Name prefixes
IRW: Imperial Romulan Warbird
PWB: Praetorian Warbird (presumed)
"IRW" may have been used occasionally, although I only remember the
Khazara in TNG: "Face of the Enemy" being called "Imperial
Romulan Warbird". The "PWB" prefix appeared on a casualties list in
the Dominion War. Since none of the prefixes is very prominent, I'm not using
them in this list.
The Bird-of-Prey was first sighted in 2266 when a starship of this type
crossed the Neutral Zone and attacked the Earth Outposts. The ship was
equipped with warp drive and armed with a powerful plasma energy weapon, and it had the ability to
cloak. While cloaked, the Bird-of-Prey was not capable of firing but
still warp-capable. Article: Warp Drive and Romulan
History
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
The Romulan BoP was designed by Wah Chang and appears in TOS: "Balance of Terror" and
in "The Deadly Years" too.
Lt. Stiles states that Romulan ships have a big bird painted on their
hull. Since his information obviously comes from history books rather
than from secret intelligence reports, the BoP must continue a
Romulan tradition in ship design.
The Romulan BoP was purposefully designed to fit a note in the supposed shooting script of
TOS: "Balance of Terror": "The attacking vessel can now be seen definitely to be some modified version of a starship saucer main section..."
In a deleted scene Commander Hansen of Earth Outpost 4 explicitly hints at the similarity of the design of the Romulan ship to that of Federation starships:
"You see it, Enterprise?! Starship design. Warn Earth... espionage, stolen our designs... traitors..."
More about the deleted scene at
Star Trek
History.
There is far more evidence supporting the existence of Romulan warp
ships in 2266 and also in the Romulan War a century earlier than for
the common notion that Romulans did not have FTL ships prior
to their supposed alliance with the Klingons in 2268. Since Star Trek
Enterprise this idea has been ultimately refuted. Read here. Even if the Romulan BoP
in "Balance of Terror" were only capable of impulse speeds
during the battle, this doesn't rule out that it has come from Romulus
at warp. The identical ship is undeniably observable at warp speed in
"The Deadly Years".
The name is obviously the only
thing the Romulan BoP has in common with the Klingon BoP. In an early
draft of "Star Trek III" Kruge steals his ship
from the Romulans, but there is no mention that the Klingon BoP is
actually a Romulan design too.
In the remastered versions of the two TOS episodes the top side of the Romulan BoP was shown from
previously unseen angles and was given a hull
grid and
a more metallic looking surface than we may have expected. The
underside with the bird depiction still looks like in TOS but now
possesses a subtle hull grid too. The BoP also appears in TOS-R:
"The Enterprise Incident", here replacing one of the
previously three D7 battlecruisers.
A Bird-of-Prey from the 23rd century is still in service as of 2399. It is armed with disruptor cannons.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
This ship, owned by a certain Kar Kantar, attacks La Sirena in orbit of Vashti on PIC: "Absolute Candor" and gets heavily damaged, losing its starboard nacelle pylon.
The design is essentially still the same as the one of the old BoP from TOS: "Balance of Terror"; the proportions are almost identical. The ship doesn't seem to have the plasma weapon any longer but is equipped with standard disruptor cannons. The most significant change is the addition of very pronounced hull panels (unlike the remastered version of TOS with its slight hull plating). Also, green Romulan-style lighting was added to the nacelles and countless small lights all over the hull, a bit like on the re-imagined D7 from season 2 of Discovery. Most of these lights can't possibly be windows, owing to the rather small size of the ship (unless the size was "re-imagined", which is an idea that I refuse to even consider). Overall, we might argue that the BoP from "Absolute Candor", except perhaps for the armament, is still the very same design as the one from "Balance of Terror". But in the spirit of visual continuity it makes more sense to classify it as an upgrade or a related, newer class, much like the Klingon K't'inga relates to the D7.
Eaglemoss gives the length of the upgraded BoP as 91.44 meters. But although it is not hammered in stone, I prefer to stick to the established length of the TOS BoP.
The Romulans possess D7 cruisers of Klingon design around 2268. The
Romulan D7 is outfitted with a cloaking device.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
The real-world reason for
using the Klingon ship in TOS: "The Enterprise Incident" is
that the Romulan BoP looked rather clumsy and little detailed.
Ironically, before the episode the ship appeared only in one brief
scene in TOS: "Elaan of Troyius" as a Klingon design, so it
was not yet firmly established as a Klingon ship. Anyway, "The
Enterprise Incident" clearly calls the Romulan ships a
"Klingon design".
It is obvious that the specs are the same as of the Klingon D7 ships. The only change I made on the schematic is that I removed the
Klingon emblem (although the actual models in the episode might have
had it).
