6079SmithW;7954309[But that's an "escort". ;)
All the Enterprise classes (Connie through Sovereign) serve the purpose of warships when the torpedoes start flying.[/QUOTE said:
By Enterprise E, families [children] were removed from Federation star ships and with the Dominion war, even Picard bemoans the fact they are no longer explorers.
True, but on screen evidence has the Galaxy class as an equal match to the Cardassian Galor, Romulan D'deridex, and various Klingon capital vessels, all actual warships. While Starfleet's flagships may not have been built as warships from the ground up they serve the same purpose when conflict arises.
Back on topic, Prime universe Starfleet built warships in the Defiant and Sovereign classes and there is no reason to believe Abrams-verse Starfleet can't or won't do the same.