The Centaur-class starship was designed in the 2320s as a scaled down, economical variant of the Excelsior-class heavy cruiser. Built mainly using pre-existing or adapted components from the Excelsior's production run, the Centaur enjoyed a relatively quick and trouble-free development period and has served Starfleet as a capable medium frigate ever since. Although the Centaur never underwent a large-scale production run of its own, making these ships comparatively uncommon, like their larger cousin they have served in every theatre, from the security of the inner-Federation to the farthermost reaches of the frontier. While its maximum warp speed only matches that of the Excelsior, the Centaur displayed a significant advantage over her larger cousin in its manoeuvrability at impulse. The Centaur's nimbleness and lack of bulk made it exceptionally suited for reaching areas larger ships couldn't, such as dense asteroid fields. In combat the Centaur's manoeuvrability also gives it an advantage. Armed with standard phasers and photon torpedoes the Centaur may be seen to lag behind the more tactically oriented newer ships in the Federation fleet, but its small, older style phaser ball-turrets have displayed one significant advantage - they are even more adept at tracking fast moving targets than newer phaser strips, which need time to charge before firing. This means the Centaur is often deployed to defend larger ships from strike craft which would normally have free reign to harass the fleet's flanks and swarm important positions.