We don't know how exactly the Romulans got their hands on Klingon
vessels. It is only speculation that the Romulans and Klingons had a
brief alliance around 2268. The D7 ships could have been captured by
the Romulans as well. While three ships could be seen in "The
Enterprise Incident", we don't know how many ships the Romulans
acquired altogether, how long they have been in use, or what kind of
influence the technology transfer had on later ships. By the time of
TNG, the Romulan and Klingon design lineages seem to have diverged
again.
For TOS-R: "The Enterprise Incident" the D7s were given a
Romulan bird pattern on the ventral hull. Also, one of them was
replaced with a Bird-of-Prey.
The Warbird of the D'deridex class is a huge starship used by the
Romulans in the 2360s and 2370s. The ship is twice as long as a
Federation Galaxy class, with an advantage in fire power, but a lower
maximum speed. The power source is an artificial quantum singularity. Article: Appearances of the Romulan Warbird Gallery:
Romulan Starships
The D'deridex, designed by
Andrew Probert, first showed
up in TNG: "The Neutral Zone". At one occasion, the ship
class was called a "B-Type Warbird" in TNG: "The
Defector". Considering that this must be a Federation
designation, while "D'deridex" is obviously Romulan, I
assume they are equivalent names for the same class.
"Warbird", on the other hand, may be a general designation
for all big Romulan warships.
In TNG: "The Neutral Zone" it is stated that the ship is
twice as long as a Galaxy class. The approximate length of 1200m is consistent
through all reference manuals except for the unreliable DS9TM
(here: 1041m), where several other ship lengths are off as well.
Andrew Probert tells us that the actual design length is 1353m.
The Decius appeared as "Admiral Picard's" ship in
an illusion created for Riker in TNG: "Future Imperfect". We
may assume that a real ship name was taken from a databank or Riker's
memory, though.
The Belak and the Makar were mentioned as part of the fleet to
attack the Founders' homeworld in DS9: "The Die is Cast".
The fleet consisted of nothing but Cardassian Keldon-class and Romulan
D'deridex-class ships as could be verified from various different angles.
It seems unlikely that there are ships of other classes we haven't
seen.
John Eaves designed the early BoP to appear in ENT: "Minefield" as a homage to the above TOS Bird-of-Prey. The Art
Department originally included the typical bird painting on the
underside that Romulan ships are supposed to have (TOS: "Balance of Terror"), but they were asked to remove it. The hull color is just as
green as on 24th century Romulan ships (and on Klingon ships too). The rather modern looking nacelles were rounder in the first
pass, as John Eaves tells us. They are similar to those on the Klingon
Raptor class. A technology exchange?
It should be unmistakable now that Romulans were supposed to have warp
drive ever since they encountered humans.
It is irritating to see that the ship already has cloaking, although this
will be something surprising over 100 years later in "Balance of
Terror". The plot of "Minefield" wouldn't have required
cloaked ships at all.
Regarding the size of this vessel, Rob Bonchune's size chart has it
at about 165m. However, since 130m would correspond much better with
the structure of the 23rd century version, I will stick to this size.
The Romulan science ship is a small vessel whose purpose is not
further specified. Gallery:
Romulan Starships
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
The science ship appeared
only in TNG: "The Next Phase" and is a redress of the
Romulan scout (see below). The beak and tail sections were modified,
while the center of the ship seems to have remained the same. This is
why I assume that the center section, encompassing the warp engines, is
actually the same size on the real ships. It may be a modular concept
that can be adapted to different purposes. On the other hand, the
whole ship seems to have been flipped upside down, as the two ridges
on the ventral and dorsal side indicate. The shorter ridge was on the
top of the scout ship, but is at the bottom of the science ship.
Moreover, the color was changed from intense green to a faint bluish
green.
The particular science ship in TNG: "The Next Phase" had
an experimental phase cloaking device. It is well possible that this
was the only ship so equipped, and that after its failure (and the
Federation knowing about it) the project was discontinued.
The scout is a small Romulan starship that can be operated by as few
as one person. Gallery:
Romulan Starships
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
The scout ship was designed by
Rick Sternbach and only appeared in
TNG: "The Defector".
Class
specifications
Scout
Length: 89m
Ship type 1
General description
This ship consists of a central body and thin wing-like structures.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
We can see these ships most prominently in "Remembrance" and briefly again in "Maps and Legends", "Nepenthe" and "Broken Pieces".
Ships of this type are visible aboard the Artifact in "Maps and Legends" and "Broken Pieces". Although it would seem useful to save space when landed, the wings are not hinged in a way that they could be folded up.
Ship type 1 was designed by John Eaves. It was labeled as a "warbird" on a storyboard (as seen in the Ready Room episode for "Absolute Candor"). The design was originally much bigger, and was meant to have carried the attack on Utopia Planitia, hence the preliminary designation as "bomber warbird" used by Eaglemoss, as well as the resemblance to the USAF B-2 Spirit.
