Ambassador class The " Ambassador " - class starship was a type of heavy cruiser in service with Starfleet during at least the mid - to late 24th century . ( ) History . One of the most notable " Ambassador " - class ships was the . In 2344 , while under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett , the ship responded to a distress call from a Klingon colony on Narendra III . Four Romulan warbird s had surrounded the colony . The " Enterprise " responded to the attack , and despite being destroyed there , defended it long enough to impress the Klingon High Council ; this act of bravery in combat was seen as extremely honorable , thus securing a treaty between the Klingon Empire and the Federation . ( ) Ships of the " Ambassador " - class were utilized in the 24th century during the Klingon Civil War , and fought against the Borg and the Dominion . ( ; ) Technical data . Physical arrangement . The " Ambassador " - class featured the saucer section - engineering section - warp nacelle layout common to most Starfleet vessels . It was intermediate in size between the and the . In addition , the class boasted at least three engineering levels . ( ) A number of " Ambassador " - class ships were constructed with minor alterations from the original design . The saucer section ' s connection to the engineering hull was shifted slightly aft , with the nacelle pylon assembly moved a corresponding distance in the same direction . Cowlings were added around the Bussard collector s , making them appear closer to that of the " Galaxy " - class , while the impulse engine exhaust changed from a blue to a red glow . The lower sensor dome became more elaborate and closer in appearance to the " Excelsior " - class and the deflector dish was modified . Finally , the width of the shuttlebay was increased and a second facility resembling that on the " Excelsior " - class engineering hull was mounted directly underneath the original one . Graphics were upgraded with the Starfleet insignia of the 2360s . ( ; ) Families were allowed aboard " Ambassador " - class ships , but only if they were related to a Starfleet crewmember who had served on the ship exceeding six months . ( ) Tactical systems . The " Ambassador " - class was armed with both phaser bank s and photon torpedo es with coverage to both fore and aft firing arcs . A phaser emitter was also located on the secondary hull in proximity of the deflector dish . ( ) According to Natasha Yar , during the 2340s , the " Ambassador " - class had " a lot more maneuverability than the Romulan counterparts of that era . " Yar went on to explain that in her alternate timeline , deflector shield technology of the 2360s would advance considerably during the war , allowing the " Galaxy " - class to possess a heat - dissipation rate that was almost double those of the " Ambassador " - class , allowing the " Galaxy " to hang in a firefight longer . ( ) Interior design . Main bridge . Primary operational control of the " Ambassador " - class starship was provided by the main bridge . Located on top of the primary hull , the bridge directly supervised all primary mission operations and coordinated all departmental activities . In 2344 , the central area of the bridge provided seating for the captain only . Directly fore and to the right of the captain was the ops station , with the helm station to the left . The consoles were similar to that used on the bridges of " Excelsior " - and " Galaxy " - class starships . At the very front of the bridge was a large viewscreen , with a freestanding console located directly below . Against the back walls of the bridge were consoles for the tactical , engineering , and science positions . Additional displays flanked the aft consoles . The bridge was accessed through two doors , located on the forward halves of the port and starboard walls . ( ) The original design incorporated flat - panel , LCARS - based , control panels using the interface introduced in the late 23rd century . ( ) By the 2360s , the " Ambassador " - class bridge was upgraded to include the standard LCARS interface and consoles typically found on board modern vessels of that era . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Name . Very little is known about the " Ambassador " - class starship , whose designation dates back to an early draft of , which described the source of cultural contamination arriving aboard a small " Ambassador " - class vessel called the " Magellan " . The term was later used in to describe the starship " Horatio " . It was connected to the " Enterprise " - C design on display graphics in " Yesterday ' s Enterprise . " Class Ship . In an internal list of ships , dated September 26 , 1990 , the class was designated a class ship , the USS " Ambassador " , with the registry of NCC - 10521 . The ship was later mentioned in the " " ( 3rd ed . , p . 