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Description
Finally! I've finished this! And with only one new ship to design, it took embarrassingly long! Then again, its design was pretty involved.
Actually, I'll save that discussion for when I post the image of the ship by itself.
In case you're wondering what's so different, look right above the Enterprise-C. Yeah, that doesn't look like it belongs there, does it?
Well, let me explain:

If you're anything like me, you've probably been wondering "why is there such a huge gap between the destruction of the Enterprise-C and the commissioning of the Enterprise-D?" (approximately 20 years). Especially considering that every last Enterprise was commissioned immediately after the loss (or retirement) of its predecessor.
Unfortunately, I have never seen this tackled in any media official media in any way, shape, or form (unless I'm just not reading enough).
So here is my head canon answer:

As we all know, the sacrifice of the Enterprise-C at Narendra III was a major turning point in relations between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. This sacrifice convinced the Klingons that the Federation did indeed understand honor, by refusing to flee or yield to an enemy, no matter how powerful.
The Federation Diplomatic Corps, however, were afraid that if Starfleet began commissioning a successor to the Enterprise-C, that the Klingons would see it as a cheapening of the act. The sacrifice of the Enterprise means nothing to the Federation, since they'll just replace it with another ship. It is a bit of a stretch, but it was a chance the Diplomatic Crops was unwilling to take.
So, Starfleet would refuse to commission another ship named "Enterprise" for several years. That is, until peace with the Klingons was established, and the Klingons themselves found out about the controversy. The official response was laughter. Then the declaration that the Klingons were well aware of the "legacy" of the "Enterprise", and recommissioning lost ships. They even practiced this themselves. In fact, they considered it more an insult to the memory of the crew of the Enterprise-C that another ship had not been commissioned. So, Starfleet immediately got to naming their next possible ship "Enterprise". By this time they had almost completed the Galaxy-Class project, and none of the ships (aside from the Galaxy itself) were named. As such, it was incredibly easy to simply name one the USS Enterprise and give it the new registry of NCC-1701-D.
And you know the rest.

But, what if Starfleet decided not to heed the wishes of the Diplomatic Corps? What if the Klingons got wind of the "controversy" right away?
Well, obviously Starfleet hadn't even dreamed up the Galaxy-Class in 2344 (or '45), so they had to come up with a replacement. Originally they wanted to assign the name to the Chancellor-Class (originally the prototype for the Ambassador-Class), but that idea was quickly dismissed on the basis that the technology was too similar (and therefore outdated) to the Ambassador-Class. After serious consideration, they decided to go with the fairly recent Triangulum-Class Explorer, the first of which was commissioned in 2343. Although not exactly a cutting-edge design, it was still a fairly advanced vessel, for its time.
With that, Starfleet officially rebranded the next ship to be commissioned (the USS Titania NCC-47505) as the USS Enterprise and changed the serial number to NCC-1701-D.
This version of the Enterprise-D had a somewhat less interesting career but lasted from late 2345 until late 2366 when it was heavily damaged by the Borg Cube during the Battle of Wolf 359, as part of a fleet of 40 starships. The Borg were destroyed shortly thereafter with the quick and inventive thinking of the crew of the Galaxy-Class USS Challenger NCC-70638. This tactic also allowed them to recover the ship's captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Despite, or rather, because of, the disastrous losses at Wolf 359, the Enterprise-D was retired. This was compounded by the damage the ship took, which would've made it far too great an effort to restore her. This decision would lead to a lot of other older designs being retired.
However, due to its advanced design and excellent performance of the USS Challenger itself, the Galaxy-Class would not be retired anytime soon. With a few upgrades, the next ship would launch in late 2367 and bear the name USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-E.

That's all I have for now. Maybe one day I'll figure out what happened to the Galaxy-Class Enterprise-E, and whether it was succeeded by an Enterprise-F or not.

Again, discussion of the design for my alternate Enterprise-D (Triangulum-Class) will be shelved until the posting of the individual ship itself.

