Galaxy Class Starship History: The Galaxy Class Starship was a bold leap away from Standard Starfleet directives which had produced the Excelsior and Ambassador class of ships.  The Overall brief was for a long range explorer style vessel offering much more comfort, similar to that offered by Starbases.  This ship was also to be designed for defending the Federation and incorporated the latest weaponry.  Designers worked for years developing the sweeping curves that also differed from the normal Starship designs of the previous 70 years.  The result was phenomenal.  The ship itself was huge by all comparison yet very light and maneuverable.  The Galaxy class of Starship proved itself very capable and soon the USS Enterprise-D was named as the flagship of the Federation.  This ship true to its heritage was involved in some of the pivotal moments of its time before its imminent destruction on Veridian III.  Galaxy Class ships are still in production at Utopia Planitia.  The Latest Starfleet Brief for the Galaxy Class ship mentions a distinct lack of defensive capabilities when facing opponents.  The document states that Starfleet is unhappy with the loss of several ships including the Yamato, Enterprise, and Odyssey stating that the ships are altogether unsatisfactory in heavy combat performance.  Starfleet has ordered after testing on the USS Venture that all Galaxy Class ships including the Venture are to return to Starbase for retrofitting of the defensive and offensive systems.  Until this retrofitting is complete on the remaining Galaxy Class ships, future production is put on indefinite hold while Starfleet studies different classes at eventual replacements.  The Galaxy Class can also separate the Engineering section from the Saucer section.  The Galaxy Class is shaped finely so it can detach at warp speeds.  But even this feature is now considered practically obsolete due to the Prometheus Class vessels (Multi-Vector Attack Mode) during battle.  With this realization the future of the Galaxy Class is in doubt.