Apollo class The " Apollo " - class was a class of Federation starship in operation during the 24th century . They were in Starfleet service by the 2320s through the 2370s . ( ; ) They were used on missions of deep - space exploration . ( TNG Season 4 , " display graphic " ) The Vulcan National Merchant Fleet and the Maquis also utilized them as freighter s and transport s . These vessels were partially constructed out of dentarium alloy . In 2364 , a ship of the class , the , received Kosinski ' s experimental warp drive upgrades , resulting in a measurable increase in performance and engine efficiency . It was later suggested that the enhancement may have been attributed to Kosinski only straightening out simple engine inefficiencies of the old ship . ( ) In 2368 , fragments from the navigational deflector array of a Vulcan transport of this class were recovered in the Hanolin asteroid belt from a downed Ferengi cargo ship in crates marked " medical supplies " . The debris was spread over one hundred square kilometers . After running a molecular pattern trace , the ship was later identified as the " . That vessel , and two others were later used by the Romulan s as a " peace " envoy sent to . These vessels traveled from Romulus and across the Romulan Neutral Zone at warp 1 ; aboard the three vessels were over two thousand Romulan troops . Following the Federation ' s discovery of the Romulans true intentions , the invasion of Vulcan , the Romulan force retreated toward the Neutral Zone . Upon an attempted interception by the , a Romulan Warbird destroyed the three Vulcan transports and all the troops on board . ( ) In 2372 , Starfleet Command ordered the transport of several CFI replicator s to Cardassia aboard a Vulcan freighter . It was later determined that the freighter was under Maquis control , and instead used the vessel to divert the replicators to the Demilitarized Zone and into their possession . Michael Eddington left aboard the Vulcan freighter as well , as he left behind his Starfleet career , and to join the Maquis full time . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The " Apollo " - class name has appeared on screen only in a Starship mission status chart in . In the . the Vulcan spacecraft " " , a ship mentioned in " Unification I " , was identified as a member of the " Apollo " - class . In an internal ship list , dated to September 26 , 1990 , the freighter " Odin " was identified as a member of the " Apollo " - class . The , as well , identified one of the starships lost at Wolf 359 as the , an " Apollo " - class starship , with the registry of NCC - 11672 . The ship was only mentioned in a scene cut from the aired episode . In the scene the " Gage " was ordered to attack the Borg cube with the and the . The stated this class of starship was " " named for the sun god in Earth ' s Greek mythology , as well as for the spacecraft that first carried Human s to the moon . " " The " Apollo " - class , according to Rick Sternbach who designed the " T ' Pau " , was equipped with a conjectural type of warp drive called the annular warp drive by the . Instead of conventional nacelle s , a ship equipped with this drive would have a large hoop - shaped field generator . For more information on history of this studio model , please see : " Apollo " - class .