FSD: Starship Database - Ambassador-class

The Ambassador-class was developed early in the 24th century. Acting as a replacement for duties of the retired Constitution-class, its mission objectives included exploration, defense, and diplomacy. The class was later replaced by the Galaxy-class, some ships were still in use during the 2360's, however by the 2370's the Ambassador have been largely phased out of service.

The Ambassador's design showed the departure of the 23rd century starship design, and an introduction to the early 24th century design seen in the Galaxy and Nebula-classes. It featured escape pod hatches seen on later starships like the Intrepid-class, and phaser arrays used on almost all other subsequent vessels. There are three shuttlebays, one located on the saucer, back of the engineering hull, and on Type-II models, under the engineering shuttlebay. The only photon torpedo launcher is located in the neck. On the ventral side of the saucer and directly below the bridge is a sensor dome.

There are two different versions of the Ambassador-class. The Type-I was the first model built for the Enterprise-C, and later modified for other Ambassador shots, such as the USS Zhukov and the USS Yamaguchi. The differences include modifications to the bridge module, sensor dome, navigational deflector dish, saucer and neck, location of the nacelles, cowlings on the bussard collectors, the third shuttlebay, width of the engineering hull, and color of the impulse engine. The Enterprise-C is often shown as a Type-II Ambassador, without the third shuttlebay, even though it was clearly seen as a Type-I in "Yesterday's Enterprise" - TNG.

The Ambassador-class ship was designed by Rick Sternbach and Andrew Probert. The model, built by Greg Jein, was intended to suggest an intermediate step between the Excelsior-class and the Galaxy-class starships.

Related Links:
Designing the Enterprise-C, Ambassador-class Variants (EAS)