Sovereign class

The Sovereign-class was a type of starship that was the lead type of Starfleet explorer vessel in the late 24th century.

History
The Sovereign-class began development in 2365 intended to be the latest and greatest in Starfleet exploration starships. Following the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)'s encounter with the Borg later that year, Starfleet began to augment the design with Borg defense in mind. In 2366, Starfleet was exposed to the full force of the Borg in the Battle of Wolf 359. After suffering huge loses with almost no damage done to the Borg, Starfleet's entire policy of starship design shifted towards defense and the Sovereign-class design was subsequently altered to reflect this.

The prototype USS Sovereign was finally launched in 2370, followed two years later by the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-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 of a century prior" and was expected to be Starfleet's leading class well into the 25th century. 

Features
Sovereign-class starships were quite adaptable to different missions, whether they be scientific, defensive, or diplomatic. These ships had 29 numbered decks and were built with two shuttlebays, one on the far aft of the secondary hull, similar to the hangar of the older Constitution and ships, and another bay on the aft part of deck 7. The Sovereign vessels 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. 

The class featured a warp drive modified not to have damaging effects on subspace, without the necessity of the 's continuum-safe variable geometry warp nacelles. The Sovereign-class had a maximum speed of Warp 9.985. 

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. 

In terms of weapons the Sovereign-class starship was fitted with a phaser array, should it be nonoperational then there was an auxiliary pulse phaser cannon that emerged from the hull. This cannon was capable of being manually operated and fired two pulse blasts along with a powered shot. 

Originally, the Sovereign-class was outfitted with 12 phaser arrays and 5 torpedo tubes. Sometime between 2375 and 2379, the Sovereign-class was refitted with 4 extra phaser arrays mounted on the nacelle pylons and 5 more torpedo tubes. . The USS Sovereign was outfitted with 20 phased plasma torpedoes. 

The Sovereign-class could ordinarily transport up to 6500 passengers in an emergency scenario. During the evacuation of the iy'Dewra'ni refugee camp in 2381, the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) were able to increase this number to over 9800. 

Background
The game software of included numerous other names for ships of this class that were not prepared to be used in gameplay, and are hidden in the game's source code, including USS Maddoc, USS LeMunche, USS Yamoto (probably a misspelling of Yamato), USS Syracuse, USS Kaempfert, USS Peter Ham, USS Jennilee, USS Beasley, USS Clyde A. Dugas (probably a misspelling of Clyde A. Douglas), USS Marron W. Swart (probably a misspelling of Marion W. Swart), USS Danvers, USS Tonawanda, USS Jackson, USS Niagara and USS Mysliwy. Possibly, these vessels were intended for some feature of the game that was not completed. For example, none of these ships are coded with registry number graphics like those the included ships possess.

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