The Nirte Medium Cruiser represents the first major cruiser to be constructed by the Sshel'ath Alliance. The Nirte's primary goal was to project power into nearby areas of space and provide a solid medium cruiser hull that could go toe-to-toe with the light cruisers of other races.

The Nirte was the main line warship during the First Novon War and were brutalized by their Novon opponents. It became evident after only a few battles against the Novon that the Nirtes were simply outmatched and the Sshel'ath began slowly phasing the ship design out. By the 1970's, the Nirte was reduced to a secondary role in the fleet. The ship remained an important part of the Sshel'ath order of battle, however, as they had been built in such large quantities that they could be used to pad fleet sizes and increase the number of hulls in a squadron.