Discoverse Klingon Ship Classes

StarshipsShuttlesSpace StationsSatellites and ProbesBroken Circle

 

The Klingon starships suffered the same fate as the Klingon species in Discovery. It is inevitable to separate the radically reimagined "new" ships from those of the "old" Prime Timeline and also from the ones of the Abramsverse.

Note Although they are technically not canon until they appear on screen, this database uses the class names from the Eaglemoss Official Starships Collection. Some of the spellings and translations were corrected. Thanks to Ed Bailey.

 

Starships


Bird-of-Prey

General description

The Bird-of-Prey is a common small warship of the Klingon Empire in the 2250s. The ship is capable of atmospheric flight and landing.
Article: The Visual Continuity of Star Trek
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. The Bird-of-Prey can be seen in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars", "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry", "Lethe", "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" and "Will You Take My Hand?". In "Lethe", two of the ships are docked to a ground-based station. In "Will You Take My Hand?", we can see a large Klingon logo on a Bird-of-Prey that the ship type previously didn't seem to have.
  2. The design is a completely different one than the Bird-of-Prey known since "Star Trek III" or its predecessor from Star Trek Enterprise. We may argue that "Bird-of-Prey" is just a generic designation, but it is quite obvious that in the reimagined world of Discovery this new BoP is meant to replace the familiar one from the old Star Trek (just like we never see any old-style Klingons in the series either).

Class specifications

Length: 188.7m

 


Batlh

General description

This is a Klingon ship of the 2250s with an unusual boxy shape.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. We can spot the Batlh class a couple of times in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars". The class also appears in "Will You Take My Hand?".
  2. This ship is occasionally spelled "Bstlh", but "Batlh" is correct. {batlh} means "honor" or "honorably." It refers to inherent honor, like strength of character, rather than to honors that have been conveyed, as symbolized by a medal or award.

Class specifications

Length: 418.26m

 


bortaS bir

General description

The bortaS bir is a Klingon warship of the 2250s, consisting of a main hull and two nacelles in a very flat configuration.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. This ship class is likely present in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars". In any case, we can clearly identify a bortaS bir (aka Qatlh) in "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry" (as Kol's ship) as well as in "Will You Take My Hand?".
  2. According to the latest scale chart, the class is not named "Qatlh" but "bortaS bir" (cold revenge). Eaglemoss calls the class a "battlecruiser".
  3. {Qatlh} means "be difficult."

Class specifications

Length: 850.1m

 


Chargh

General description

The Chargh class is a Klingon ship of the 2250s with a double hull structure.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

    We can see the class in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars". The Chargh looks similar as the Jach class, but the identification of the Chargh is positive. The Chargh, rather than the Jach, is probably also visible in "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" and "Will You Take My Hand?".
  1. The two Charghs in "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" are referred to as "battlecruisers".
  2. {chargh} means "conquer."

Class specifications

Battlecruiser
Length: 773.6m

 


Cleave ship

General description

The cleave ship is a huge Klingon ship design with some sort of ram bow, but with an uncertain purpose.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. In DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars", the cloaked cleave ship rams the USS Europa. The ship reappears in "Such Sweet Sorrow II".
  2. It is unknown whether the cleave ship was designed for the very purpose to remain cloaked and ram enemy ships during a battle.
  3. The side view is a design sketch and may not correctly reproduce the shape of the ship as it appeared on screen.

Class specifications

Length: 934.5m

 


