Cool Starship/Star Trek

• What makes the ships of the United Federation of Planets so great is their multi-functionality. Very few are built as dedicated warships, most are exploration/diplomatic/scientific vessels. They hold large laboratories within, where some of the finest research in the Federation is conducted, and have enough creature comforts to keep everyone in the lap of luxury. Despite this, they can still totally outperform the Klingon and Romulan fleets.
• In all its incarnations, the starship Enterprise is the greatest thing in the galaxy.
  • Enterprise NX-01, humanity's first Warp 5 ship. Not as pretty or Badass as later versions, but it did get the job done. And got it done well.
  • NCC-1701 wasn't as flashy as its successors, and notably wasn't the flagship of the fleet, but she was a reliable old girl that got its job done without any bells or whistles. She also, despite being primarily an exploration vessel, had enough fire power to render a planet totally lifeless and survived dozens of encounters with Eldritch Abominations, Sufficiently Advanced Aliens, and everything in between.
    • Its refit in Star Trek: The Motion Picture only added to the coolness factor. By Wrath of Khan, the Enterprise is 80 years old but can still kick asses across the galaxy.
  • The Enterprise-C, commanded by Captain Rachel Garrett and Lt. Castillo. It was so badass, it's crew decided to fight a battle they were destined to lose simply because it would lead to peace between the Federation and the Klingons. Now you know you're a cool ship when you get blown up and the Klingons are impressed.
  • The Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. They didn't make her the flagship for no reason.
    • The Enterprise-D...the future refit from "All Good Things". Best Star Trek ship EVER.
  • The Enterprise-E from Star Trek: First Contact. It single handedly turns the tide in the Battle of Sector 001 with the Sovereign-class being the first proper gigantic warship that the Federation ever built. And being a warship wasn't even its main function. Yet it still kicks massive ass.
  • The Enterprise from the reboot is no slouch. It's about twice the size of its TOS counterpart and shows how Beam Spam is done. Before it was destroyed, it was said to be the most advanced ship in the Federation.
• The USS Reliant from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan just looked plain badass. It was a science vessel.
• The USS Voyager is a science vessel, first and foremost. It survived seven years with no outside support in the worst part of the galaxy.
  • Also, the Delta Flyer, designed by Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres specifically to be a Cool Starship. (Too bad Tuvok vetoed those retro fins Tom wanted.)
  • And the Dauntless, even though it turns out to be a Trojan Horse, it's still pretty cool.
  • The USS Prometheus. It's the closest thing that Star Trek has to a Combining Mecha. It's so badass that the Romulans tried a smash and grab.
• The USS Defiant. In response to the Borg and Dominion threats, it's the first proper warship that Starfleet ever built. It even has a cloaking device. Riker was right to call it a "tough little ship."
• Then there's the one that started it all, Zefram Cochrane's warp vessel, the Phoenix. At first it just looks like this rickety, cobbled-together thing that's barely a step up from a 60's space capsule... Then the side panels come off, and the warp nacelles unfold and lock into position. And that is when the discerning Trekkie knows epic-ness is about to ensue.
• The aliens have their ships too such as Valdore,Ru'afo's ship and the freakin' Scimitar.
• The reboot gave us a few other ships:
  • The first and most prominent is the Narada. It has the look of an Eldritch Abomination and can dish out a Curb Stomp Battle to a whole fleet of Starfleet ships. Justified with the comic reveal that it incorporates Borg tech.
  • Spock's ship, the Jellyfish. According to the Star Trek Expanded Universe, Geordi La Forge personally designed it to withstand extreme spatial phenomena. The Vulcans then modified it with technology that allows it to open up black holes, if exceptionally short-lived ones, at will.
  • The USS Kelvin. The ship was old but it put up a hell of a fight. So much so that it's a Memetic Badass In-Universe.
  • The USS Vengeance. Take the Enterprise, then apply Evil Is Bigger, Evil Is Cool, and Dark Is Evil. Then give it hundreds of guns, and make it faster than the Enterprise-D. As Star Trek (IDW) showed, ships like this one can match Borg derived technology.
  • The USS Franklin from Beyond. Boring but Practical. It tanked most of the attacks that destroyed the Enterprise.

• The USS Discovery from Star Trek: Discovery. It's one the newest Federation ships and its special drive could allow to travel anywhere in time and space, even to even other universes.
• Let's not forget the Akira-class (functionally Star Trek's version of The Battlestar), or the Nebula-class (Compact version of the Galaxy-class yet just as powerful, and with the weapon's pod even moreso).
• And that's just the main Human ships. Most of the supporting cast of races got cool ships, but the Klingon and Romulan ships were especially badass.
• Not to mention the Ferengi Marauder of all things, even Picard considered it a "very impressive design" - good thing they're more interested in commerce than warfare.
• The Borg ships of course. Ominous Mundanity in starship form. Until Villain Decay set in that is.
• While only occurring in one episode, the Voth City Ship is definitely deserving of a mention. It's huge. It's fast. It beamed the entire motherflipping starship Voyager into a cargo hold!
• The Vulcan High Command ringships from Star Trek Enterprise; particularly the D'Kyr-class Combat Cruiser. According to Star Trek: Discovery, they're still in service by the 23rd century and capable of fighting the D7 class on equal footing.
• La Sirena in Star Trek: Picard. Take the SSV Normandy and put it in Star Trek and you've got this tough little ship. More than that, she's got a whole slew of Emergency X Holograms.
• Star Trek: Lower Decks goes out of its way to avert this trope. The USS Cerritos is one of Starfleet's least important ships and needs constant maintenance to keep operating.
  • The USS Vancouver and the Parliament-class on the other hand are venerated as magnificent pieces of engineering.