Klingon starships

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Klingon starships are fictional spacecraft that appear in the television and film installments of the fictional universe of Star Trek. In the shows, these vessels are used by the forces of the Klingon Empire. Interstellar vehicles, they are typically warships, ranging in sizes similar to modern naval vessels to much larger. They are equipped with a fictional faster-than-light propulsion system called "warp drive", and armed with equally fictional weapons like photon torpedoes.

Although a variety of Klingon ships were appeared on Star Trek, they generally conform to a general and recognizable style, the antecedent of which was the Klingon ship that first appeared during the third season of Star Trek. Designed by Walter M. ("Matt") Jefferies—the designer of the original USS Enterprise—it featured a bulbous forward hull separated by a long central boom from the wing-like main hull, which featured wingtip-mounted nacelles. Jefferies wanted to emulate the shape of a predator, something akin to a manta ray, and so he made even the color scheme of the ship dark on top, lighter on bottom. All later designs harken back to at least some elements of this original design.

Contents 1 In-Universe Designations 2 D5 class 2.1 Design 3 D7 class 4 K't'inga class 5 Bird of Prey classes 5.1 Bird of Prey (22nd century) 5.2 Bird of Prey (23rd/24th century) 6 Vor'cha class 7 Negh'Var class 8 Raptor class 9 References

[edit] In-Universe Designations

In contrast to Federation starships (especially Starfleet ships of the 24th century), Klingon vessels are spartan and utilitarian in nature. Klingon ships are often equipped with disruptors and photon torpedoes as their primary offensive weapons, and most later examples are equipped with cloaking technology.

[edit] D5 class

D5 class
The IKS Bortas fires disruptors.
First appearance	Marauders
General Characteristics
Armaments	Disruptor cannons photon torpedoes
Defences	Deflector shields

The D5 class battlecruiser is a 22nd century Klingon starship. The D5 class is equipped with disruptor cannons and photon torpedos and, although an NX class starship could take sustained fire from a D5 battlecruisers disruptors, with a maximum speed of Warp 6 it is superior in speed to the NX class Enterprise.^[1]

[edit] Design

The D5 was built according to the basic Klingon battlecruiser shape: a small primary hull at the forefront attached to the larger engineering hull by a long, horizontal boom, an impulse drive module supported above the secondary hull at the aft end, and two back-set warp engines held by two downward-angled pylons. The D5 is distinguishable from its descendant, the D7, by its (proportionally) larger, longer, less spherical primary hull, non-forward-angled engine pylons, and larger, tapered nacelles.

[edit] D7 class

D7 class
First appearance	Elaan of Troyius
References	Prophecy
General Characteristics
Maximum speed	Warp 7[citation needed]
Armaments	Disruptor cannons photon torpedoes
Defences	Deflector shields Cloaking device

The D7 class is the first Klingon ship design. Although this starship was designed and intended to be a Klingon vessel, its first broadcast appearance was as a Romulan flagged vessel in the original series episode "The Enterprise Incident". In its next appearance in the original series episode "Elaan of Troyius" (which was actually filmed before "The Enterprise Incident") it was identified as a Klingon vessel, as it was in "Day of the Dove". The original airdates in 1968 for these episodes were out of step with the actual order of episode production, so by production number, the ship's first appearance is in "Elaan of Troyius" in which it is identified as a Klingon vessel, and not in "The Enterprise Incident".

The "D7" designation was never used on screen in the original series, but was (apparently) referred to as such by some members of the production staff. This designation was later made official by its use during the Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". For this episode, Star Trek model-maker Greg Jein built entirely new motion-control models of a D7 class vessel and the original Enterprise.

Its primary weapon of attack in "Elaan of Troyius" were nacelle-mounted and fired green energy. Similar ships (the same shooting model) were later identified specifically as having disruptors in dialogue in "The Enterprise Incident".

In Star Trek: The Animated Series (which Gene Roddenberry created and was executive producer for, but later asked Paramount to consider non-canon), Spock calls the engines of the Klingon ship "S-2 Graf Units, roughly comparable to our warp drive". It also seems to have separate and distinct beam weaponry firing from the command pod somewhere ("More Tribbles, More Troubles"). The opening in the forward hull never saw use on screen in the original series. However, it was a photon torpedo tube in many of the episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series, especially in "More Tribbles, More Troubles" and "The Survivor".

