Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The USS Cerritos You Need To Know

While the USS Cerritos would clearly fit in easily alongside the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise-D or the Nebula-class USS Phoenix in the 24th century, the design for the California-class starship was actually inspired by another famous Trek vessel.

The actual design for the Cerritos was directly inspired by Mike McMahan’s favorite Starfleet ship, the USS Reliant from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

The Miranda-class USS Reliant has been the basis for numerous designs after its famous appearance in TWOK, including the aforementioned Nebula-class USS Phoenix from TNG's "The Wounded" as well as the Malachowski-class USS Clarke from Star Trek: Discovery's "Battle at the Binary Stars" and even Discovery's now iconic USS Shenzhou.

With her underslung warp nacelles and engineering pod, the Cerritos does bear a passing resemblance to the Reliant, but its saucer section and deflector dish are clearly inspired by the Enterprise-D.