An upgrade of the first Excelsior class ships, with slight modifications of the hull and saucer sections. (Generations)
Type Explorer / Counter cloak cruiser
Unit Run U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-B
U.S.S. Lakota, NCC-42768
plus 100 vessels built since 2293. 85 remain in service, with 16 either retired or lost
Commissioned 2293 - 2315
Dimensions
Length 469.4 m
Width 184.4 m
Height 107.4 m
Decks 28
Mass 870,000 tons
Crew 565
Warp Speeds
Normal Cruise Warp 6
Maximum Cruise Warp 8.6
Maximum Rated Warp 9 for twelve hours
Armament 12 x Type VIII Phaser banks, total output 20,500 TeraWatts 4 x 2nd class photon torpedo tubes + 150 torpedoes Defence Systems Shield system, total capacity 1,269,000 TeraJoules
Standard Duranium double hull
Standard level Structural Integrity Field
Strength Indices (Galaxy Class = 1,000)
Beam Firepower 410
Torpedo Firepower 250
Weapon Range & Accuracy 625
Shield Strength 470
Hull Armour 20
Speed 750
Combat Manoeuvrability 3,500
Overall Strength Index 410
Diplomatic Capability Grade 5
Expected Lifetime 100 years
Refit Cycle
Minor 2 years
Standard 6 years
Major 18 years

The first major subgroup of the Excelsior class, the Enterprise-B subtype was designed for greater burst speed and manoeuvrability than the standard Excelsior and carried a much more elaborate electronics fit. The intention was to counter the new generation of cloak capable vessels being deployed by the Klingon empire; Starfleet was especially worried about developments which might permit Klingon vessels to fire whilst still cloaked, and it was these in particular that the new type was designed to counter. Wake homing torpedoes were fitted as standard, while plasma detector systems allowed the new ship to locate almost any existing vessel through its cloak. The advanced sensors of the Enterprise-B were also able to engage vessels firing from cloak by automatically locking phasers onto the origin of the weapons fire and almost instantly laying down a pattern of fire on the immediate area before the enemy vessel could change its position. Although the plasma emission weakness was rapidly eliminated from Klingon cloaking devices, the automatic lock and fire system of the Enterprise-B subclass proved so successful in service that by 2310 the Klingons had been forced to abandon the whole idea of firing from behind the cloak and reverted back to using this device purely during approach and evasion operations.