D7

General description

The D7 class is a Klingon warship to go into production after the war against the Federation, in the late 2250s. It consists of a long neck with a command section, an angular main body and two warp nacelles. The design is meant to be a symbol of unity of the Klingons.
Article: The Visual Continuity of Star Trek
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. L'Rell and Voq present this supposedly new ship type as a holographic projection in DIS: "Point of Light". Voq is going to oversee the production. Despite his sudden departure, several ships of the type are built. We can see one D7 in DIS: "Through the Valley of Shadows" and several more in "Such Sweet Sorrow II".
  2. The "new" D7 roughly retains the shapes of the ship from TOS. Concept artist Ryan Dening changed the nacelle style to be more in line with Discovery-Klingon design. The surface details (created by Scott Schneider) too are very different. The countless lights in "Through the Valley of Shadows" insinuate the ship could be several kilometers long, but the "reimagination" was scaled up to "only" about 10 times the volume of the TOS version.
  3. It is clear that the presentation of the "new" D7 and the reasoning that the ship unites the Klingons breaks the fourth wall. The return to the traditional design is very clearly a response to the criticism of the bizarre ships of season 1, which didn't look Klingon at all. They are retroactively declared individual designs of the single houses that for some reason existed in just one era (although T'Kuvma's ship was said to be ancient) and that for some other reason will all be scrapped within a few years.
  4. The "new" D7 also invalidates the designation of the Sech class (see below) as "D7" in "Choose Your Pain", which happened at a time when no one in the production seemed to have a problem with Discovery being a total reboot on the visual side.
  5. It seems odd that the Klingons would name their new ship "D7", which sounds more like a Federation code name (and actually was one in "Choose Your Pain"). Considering that the K't'inga may be the authentic Klingon name of the class that the Federation occasionally refers to as "D7" (or perhaps rather "D8" because there are visual differences?), it may have made a bit more sense to name the "Point of Light" ship "K't'inga". Perhaps the idea was that Voq-Tyler came up with the name and also with the design (considering that it resembles Federation ships, unlike the ones of season 1)? However, bearing in mind that Klingon ships always looked like the "new" D7, also in Enterprise, this doesn't make much sense - unless it is the intention of Discovery to continue to disregard ENT.
  6. The same reimagined design is also used in Strange New Worlds, whereas the Klingons themselves return to a classic look in the series. We can see the ship type in SNW: "The Broken Circle" and "Subspace Rhapsody". On the latter occasion it is called "K't'inga class", although in classic Trek D7 and K't'inga are two distinct designs, with the latter probably being more recent and replacing the D7 after the TOS era.
  7. The reimagined D7 is 503.53m long, as opposed to 224m of the original ship. If it were not for the size issue, it might be possible to reconcile this D7, as the only DIS Klingon ship type, with the classic Klingon design lineage.

Class specifications

Length: 503.53m

 


DaSpu'

General description

The DaSpu' is an unusual Klingon ship of the 2250s with a tubular shape and hexagonal cross-section.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. The DaSpu' is among the ships that are clearly identifiable in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars".
  2. {DaSpu'} means "bootspike."

Class specifications

Length: 527.3m

 


'etlh

General description

The 'etlh class is a dagger-shaped Klingon ship design of the 2250s.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. The 'etlh class can be identified in the fleet of DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars".
  2. According to the latest scale chart, the class is not named "JejHa'" but "'etlh" (blade).
  3. {jejHa'} means "be dull," but it's not a simple negation of {jej} "be sharp." The simple negation would be {jejbe'}, "be dull." Negation with {-Ha'} means the sharpness has been undone or done improperly, and probably indicates that it's about something you'd expect to be sharp, like a knife. Our guess is the word suggests the condition of a knife used so often it's become dull.

Class specifications

Length: 733.5m

 


Jach

General description

The Jach class is a Klingon ship of the 2250 with a double hull structure.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. The Jach probably appears in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars". Since the Chargh is a very similar design, a positive identification of the Jach is hard though.
  2. {jach} means "scream, cry out, shout, yell."

Class specifications

Length: 755.6m

 


Qoj

General description

The Qoj class is a warship design of the 2250s, consisting of a thin main hull and long nacelles in a very flat configuration.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. It seems likely that this ship class is present in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars". Since the Qoj, the Tlhapqa' (Qow') and the Veqlargh closely resemble each other, it is hard to identify the specific classes in the episode.
  2. {Qoj} means "wage war."

Class specifications

Length: 1108.7m

 


Qow'

General description

The Qow' class is a warship design of the 2250s, consisting of a thin main hull and long nacelles in a very flat configuration.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. It seems likely that this ship class is present in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars". Since the Qoj, the Qow' (aka Tlhapqa') and the Veqlargh closely resemble each other, it is hard to identify the specific classes in the episode.
  2. According to the latest scale chart, the class is not named "Tlhapqa'" but "Qow'" (destroy) - or "Qaw" according to Eaglemoss.
  3. {tlhapqa'} means "take again," {tlhap} meaning "take" and the ending {-qa'} meaning "do again" or "resume." In short, it means "take back" or "retrieve."

Class specifications

Length: 908.8m

 


Qugh

General description

The Qugh class is a common Klingon warship of the 2250, consisting of a main hull with "wings" and embedded nacelles in a very flat configuration.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. We can see the Qugh class in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars", "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" and "Will You Take My Hand?".
  2. This ship type is referred to as a "destroyer" in "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum", although it is much bigger than the two Chargh-class "battlecruisers" in the same episode.
  3. {Qugh} means "disaster." It's also Kruge's name in Klingon.

Class specifications

Destroyer
Length: 1360.5m

 


Sarcophagus ship

General description

The huge Sarcophagus ship acts as the flagship of T'Kuvma and later of Kol in the war against the Federation, until its destruction at Pahvo. The ship was in the service of the House of T'Kuvma before it was abandoned. T'Kuvma reactivated it by the year 2256. The outer hull of the Sarcophagus ship (sometimes referred to as "Ship of the Dead") is adorned by the coffins of revered Klingon warriors.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

"Sarcophagus"
 

Annotations

  1. The Sarcophagus ship appears in DIS: "The Vulcan Hello", "Battle at the Binary Stars", "The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry", "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" and "Into the Forest I Go".
  2. It is unknown whether the Sarcophagus ship is a sui generis design or whether it used to be a standard type before it was phased out. In any case, it is the only such ship in service during the Klingon war against the Federation.
  3. The visual effects in "Battle at the Binary Stars" and "Into the Forest I Go" put the Sarcophagus in the 2 kilometers size range, a size which has been confirmed by Eaglemoss.

