Federation class

The Federation class dreadnoughts were a class of starship extant beginning in the 2260s. (Star Fleet Technical Manual)

The original concept of a Federation-class dreadnought was to include more capabilities. Their additional robustness and armored hulls made them ideal for patrolling the Neutral Zones, where they could be (and often were) ambushed by cloaked adversaries at any time; if they weren't going to be taking the first shot of a battle, they had to survive long enough to retaliate. While having the same maximum speed as the Constitution-class fielded by the Federation at this time, the upper limit being imposed by existing warp coil technology, they could cruise at higher speeds (if only a few tenths of a warp factor), and maintain emergency speed for longer by dividing the workload of moving the vessel at warp and the cooling of the warp plasma between all three nacelles instead of just two. This meant that the dreadnought had greater strategic response ranges, so they could be (and often were) held in reserve at a Starbase and then scrambled to support other vessels or respond to emergencies. Due to their added bulk, they were somewhat less maneuverable in combat, and only had a minimal increase in firepower over its cruiser counterparts. This proved inadequate after other races began fielding dreadnoughts that reflected an approximate 50% increase in firepower over their respective heavy cruisers. During wartime, each fleet is commanded by an admiral in a dreadnought flagship, but during peacetime, it was usually docked at a starbase because it was too expensive to operate. (TOS video game: Starfleet Command)

The USS Star Empire was a prototype of the Mk V refit of this class. (TOS novel: Dreadnought!)

In the continuity of the novel, dreadnoughts were considered unnecessary, as the United Federation of Planets would never need that kind of power.

Federation-class starships
Prototype: USS Federation
USS Affiliation - USS Alliance - USS Association - USS Compactat - USS Concordat - USS Confederation - USS Consortium - USS Corporation - USS Directorate - USS Dominion - USS Entente - USS Konkordium - USS Organization - USS Pathfinder - USS Star Empire - USS Star League - USS Star League-A - USS Star System - USS Star Union - USS Trusteeship - USS Unificatum
Foley-subclass (late 2260s): USS Joshua Chamberlain
Star Empire prototype (2270): USS Star Empire
Starfleet International: USS Jack Fletcher - USS Konkordium - USS Pathfinder - USS Star League