The Enterprise 1701-D was the flag ship of the Federation for quite a while though, not too mention we have seen how so many of the crew consider a position on the ship with Pike as a real feather in their cap as shown in Discovery.
I do wonder at how the design on the ships was arrived at, did they update the Enterprise and intentionally make many of the others larger on purpose, or did they create the rest of the ships and was then ordered to add the Enterprise in at the end of the season as a hook to keep the fans interested.
The whole affair must have been so disjointed with all the changes behind the scenes.