Ashanti class

Class and Type: Ashanti-class Heavy Frigate
Commissioning Date: 2267

Designed for long-range, long-term patrols of hostile or potentially hostile border regions, such as the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Klingon Frontier, or space around the Rigel system, the Ashanti class Heavy Frigate came equipped with the latest in tactical systems as of 2267. Its multiple phaser banks and forward and aft torpedo launchers actually gave it more firepower than the Constitution class of the same period (though the Constitution quickly outdid it in the 2270s refitting).

The Ashanti consisted of a forward saucer attached to an Engineering section similar to that of the Constitution, but with almost no connecting interhull, so that the aft half of the saucer seemed to rest on the forward part of the Engineering hull. The nacelle pylons projected port and starboard from the aft half of the Engineering hull, with a slight aft slant, giving the ship a somewhat streamlined appearance.

Noteworthy Vessels/service records/encounters:

USS Ashanti, NCC-1858, prototype;
USS Bantu, NCC-1860, assigned to patrol of Romulan Neutral Zone (2270-2280);
USS Yoruba, NCC-1865, destroyed the Corvallus pirate ring (2271), during Klingon frontier patrol mission skirmished inconclusively several times with the IKS QaH'ta (2273-76), destroyed QaH'ta in a final battle which cost the life of Captain Martin Rodriguez and CMO Grady O'Halloran (2277);
USS Malawi, NCC-1880, lost due to unknown causes while patrolling the spinward frontier (2275);
USS Zimbabwe, NCC-1903, rescued the survivors of the Kebris III disaster (2283).