The Saladin was the Destroyer version of the Hermes class scout. The class was 50% more powerful than the similarly sized Larson class. The Saladin was often deployed in Destroyer groups to hunt down enemy shipping. These groups were frequently led by a Cygnus class command ship.

A number of vessels of this class were built in an experimental configuration with a neck mounted deflector dish, instead of the original that was mounted below the primary hull. This modification improved reliability of the deflector system, but did not affect combat performance.