Description
Finally! I've finished this! And with only one new ship to design, it took embarrassingly long! Then again, its design was pretty involved.
Actually, I'll save that discussion for when I post the image of the ship by itself.
In case you're wondering what's so different, look right above the Enterprise-C. Yeah, that doesn't look like it belongs there, does it?
Well, let me explain:

If you're anything like me, you've probably been wondering "why is there such a huge gap between the destruction of the Enterprise-C and the commissioning of the Enterprise-D?" (approximately 20 years). Especially considering that every last Enterprise was commissioned immediately after the loss (or retirement) of its predecessor.
Unfortunately, I have never seen this tackled in any media official media in any way, shape, or form (unless I'm just not reading enough).
So here is my head canon answer:

As we all know, the sacrifice of the Enterprise-C at Narendra III was a major turning point in relations between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. This sacrifice convinced the Klingons that the Federation did indeed understand honor, by refusing to flee or yield to an enemy, no matter how powerful.
The Federation Diplomatic Corps, however, were afraid that if Starfleet began commissioning a successor to the Enterprise-C, that the Klingons would see it as a cheapening of the act. The sacrifice of the Enterprise means nothing to the Federation, since they'll just replace it with another ship. It is a bit of a stretch, but it was a chance the Diplomatic Crops was unwilling to take.
So, Starfleet would refuse to commission another ship named "Enterprise" for several years. That is, until peace with the Klingons was established, and the Klingons themselves found out about the controversy. The official response was laughter. Then the declaration that the Klingons were well aware of the "legacy" of the "Enterprise", and recommissioning lost ships. They even practiced this themselves. In fact, they considered it more an insult to the memory of the crew of the Enterprise-C that another ship had not been commissioned. So, Starfleet immediately got to naming their next possible ship "Enterprise". By this time they had almost completed the Galaxy-Class project, and none of the ships (aside from the Galaxy itself) were named. As such, it was incredibly easy to simply name one the USS Enterprise and give it the new registry of NCC-1701-D.
And you know the rest.

But, what if Starfleet decided not to heed the wishes of the Diplomatic Corps? What if the Klingons got wind of the "controversy" right away?
Well, obviously Starfleet hadn't even dreamed up the Galaxy-Class in 2344 (or '45), so they had to come up with a replacement. Originally they wanted to assign the name to the Chancellor-Class (originally the prototype for the Ambassador-Class), but that idea was quickly dismissed on the basis that the technology was too similar (and therefore outdated) to the Ambassador-Class. After serious consideration, they decided to go with the fairly recent Triangulum-Class Explorer, the first of which was commissioned in 2343. Although not exactly a cutting-edge design, it was still a fairly advanced vessel, for its time.
With that, Starfleet officially rebranded the next ship to be commissioned (the USS Titania NCC-47505) as the USS Enterprise and changed the serial number to NCC-1701-D.
This version of the Enterprise-D had a somewhat less interesting career but lasted from late 2345 until late 2366 when it was heavily damaged by the Borg Cube during the Battle of Wolf 359, as part of a fleet of 40 starships. The Borg were destroyed shortly thereafter with the quick and inventive thinking of the crew of the Galaxy-Class USS Challenger NCC-70638. This tactic also allowed them to recover the ship's captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Despite, or rather, because of, the disastrous losses at Wolf 359, the Enterprise-D was retired. This was compounded by the damage the ship took, which would've made it far too great an effort to restore her. This decision would lead to a lot of other older designs being retired.
However, due to its advanced design and excellent performance of the USS Challenger itself, the Galaxy-Class would not be retired anytime soon. With a few upgrades, the next ship would launch in late 2367 and bear the name USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-E.

That's all I have for now. Maybe one day I'll figure out what happened to the Galaxy-Class Enterprise-E, and whether it was succeeded by an Enterprise-F or not.

Again, discussion of the design for my alternate Enterprise-D (Triangulum-Class) will be shelved until the posting of the individual ship itself.