The Steamrunner Class began production at the same time the Akira Class did. And, like the Akira Class was to be the next Fleet wide Heavy Cruiser, so was the Steamrunner to be the next Frigate. Its four rapid-fire torpedo tubes replace the need for multiple weapons pods the New Orleans depended on. Big, powerful, and down-right ugly, the Steamrunner Class has been in the midst of every major military action in the past three decades. Twenty alone were lost to the Dominion over the course of the War. To date, 162 Steamrunner Class frigates are deployed across the Federation, and ten additional hulls are laid out each year, six at Utopia Planitia, four at Groomridge, and the remainder at several undisclosed yards