The vessel used by the Klingon
Augments in ENT: "Affliction" and "Divergence" to
attack Enterprise is very small, only some 70m long compared to the
saucer of the Starfleet ship. Its structure bears a similarity to the
Raptor class, although the parts of the CGI look like a kitbash of the
D-5 and the old BoP.
A Klingon ship appeared in ENT: "Unexpected"
and was identified by T'Pol as a "Klingon battlecruiser". It is clearly
the K't'inga model, and not even a supposedly older D7. If we believed
that, it would predate
the whole class by a full 120 years, so that K't'ingas would be in service for at
least 225
years(!) altogether, from 2151 to 2376. While it may make sense to
refit an old starship several times to keep it up to date, it is
ridiculous that the same basic design should be built without
visual changes for up to 200 years. As opposed to what was visible on
screen, it must have been a much
older, yet similar class.
Star Trek: The Magazine clears up the issue: "As
Rob [Bonchune] explains, John Eaves had designed a new Klingon ship
specifically for this scene. 'It was kind of the same shape as the
original Klingon battle cruiser; just a little more primitive. [...] They decided it
could only be used with major changes, but after their work on Broken
Bow the team was simply too exhausted to work through the night in a
desperate attempt to get the shots ready. Instead, the producers made
the decision to use an old model. 'We wound up going back to a version
of the Klingon ship that had been built for DEEP SPACE NINE,' Mitch
(Suskin) says. 'But that particular type of Klingon ship will not be
used again, because they decided that it just didn't fit into their
vision for this universe.' Rob admits that, he for one, is sorry the
old ship was used, but acknowledges there was no alternative. 'As a
fan I really regret that that ship is in there, but people were just
working too much. After Broken Bow, everyone had already worked so
much overtime'." - In other words, the K't'inga was not the
model we were meant to see in the episode.
Rob Bonchune eventually built a CGI of the said Klingon ship, which he
labeled as "D4 cruiser". He followed the sketch by
John Eaves and added typical features of other 22nd century Klingon
designs, like the struts between the command and the engineering hull.
Although it looks different than the vessel we saw in
"Unexpected", we may want to imagine it was in the episode.
The D5 is a Klingon ship type that was easily superior to Enterprise around 2150
and became outdated prior to 2270. There is also a tanker variant. Instead of the two disruptor cannons, it
has additional deuterium pods with a capacity of more than 80,000 liters and most likely limited combat readiness. Article: The Everlasting
Klingon Battlecruiser Gallery: Klingon Ships of the 22nd Century
Known ships
IKS BortaS
IKC Klothos
Annotations
Kor mentions the Klingon D5 ship in DS9:
"Once More Unto the Breach". Even though The Animated Series
was not considered canon by TPTB until recently, the D5 was previously suggested to be a D7 variant
seen in TAS: "The Time Trap", as stated by Ronald D. Moore.
This ship is only slight different from the D7 in that it has a protruding sensor
tube or rather a torpedo tube. This notion has to be dropped, since we have
actually seen a quite different ship verbally identified as D5 in ENT: "Judgment"
and once again in ENT: "The Augments". More on the TAS
battlecruiser can be found on my page about TAS Alien Ship Classes
and at the Guide
to Animated Trek.
The tanker
was the first variant to appear in Star Trek Enterprise. It could be seen as Korok's ship in ENT:
"Marauders". The CGI model is similar as that of the later D5 cruiser (ENT: "Judgment").
It has eight underslung deuterium tanks that would later be replaced with two disruptor cannons. But there are more differences. The tanker has roughly triangular wings or nacelle pylons, whereas there are additional corners in the wings of the D5 cruiser. Owing to the new wing shape, the nacelles are further backward on the D5. This makes the ship longer. If we take the identical nacelles of the two ships as a size reference, they were decreased in size relative to the head and neck sections, so the D5 is overall bigger. In addition, many details were changed. The "piping" looks somewhat different, and the cruiser has no windows any more.
The (presumably smaller) tanker has a crew of only 12. We do not know the complement of the
standard D5, but cruisers always have crews in the
hundreds.
