The Soyuz-class appears to have been built as a variant of the
Miranda-class. The differences in the classes are an enlarged aft cargo
and shuttlebay section, as well as several large outboard sensor pods. The Soyuz-class was retired in 2288.
The USS Bozeman is mentioned in Generations and First Contact, so obviously there's still one Soyuz-class
ship in service. Unless it was decommissioned and another ship was given the name.
Why the Soyuz was retired so early in its life is unknown, of course the year that it entered service is also
unknown so it's possible this class existed before the Miranda.
According to the book, Star Trek: The Continuing Mission - A Tenth Anniversary Tribute to The Next
Generation, in the Bozeman concept drawing the registry was originally USS Courageous NCC-1861.
It was originally hoped that a new design could be developed for the Bozeman, but budget constraints dictated
the reworking of the existing USS Reliant model. The modifications were designed by Greg Jein and Mike
Okuda.
The class was named for the Russian spacecraft that shuttled cosmonauts up to the Salyut and Mir space
stations.
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