Akira class starship

The Akira-class starship is a class of Starfleet starship in the Star Trek fictional universe, appearing first in Star Trek: First Contact and subsequently in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. Akira-class starships are seen in several Federation battle fleets across the series.

Ships of the Akira class are large vessels composed of a circular, saucer-shaped primary hull with a low-slung navigational deflector and two beams rising from the top heading aft; the beams attach to an arch that supports two warp nacelles at its ends and a weapons pod that fires photon torpedoes at its zenith. The main bridge, primary dorsal phaser strip and lifeboats are embedded into the saucer. The ventral saucer is occupied with the navigational deflector, a photon torpedo tube and additional lifeboats.

Design
Alex Jaeger of Industrial Light and Magic designed the Akira class, which is named for the anime film Akira. Jaeger commented on the design in an interview with Star Trek Magazine: "This was my gunship/battlecruiser/aircraft carrier. It has 15 torpedo launchers and two shuttlebays - one in front, with three doors, and one in the back. I really got into it with this one, with the whole idea that the front bay would be the launching bay, and then to return they'd come into the back, because they'd be protected by the rest of the ship."

Appearances
Akira-class ships are seen participating in several battles of the Dominion War depicted in Deep Space Nine, including Operation Return in "Sacrifice of Angels" and the First Battle of Chin'toka in "Tears of the Prophets". A ship of this class is also seen during the USS Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant in the Voyager episode "Endgame".

Known Akira-class starships

 * USS Thunderchild (NCC-63549) : The Thunderchild fights at the Battle of Sector 001 in Star Trek: First Contact. The ship is named for the fictional HMS Thunder Child in H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds.


 * USS Spector: The Spector is involved in the recovery of the USS Prometheus in the Voyager episode "Message in a Bottle".


 * USS Rabin (NCC-62392): Not on screen, but referenced in official decal sheets.


 * USS Geronimo : Appears in Star Trek: Bridge Commander.


 * USS Devore : Appears in Star Trek: Bridge Commander


 * USS Jupiter : Appears in Star Trek: Armada. It was also a promotional card in the Decipher Collectible Card game. The Card came with the game and was also packaged with the card game's final expansion 'All Good Things'.