Nebula class

The Nebula-class was a type of Federation starship in use by Starfleet in the 24th century. Officially designated as an explorer, the Nebula ships were also sometimes referred to as exploratory cruisers or cruisers. This class was named for spectacular galactic gas clouds known as nebulae. 

Technical data
The Nebula-class is well-known for being a testbed of modular components, with the vessel's upper outboard structures varying from vessel to vessel. Several configurations—including a tactical pod, sensor pod, cargo pod and probe pod—had been fielded by the 2380s. During the Dominion War, of course, the most common variant was the tactical configuration. 

Special configurations
During the Dominion War, Starfleet worked on a key number of tactical upgrades to all types of starship that would be used in combat against Dominion forces. The key aim was to increase their defensive and offensive capabilities so that they could remain in a fire-fight a lot longer. Through this design strategy, the Nebula-class was able to gain an impressive array of specialised weapons and defensive systems. Whilst these tactical upgrades were used sparingly during the Dominion War, the systems were heavily used during the Borg incursions of 2376 and 2377. 

The tactical configuration was sometimes referred to as battle cruisers by 2379. 


 * Shield disruptor : This weapon was based on technology adapted from the Breen Energy dampening weapon. It disables the shields of a group of enemy ships for a short time, allowing weapons to damage the hull and systems directly.


 * Gemini effect : The Gemini Effect was created as a result of Doctor Paul Manheim's temporal research in 2364. The effect creates a temporal disturbance in the space-time continuum, allowing two of the same ship to exist simultaneously in different locations.


 * Point defense phaser : The initial concept for this weapon goes back as far as the 20th century, with the Strategic Defense Initiative. Perfected in 2374, the PDP destroys incoming torpedoes before they can do any damage.


 * Engineering team : Allows this ship to repair a allied ship, restore shields @ 50% capacity.

Registry number examples

 * USS Nebula (NCC-60202) (NCC-60202)
 * USS Honshu (NCC-60205)
 * USS Farragut (NCC-60597) (NCC-60597)
 * USS Nightingale (NCC-60805) (NCC-60805)
 * USS Bougainville (NCC-61809) (NCC-61809)
 * USS Monitor (NCC-61826) (NCC-61826)
 * USS Merrimac (NCC-61827) (NCC-61827)
 * USS Lexington (NCC-61832) (NCC-61832)
 * USS Proxima (NCC-61952) (NCC-61952)
 * USS Hera (NCC-62006) (NCC-62006)
 * USS Chesapeake (NCC-62010) (NCC-62010)
 * USS Melbourne (Nebula class) (NCC-62043-A)
 * USS Bellerophon (NCC-62048) (NCC-62048)
 * USS Discovery (NCC-62049) (NCC-62049)
 * USS T'Kumbra (NCC-62100) (NCC-62100)
 * USS Leopard (NCC-62344) (NCC-62344)
 * USS Berkeley (NCC-64720) (NCC-64720)
 * USS Temeraire (NCC-65387)
 * USS Phoenix (NCC-65420) (NCC-65420)
 * USS Khitomer (NCC-66613)
 * USS Ulysses (NCC-66808) (NCC-66808)
 * USS Reston (NCC-66874)
 * USS Leeds (NCC-70352)
 * USS Bonchune (NCC-70915)
 * USS Prometheus (NCC-71201) (NCC-71201)
 * USS Endeavour (NCC-71805) (NCC-71805)
 * USS Sutherland (NCC-72015) (NCC-72015)

Other vessels
USS Aldebaran (Nebula class) • USS Alnwick • USS Aristotle • USS Arlen • USS Barclay • USS Bell (Nebula class) • USS Berthonia • USS Boadicea • USS Boater • USS Bonhomme Richard (Nebula class) • USS Boyle • USS Caddebostan • USS Chang Teh • USS Cousteau • USS Crick (Nebula class) • USS Curie (Nebula class) • USS Darwin • USS Descartes • USS Douglass • USS Edison • USS Einstein (Nebula class) • USS Euclid • USS Faraday (Nebula class) • USS Fermi (Nebula class) • USS Foucault • USS Galileo (Nebula class) • USS Gallant (Nebula class) • USS Garuda • USS Gates (Nebula class) • USS Godel • USS Haley • USS Hawking (Nebula class) • USS Hegel • USS Heisenberg (Nebula class) • USS Himori • USS Hubble (Nebula class) • USS Hsien Ning • USS Iowa (Nebula class) • USS Jacobus • USS Jah'tor • USS Kelvin (Nebula class) • USS Kerra'don • USS Knoxville • USS Knuth • USS Koerner • USS Lahr • USS Narnia • USS Newell • USS Newton (Nebula class) • USS Nobel (Nebula class) • USS Ockham • USS Oppenheimer • USS Oxford (Nebula class) • USS Pascal • USS Pasteur (Nebula class) • USS Pavlov • USS Pythagoras (Nebula class) • USS Ranger (Nebula class) • USS Saladin (Nebula class) • USS Salk (Nebula class) • USS Schrödinger • USS Schweitzer • USS Scott (Nebula class) • USS Stafford (Nebula class) • USS Tesla • USS Tomaselli • USS Tonawanda • USS Whitney • USS Zee-Magnees • USS Zimmerman

Background
This class first appeared in canon in.

Apocrypha
The ebook The Dominion War Sourcebook: The Fires of Armageddon, released by Last Unicorn Games after they had lost their Star Trek license listed several other Nebula class starships: USS Osiris (NCC-69903), USS Denali (NCC-70258) and USS Shanghai (NCC-55203).