Class specifications

Length: 2550.6m

 


Sech

General description

The Sech class (contested Federation designation: D7) is a Klingon warship in the 2250s. It consists of an arrow-shaped main hull with an embedded propulsion system.
Article: The Visual Continuity of Star Trek
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. We can see this ship design in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars" and "Choose Your Pain".
  2. The Sech class is called "D7" in "Choose Your Pain". Since this is a very definite designation, it is clear that Discovery's starships (of the first season) have no continuity with those of the "old" Prime Timeline. In the episode, the ship (a battlecruiser in the old Star Trek) is occasionally referred to as as "prisoner transport", although this most likely isn't the primary purpose of the design, even in Discovery's version of history.
  3. In direct contradiction to "Choose Your Pain", L'Rell and Voq present the "new D7" (see above) in DIS: "Point of Light". In contrast to the Sech, this "new" ship looks much like the old D7 from TOS and is quite obviously meant to reconcile the messed up design lineage from DIS with the one of classic Trek. This invalidates the idea that the Sech could be a D7, although explicitly stated in the episode.
  4. {Sech} means "torch."

Class specifications

Length: 558.8m

 


Veqlargh

General description

The Veqlargh class is a warship design of the 2250s, consisting of a thin main hull and long nacelles in a very flat configuration.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known ships

No name given
 

Annotations

  1. It seems likely that this ship class is present in DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars". Since the Qoj, the Tlhapqa' (Qow') and the Veqlargh closely resemble each other, it is hard to identify the specific classes in the episode.
  2. {veqlargh} is the standard transcription of Fek'lhr, the Klingon "devil" as seen in TNG: "Devil's Due".

Class specifications

Length: 1106.5m

 

Shuttles


Raider

General description

The raider is a small warp-capable auxiliary craft. It consists of a cockpit section with two seats that is surrounded by a voluminous transparent canopy, and an aft fuselage. Wing-like structures unfold in flight mode.
Gallery: Discovery Alien Vessels

Known shuttles

No name given
 

Annotations

Lorca and Tyler use a raider to escape from the Klingon ship in DIS: "Choose Your Pain".

Class specifications

Length: approx. 30m

 

Space Stations


Orbital platform

General description

The planet Qo'noS appears to be orbited by a possibly large number of stations in 2257.

Known stations

No name given
 

Annotations

We can see at least three structures in orbit of Qo'noS in DIS: "Will You Take My Hand?". These could be starships, but they appear to be rather static. The structures look like they are larger than satellites, and perhaps inhabitable. It is quite possible these are orbital defense platforms.

Class specifications

None available

 

Satellites and Probes


Photonic beacon

General description

This is an ancient construction designed to emit a strong light pulse of over 1 billion lux and a subspace signal, to call together the Klingon houses. A large fan-like antenna is extended for this purpose.

Known beacons

"Beacon of Kahless"
 

Annotations

The Beacon of Kahless appears in DIS: "The Vulcan Hello", where it is activated by T'Kuvma. It appears to be a one-off design.

Class specifications

Length: 120m

 

Broken Circle


NCC-1279 type

General description

In 2259, a rogue faction named "Broken Cirlce" on Cajitar IV, a planet shared by the Klingons and the Federation, plans to re-incite the war. They build a ship from cannibalized Starfleet parts for a false-flag attack on the Klingons.

Known ships

NCC-1279 (no name)
 

Annotations

  1. This ship was secretly built underneath the surface of Cajitar IV in SNW: "The Broken Circle" and later launched from there. Spock ordered to destroy it before it could attack the Klingon D7.
  2. The design uses the characteristic saucer of a Crossfield class with the gaps in it, which is why Jenna Mitchell mistakenly identifies it as this class before it is discovered that it was cobbled together. Alas, the very same design appeared earlier in the episode docked to Starbase 1, so it can't have been an unknown configuration. Size estimation based on known components of the ship.
  3. The Broken Circle is purportedly a joint syndicate of Klingons and humans to mine dilithium on Cajitar IV and boost its price. But we only see Klingons all the time. While this appears to make sense, considering that the planet is shared, would the entire staff that is building the ship (in secret!) switch every month?

See also Discoverse Federation Ship Classes

Class specifications

Length: 446m

 


Back to Starship Database index

TopShare
View as gallery