The Galaxy Class Starship was a bold leap away from Standard Starfleet directives which had produced the Excelsior and Ambassador classes. The overall brief was for a long range explorer type vessel offering much more comfort, similar to that offered by starbases. This ship was also to be designed for defending the federation. and must incorporate the latest weaponsry that the Federation had to offer. Designers worked for years developing the sweeping curves that differed from normal starship designs of the previous 70 years. The result was phenomenal. The ship itself was huge by all comparison yet very light and maneuverable.

The Galaxy class starships proved to be very capable and soon, the USS Enterprise D was named as the flagship of the Federation. The ship was true to it's heritage and was involved in some of the most pivotal moments of it's time. At the time of Enterprise's destruction, Galaxy class ships were the largest and most powerful starships in the federation.

In service the Galaxy class at first proved exemplary, but by 2371 no less than three of the initial six ships had been lost, one with her entire complement of crew and families. This alarming record led to many changes being introduced during refits of the remaining three vessels, and also to the construction of six new Galaxy class ships from space frames held in reserve against future need. The unfortunate history of the Galaxy class vessels combined with the recent escalation's in tensions within the alpha quadrant had led to all six vessels being subsequently completed, and all are were on active service against the Dominion until the end of the war in 2376.

Major changes to the Galaxy class have included a new more powerful warp core, a redesigned shield system intended to perform far better against phased polaron beam weapons, various changes to the ships computer systems, plus many minor changes to the ships systems. There are currently nine Galaxy class vessels in service. Production of these vessels continues today; five Galaxy class ships took part in the recent operation to retake Deep Space Nine from the Dominion and the class gained a fearsome reputation during the war, operating without loss. Though new Galaxy class ships were produced without any science or diplomatic facilities included in order to reduce the vessel mass and so enhance combat performance during the Dominion war. These ships will be "filled out" in the near future, considerably enhancing Starfleets exploration capacity. At this point further production is expected to be terminated in favour of the new Sovereign class.