U.S.S. Aries NCC 71806-B
Third ship to bear her name, and commissioned in 2375 under the command of Vice Admiral Michael Wilson, The USS Aries-B was a Sovereign-class Multirole exploratory Vessel, commissioned with the intent to return to the Delta quadrant to study the Borg and explore and seek out allies and technology to secure the Federation against further Borg incursions.
The Sovereign class, when originally created in 2370, was the pinnacle of Starfleet engineering. As a response to the tactical defeats Starfleet suffered at the hands of the Borg, its design had been created to streamline out civilian inclusion and beef up the defensive capabilities of starfleet in contrast to the previous ships of the line, the Galaxy-Class. While Starfleet was still committed to its ideals of peaceful exploration, the need for more tactically-capable ships which did not put civilian families in danger when called to combat had become obvious with losses like the USS Enterprise-D and the USS Odyssey. Along with the Akira, Sabre, Defiant, and Steamrunner classes, the Soverign served well in both peacetime and conflict.
The ship was preceeded in name by two Galaxy-Class explorers. The first Aries was lost just after the Battle of Wolf 359, when Commodore (then Captain) Sydney Maxwell took the ship out of spacedock under automation control and sacrificed her to buy time for the Enterprise to intercept the Borg and extract Locutus, thus enabling them to prevent the assimilation of Earth. The second was irrepirably damaged in the First Battle of Chin'toka and decommissioned in favor of one of the new Soverign class ships under construction at the San Francisco Fleet Yards.
The Sovereign class, when originally created in 2370, was the pinnacle of Starfleet engineering. As a response to the tactical defeats Starfleet suffered at the hands of the Borg, its design had been created to streamline out civilian inclusion and beef up the defensive capabilities of starfleet in contrast to the previous ships of the line, the Galaxy-Class. While Starfleet was still committed to its ideals of peaceful exploration, the need for more tactically-capable ships which did not put civilian families in danger when called to combat had become obvious with losses like the USS Enterprise-D and the USS Odyssey. Along with the Akira, Sabre, Defiant, and Steamrunner classes, the Soverign served well in both peacetime and conflict.
The ship was preceeded in name by two Galaxy-Class explorers. The first Aries was lost just after the Battle of Wolf 359, when Commodore (then Captain) Sydney Maxwell took the ship out of spacedock under automation control and sacrificed her to buy time for the Enterprise to intercept the Borg and extract Locutus, thus enabling them to prevent the assimilation of Earth. The second was irrepirably damaged in the First Battle of Chin'toka and decommissioned in favor of one of the new Soverign class ships under construction at the San Francisco Fleet Yards.
Image use by permission of and copyright to Alexander Richardson, ARP Design.