Compared to the Comet class that it was developed from, the Daedalus was a far lighter vessel. The Mk 1, which the first 25 ships were built as was designed as an exploration vessel, hence the relatively weak armanent. The 25 Mk 2 ships were intended as mixed use Cruisers, so were more heavily armed.

The Daedalus had many changes to its structure, equipment, and drive system compared to the Comet. These included simplifying the spaceframe, reducing offensive and defensive weaponry, moving the shuttle bay to the rear of the secondary hull, adding scientific facilities, enhancing the sensor suite and increasing the ship’s range. In addition, for the first time, the bridge was placed atop the command hull.
The UES Daedalus joined the fleet in September 2160, just 1 month before the end of the war. Due to their exploration mission profile these ships cruisers were used on scientific missions far from the front line. On these internal missions, the class served admirably without major malfunctions or system failures.

In a formal ceremony held on October 14, 2161 UES Daedalus (CCM-127) was struck from the UESN list and recommissioned as the Federation Starfleet’s first cruiser, USS Daedalus (NCC-150). Although the Deadalus class ships were not the fastest, largest, or most powerful explorers, they made first contact with more civilizations and mapped more star systems at the greatest risk to their crews than any other explorer type of their generation.

USS Carolina, a Mk1 Daedalus Class is now on display in the Starfleet Museum