J class The J - class was a starship design of Earth origin utilized by the Earth Cargo Service as a freighter . They were operated by captain s with an Earth Cargo Authority license . These vessels have a history dating back to the early 22nd century , with one of the ships of the class , the , commissioned in 2102 . ( ) Technical data . Physical arrangement . The forward more maneuverable tug section of the J - class starship could separate from the large aft cargo module . These ships were capable of hauling loads of up to 30 , 000 metric ton s . ( ) Propulsion systems . J - class ships were capable of maintaining a maximum speed of warp 2 . When the cargo load was full , it was , however , only safe to travel at warp 1 . 5 . The warp reactor s were personally designed by Zefram Cochrane himself , and there were rumors that he personally signed the inside of each reactor casing . The inertial damper s aboard the J - class were far less advanced than that of later warp - capable vessels . As such , all passengers on a J - class freighter would have to hold on to handles when the ship went to warp , or else risk losing their balance . ( ) Tactical systems . J - class ships were protected by polarized hull plating and armed with two forward - mounted plasma turrets . By the mid - 22nd century , the original weapons were not powerful enough to protect the ships from the pirates they encountered . It was , however , possible to upgrade them or to increase the original weapons ' yield by rerouting the impulse relays and tapping power directly from the impulse engine s . ( ) Appendices . Background information . In the final draft script of " Horizon " , the J - class was described thus ; " " It ' s a large [ . . . ] cargo ship comprised of several large , numbered CARGO MODULES strung together , and a CREW MODULE perched at its nose . " " The same scene description went on to specify , in a bracketed note , that the J - class was to look similar to the Y - class , but be " slightly more compact . " A later scene description commented that the " Command Module [ while alone ] is a compact , maneuverable vessel . " The exterior of the J - class was designed by John Eaves and rendered in CGI by Brandon MacDougall for Eden FX . Since the J - class was meant be an earlier design than the , the art department of intended to make the workings of the appear to be more primitive than those of . " " We wanted the instrumentation on the " Horizon " to be just a little clunkier , " " explained Michael Okuda . " " We went with larger buttons – that just seemed to make it less advanced – [ and ] signage in this ' retro - stencil ' look . " " ( ) The computer displays on the J - class were another concern . " " We had to do a whole new set of bridge graphics for the " Horizon " , " " James Van Over recalled . This facilitated an experiment whereby the art department inverted the normally white - text - with - black - background format seen on the show . " " We tried black letters on a white background and tried to keep the same look , " " Van Over clarified , " " but made it look like it might be a step back for the interface , or a case where they set theirs differently . " " ( ) Several J - class bridge situation boards and control panels were sold in the " It ' s A Wrap ! " sale and auction . In addition , several furniture items including a side chair , table and lamp from Mayweather ' s quarters , a table from the galley , and six swivel chairs from the bridge were also auctioned off . In the script of , this class was colloquially referred to , in dialogue , as " class - J " . This reference was changed , though , so the class is consistently referred to as " J - class " in canon .