Unofficially the class has been named the 'Pakled freighter' of the fleet, the classes unusual looks are still ridiculed to this day and the ships have a very poor engineering record, something which Starfleet has been addressing in recent years.

Primarily an Escort vessel, the Steamrunner was designed to be a high powered attack vessel whose secondary role was to act as an anchor to the smaller Peregrine fighters during combat situations. During it first three years of active service though the ships performed disastrously, with five out of the six phase one production run being destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

At that point the vessels were reclassified as Armed Escorts designated to accompany Antimatter shipments, however after only three months on the job, the vessels proved too unreliable for long distance work. By the mid 2350's, Starfleet had exhausted all possible roles for the class and withdrew the it from active service. The forty active vessels were taken to storage facilities around the Federation and left for future usage.

After the disaster of Wolf 359 the Steamrunner class was given a second chance. Fleet strength was at an all time low, with over 20 starships from the new generation being crippled or destroyed by the Borg and total losses of nearly double that amount. It was the charge of Commander Shelby to bring back the Steamrunner to full operational capacity as Fleet Reconstruction Commander. Her first step was to review the past history of the ship with her team of experts. Needless to say the class was even more of a let down compared to the modern standards of ships. Even during that time also, certain ships had been rendered unsalvageable, leaving thirty one examples remaining.

Although a seriously slow process, Shelby and her team managed to reduce the operational problems of the Steamrunner and upgrade the class with all of the latest technical material. By 2373 the Steamrunner class was returned to full active service with all examples of the class recommissioned. Most recently though the Steamrunner class has suffered yet more heavy losses due to action in both the second Borg incursion and the Dominion war.

Overall though the Steamrunner has proved to be an adequate ship in recent years, even with major design flaws. Starfleet, however has decided not to replace the existing Steamrunner class vessels in favour of more modern design, such as the Intrepid or Yeager Classes.