28 ) and in the " " ( p . 75 ) . In the latter source , the ship ' s registry was given as NX - 10521 . The " Ambassador " was , as well , mentioned in the " Ambassador " - class article in the , where it was identified as the prototype ship with the registry NCC - 10521 , and in subsequent editions of this reference work . Size . The first and subsequent editions of the popularized a length of 526 meters for Rick Sternbach ' s final design . Several years before the " Star Trek Encyclopedia " was published , the number had been added to " " , which also gives an imperial equivalent of 1 , 725 feet . No reasoning has been provided for this size . Gary Kerr calculated a second figure of 1 , 570 feet and a metric conversion of 478 . 5 meters , explaining that the " Enterprise " - C is just short of 35 . 75 inches long in the blueprints of its miniature , and that the blueprints are in scale with the four - foot miniature of the " Enterprise " - D . Kerr used 2 , 108 feet for the length of the latter and 48 inches for the length of the four - foot miniature , although he also determined that it was probably closer to 49 . 25 inches long . Nevertheless , Rick Sternbach fully supports the 1 , 570 - foot calculation , saying that he worked with the same assumptions when drafting the " Enterprise " - C blueprints . Aside from the unexplained figure of 526 meters , it is unclear whether the size implied by Rick Sternbach was deliberately changed during the original development process . His initial full - scale blueprints were blown up by 15 % , which means that the final size of the miniature ( 41 . 19 inches ) could have influenced the ship ' s conceptual size next to the " Enterprise " - D . Greg Jein does not recall scaling up the blueprints , and whoever did remains unknown . Andrew Probert has stated that his original concept is precisely 1 , 720 feet long ( 524 . 256 meters ) . The number is consistent with an early TNG size comparison chart , also provided by Probert , although he did not write the 1 , 721 - foot callout on that drawing . Supplemental information . The " Star Trek : The Next Generation Technical Manual " ( pg . 75 ) established that the " Galaxy " - class was designed to replace the aging " Ambassador " - and es as primary instruments of Starfleet ' s exploration programs . ( p . 1 ) The " Technical Manual " also explained that during the design phase , the combined vehicle mass of " Ambassador " was expected to be at least 3 . 71 million tons . ( p . 75 ) A line in the final draft script of " Yesterday ' s Enterprise " establishes that the initial crew complement of the " Enterprise " - C was seven hundred . The line was not included in the final cut of the aired episode . " Ships of the Line " calendar . According to " " , Andrew Probert ' s original " Ambassador " was launched in 2325 . The following specifications come from the tech fold in the calendar : Apocrypha . Novels . The DS9 novel " Antimatter " mentions the " Ambassador " - class USS " Hannibal " under construction at the newly - reopened Okana shipyards on Bajor ' s surface . The " Ambassador " - class " Excalibur " was the star of the Peter David " " novel series . The USS " Gandhi " , listed here as an " Ambassador " - class ship , is stated as being a " Galaxy " - class ship in John Vornholt ' s " Double Helix " book , " Quarantine " . In the " " novel " Rough Beasts of Empire " , the USS " Assurance " is an " Ambassador " - class starship in service at the time Starfleet ' s war with the Tzenkethi . Television . In non - " Trek " related media , a cartoon version of the " Ambassador " - class vessel appeared in an episode of the Cinar - Paramount animated series " The Busy World of Richard Scarry " . A " Futurama " parody of an " Ambassador " - class , with Scott Bakula at the helm , also appeared in the direct - to - DVD film " Bender ' s Game " . Video games . The Decipher role - playing games supplement " " includes the USS " Krotus " ( NCC - 26544 ) . The " Ambassador " - class ships " Excalibur " and " Zhukov " make appearances in the " " PC game . In " " , an " Ambassador " - class was among the ships sent to intercept Sphere 634 , due to the game ' s reuse of " Bridge Commander " ship models . The " Ambassador " - class was released as a playable starship as part of the third anniversary for the game " Star Trek Online " . In the game , the player gets the opportunity to take command of the USS " Enterprise " - C after she winds up in the 25th century instead of returning to Narendra III at the end of . The altered " Ambassador " - class seen in " Data ' s Day " and " Emissary " is an alternate skin in the Fleet version of the " Ambassador " - class and is referred to as the " Yamaguchi " - class , named after the U . S . S . " Yamaguchi " lost during the Battle of Wolf 359 In " " the " Ambassador " - class is a playable Federation ship .