There is a tactical display in ENT: "Judgment" that gives
us a length of just 75m for the D5. However, at such a small size the
ship could have just one deck, although there are multiple rows of
windows on the model. The interior of the bridge as depicted in "Judgment"
would occupy most of the bow section, the rest may be mostly
uninhabitable. Finally, in "Divergence" the Klingon ship has
to be about the same size as Enterprise, perhaps just a bit shorter. According
to the Official Starships Collection, the cruiser variant is approx. 155m long
The early Bird-of-Prey was mentioned
in ENT: "Sleeping Dogs" and appeared for the first time in ENT:
"The Expanse". If Duras has been demoted due to his previous
failure, it makes sense that he now commands a smaller ship
like the Bird-of-Prey.
The 22nd century BoP is a new design, although it follows the basic
lines of the 23rd century version. There is a bridge module on the bow
section which sports a more pronounced bulge than the cloaking
generator on the 23rd century BoP. Two large angular structures are flanking the engineering hull. It is
obvious that these are supposed to be the
warp engines (like on the later BoP), rather than serving the
same unknown purpose as the similar structures on the D5 battlecruiser. There
is also a pod on the center of the engineering hull that looks much
like the pod on the Raptor class. Although we have never seen an early
BoP do it, it is almost certain that the wings can be moved up like on
the later BoP, looking at the structure of the "baffles"
with what looks like a pivot in their front and aft end. But the wings
can be moved up no farther than to a horizontal orientation. The wing tips hold what appears too
small to be warp engines. Since the disruptor cannons are located at
their front tips, these pods most likely belong to the weapons
systems. The port cannon is considerably larger than the starboard
one. There is an additional weapon turret underneath the engineering hull.
Finally, an additional strut connects the bow section with the
engineering hull. It is unknown whether the early BoP can land.
A rough size estimation is possible in ENT: "Borderland".
Here the Klingon vessel looks a tad shorter than the saucer section of
Enterprise, maybe some 115m. The structure of the ship with its
dedicated bridge and the window rows points to a rather larger size than the 23rd century version though.
Ambassador Soval's assistant mentioned "Klingon Warbirds"
in ENT: "Broken Bow". Even Brannon Braga conceded that this
was a clear error, so we shouldn't assume that a so called class
actually existed. Even Vulcans may make embarrassing errors. He
definitely meant to say "Birds-of-Prey".
The
ship appeared in ENT: "Bounty". In contrast to T'Pol's
statement from ENT: "Sleeping Dogs" that Klingon ships don't
have escape pods, this one is equipped with them (see below). In spite
of this inconsistency it has to be a Klingon design, as indicated by
the typical shapes and colors on the inside. There is also a Klingon
emblem on the hull, even though it was accidentally mirrored.
The design by John Eaves started its life as the Klingon shuttlepod
for "Broken Bow" (see below), where it
was not clearly visible though. When the script of "Bounty"
called for a somewhat different Klingon vessel, the shuttlepod design
was modified, with according changes to the details and proportions to
reflect the now larger size, and built into a CGI by Eden FX.
This Klingon ship type with its upward-swept nacelles, equipped with photon torpedoes but without
escape pods, is in use around 2151. Gallery: Klingon Ships of the 22nd Century
Known ships
Somraw
Annotations
The Raptor, as seen in ENT:
"Sleeping Dogs", comes nine episodes too late to save the
Klingon design lineage that has been ruined by the appearance of the
K't'inga in "Unexpected" (see above entry
"battlecruiser type"). It is pleasant that, unlike some other
ships we have seen in the series, the Raptor by John Eaves has a distinctive design
we may accept as older. Only the Dominion-like
pointed nacelles are a bit out of place.
Until "Sleeping Dogs" the name "Raptor" was
unknown, so do the Klingons give their ships Latin names? Silly
authors. Moreover, it is rather a Romulan and not a
Klingon tradition to use the name of birds (or bird-like dinosaurs).
The Raptor is some 145m long according to Rob Bonchune's CGI size
chart.
