Kolm-An class

Kolm-An Assault Cruiser
The Kolm-An Assault Cruiser is a larger assault ship used by the Federation during the latter part of the 23rd Century. Large and heavily armed compared to other assault ships of the period, the Kolm-Ans were designed specifically to go into war zones with the firepower necessary to both defend itself from potential attackers as well as provide meaningful orbital bombardment support to its troops once deployed.

Although the Kolm-An Assault Cruiser cannot carry as many troops as either the Makin or Continent classes, it does have a distinct advantage in strategic speed compared to these two contemporary assault ships. The Kolm-An's were built from the start to operate as reactionary assault ships, able to be quickly deployed to combat zones along the Klingon or Romulan borders. This speed allowed Federation marines to be deployed quickly and establish beachheads to be used when additional troops arrived onboard other, slower assault ships.

Despite their advantages, the experimental warp drives onboard the Kolm-An kept the class from becoming overly popular. The extra maintenance required to service these drives compared to the standard warp engines of the time was telling. Engines similar to those found on the Kolm-An would later be used as part of the Excelsior's failed transwarp experiments. Although transwarp drives were not realized, the warp nacelle style pioneered by the Kolm-An Assault Cruisers would live on with the Excelsior.

Following the signing of the Khitomer Accords and the Tomed Incident, the Federation found little reason to maintain an operational fleet of fast response assault vessels in the fleet and those Kolm-An cruisers in service were retired. Some were mothballed at various Federation surplus depots and one remains in Starfleet Academy service to help in marine training exercises. Other Kolm-An's were sold to the local planetary governments of several Federation member worlds to act as command ships, shuttle carriers, or auxiliary cruisers within their fleets