[edit] K't'inga class

K't'inga class
K't'inga class starship
First appearance	Star Trek: The Motion Picture
General Characteristics
Maximum speed	Warp 7[citation needed]
Armaments	Disruptor cannons photon torpedoes
Defences	Deflector shields Cloaking device[citation needed]

An upgrade of the D7 design, this class of ship had the same basic design, but the model which was originally built for Star Trek: The Motion Picture differed slightly in proportions and was given a more detailed surface for its appearance on the larger motion picture screen. The color of the model was a deep green, but on screen it sometimes appeared blue-grey. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the color was changed to light grey and maroon and it received detailed gold ornamentation to signify its role as the vessel which was transporting the Klingon Chancellor. The ship was later used in episodes of DS9 apparently as a regular ship of the line ("The Way of the Warrior").

This class appeared in a number of episodes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Like the D7, this class was not initially identified on screen, although the novelization of The Motion Picture, written by Gene Roddenberry, identified it as K't'inga class. This designation became official in an episode of DS9. In the TNG episode "The Emissary", we learn that some of these ships were converted into special "sleeper ships" which could travel for decades with its crew in suspended animation.

Assuming a date of at least 2270^{[citation needed]} for when this ship appeared in the first movie, that means this basic design has been in service for at least 100 years by the time of the last episode of DS9.

The large port on the front of the bulbous forward hull is seen to launch photon torpedoes from its first appearance and throughout most of its later appearances, however in the DS9 episode "The Way of the Warrior" ships of this class fire an orange disruptor beam from the same location. Throughout the series it also had a cloaking device, like all of the other Klingon warships seemed to have. On at least one occasion it used a pair of disruptor bolts which fired from the sides somewhere in the ST:TNG episode "The Emissary". Visual inspection of the studio model reveals 6 cannon-like emplacements that are meant to be the disruptor mounts. Early blueprints from Lincoln Enterprises (a Gene Roddenberry-approved source) showed this ship with at least 8 of these cannon emplacements, the extra two being under the main wing hull, but which on the studio model were replaced by large unidentifiable greebles. The Lincoln blueprints also (erroneously) label these eight emplacements as "sonic disruptors", probably based on the fact that the ST:TOS Klingon handweapon was a sonic one, but which of course ignore the fact that sound cannot travel through space, making it an unrealistic starship weapon. The Lincoln blueprints also call the ship a "D-4 Heavy Battlecruiser", but this appellation never became used or popular, probably because it seems retro when compared to the D-7 of ST:TOS, despite the fact that Gene Roddenberry himself had approved this. Fans have substituted other appellations for this ship, like D-8 or some higher variant of the D-7, but none of these are canon.

[edit] Bird of Prey classes

Bird of Prey class
22nd century Bird of Prey
First appearance	Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
General Characteristics
Maximum speed	Warp 3.8[citation needed]
Armaments	Photon torpedoes Disruptors
Defences	Cloaking device Deflector shields Tractor beam emitters
Propulsion	Warp drive

The Bird of Prey was first seen in the movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. This has become perhaps the most common Klingon ship design in modern Star Trek. It is much smaller than the D7 and K't'inga class cruisers, though in Star Trek III it is shown to be almost the size of the Enterprise. Standard crew compliment is a dozen officers and men (stated by Hikaru Sulu in STIII).

Birds of Prey are fast and agile warships. They are the ship of choice for espionage and spy missions, and many Klingon commanders prefer to command them over the larger vessels in the fleet. The wings are movable and have three main positions: slanted down for battle, raised slightly above 180 degrees for cruising, and raised very high for landing (the Bird of Prey is one of the few starships that enter a planet's atmosphere and land on its surface; Federation Intrepid-class ships are another). Some designs incorporate a submarine-like periscope for the captain that also has weapon controls on the handles, allowing him to aim and operate the weapons himself; this design also featured movable disruptor cannons (this design was shown in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek: Generations).

