Galor class " Galor " - class cruiser s were the primary class of warship used by the Cardassian military during the latter half of the 24th century . Technical data . Design . The " Galor " - class shared the same basic superstructure as their counterparts , but were used far more frequently by the Cardassian military . ( ) Commonly referred to as " warships " or " war vessels " , this class was also designated by the Cardassians and the Maquis as " cruiser s " . ( ; ; ) During the late 2360s , these warships had at least three sub - classes , with the " Galor " - class , Type - 3 considered to be " top of the line . " ( ) During the Dominion War , these vessels were classified by Starfleet as " destroyer s " , in relation to their Dominion counterparts . ( ) Tactical systems . The arsenals of " Galor " - class warships vary , though typically they are armed with numerous phaser array s . Although the " Galor " - class vessels were considerably inferior to the Federation ' s starships , they proved to be very effective against and other older Federation starships . ( ; ) These ships were often seen operating in squadrons of three , possibly to make up for their tactical weaknesses compared to contemporary warships of other interstellar powers . In 2369 , Captain Edward Jellico ordered a fleet of " Galor " - class starships to leave the McAllister C - 5 Nebula one - by - one , ejecting their primary phaser coil s . ( ) In 2370 , Cardassian colonist s living in the Demilitarized Zone modified Cardassian shuttle s , which they equipped with " Galor " - class phaser banks to protect their colonial interests . ( ) The " Galor " - class was also utilized in the mirror universe by the Klingon - Cardassian Alliance where they were described by Intendant as being " quick and powerful " . These vessels , however , were not without their weaknesses , specifically , their targeting system s could be easily fooled . ( ) Subsystems . In 2367 , the Cardassian warships lacked the ability to read Federation starships transponder codes , while the latter had that ability . The Cardassians were granted this ability when Captain Picard gave Gul Macet the Federation ' s codes to track the . Federation starships also had superior terminal interface systems . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The " Galor " first appeared in " The Wounded " , and was first identified by name in " Ensign Ro " . It is possible that the generic references made in later seasons to Cardassian warship s , Cardassian battle cruiser s and Cardassian destroyer s were made in reference to the " Galor " - class starship . It is , however , as equally likely that those references were made with regards to the " Keldon " or yet unseen class of warship . While there were never any specific references to the maximum speed of a " Galor " - class , an observation can be made in , where the warship " Kraxon " chased the , which was traveling at warp 8 towards the Orias system . The display graphic featuring the pursuit depicted an even match , however , based on the events in the episode , the " Kraxon " was not moving fast enough to catch the " Defiant " before it reached its destination . According to the " " RPG sourcebook , the " Galor " - class is named after a mythical Cardassian warrior . Size . Brandon MacDougall posted the real - world length of the LightWave model he built for the sixth and seventh seasons of DS9 : " " I loaded the 3D model up and she ' s around 368m [ 1207 feet ] . I would ' ve checked with Rick [ Sternbach ] at one time regarding the size when laying it out . " " A camera test model from an auction contains a handwritten note : " Cardassian 1200 ft [ 366 meters ] " . Visual Effects Supervisor David Stipes noted that the " " Galor " is about 1 , 200 ft . " When asked whether he had a definitive size , Rick Sternbach replied : Definitive ? Not really , but I can try to make a guess . I pegged it at ~ 371m in the , and just now measuring a reduced xerox of my starboard elevation ortho ( and assuming a humanoid - comfortable deck height of ~ 3 . 8m ) , I get 379 . 6m , not far off from what I thought for the book . Will there ever be an authoritative figure ? Probably not , but the number I get could be considered " original intent , " . . . A couple of sources imply that the " Galor " was intended to be approximately ¾ as long as the " Enterprise " - D . An article in the magazine " Sci - Fi & Fantasy Models " # 16 states that the " Galor " miniature was in scale with the four - foot miniature of the " Enterprise " - D . Ed Miarecki also recalled such a consensus between him and Rick Sternbach . If so , the overall length can be estimated at ( ~ 37 inches / ~ 49 . 25 inches ) * 2 , 108 feet = ~ 1 , 580 feet ( ~ 480 meters ) . Larry Nemecek likewise wrote that " Rick S [ ternbach ] ' s original length was 1 , 587 ft , or @ ¾ the length of the " Galaxy " - class . " " Technical Manual " . The following specifications , which describes this vessel as a " Galor " - class attack cruiser , comes exclusively from the " " :