Gagarin class (23rd century)

The Gagarin-class was a class V science vessel starship in service to the Federation Starfleet in the late 23rd century. The Gagarin-class was a variant design of the venerable science vessels.

The Gagarin's were designed and built to perform intensive surveys of planets, but there poor weaponry meant that they only operated deep inside Federation-protected territory.

Advances in warp drive shielding at the time meant that the low-yield warp nacelles of the Gagarin's didn't need to be mounted at a considerable distance from the main hull. Although the engines were detachable in case of an emergency overload.

The first vessel of this class entered service around stardate 2/1912 and nine further vessels were constructed. Construction of further Gagarin's were halted when Starfleet Command discovered that few survey missions could be considered "low-risk", especially after the destruction of the USS Grissom (NCC-638) in orbit of the Genesis Planet. 

Known ships

 * USS Grissom (NCC-638)