[edit] Bird of Prey (22nd century)

This type of Bird of Prey was first seen in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "The Expanse". The Bird of Prey was heavily armed with several wing, neck and head mounted disruptor cannons,^[2] and fore and aft photon torpedos launchers.^[3]

The Bird of Prey was equipped with deflector shielding and two tractor beam emitters and was capable of at least warp 3.8.^[2][3]

[edit] Bird of Prey (23rd/24th century)

There are at least two known variants to exist in the 23rd century and into the 24th century, the D-12 scout and the K'vort/B'rel variants. These types of Bird of Prey, like their predecessors, followed a standard design — a large wing span with a neck and a head. The D-12 was retired from active service because of a flaw in their design - a faulty component of their cloaking device could cause it to be activated by certain energy signals, causing the ship to drop shields and cloak at inopportune moments. The B'rel and K'vort variants were larger and stronger, though still classified as frigates/light cruisers.

These Birds of Prey were equipped with wing mounted disruptor cannons and at least one photon torpedo launcher, they were also equipped with deflector shields and a cloaking device.^[4]

The D-12 variant was the ship used by Lursa and Betor in Star Trek: Generations. Using a video device implanted in Geordi La Forge's VISOR, they were able to reconfigure their weapons to the Enterprise-D's shield harmonics, allowing their attacks to pass through the ship's shields. Their Bird of Prey was destroyed in the battle, but not before it had done fatal damage to the Enterprise.

Two of the B'rel variant were used by rogue Ferengi in TNG episode "Rascals". Ambushing the Enterprise-D, they inflicted crippling damage to the much larger Galaxy-class starship while taking only minor damage from her counter-attacks. No mention was made of how the Ferengi were able to acquire the vessels.

In the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", in the alternate timeline, Enterprise-D is engaged by three K'Vort-class Birds of Prey while she was covering the retreat of the Enterprise-C through a temporal rift. These ships inflicted severe damage on the Enterprise-D, leaving her moments from being destroyed by the time the Enterprise-C made it into the rift, though one of the Klingon vessels was lost as well.

[edit] Vor'cha class

Vor'cha class
A Klingon Vor'cha class attack cruiser
First appearance	Sins of the Father
General Characteristics
Armaments	Disruptor cannons Photon torpedos
Defences	Deflector shields Cloaking device

The Vor'cha class could match a Federation Galaxy-class ship during combat, despite its considerably smaller size. It was first seen as the command ship of Chancellor Kmpec in the TNG episode "Sins of the Father". Although a massive ship for most missions, it is the battlecruiser mainstay of the Klingon fleet and has mostly phased out the ageing D7 and K't'inga class cruisers, the latter of which are still used as support vessels in a fleet.

The design of the Vor'cha class is similar to the classic D7 class battlecruiser with a forward "head" supported by a thick horizontal neck running aft and attaching to a larger secondary hull with an impulse engine module on the dorsal side. The Vor'cha class has two warp nacelles that are canted at the end of pylons. The warp nacelles of Vor'cha class vessels appear to have been influenced by Federation starship design as the nacelles are cigar-shaped with red Bussard collectors instead of traditional Klingon cruiser nacelles which are rectangular and emit a green or cyan color.

The Vor'cha class was probably first put into service during the mid-24th century in response to the growing tensions with the Romulans and the Federation. This starship class served in many of the major crises of the late 24th century such as the Klingon Civil War, the Klingon-Cardassian War, the Klingon-Federation War and the Dominion War; several cruisers were lost to Dominion and Cardassian forces.

In the DS9 episode "Tears of the Prophets", a scene during the battle of Chin'Toka involved the Dominion dismantling a Vor'cha class starship piece by piece as part of their attack.

The Vor'cha class cruiser model was designed by Rick Sternbach for TNG.

[edit] Negh'Var class

The Negh'Var class starship is the largest class of vessel in the Klingon fleet to date. The Negh'Var, presumably the first of its class, served as the Klingon flagship from 2372. Served as flagships and saw successful action during the Dominion War. This heavily armed starship class is the largest and most sophisticated in use by the Klingon Defense Force during the Dominion War.

A variant of this class of ship appeared in the alternate future depicted in the TNG finale, "All Good Things...".

In the DS9 episode "Shattered Mirror", a mirror universe Klingon ship closely resembling the Negh'Var is seen. While this vessel is a formidable battleship, it is vulnerable to attack by smaller, faster warships and is disabled by a single Defiant class starship.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Raptor class

The Raptor class of Klingon scoutship was in use during the 22nd century and is classified as a scout vessel.^{[citation needed]}

The Raptors hull is at least twice as thick as that of the Enterprise (NX-01) and reinforced with a coherent molecular alloy.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References