The
alleged rebel transport was actually carrying refugees and appeared in
ENT: "Judgment". It does not have to be a Klingon design, as the Klingons had lost interest of the
colony until this ship left it (with 54 aboard, of whom 27 survived
after six weeks). But the green color and the nacelles with the open
aft end are typical of Klingon vessels. The model was previously seen
as Menos's ship in ENT: "The
Seventh", then with a rather brownish hull and without the nacelles.
Class
specifications
Transport
Length: approx. 55m
Passenger capacity: 54
23rd
and 24th Century Starships
Name prefixes
IKC: Imperial Klingon Cruiser
IKS: Imperial Klingon Ship
TNG occasionally used "IKC" as identifier. DS9 consistently switched
to "IKS". I assume that all ships had the "IKC" prefix prior
to 2370, unless otherwise stated.
The Bird-of-Prey, with its various sub-classes, is the Klingon
Empire's most common light warship from the end of the 23rd century to the
2370s. The
ship has one torpedo tube in the bow and two disruptor cannons at the
wing tips. The wings are usually horizontal in flight mode, and swept
down for attack. Ships of the K'Vort and the B'rel class have
occasionally been witnessed to fire with horizontal wings, though.
"D-12" is a Federation designation for a sub-class of
Birds-of-Prey. The
wings may be moved up to allow the ship to land on a
planet. The ship has a retractable landing gear. All types of Birds-of-Prey are equipped with a cloaking device. Article: The Bird-of-Prey Size Paradox Klingon
Bird-of-Prey Gallery
The ship was designed by Nilo
Rodis for "Star Trek III". The issue whether there are
different sizes of Birds-of-Prey is exhaustively discussed here,
the general trouble of scaling here. The
bottom line is that, if there are actually different sizes, the starships
couldn't technically be the same. Based on the various visual evidence the size range would be from 50m to
350m length. Even the very same ship "HMS
Bounty" from "Star Trek IV" appears at sizes from 50m
to 100m. For the sake of simplicity, I assume that all these vessels which exactly look the same are actually the same. The equipment and
technology may vary, but not the size.
The known (sub-) classes of Birds-of-Prey don't help to identify
different sizes. On the contrary, the suggestion that the B'rel class
should be smaller than the K'Vort class is complete bogus. As a matter
of fact,
the only time the B'rel was ever verbally identified in TNG:
"Rascals", it was mostly represented by stock footage of the K'Vort
from TNG: "Yesterday's Enterprise"! The D-12 in
"Generations" could be the Federation designation for any
type or size of BoP. So it's mere speculation if and which other ships
belong to these three (sub-) classes. At least, it seems that B'rel
ships are supposed to be scouts with a crew of only 12 (like Kruge's
BoP), while the K'Vort is a cruiser with a crew of typically over 30.
It is well possible that at identical sizes the K'Vort has more crew
quarters instead of the large cargo bay of the B'rel.
Not only the starships in the parallel timeline in "Yesterday's
Enterprise", but nearly all BoPs that appeared in TNG are
supposed to be cruisers of the "bigger" K'Vort class. The only ship
verbally identified as K'Vort class in "our"
timeline is the IKS Koraga, the lost ship with Worf on board that Ezri
went searching in DS9: "Penumbra". The class name was
readable on a display aboard the USS Gander. Like the Koraga, all BoPs
might be equipped with escape pods. A generic BoP labeled as K'Vort
was visible on
a display in VOY: "Drone".
The suggestion that the Bird-of-Prey (which is an originally
Romulan designation after all) is a Romulan design comes from an
early draft of "Star Trek III" where Kruge steals the BoP
from the Romulans. It is commonly accepted, yet not strictly canon,
that Klingons acquired Romulan technology (including the cloaking
device) during a brief alliance in exchange for Klingon ships for the
Romulans, as seen in TOS: "The Enterprise Incident". The BoP
design itself need not necessarily be brand new as of 2285 when it was
first encountered. Sulu identified it as "Bird-of-Prey",
which suggests that Starfleet had knowledge of this class. Since ENT:
"The Expanse" we know that the familiar BoP is definitely not
a Romulan design or a design inspired by Romulans, but a 23rd century
version of a similar, yet much older genuine Klingon ship of the 22nd century.
