In addition to this, the Pegasus was the test bed for an illegal Federation cloaking device. The Pegasus was outfitted with an experimental engine and new weapon systems, some of which were used in the designs for Galaxy-class starships. In 2358, the Oberth-class USS Pegasus served as a prototype for testing advanced starship technologies. ( TNG: ' The Drumhead', ' The Game', ' A Fistful of Datas') ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country TNG: ' The Naked Now', ' Hero Worship', ' Realm of Fear') By the latter half of the 2360s, these vessels also served in a number of other capacities, such as transports and supply ships.
In service by the 2280s, the Oberth class was designed and used almost exclusively for the study of astronomical phenomena, including data gathering missions on stars and planets, well into the 2360s.
