The Niagara Fast Cruiser is a cruiser hull designed at the same time as the Ambassador Heavy Cruiser. Where the Ambassador was built to maximize the amount of firepower on a single starship frame, the Niagara was instead designed to be faster and more manueverable than other mainline cruisers.

The design proved wanting, with the extra speed and tactical flexibility of a third warp nacelle being overridden by frequent break downs and other maintenance problems. The Niagara was kept in service as a priority courier and deep range patrol ship, but it did not see as much services as other Federation hulls.