Daedalus class

The Daedalus-class was an early class of Starfleet vessel that, unlike most Federation starship designs was designed with a spherical primary hull, outwardly similar to the later. This class, which operated with a crew of approximately 229, was decommissioned by the year 2196. 

History
Operating out of Starbase 12, the USS Essex, under the command of Captain Bryce Shumar, was lost in 2167 when the ship was destroyed with all hands aboard by an electromagnetic storm in the atmosphere of an M-class moon of Mab-Bu VI. 

A model of the USS Horizon was at one time kept in Deep Space 9's classroom, and later in Benjamin Sisko's ready room. (, etc.)

Ships commissioned

 * Named:
 * USS Essex (NCC-173)
 * USS Horizon (NCC-176)


 * Uncertain:
 * USS Archon
 * USS Carolina (23rd century)
 * Horizon

Appearances

 * (model in DS9's classroom)
 * (model from here on in Sisko's office)
 * (model from here on in Sisko's office)

Background information
Note that ship design and the name "Daedalus" have never been connected in any canon production. is the only mention of a ship type called "Daedalus-class". The ship model as seen on DS9, and the USS Horizon it represents, was never stated to be a Daedalus-class starship. But since the model was initially built for Star Trek Chronology to depict the Daedalus-class, we assume it is the Daedalus-class design.

While not mentioned specifically, according to dialog in, new warp 7 starships came into service in or sometime soon after 2161. Since the Daedalus-class is known to have been in service since at least the 2160s, this suggests that the class was among the first new warp 7 starships.

If it had been up to Designer Doug Drexler, the Deadalus-class would have been his starting point in designing the for the series Star Trek: Enterprise, "I like the NX-o1, even though it was a frustrating experience. I’m a “canon” kind of guy. I would have liked to have seen the Daedalus style ship. You know… the sphere instead of saucer. The producers wanted it to be a saucer because they wanted it “recognizable”."

Studio model
According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, this conjectural design was "based on an early USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) design by Matt Jefferies and built by Greg Jein." Jefferies himself seriously considered his design as a possible contender at the time, as he deemed the sphere the best possible pressure vessel for use in a vacuum, but eventually dispensed of as being "too bulky". (, p. 28) Jein especially built the model for representation in the Star Trek Chronology reference book. The model, about 20 inches long, originally bore the name USS Essex with registry number NCC-176. . Interestingly, at the time the nacelles were equipped with spikes akin to those seen on the original Enterprise studio model in.

An additional casting was taken from the molds of this model and has been refurbished as the USS Horizon, minus the spikes and with an unchanged registry, and was used as a desktop display model in Benjamin Sisko's office in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Michael Okuda elaborated, "There were at least two models of the Horizon/Essex. The first was the one that Greg built for the Chronology. I later asked Greg to make a casting of that model, so we could use it as set dressing in Sisko's office. I believe he made another casting for display at Star Trek: The Experience [remark: which he actually did, as the USS Horizon and where it was, as per plaque, specifically designated Daedalus-class ]. I may still have the original model somewhere, although I seem to recall it was damaged in an earthquake some years ago... The 'painted over stripes' were present on the cast resin copies. The original stripes were fairly thick graphic tape, so they showed up as ridges on the cast copies. Doug and I did the taping after Greg delivered the finished model. We also applied tape over the ridges on the copy in Sisko's office, at least partially, but I don't think we ever got a chance to tape the copy made for The Experience.

"(...) Greg modeled the Daedalus for us for the Star Trek Chronology. When Doug and I were photographing it, I asked Doug to add a little bit of weathering detail to Greg's model to bring out a little more of the panel detail. We were thrilled to have a real Greg Jein model for the project, and Doug was just a bit nervous to be working on a model that had been created by one of the masters of the art. "I feel like I'm defacing a Greg Jein original," he said. I disagreed. "Look at it this way, Doug: You're actually *completing* a Greg Jein original." Faced with that unassailable logic, Doug went back to work, with beautiful results."

Apart from photographing the model, Okuda also retouched the photos for representation in the Chronology/Encyclopedia by adding background and lighted windows. While Okuda has retained ownership of the original reference model, the current whereabouts of the Sisko, and Experience display model copies are unknown, as they have not been sighted since.

In 2003 Drexler built a CGI model of the USS Daedalus with registry NCC-129 (presumably the class vessel) for a James Cawley fan film, "Almost ten years ago I had built a rough and ready CG model of this Jefferies classic for the Star Trek: New Voyages episode "In Harm's Way". The amazing Greg Jein had built a physical model of this ship for our use on Deep Space Nine, and it was seen in Captain Sisko's office through the run of the series. When it came time to bash out a CG model on my lunch break, I went down to set dressing and borrowed Greg's model from Laura. Now it sat on my desk, the best reference in the world, and I got to work. You'd love to spend a few days on something like this, but we were in the middle of making a TV show." His model was later used for licensed print publications, such as the cover of the Star Trek: Vanguard novel Summon the Thunder, the Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendars and their book derivative.

Apocrypha
A Daedalus-class starship named the USS Lovell is prominently featured in the non-canon Star Trek: SCE novel Foundations. The "Daedalus"-class starship on the book's cover is the USS Archon. The USS Lovell is also active in the Star Trek: Vanguard novels. The ship, Drexlers CGI model, is shown outside Starbase 47 (Vanguard) on the cover of the second book of the series Summon the Thunder (though Drexler had assigned the registry number NCC-129 to the USS Daedalus on his CGI model).

In Michael Jan Friedman's novel Starfleet: Year One, competition among the early Starfleet's captains for command of the first Daedalus was one of the main plot threads - though the events of this novel have been ignored by later novels, as it was contradicted by Star Trek: Enterprise.

Star Trek: Legacy was the first Star Trek video game to feature a Daedalus-class starship.

In the Pocket ENT novels The Good That Men Do, Kobayashi Maru, and Beneath the Raptor's Wing the Daedalus-class is featured heavily as an older ship class refitted with modern technology, and the main replacement of the fleet. The NX ships were deemed too expensive and taking too long to build, shipyard personnel stated they could churn out three new Daedalus hulls in the same time it would take to build one NX vessel.