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   In 2363, Starfleet's Advanced Starship Design Bureau (ASDB) began a vehicle study for a vessel that could execute an assortment of missions beyond the current and foreseeable future capabilities Starfleet's auxillary (shuttle) craft fleet. Within two years the vehicle study transformed into “The Danube-class Runabout Development Project” and a prototype vessel was built at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, Mars. The completed prototype measuring 23.1 meters (78.8 feet) long, 13.7 m (44.9 ft) wide and 5.4 m (17.7 ft) tall was registered as NX-72003. Commissioned as USS Danube, the prototype began its flight trials off the Martian surface in 2368. As the Danube was conducting its preliminary warp tests, the first five production models were well into their final assembly.

   To meet the mission objectives as specified in Starfleet's directive for the Danube-class, the ASDB designed and Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards constructed the prototype and its sister ships using a modular design, a horizontal warp propulsion system and limited tactical capabilities. The modular design and construction gives the Danube-class the capability of performing the wide range of missions described in Starfleet's directive including; personnel transfers, scientific experiment drop-off & pick-up, temporary scientific mission operations base and intelligence gathering.

   Three of the first five production models; commissioned as USS Ganges, USS Rio Grande and USS Yangtzee Kiang, were delivered by the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise to space station Deep Space Nine (DS9) in the Bajoran Sector as support vessels for the station in 2369. Between that year and 2375, DS9 would be the home of at least nine Danube-class runabouts and of the first three, only the Rio Grande would still be in Starfleet service at the space station at the end of the Dominion War in 2375.

Ships of the Class