Why Star Trek's most reliable starship class remains forgotten despite shaping Federation history.

The Nebula class occupies a strange place in Starfleet history. Most fans recognize it immediately—the broad engineering hull, the twin warp nacelles, the mission pod mounted above the secondary hull.

The Nebula class ship first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Wounded, though in a slightly different configuration to what would follow. The sensor pod that sits above the saucer ...