The Federation Class Dreadnought was initially conceived prior to the Four Years as a variant of the Heston class heavy cruiser (which was itself a Military role variant of the Constitution). The design was shelved as the new dilithium energised engines were not yet available to power such a large vessel. After the war the design was modified to take account of the lessons of the War and put into production using the new FWF-1 engine.

The final three of the class were built to a modified design (shown above), substituting a large navigational deflector for the hanger bays of the standard version, the three ships built to this standard (NCC 2110 USS Directorate, NCC 2111 USS Organisation and NCC 2112 USS Star Union) were used for exploration roles along the Klingon Frontier. This modified design provided the basis for the later refit of the remainder of the class.

The three modified ships received a minor refit in 2275, but unlike their sister ships were not modified with the new linear warp drives. The 3 ships of this design were all placed in reserve by 2290, and decommissioned from 2300.