Conqueror.
(Design Credit; Masao Okazaki)
There were many, many strange ships inherited by Starfleet upon its formation in 2161, from the beyond-innovative NX's to the hulking Vulcan D'Kyrs, but none can claim to have balanced the match of mass and firepower quite like the Conqueror class. Dating back to 2129 this class of four ships received their baptism by fire in the last Kzinti War, finally taking the fight to Kzinti Prime and showing that Earth, whilst primitive in its Warp Drive and completely lacking in shielding capabilities, was certainly capable of building an excellent warship. Outfitted with 4 Laser Turrets, 1 Phased Cannon and 6 Missile Launchers the ships boasted a highly respectable armament, and were among the fastest ships in the fleet at Warp 2.9 (Archer Scale). This was crammed into a huge 225m long hull, giving it an obscene amount of internal volume for stores, munitions and fuel, allowing them to punch above their weight for the day.
4 ships of the class would be constructed, those being Conqueror herself, Dauntless, Liberator and Protector. They were quite possibly among the best ships Earth ever built and could've fought even a smaller Vulcan ship to a standstill. However with the end of the Kzinti Wars the vessels would be stored in reserve should another conflict arise, with the hope that they would never again have to fire their guns in anger.
The Xindi attack on Earth would end the possibility of a peaceful retirement for the Conquerors, and instead prompt Starfleet to refit the class for a new war should it arise. Whilst the NX Class ship Enterprise successfully ensured that the Xindi would become peaceful, ultimately joining the Federation in 2186, there were always the unknown threats, initially suspected to be a cybernetic organism that hijacked an Arctic Survey Ship. However it would not be the Cyborgs but instead the Romulans who initiated a war, ambushing Conqueror herself in 2157 and firing the first shots of the Earth Romulan War.
Conqueror had been out running in her new technological upgrades around Wolf 359 at the time, and put up an excellent fight, but alas she was caught out of position by 3 Romulan Birds Of Prey. Whilst she took down two of them with her, she was ultimately lost with all hands. It would be this sudden hit on Morale that saw Starfleet ready her sisters, replacing their lasers and missiles with Phased Cannons and Torpedoes. These upgrades would see them return to active duty, often accompanying two Franklin class ships and 3 Neptunes each. This fleet organisation would ensure the 3 surviving Conquerors survived the war, taking the fight to the Romulans.
They would serve the rest of the war in prominent positions, fighting at Berengeria, Galorndon Core, Cheron and even departing on the final flight to Romulus when the surrender happened. They spent most of the war fighting Romulan Cabbages, following the NX class ships behind as the force backing up their smaller allies. It would be this role that kept them flying and feared by the Romulan menace. In the words of Commander Tebok,
"If there was ever a vessel our people feared at the time, it was the Type V ships. I believe your people named them the Conquerors. They were the only ships that could truly fight the Romulans on even terms, and we took great relief in the notion of only 3 being in existence. Though crude in design they were remarkably effective in combat, and any good commander worked around their potential presence."
But alas, many of the things that made the Conquerors great in-fact hastened their postwar retirement. Their overtly aggressive stance, simple design and size gave them sub-par warp dynamics and extreme crew requirements. Though Dauntless would gain the honour of being the oldest ship inherited by Starfleet, the whole class would be retired by 2165, replaced by the Yorktown class and placed into storage. It was finally time for the old ships to rest.
Here they would remain until a hurried restoration of USS Protector in 2368 by the crew of the USS Cerritos, in an attempt to ready the ship to fight the Borg, following disastrous reports of the loss at Wolf 359. It wouldn't have gone well, as the loss of the USS Melbourne (NCC-2043) and FS Iron King (NAR-101) at that very battle earlier that week indicated that even ramming the Borg wouldn't have worked. They got Impulse online regardless, and were fully prepared to spearhead a 300-ship charge on the Cube over Earth… when it exploded, having been put into a power-draining sleep cycle by Lieutenant Commander Data. With this the Protector was moved to the museum over Europa, where it currently remains open for visitors today.
