Akira class
The Akira-class was a class of Federation starship that was in service with Starfleet by the early 2370s.

History 
Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards was one of the sites at which this class was constructed in 2371. () 

Akira-class starships were featured prominently in the Battle of Sector 001 and the Dominion War. (; , et al.)

Several Akira-class ships were stationed near Deep Space 9 during the war. () 

As well, several were involved in most of the major battles of the war. In 2374, they saw action during Operation Return and the First Battle of Chin'toka, where at least two ships of the class were destroyed by Cardassian orbital weapon platforms. () 

In 2375, they were involved in the Second Battle of Chin'toka and the Battle of Cardassia. ()

At least one member of the class was within a light year of Earth in 2378. ()

Admiral Alonzo Freeman kept a model of an Akira-class starship in his ready room in 2381. ()

In 2401, four ships of this class were sent by Starfleet to join an armada opposing a unknown Borg vessel. The Borg liaison sent to the  briefly commandeered this vessel and others, before the crew managed to engage their auto-destruct system. ()

Technical data

Physical arrangement 

The Akira-class design ditched Starfleet's usual saucer-secondary hull-nacelle design, and more closely resembled the  with its catamaran shaped hull. The engineering section was tucked under the main saucer, which housed the main deflector, and some of the ship's tactical systems. The nacelles were connected via long catamaran type structures, which in turn connected to a large weapons pod, housing several photon torpedo launchers. The catamaran pylons offered a degree of protection for the main bridge, which retained its traditional location at the top of the saucer. (; , et al.)

Tactical systems 

The Akira-class design incorporated a multitude of tactical systems, including at least three Phaser arrays, and housed numerous Photon torpedo launchers along the port and starboard sides of the ventral primary hull, at least one launcher forward of the deflector, and several located on the aft weapons pod. ()

Ships commissioned 
Named
  (NCC-62497)
  (NCC-63887)
  (NCC-64280)
  (NCC-63284)
  (NCC-63293)
  (NCC-63549)

Unnamed
Unnamed Akira-class starships

Appendices

Appearances 
  (first appearance)
 
 
  (also on a computer display)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
  (on astrometrics screen)
 
 
  (model)

Background information 
The name of the ship class was never mentioned on screen but is derived from production sources.

According to the , the Akira-class was named after the anime fantasy film . "Along with the  , the Akira-class starship helped to inspire Doug Drexler's design of the   from .

According to designer, Alex Jaeger, "This was my gunship/battlecruiser/aircraft carrier. It has 15 torpedo launchers and two shuttlebays – one in front, with three doors, and one in the back. I really got into it with this one, with the whole idea that the front bay would be the launching bay, and then to return they'd come into the back, because they'd be protected by the rest of the ship." (Star Trek: The Magazine, , Issue 3)

A design sketch of the USS Akira shown the vessel bearing the registry NCC-2497. In an unpublished interview with author Larry Nemecek, designer Jaeger said he simply used the four-digit number of his then-phone extension for that registry; to conform to Starfleet practice, the number "6" was added by Mike Okuda and the film's art department to make "62497," a number then approved by producer Rick Berman. At the same time, Jaeger said, two other ship names and registries were approved as back-ups, if needed, to the USS Thunderchild actually seen on film as NCC-63549: the  (named after former Israeli Prime Minister ) as NCC-63293, and the USS Spector (NCC-65549). The ship scale sheet showing the back-up names and registries can be found on .

The latter ship has never appeared on screen, although the CGI file used for the Akira-class seen in the Voyager episode  was ostensibly the Spector, and was used by the Star Trek Fact Files. The ship allegedly appeared in one of the battle scenes from the sixth and seventh seasons of , but this has not been verified.

The scale of the CGI mesh, according to a January 20, 1998 post in the newsgroup alt.tv.star-trek.ds9, by DS9 Visual Effects Supervisor David Stipes, was 860 feet or 262.13 meters, the length used when he blocked shots in DS9.  However, the measurement used by Visual Effects Supervisor Gary Hutzel, according to an in-house chart dated 5/15/98, was 840 feet.

According to a size chart of Alex Jaeger, the Akira-class would be roughly 500 meters (1640.4 ft) in length. 