In "Star Trek IV" the highest mentioned speed of the BoP
"Bounty" was Warp 9.8 (old scale), immediately before
reaching the threshold speed for time travel. This threshold was very
likely supposed to be exactly at Warp 10 (old scale), although there
is no reason why it should be there.
I assume that General Chang's prototype in "Star Trek
VI", the only BoP capable of firing while cloaked, turned out a
failure because it nevertheless could be detected, and the project was
not further pursued. It is even possible that the engineers were
killed and important data was destroyed together with the prototype,
so the Klingons couldn't build another one. I don't think the ship
should be considered as a distinct (sub-)class.
A wing of a Bird-of-Prey can be seen among the wreckage inside the graviton ellipse in VOY: "One Small Step" (only in the 24th century, not in the 21st century flashbacks).
Nothing is known about this ship type, except that the Klingons are
apparently using it as a civilian transport. Article: Redresses of the Merchantman
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
The ship appeared in the course of a battle, and Worf allegedly destroyed
it in DS9: "Rules of
Engagement". It is yet another re-use of the
versatile Merchantman from "Star Trek III"
in the very same configuration as the Vidiian
ship 1. Obviously the two can't be in any way related.
The actual color of the miniature may have still been the beige of
the Vidiian version, but since it could be only glimpsed anyway, I'm
assuming it is in the usual Klingon green.
The complement of 441 is taken from the dialogue. It
may have been forged like the whole trial, but was meant to be a believable
figure.
It may surprise that the Klingon battlecruiser designed by Matt Jefferies
appeared as a Klingon ship in just two TOS episodes, namely in "Elaan
of Troyius" and "Day of the Dove".
Greg Jein reconstructed the
original Klingon battlecruiser for DS9: "Trials
and Tribble-ations". He stuck to the old plans, therefore making the ship
different from the K't'inga and overall little detailed. The only
alterations: He added a "feather pattern" to the
wings and painted it green, like all other (later) Klingon starship types. We
might assume
that the TOS ships had the pattern too, so this is not a sub-type.
Still the green color is definite difference.
The K't'inga model (see below) was used to represent the ship
verbally identified as D7 in VOY:
"Prophecy". It is possible that D7 is the common Federation
designation for both the Klingon cruiser from TOS and the K't'inga and
that it only refers to the ship's size. The question is, if this
is so, why Tom states that the class was decommissioned decades ago.
This is obviously not the case with the K't'inga. Perhaps Tom was wrong in "Prophecy" and
what he called "D7" was actually an early K't'inga of which many are
obviously still in service towards the end of the Dominion War. But maybe we
should ignore the visual evidence. Mike Sussman, co-author of VOY:
"Prophecy" along with Phyllis Strong, tells EAS that the
model to appear in the episode was actually meant to be Greg Jein's
reconstruction of the D7, so there is no misconception from the
writers' part. But it was decided to use the existing K't'inga CGI for
the visuals. Had he been aware of that, he would have changed the line
about the D7 and also the one about them being retired decades ago,
Mike Sussman says.
The Gr'oth, which had already appeared in DS9: "Trials and
Tribble-ations", was retroactively digitally inserted into the
remastered version of TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles". Most
likely the new model, seen only from a distance, is a
reproduction of the original D7, rather than including Greg Jein's
revisions. But this would be clearly overruled by the definite visual
evidence from the DS9 episode. Other episodes with
digital D7s include TOS-R: "Errand of Mercy",
"Friday's Child" and "A Private Little War".
The K't'inga may have been intended to be an upgraded
version of the D7, just like the Enterprise in TMP was still supposed
to be the very same ship that Kirk commanded until 2270. The differences are considerable in both cases.
Not only were many more details added, but also the proportions of
several hull parts were changed. Read about the Enterprise refit here.
While the legacy "forbids" us to doubt that the TMP Enterprise is still Kirk's Enterprise, the K't'inga should be a
different class than the D7.
There are
variants of the K't'inga with different colors of the plasma in the nacelles, but
this isn't necessarily a sign of
their age, as we have seen dim nacelles, cyan nacelles and green nacelles over
the decades almost at random.
