Defiant

"She may have flaws, but she has teeth" - Sisko, DS9: "The Search, Part I" The USS Defiant (NX-74205) was one of at least three Federation starships to bear the name, and the prototype of the Defiant-class vessel. Designed in 2366, the Defiant was the first of what was to be a new class of heavily-armed Federation starship. Officially designated an escort, the Defiant-class was specifically designed to counter the Borg. Soon after the first vessel was completed however, a combination of a less urgent Borg threat and several design flaws caused Starfleet to suspend the project. Among the flaws was the fact that the Defiant's engines were overpowered relative to the size of the ship so much so, that the Defiant nearly "tore itself apart" during its shakedown cruise. Benjamin Sisko became intimately involved with the project while stationed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards after the destruction of the USS Saratoga at Wolf 359. Early in 2371, as Federation-Dominion hostility escalated, the Defiant was taken out of storage and assigned to Deep Space 9 to protect the station from the Dominion, who had recently destroyed the USS Odyssey, a Galaxy-class starship. The ship was granted special dispensation to carry a Romulan cloaking device. The Romulans loaned and allowed the limited supervised use of the cloaking device in the Gamma Quadrant only. In return, the Federation would provide the Romulans any and all intelligence data collected in the Gamma Quadrant about the Dominion. The Defiant was destroyed in 2375. The USS São Paulo was renamed in honor of the Defiant, and it fought in the final battle of the Dominion War, the Battle of Cardassia.