Class specifications
Length: 76.2m
Ship type 2
General description
This ship consists of a central body and extremely thin wing-like structures.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
This ship type can be glimpsed in "Maps and Legends" and "Absolute Candor". It can be seen much more clearly in "Broken Pieces", now departing to destroy the Synth homeworld. The fleet that arrives at Coppelius in "Et in Arcadia Ego II" entirely consists of type 2, with the exception of Oh's Warbird.
Of all increasingly flimsy ship designs of the past 20 years, this is most extreme example, more like a paper plane than like something that looks spaceworthy. It looks much like a jet aircraft and the CGI may have started as one, considering the recognizable "canopy", "intakes", "canards" and "vertical stabilizers".
Unlike other Romulan vessels that are traditionally green and similar as the Snakehead, these ships are gray, which may indicate they are not operated by the regular Romulan forces (of the Romulan Free State) but by the Zhat Vash/Tal Shiar. Yet, we don't know the exact affiliation of the other Romulan ships of the series either. Type 2 also has a bird-of-prey depiction on the underside, just like the classic Romulan ship of that name.
Class specifications
Length: 118.7m
The Artifact
General description
This Borg cube was seized by the Romulans in the early 2380s and remained in their possession until 2399.
The Valdore is a large Romulan ship type of the late 2370s. The
class name is unknown. Gallery:
Romulan Starships
Known ships
Valdore
Annotations
The Valdore type is the design of two Romulan Warbirds in the Bassen
Rift in "Star Trek:
Nemesis", of which the one commanded by Commander Donatra was verbally identified as "Valdore". John Eaves may have
the laid out the ship intentionally to resemble the Klingon Bird-of-Prey, considering that the BoP was originally meant
to be a Romulan ship. But it makes no sense at all in retrospect now that we know
that the Klingon BoP is in reality a genuinely Klingon
design (ENT: "The Expanse").
The high-resolution image of the Valdore comes from the IGN
website.
The size figure comes from the movie's ship scale sheet.
While the Valdore herself is green like other Romulan ships too,
the sister ship in "Nemesis" was given a brown hull. The
possible reason was to allow a differentiation of the two vessels of
which presumably only the Valdore survived, albeit with very bad
damage. Maybe the two ships belong to different production batches or
to different branches of the Romulan military. Yet, we may decide to
disregard the subtle color divergence which may be partly due to light
scattering in the nebula.
Class
specifications
Length: 604m
Warbird (late 24th century)
General description
This is a capital Romulan ship of the late 24th century.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
Just one Warbird, Oh's flagship, appears among the countless type 2 ships in the fleet of "Et in Arcadia Ego II".
Originally, "Warbird" was a name for the Romulan capital ships, such as the D'deridex class that first appeared in TNG: "The Neutral Zone". In more recent years, however, Trek writers and producers customarily use "warbird" as an umbrella term for any Romulan (and even Klingon!) ships. Of all Romulan vessels of Picard that were casually labeled as "warbirds", this one is the only one deserving of this name.
Class specifications
None available
Shuttles & Probes
Beacon
General description
Numerous beacons are placed around the Artifact.
Known beacons
No name given
Annotations
We can see the beacons in all episodes in which the Artifact is still stationary, most clearly in a close-up in "The Impossible Box".
It is unknown whether the beacon just serves as a demarcation or whether it would be capable of attacking incoming enemy vessels.
The Romulan drone is an unmanned vessel that is remote-controlled
using a telepresence unit. For that purpose it is equipped with an
array of subspace transceivers in the form of many spikes. The pilot
using the RC interface must be a telepath. A holographic skin may be
applied to the drone to mimic the appearance of any other vessel,
leaving only the Romulan power signature as a clue of its true
identity. The drone is armed with beam weapons, extremely maneuverable
in combat and capable of self-repair. It can reach speeds in excess of
Warp 5.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
In the Andorian trilogy
beginning with ENT: "Babel One" the vessel was called a
"marauder" by Starfleet, whereas the Romulans referred to it
as "drone". Two of them were encountered, and both were
destroyed at the end of "The Aenar". The drone is a very
small ship. Although Trip and Malcolm spend some time exploring its
interior, it must be less than 40m long compared to other vessels and
particularly to Enterprise. In this respect it is ridiculous
that the drone is meant to be a "modified Warbird" as stated
in the episode.
The CG model is a modification of the "Flea
ship" from VOY: "The Fight": Considering that the
model has likely been considerably refined for close shots, we need to
wonder why no new ship was built to portray such a prominent vessel of
a major race.
Class
specifications
Length: approx. 35m
Max. speed: Warp 5
Mine
General
description
In the 22nd century the Romulans deployed cloaked mines like this
one to secure planets claimed by their empire. They were equipped with
a sophisticated anti-tampering mechanism.
