Bellerophon

U.S.S Odyssey by the Jem\'Hadar, Starfleet began a massive fleetwide refit/upgrade program, to give all ships currently in service an added boost in their combat capabilities, but some in Starfleet felt that this measure wouldn\'t be enough. Fearing that the efforts currently underway would not be enough to stand against a Jem\'Hadar threat, Starfleet Command began looking into the possibility of reactivating the mothball fleet, and refitting them with current technology, inside and out, if the situation should arise where ships would be desperately needed. To test the feasability of bringing old ships back into full service, Starfleet selected an old Akula-Class starship to become a testbed for new technologies which will hopefully provide a viable means for reactivating and recommissioning old ships if the need should arise. The U.S.S. Bellerophon left spacedock 2 months before the official start of the Dominion War, and saw immediate action. Although problems with the new systems popped up, they were quickly dealt with, and Starfleet considered the Bellerophon a success, and issued a fleetwide reactivation order for all mothball ships. Although the Bellerophon was a success, and although there were plenty of mothballed Akula hulls, Starfleet ordered only a dozen more Akulas to be refitted. It was felt that the refitted Akulas couldn\'t provide the firepower necessary on the frontlines, and larger mothballed ships were selected instead. The systems developed for the Bellerophon were the basis for the technology that went into refitting the old Constitution-Class, beginning with the U.S.S. Valiant. At the end of the war, of the 13 Akulas that were reactivated, only one was severely damaged in battle enough to be considered a loss, and the remaining Akulas continue to serve in the fleet, proving not only their worth, but their undying strength.
When first contact was made with the Dominion, Starfleet knew that it would only be a matter of time before they would have to defend themselves against the Dominion. With the destruction of the