Achilles class

The Achilles-class starship was a warship developed by the Federation during the Dominion War in response to the massive warships used by the Dominion Alliance, including the Cardassian Hutets and the Jem'Hadar Super Carriers.

Background
The Federation needed a hard-hitting heavy cruiser that was easier to make than the Sovereign class. Starfleet specified a long-range, multi-purpose, heavy cruiser that could penetrate enemy defenses and strike strategic installations with little or no escort. It was realized that the Federation and its allies lacked many ships heavy enough to stand toe to toe against such dreadnoughts, being limited to Galaxy class and Sovereign class Battleships and Klingon Negh'Var class Attack Cruisers.

The Achilles' exceptional low profile, quickness and armament could pit it against fighter class vessels, heavy cruisers, and small defended installations. With the introduction of the Mini-Quantum Torpedo Phalanx weapons systems the Achilles-Class could cripple enemy warships while maintaining target on an enemy objective.

General Description
The Achilles class measures 612 meters in length, 272 meters across, 67 meters high, and is divided into fourteen (14) decks.

The Achilles is a fairly conservative design that follows the design lineage of the Intrepid class and Sovereign class. Slightly smaller than a Galaxy class, the Achilles was a far cry from the size of the Dominion heavy ships, but was of a sleeker design, and armed with the advanced weapons used for the Defiant class Armored Escorts for fighting the Borg. The saucer and engineering hull are directly connected with no neck as on most of the previous Starfleet designs. The nacelles are connected to the aft of the engineering section by struts at the top of the section that curve downwards, this places the nacelles in line with the saucer section, which helps to keep the ship streamlined.

Offensive Capabilities
The primary weapons on the Achilles class are eight (8) pulse phaser cannons in two banks of three located on the front dorsal section of the saucer. With the successful deployment of the pulse phaser cannon on the Defiant class, Starfleet wished to replicate this into a larger more powerful vessel.

The ship's other weapons' systems are three (3) quantum torpedo launchers, two at the forward edge of the saucer and one launcher at the rear of the engineering section. The ship also has four Type-12 phaser arrays, two located dorsally and two ventral arrays. The ship also has a prototype weapon system installed, Mini-Quantum Torpedo Phalanx array. Mounted midway down the engineering section of the ship on the dorsal side of the ship, covering the entire upper hemisphere of the ship. The array allows the ship to combat multiple vessels to cause massive destruction, while still keeping its forward firepower focused on a single target.