Undoubtedly the undisputed champion of design longevity, the Miranda Class is one of the strongest holdovers from the 23rd century with a design surviving multiple upgrades and new integrations over the years.
Initially designed for scientific missions, as well as being used for border patrol, the Miranda Class was first launched in the 2260’s with a streamlined design mirroring the Constitution Class. A simplified saucer with underslung nacelles, the Miranda was also incredibly adaptable. The original variant included a rollbar on top of the rear of the extended saucer with a dual torpedo launcher.
Other variations included having no weapons module, some replacing it with a mounted sensor pod, and side-mounted sensor equipment among other changes the modular design would allow.
Shuttle and cargo bays were installed in the elongated bulk of the rear saucer with large doors leading to these bays on either side of the impulse engines. Aside from the rollbar variants tactical module, regular defences included three dual phaser banks on each side of the saucer with the ability to add more defensive weaponry in the same method as the modular mission specific pods.
Initially the bridge module mirrored the standard 23rd century design, with only minor differences form the Constitution class of the era. However later iterations of the bridge module would be modernised to the standard of the time; such as the USS Saratoga which included two large consoles either side of the Captains chair as well as split flight and operation consoles similar to the Galaxy Class of the era.
Other bridge modules would vary from the simplistic design of the USS Langtree’s bridge to the complex multi-level module used on the US Brattain. Main Engineering was more standardised, set between the two shuttle bays surrounding the warp core stretched between decks two and six.
The adaptable and versatile nature of the class would see it’s production last well into the 24th century. Miranda Class ships were even used in the Dominion War as both escorts as well as on the front lines in various conflicts including the final battle at Cardassia Prime.
Measuring just 233 meters in overall length, the Miranda is a nimble little ship that, thanks to it’s small size, is able to be manned by just 20-30 officers and crew by the 24th century though it can house up to two hundred dependant on mission profile.
First introduced in 1984’s Wrath of Khan as the USS Reliant, the Miranda Class was the first instance of a Starfleet ship that wasn’t a Constitution Class and the first ship in Trek to be designed since the Klingon Battlecruiser was built. Designed and constructed at Industrial Light & Magic under the supervision of Steve Gawley, the Reliant solidified the saucer section as a Starfleet identifier and used several elements from the studio’s Enterprise model to build a smaller, less bulky model in order to showcase it as the ‘lesser’ ship as well as make filming more practical than the hero ship.
Taking four months to build, Paramount got more than their moneys worth from the model which would appear again in The Voyage Home as the adrift USS Saratoga and find itself repurposed for multiple Starships in the Next Generation era from another Saratoga, this time a ship at Wolf-359, to other iterations including an extensive refit to become the Soyuz Class USS Bozeman in TNG’s Cause and Effect. Eventually the model would be retired for digital assets in Deep Space Nine and feature in multiple front line battles against he Dominion. The Digital models final appearance was in Voyagers Endgame where a Miranda Class was among the home fleet, though a final model was built for the Starfleet Museum in Star Trek Picard.
It’s physical arrangement has been copied many times over in both official and fan works. By the 254th century the class had finally been phased out after a hundred and forty years of being in production. The model was replaced by the Reliant Class design which first featured in Star Trek Online before artist Thomas Marrone was drafted in to bring the ship to live action alongside some of the games other popular designs.
Despite being replaced by a fully up to date new model in the Reliant Class, the Miranda is still the longest reigning and functional Starship designs used throughout Starfleet history and remains one of the most reliant adaptable structures
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