The New Orleans class was a Starfleet design of the mid-24th century resembling a smaller Galaxy class, represented on screen by the wreck of the USS Kyushu at Wolf 359.
The class is seen once, in The Best of Both Worlds, Part II, where the burned hull of the USS Kyushu drifts among the ships destroyed by the Borg at Wolf 359. The model shows a saucer and engineering hull in the Galaxy style with three additional pods, two above the saucer and one below.
The class name appears on background displays and in reference works rather than in dialogue. The same sources assign several ships that are only mentioned to it, among them the USS Rutledge, on which Miles O'Brien served under Captain Maxwell during the Cardassian wars, and the USS Thomas Paine and USS Renegade from Conspiracy.
The study model was built quickly for the graveyard scene from modified kit parts.