New Orleans class starship

The New Orleans class is a class of Starfleet starship which appeared in a single episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Design
For the episode "The Best of Both Worlds", a number of battle-damaged starship models were built for the Battle of Wolf 359 graveyard scene by kitbashing existing commercial Star Trek model kits. Ed Miarecki built the model for the USS Kyushu by kitbashing a model of the Galaxy class starship USS Enterprise-D and adding a few custom parts.

Description
The New Orleans has a saucer-shaped primary hull attached to a roughly cylindrical engineering section by a short, thick neck and with two warp nacelles attached to the dorsal side of the secondary hull by long, backswept, upward-curving pylons. The most unusual features of ships of this class are the three forward-facing pods, two mounted on top of the saucer and the other connected to the ventral engineering hull by a short pylon.

Other New Orleans-class starships
Although never established on screen, The Star Trek Encyclopedia written by series production staff, lists the following starships as New Orleans-class.


 * USS Renegade (NCC-63102) : In the Next Generation episode Conspiracy, the Enterprise-D meets with the starship Renegade.


 * USS Rutledge (NCC-57295) : In the Next Generation episode The Wounded, the Enterprise-D is ordered to intervene when it appears that a Starfleet Captain, Benjamin Maxwell, has gone rogue. The USS Rutledge is mentioned as a former command of Captain Maxwell, as well as Enterprise crewmember Miles O'Brien.


 * USS Thomas Paine (NCC-65530) : In the Next Generation episode Conspiracy, the Enterprise-D meets with the starship Thomas Paine.


 * USS New Orleans (NCC-61008) : Pathfinder ship.