USS Republic

What I've been wondering is why it's always depicted in the pilot configuration.  I thought about that for a while, then I remembered something in "Court Martial" when Kirk and Finney were cadets on the Republic.  That indicated to me that the ship was being used as an Academy training vessel.  Perhaps she'd been in a lot of battles, and Starfleet didn't really see any point in refitting her to the series configuration.  Then again, why would they waste a perfectly workable Connie like that?  Maybe they should've used one of the older Class J's.  Oh, wait.  Pike already tried that.  Poor man.