Known ships
No name given
Annotations
The mines appeared in ENT:
"Minefield". They were equipped with a cloaking device but
could be made visible using Daniels's equipment that already served to
penetrate the Suliban cloaking in "Shockwave". It was not
entirely clear in the episode whether the Romulans themselves built
the minefield. Yet, bearing in mind that the cloaking of their vessels
(see above entry) was even more advanced, it is very likely that the
mines belonged to them.
The Romulan shuttle has about the size of a Federation runabout.
Like all known Romulan ships, it possesses a cloaking device.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
The shuttle only appeared in DS9:
"In the Pale Moonlight".
Class
specifications
Length: 24m
Shuttles on Romulus,
visible in "Star Trek Nemesis"
None of these shuttles is clearly identifiable. Shuttle #1 seems to be a
re-use of the Qomar ship 4. In the same picture we
can see two shuttles, #2a and #2b, that are obviously identical. Their design
may be new. Shuttle #3 could be the shuttle that also appeared as a Xindi-Primate
shuttle. #4a and #4b look a lot like the Devore
shuttle or the Aeon type. Finally, shuttle #5
may be the same design as #1.
Snakehead
General description
The Snakehead is a shuttle-sized, single-seated vessel with enormous engine power and firepower for its small size.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
Narek follows La Sirena in a Snakehead in PIC: "Nepenthe". We can also see these small ships in the battle against the orchids in PIC: "Et in Arcadia Ego II". Snakeheads were previously not visible in the fleet, so they were likely deployed from the larger vessels.
Class specifications
Length: 8.36m
Workbee
General description
The Romulan workbee is a small, boxy utility craft.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
We can see Romulan workbees in PIC: "Remembrance", "Maps and Legends" and "Nepenthe".
Class specifications
None available
Reman
Vessels
Reman ships, as they appear in
"Star Trek Nemesis", obviously have a design lineage very different from
usual Romulan ships. There is no satisfactory explanation in the movie.
The Scimitar is a huge vessel built by the Reman rebels on a secret
base. Apparently superior to any ship of
either the Federation or the Romulans with 52 disruptors and 27
torpedo banks, the Scimitar is capable of
firing while cloaked. It is also equipped with a thalaron emitter, a
weapon that destroys any organic tissue. The thalaron emitter is
activated by unfolding the wings of the vessel. There is at least one
large shuttlebay with dozens of Scorpion-class fighters. Gallery:
Romulan Starships
Known ships
Scimitar
Annotations
The
Scimitar appears as Shinzon's ship in "Star Trek:
Nemesis" and is called a "Reman Warbird". It was designed by John Eaves. The irregular shapes are borrowed from the
Breen ship and the Son'a vessels and the overall structure resembles
the Jem'Hadar battleship. Together with its countless aggressive spikes and moving parts, this is an overall uninteresting and unsound design in my view.
The size figure comes from the movie's ship scale sheet (see the Valdore above).
The Reman Scorpion fighter is a small craft with two
seats. It is equipped with a disruptor cannon.
Known shuttles
No name given
Annotations
The
fighter appears in "Star Trek Nemesis" and seems to be a
design previously unknown to the Federation. As Data finds the name in
the databank of the Scimitar, the impression is created that "Scorpion" is the official class name,
rather than a
(human) nickname of the design - unless he swiftly translated the name of a
Romulan animal resembling a scorpion.
Class
specifications
Fighter
Length: approx. 7m
Unknown
Romulan Class
Pi,
scout ship, crashed on Galorndon Core in TNG: "The Enemy"
We may assume that it is of the same class as the scout that appeared in TNG:
"The Defector", but this is only speculation.
D'ridthau,
Romulan flagship, mentioned destroyed in DS9: "What You Leave Behind"
This could be easily yet another D'deridex or a ship of the Valdore type.
PWB Koderex,
Romulan vessel on the casualties list of the Dominion War in DS9: "Image in
the Sand" and "The Siege of AR-558"
Gasko,
Romulan vessel that located the Rio Grande flying without pilot in DS9:
"Paradise"
Shaenor,
Ship operated by the Zhat Vash that was assimilated by the Borg cube in the early 2380s, which led to a submatrix collapse and allowed the Romulan to take possession of the "Artifact" (PIC: "The End is the Beginning")
Talvath,
science (spy?) vessel, commanded by Telek R'mor in 2351 (VOY: "Eye of the
Needle")
We may assume that it is of the same class as the science ship that appeared
in TNG: "The Next Phase", but this is only speculation.
PWB Tomal,
Romulan vessel on the casualties list of the Dominion War in DS9: "Image in
the Sand" and "The Siege of AR-558"