Although the ship in ENT: "Unexpected" was clearly
represented by the K't'inga model, credibility dictates that it must be of a yet
unknown, much older class. This is why I have listed it as
"battlecruiser type".
For different reasons, we might assume the same for the ship in VOY:
"Prophecy" which was another re-use of the K't'inga, but
actually supposed to be an older D7. On the other hand, Tom may simply
have been mistaken, and it was actually a K't'inga (see above). This
way, we wouldn't have to ignore the appearance of a K't'inga even
twice.
Since it would be very unusual to translate ship names, I have
listed the "Kronos One" from "Star Trek VI" under
its presumed Klingon name. The model from TMP was renovated to
represent the Kronos One, but the modifications seem to be rather
cosmetic.
The Klingons are in possession of a similar freighter design as the Cardassians, but
considerably larger. Article: Redresses of the Groumall
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
The Klingon freighter in DS9:
"Sons and Daughters" was represented by the same model as the
Cardassian freighter in DS9: "Return to Grace". The
color was green instead of ochre, and some details were altered. Most
obviously two nacelles were affixed and the forked bow was filled with
an additional part. The Klingon freighter was clearly
much larger than a Bird-of-Prey.
In real life, the Negh'Var
that first appeared in DS9: "The Way of the Warrior" is
a modification of the voDleH (Voodieh) model from TNG: "All Good
Things". The ship was modified
adding weapons pods (which could be auxiliary nacelles too according
to the Fact Files) to both
wings, removing the fins at the bottom of the bow section, and
removing the spikes in the bow and on both nacelle front tips. In the
Klingon Empire, it is probably the other way round, and the voDleH is
the series version of the prototype ship Negh'Var.
The voDleH and therefore the Negh'Var too were created using the
central portion of the Vor'cha model, as the comparison of the dorsal
and ventral views demonstrates. Whether the real starships may be using
common parts too is not easy to answer. In that case the Negh'Var
(usually listed as being 682m) would be almost the same length as the
Vor'cha (481m).
The Negh'Var model was also used for Regent
Worf's huge ship in DS9: "Shattered Mirror", where it
was about 2km long, compared to the BoP, Galor and Defiant. Like many
things in the silly Mirror Universe, the similarity to "our"
Negh'Var should be disregarded for the sake of plausibility. The many
rows of lights (10 in the main plane) in the close-up support the idea
of such a
massive ship, but don't alleviate the general scaling problem.
The name voDleH (Klingon for "emperor") is
background information, presumably from a script draft, where it was
spelled "Voodieh". The voDleH, although it appears only in a parallel timeline in TNG:
"All Good Things", does or will exist as a real Klingon ship
around 2395 because of its similarity to the Negh'Var. On the other hand, in this
case I would have to acknowledge the existence of the dreadful
three-nacelled Galaxy-class ships too...
The Klingon starships in "Endgame" are still other variants.
Obviously the voDleH spikes and fins were added to the model again
(now CGI),
and the Negh'Var weapons pod was retained too. Like with the "All
Good Things" variant, I assume that it is the actual appearance
of a Klingon ship in the year 2404.
Class
specifications
Length: 682m (w/o spike), 718m (w/ spike)
Scout
General
description
This is a small Klingon ship in service in the 2260s.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
It is
essentially just a yellow light in TOS: "Friday's Child".
But if we look closely, we may make out something inside this light, a
flat shape with some sort of "handle" affixed to it. As for
the type of the ship, Chekov identifies it as a "warship".
Kras, the Klingon on the planet Capella IV, refers to his vessel as a
scout ship. But it is not necessarily the same that the Enterprise
encounters in space, and he may have been lying. On the other hand, as
the "warship" prefers to run away instead of fighting with
the Enterprise, it may have been a small scout indeed.
The unique vessel was completely eliminated from the enhanced episode and
replaced with a standard D7, probably because of the dialogue that
says it is a "warship". If we should go with TOS-R as the only
canon, the scout ship would be non-existent.
