The Intrepid-class starship was a Federation design that entered service in the later half of the 24th century. The Intrepid-class was designed for long-term exploration missions. At less than half the size of a Galaxy-class starship, it was considered "quick and smart."


When first commissioned, the Intrepid class featured many innovations then becoming available, not least being the tricyclic input manifold of the warp core and variable geometry pylons. The class was also the first to incorporate bio-neural gel packs and was equipped with the Mark 1 Emergency Medical Hologram (or EMH) system.

Capabilities upon introduction were equally impressive. The class boasted the best navigational sensors, and the highest top speed of any Starfleet vessel until the development of the Prometheus-class. Its multi-mission design was backed up by a main computer processor capable of simultaneously accessing 47 million data channels and sustaining 575 trillion calculations per nanosecond in operational temperatures from 10 to 1,790.