Oh yeah, I forgot about that ship.
Also, I've heard the Trekkie/Trekker argument against starfighters and it's bunk, IMHO.
Considering the effective range of even the largest Phasers in Star Trek have a max range of 300,000 Km/187,500 miles (Page 126,
The Star Trek Tech Manual, by Michael Okuda), starfighters like those in Yamato would be useful in fleet to fleet operations, planetary assault (surgical), and defense of the craft.
It is safe to assume that Gamilas, and Earth craft use antigravity to compensate for g-forces well in access of what the human body can take. The speed of their fighters must be considerable since they launch near Pluto's moon Charon and zip to Pluto in short order. (19,570 km/12,160 miles). I guestimate the speed to be at least 30,000 mph, maybe higher. Since I don't know what the actual speed of a "Space Knot" is, I can't get a good idea of how fast these fighters are. I know Yamato is supposed to have a velocity of 50 space knots, but what is that in mph/kph?
The point is, that when fighters are fast enough, they can be very effective weapons, even in space. The idea of "banking, turning, etc." in space is done very well in 2199. Especially with the Yukikaze fighting the Pluto fleet. It also gives a good idea of how banking and the like would work (via thrusters) when you're barrel-assing at high forward veloctiy then need to change your vector. If the vector thrusters don't have the "umph" of your aft engine, there will be some "swing" like a jet fighter even in a vacuum since it's not a matter of friction, it's a matter of g-forces.
Combine speed with ECM and other systems to make targetting your craft harder, and you have the perfect mix for space fighter warfare.