Sovereign class

The Sovereign class was lead type of Starfleet heavy-explorers in the late 24th century.

History
The Sovereign class began development in 2365 intended to be the latest and greatest in Starfleet exploration starships, however following the USS Enterprise-D's encounter with the Borg later that year, Starfleet began to augment the design with Borg defence in mind. In 2366 Starfleet was exposed to the full force of the Borg in the Battle of Wolf 359. After suffering such huge loses with almost no damage done to the Borg, Starfleet's entire policy of starship design shifted towards defence and the Sovereign class's design was subsequently altered to reflect this.

The prototype USS Sovereign was finally launched in 2370, followed two years later (30 October 2372) by the USS Enterprise-E. The Enterprise later faced the Borg during their incursion of Federation space in 2373. Proving to be highly successful against the Borg, the Sovereign was hailed as one of the "best balances of exploration and tactical capability since the Constitution class of a century prior" and was expected to be Starfleet's leading class well into the 25th century. (ST reference: )

Features
Sovereign class starships were quite adaptable to different missions, scientific, defensive, and diplomatic. They had an average of 24 decks. They were equipped with two shuttle bays, one of the far aft modelled after old Constitution class ships, and another on the aft part of Deck 7, which was technically 3 shuttle bays in one, and were also fitted with a Captain's Yacht which launched from the underside of the Saucer section. The class had 6 standard personnel transporters, 8 cargo transporters and 6 emergency transporters. (Last Unicorn RPG: Starfleet Operations Manual) The class was capable of saucer separation and was the first class to feature a warp drive modified not to damage subspace without the necessity of the Intrepid class's variable geometry warp nacelles. (ST reference: )

The Sovereign class incorporated bioneural gel packs into its computer systems. The bioneural gel in them was obtained from the Kropaslin and was designed by Doctor Delasat Vantimor. (SCE eBook: The Future Begins)

Apocrypha
The RPG The Dominion War Sourcebook: The Fires of Armageddon, published by Last Unicorn Games after they had lost their Star Trek licence lists the USS Gibraltar (Sovereign class) as bearing the registry NCC-75689.