 Studio model 

 Technical Manual 
The following specifications and defenses come from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual (p. 153):

 Production Base: ASDB Integration Facility, Antares Fleet Yards, Antares IV.
 Type:	Heavy Cruiser.
 Accommodation: 500 officers and crew; 4,500 personnel evacuation limit.
 Power Plant: One 1,500 plus Cochrane warp core feeding two nacelles; one impulse system.
 Dimensions: Length, 464.43 meters; beam, 316.67 meters; height, 87.43 meters.
 Mass: 3,055,000 metric tonnes.
 Performance: Warp 9.8 for 12 hours.
 Armament: Six type-10 phaser emitters; Two photon torpedo launchers.

 Apocrypha 
 Novels 
The Star Trek: The Dominion War  Behind Enemy Lines features the Akira-class starships  and the .

The Millennium novel The Fall of Terok Nor mentions two Akira-class starships, the  and the , both named after Canadian astronauts  and .

The Akira-class starship  features heavily in the DS9 novels set after . The Gryphon was commanded by . In Lesser Evil, Kira Nerys is given command by Captain Mello when the Gryphon is sabotaged by its first officer  after he was infested by a Bluegill parasite who intended to use the ship to attack , but Kira was able to stop Montenegro and regain control of the Gryphon.

The  mentioned in  is described as an Akira-class starship that Lt. Commander Sonya Gomez served on during the Dominion War as chief engineer, according to Pocket SCE: War Stories, Book 1 and had the registry NCC-68455.

The DS9 novel Original Sin features the Akira-class  (NCC-63719), named in honor of Captain James T. Kirk of the . The James T. Kirk was commanded by  and had an illustrious service history which included exploration and defensive missions.

The Star Trek: Destiny novel Gods of Night features the Akira-class . During the  of 2381, the Constant was assigned to defend the planet Khitomer, along with the  and . Although the  signaled of an incoming Borg cube, the fleet of three vessels had little chance of defending the Klingon planet. The Constant was destroyed first after the cube adapted to their weaponry; although the vessel was able to launch escape pods, they were all consumed by the ship's destruction.

The short story "On the Spot" in the anthology book The Sky's the Limit features the Akira-class USS Korolev.

 Games 

The Decipher role-playing games supplement  lists several Akira-class starships, including  (NCC-62501),  (NCC-62743),  (NCC-62878),  (NCC-62891),  (NCC-63002),  (NCC-63306), and  (NCC-63419).

The Activision PC game Star Trek: Bridge Commander includes the  (NCC-64088),  (NCC-69302), and .

The Activision PC game Star Trek: Armada includes the  (NCC-71267) and , as well as many others. In both this game and the sequel, Star Trek: Armada II, these vessels have an advanced weapon called the "" which bounces a bolt of energy off of enemy shields, damaging several ships consecutively. The Jupiter was also a promotional card for the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, where it was listed as being "under the command of Captain Satelk."Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Dominion Wars includes the .Star Trek: Away Team includes the  (NCC-71427).

The Akira-class is featured in the game Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, where it is classified as a heavy cruiser. 

The Xbox 360/PC game Star Trek: Legacy allows control of Akira-class ships as cruisers with names such as USS Akira, USS Spector, USS Rabin, and USS Thunderchild.

The Akira-class is featured in Star Trek Online as the prototypical example of a "Strike Wing Escort", a class of tactical starship blending the weaponry an escort with the capacity to field smaller vessels such as shuttlecraft, runabouts, or attack fighters in combat. Other Strike Wing Escort classes fielded by Starfleet with designs derived from the Akira-class include the game-original , , and  classes. 

Akira-class ship names from Starfleet Command III:
USS Akira
USS Aquino
USS Begin
USS Cristiani
USS Galtieri
USS Gorbachev
USS Grant
USS Kennedy
USS Kravchuk
USS Landsbergis
USS Lincoln
USS Mitterand
USS Ramos
USS Reagan
USS Shamir
USS Shevardnadze
USS Sihanouk
USS Thatcher
USS Thunderchild
USS Yeltsin

 External links 
  – contains detailed notes and articles on the Akira-class
 
 
 Akira class Technical Manual – fan wiki on the Akira'' class starship

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cs:Třída Akira
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fr:Classe Akira
ja:アキラ級
Federation starship classes
Memory Alpha articles named from supplementary resources