budapest was specialized in providing engineering assistance, and was under direct purview of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. Its commanding officer was Captain Sarah MacDougal, a career engineer.

USS Thunderchild NCC-63549

One of the first Akira-Class starships to enter service, Thunderchild was one of the early testbeds for the design. Under the command of Captain Evelyn Hoffman, its first few years of service were spent patrolling the edges of Federation space. A multi-purpose cruiser, the ship mapped two worlds inhabited by pre-warp civilizations and surveyed 6 new star systems during this period.

Despite the relative successes of these first few years, one of the main design objectives of the Akira program remained untested. The class had been designed and constructed following Wolf 359, and it was meant to be the first line of defense against any future Borg attack. Thunderchild was able to prove the success of the design in this aspect as well.

3 years after the ship was launched, the Borg attempted to assimilate Earth in what would become known as the Battle of Sector 001. Thunderchild's heavy ablative armor resisted several direct impacts of Borg energy weapons, and even managed to dissipate a tractor beam attempting to lock onto the ship. Thunderchild survived the battle, and was the starship to score the most direct hits on the Borg cube during the encounter, thanks in no small part to the Akira class having an unprecedented number of torpedo launchers.

USS Yeager NCC-61947

One of the first Saber-class starships to enter service, Yeager was commissioned under the command of Captain Melissa Binde and assigned to patrol shipping routes in the Typhoon Sector, a known hotspot of Nausicaan raiders. During its first 15 months of deployment, Yeager disabled 6 Nausicaan ships before eventually driving the raiders off the area altogether.

This glowing performance added to the raising reputation of the Saber class as a small yet dependable escort. While not as capable as the more compact Defiant class, its more traditional construction and larger size meant it was more popular with both crews and construction yards personnel.

On stardate 50893.5, the Borg began a new incursion into Federation space. Yeager was part of an assembled response fleet, and assigned to the third combat wave alongside starships Anchorage, Hiroshima, Tannu Tuva, Galatea, and Pearson. By the time the fleet managed to engage the Borg, they had already entered Sector 001. Yeager performed admirably during the battle, but received extensive damage to its ablative armor and power systems in the engagement.

Currently undergoing repairs, Yeager is scheduled to return to service by stardate 51027.4, and expected to join the Seventh Fleet ahead of Starfleet's counter-offensive against the new Dominion threat.

USS Cerberus NCC-75110

The Battles against the Borg at Wolf 359 and Sector 001 both showcased several flaws in Starfleet battle readiness and threat response capabilities. One of the main concerns in the eyes of Starfleet Command was that early on in both battles, the Admiral's flagship in command of the fleets was destroyed, leaving the remaining forces uncoordinated and with a crippled chain of command.

Cerberus was built specifically to try and offer a solution to this problem. The ship was not intended to separate into three independent crafts during battle as other Prometheus-class vessels, but rather to function as a resilient flagship able to withstand heavy barrages of enemy fire and still coordinate fleet movements effectively.

The redundancy inherent of the class design, with its 4 main warp nacelles, 3 independent computer cores, 6 impulse engines, and many other redundant systems, made it a perfect candidate for this role. The ship still retained the ability to separate in an emergency, but its spaceframe was heavily modified to prioritize total hull strength when the ship was connected together, unlike other Prometheus-class ships.

Originally intended to enter service in 2375, delays with the spaceframe modifications pushed the commissioning of Cerberus to 2376, just enough to miss the end of the Dominion War. The vessel became the new flagship for Rear Admiral Ross, and while it didn't see the heavy fighting it was designed to withstand, still proved a successful and versatile peacetime flagship for the Admiral, showing the flag in many diplomatic missions during the post-war reconstruction of the Alpha Quadrant.

• Cerberus was mentioned as the post-war flagship for Admiral Ross in several Star Trek novels. The registry number came from the RPG sourcebook "Star Trek Adventures: Utopia Planitia".

USS Ross NX-76710

Following the end of the Dominion War, Starfleet was ready to once again return to its primary mission of peaceful exploration and diplomatic outreach. To that end, large, long-range exploratory cruisers were once again being developed by shipyards all over the Federation. One such design was the Ross class, which built on the success of the Galaxy class, but incorporated a variety of technological advancements made during the last decade.

The first ship of the class, named after Earth engineering pioneer Mary G. Ross, was launched in 2381 under the command of Orion Captain Azeri Sull, and was assigned to exploration of the Shackleton Expanse out of Narendra Station. The ship incorporated the first holographic first officer in Starfleet, Commander EXEO, who runs on a dedicated computer core with its own holographic matrix.

Other inclusions are a large diplomatic promenade on deck 8 for receptions; a secondary warp core on the saucer section, capable to either power the main nacelles or provide warp capabilities to the saucer when separated; and a Cetacean Ops department on deck 13 crewed by 22 Odanian officers.

• The Ross class was designed by Thomas Marrone for "Star Trek Online" in early 2020, in collaboration with The Streampunks RPG group for their "Star Trek Adventures" campaign, "Clear Skies". I was approached to design the official ship bridge for the campaign shortly afterwards. Both the class and USS Ross in particular (now NCC-76710) appeared briefly in season 2 of "Star Trek: Picard".
  

USS Emmett Till NCC-82277

An iteration on the earlier Curiosity class, the Perseverance class was Starfleet's most advanced design when it was introduced in 2390. Emmett Till was among the first vessels of the class commissioned, under the command of Captain Ezri Dax.

The ship was the first to venture beyond the remnants of the fractured Romulan Empire, greatly expanding the Federation's knowledge of the far reaches of the Beta Quadrant; making first contact with 8 new warp-capable species in the process, two of which established formal diplomatic relations with the Federation not long after.

• The Emmett Till was created for the DS9 retrospective documentary 'What We Left Behind', shown in a hypothetical season 8 of the show. The exterior of the ship was designed by John Eaves, and can be seen in more detail here.
  
• The registry and ship class are conjectural of my part. One of Eaves concept pieces for the ship has the registry 'NCC-2277', so I simply added an 8 in front of that number. As for the class, 'Perseverance' illustrates the long road still ahead of us to reach a future where we learn from history rather than willfully forget it. Perseverance is also the proposed name for the next Mars rover, which will be similar in design to the rover Curiosity. Hence, I think the name also works due to the similarities this starship design shares with the Curiosity-Class from 'Star Trek: Picard'.
  
• The ship was named after Emmett Louis Till, an African-American boy who in 1955, at only 14 years old, was brutally lynched by a white mob in Mississippi, USA. As DS9 producer Ira Steven Behr (who named the starship) put it: "It seems to me that in order to reach a complete and healthy society we need to do two things. One, the historical record is broken and needs to be fixed. There’s lots of information floating around, but very little context. The past is no longer even prologue, it’s pretty much ignored. Two, we have to own our mistakes, our failures. Again, it seems to me that unless we recognize and remember our mistakes, embrace them, we are doomed to repeat them over and over and over again. Say hello to the 21st century. So, if I’m living on Federation Earth 300 years from now it would make me feel good to know that as Starfleet sails among the stars Emmett Till is sailing along with them. He is remembered. We own his story. He is part of our journey".