The class name and purpose of this large
Klingon ship is unknown.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
The
obviously Klingon vessel appeared in DS9:
"Sons of Mogh". It is the same model as the Promellian battlecruiser
from TNG: "Booby Trap", only painted or illuminated green. The neck and
the head section are most likely no additional parts but were present
already on the original Promellian ship. Actually the take with the
ship in "Sons of Mogh" is not new but stock footage of a
less prominent vessel from DS9: "Sanctuary". There is no
reason that the ship from "Sanctuary" couldn't be Klingon as
well.
The ship was shown just prior to Noggra's arrival at the station,
but there is no evidence that it is his ship. Actually, Noggra
himself tells Kurn (whose memory has been erased and who is going to
be adopted by Noggra) that they have come with a shuttle.
The Vor'cha was designed by Rick
Sternbach and made its premiere in
TNG: "Reunion" as Chancellor K'mpec's flagship.
Class
specifications
Attack cruiser
Length: 481m
Stations,
Shuttles & Probes
Bird-of-Prey
escape pod
General
description
The Bird-of-Prey is equipped with small lifeboats.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
The escape pod could be briefly
seen in DS9: "Penumbra". In ENT: "Sleeping Dogs",
T'Pol mentioned that Klingon ships don't have escape pods, but it
seems they have changed their minds over the centuries.
The
escape pod first appeared in ENT: "Bounty" and was just as
blatantly un-Klingon as the outer appearance of Goroth's ship from
where it was
launched. (In "Sleeping Dogs" T'Pol explained that Klingon
ships don't have escape pods.) Yet, even the early Klingon BoP has
these escape pods as seen in ENT: "The Augments", so in spite of everything
T'Pol must have been mistaken.
The K'toch is a one-man Klingon scout ship around 2150.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
The class name of Klaang's vessel
is taken from the script of ENT: "Broken Bow". The scene when
the docking master mentions the name to Archer is not in the episode,
though. While we could only see a smoking pile of scrap in the
episode, John Eaves had developed a design that was approved of. It
was later modified to act as Goroth's ship (see above).
The Toron class could be seen in
TNG: "Gambit". In this last appearance on TNG the mock-up
of the Nenebek
was once again modified, this time with typical Klingon hull plating and without the aft section.
Ty'Gokor is the best protected place within the Klingon Empire. It
is not known whether the design is employed for other
space stations at other locations too. Vor'cha,
Negh'Var & Various Gallery
Known stations
No name given
Annotations
Ty'Gokor was featured in DS9:
"Apocalypse Rising" where more than one station of this type
could be seen.
Class
specifications
Diameter: 1.6km
Height: 2km
Various
shuttles, seen on Narendra III in ENT: "Judgment"
The small vessels are hardly identifiable. The upper shuttle looks like a Nausicaan
fighter.
Unknown
Klingon Class
IKS Fek'lhr,
Klingon vessel on the casualties list of the Dominion War in DS9: "Image in
the Sand" and "The Siege of AR-558"
IKS Hor'Cha,
mentioned in the Species 8472 simulation in VOY:
"In the Flesh"
We should assume that the ship actually exists, considering how meticulously
the simulation was prepared.
IKC K'Tanco,
Kang's old ship, mentioned in DS9: "The Sword of Kahless".
IKC P'Rang,
cruiser, mentioned in TNG: "The Emissary" as the ship to intercept the
T'Ong
IKS Par'tok,
cargo vessel, mentioned in DS9: "Sons and Daughters"
IKC T'Acog,
ship destroyed by renegade Klingons in TNG: "Heart of Glory"
In contrast to the entry about this starship in the Star Trek Encyclopedia II it was never
visible on screen, as the Enterprise arrived at the scene after the fight. It
may be another K't'inga, but as well it could be any other class of ship
(preferably something small because it seems unlikely that a freighter may be
able to destroy a battlecruiser).
IKS Ya'Vang, battlecruiser, mentioned in DS9: "You Are
Cordially Invited"
This may have been an old K't'inga, but somehow I have the impression they meant a Vor'cha.
Ursva,
freighter, disguise made up by Uhura in order to be able to pass a Klingon
listening post in "Star Trek VI"
It is reasonable to assume that a ship of this name really exists.