Valiant Class Warp Explorer
Image from the Star Trek Encyclopedia
The Valiant class was a very simple design, expanding on on early Terran spaceship designs such as the DY-100 series, in addition to Zephram Cochrane's own Phoenix. Because of the still limited resources imposed by the recovery effort after World War III, the Valiant class was nowhere near the technological level of Vulcan ships of the time. But, because of the resiliant nature of the human spirit, it didn't stop the "valiant" efforts of the humans who volunteered to crew these ships. This allowed many of these ships to fly well beyond their design ranges.
One such ship, the S.S. Valiant, made it to the edge of the galaxy, and pierced the negative energy barrier surrounding it. Unfortunately, the barrier had an unpredictable effect on the more psionically adept members of the crew, at least one of which was turned into some sort of a godlike being. Rather than allow this crewman to run amock throughout the galaxy, the captain of the S.S. Valiant destroyed the ship in 2065. In 2265, the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain James Kirk encountered the Valiant's log bouy, and almost encountered the same fate when it crossed the barrier. The Enterprise's first officer, Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell was mutated, but was eventually killed by Captain Kirk at the lithium mine on Delta Vega. Dr. Elizabeth Denner was also killed in the incident when she tried to help Captain Kirk kill Cmdr. Mitchell.
Length: 107 m
Width: 35 m
Height: 19.3 m