The Cardassian Fleet

Cardassian Fleet Doctrine:

The single most important factor in the creation of the Cardassian fleet was not Cardassian Imperial expansion, nor their desire to defend their borders. The most important factor was money, or more accurately the Cardassian Union's desire to build a powerful fleet without bankrupting themselves.

Original plans called for a large fleet of powerful cruisers supporting a core of battlecruisers of similar military capability to the Federation Ambassador class. The size of the fleet would be kept under control by defending Cardassia's borders and systems with smaller picket craft. The cruiser in this plan ended up being the Galor class, the picket ship became the Hideki. However the battlecruiser never appeared. It was cancelled as cost began to escalate at a very early stage. Instead the fleet doctrine was altered to using larger numbers of cruisers which resulted in further cost cutting on the Galor to suit it better to mass production and the development of the Keldon class.

Cardassian fleet designers reasoned that it was quicker and cheaper to repair a damaged ship than to build a new one, so to this end Cardassian ships are invariably built strong. However, Cardassian technology - although advanced compared to many alpha quadrant powers - is not comparable to that of the Federation or Klingon Empire, so the event of a major clash between the Cardassian navy and a superior enemy will probably result losses sufficient to cripple the Cardassian Navy. Therefore, Cardassian navy tactics against the Federation are expected to rely on trapping and eliminating small groups of enemy warships with a force of superior numbers.

Ships of the Cardassian Union:

Cardassian Cargo Ships
Hideki Class Patrol Craft
Galor Class Cruiser
Keldon Class Heavy Cruiser