Following the crash of the USS Franklin in the 22nd century, these craft were employed by Krall to waylay orbiting starships. Jaylah likened Krall's swarm ships to bees.

In the year 2263, Krall used his swarm to attack the Federation starship USS Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. Approaching the Enterprise in orbit of Altamid, these ships initially appeared to be one large vessel, emitting an unidentifiable signal, but quickly separated and attacked in a coordinated effort to disable the Constitution-class ship. Surrounding and ramming it repeatedly, these ships inflicted serious damage on the Enterprise, first severing its warp nacelles before finally separating its primary hull from its secondary hull.

Following the destruction of the Enterprise, Commander Spock and Doctor Leonard McCoy commandeered one of these ships and crash landed on the surface of Altamid.

Krall later used his ships to attack the Federation Starbase Yorktown in a massive assault. Utilizing antique equipment aboard the century-old USS Franklin, the Enterprise crew was able to identify the swarm ships' signals as closed networked cyberpathic communications that allowed them to coordinate their maneuvers. Emitting VHF radio signals in the form of "classical" music by the Beastie Boys, the Franklin flew very near to Krall's ships, causing a chain reaction that destroyed the swarm.

Once again flying a commandeered swarm ship, Spock and McCoy assisted James Kirk in defeating Krall within the Starbase Yorktown before Krall could unleash a super weapon and kill the base's inhabitants.