The Sheffield Class was built in very small numbers as it was a victim of technical progress.

Intended to supplement the Surya and Coventry class Frigates, the USS Sheffield Commissioned in October 2266, and a class of 30 ships was envisaged to allow the replacement of the remaining Asia class ships. However while the Sheffield was being tested Starfleet started to bring Linear warp drives into the inventory. The Sheffield’s design was assessed and it was found that the changes from the standard Coventry class design made the ship less suitable for use with the linear drive nacelles and warp core.

As a result only 7 further Sheffields were completed, the remaining 22 were cancelled in favour of additional ships of the new Babcock class.