Credits:
Credits:
Ships pictures and descriptions were gleaned from http://www.ditl.og and from http://desktopstarships.com
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D'DERIDEX
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Warp Speeds (TNG scale) : Normal Cruise : 5 Maximum Cruise : 9 Maximum Rated : 9.5 for 10 hours. Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000) Beam Firepower : 1,300 Torpedo Firepower : 750 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 880 Shield Strength : 850 Hull Armour : 1,200 Speed : 955 Combat Maneuverability : 680 Overall Strength Index : 980 Diplomatic Capability : Equivalent to Starfleet Grade 3/4 Expected Hull Life : 60 Refit Cycle : Minor : 2 year Standard : 2 years Major : 10 years |
Notes : For much of the operational life of the Romulan Warbird, Starfleet knew absolutely nothing about it. Indeed, it was not until 2364 that any Starfleet personnel even saw a Warbird firsthand. Prior to this only the haziest of intelligence reports existed concerning any class of Romulan vessel. An encounter between a Romulan Warbird and the USS Enterprise at the Romulan neutral zone in that year provided Starfleet with its first good information on the Warbird.5 The first impressions were not comforting ones; the Romulan vessel was almost double the length of the Enterprise,6 itself then the largest and most powerful vessel in Starfleet. The Warbird's cloaking device was highly effective against the latest Federation sensors, and the great size of the vessel indicated that it outgunned Starfleet's finest by a considerable margin. Over the next few years Starfleet intelligence devoted considerable resources to the new Romulan threat; the defection of Admiral Jarok promised to be a famous intelligence coup, but disappointingly it proved to be a disinformation ploy by the Romulans. The return of former Ensign DeSeve, who had previously defected to the Romulan Empire in 2349, generated a good deal of background information on the Romulan military structure and the general capability of their fleet, but provided little specific detail. The Federation's greatest victory in the intelligence war occurred shortly after the defection of DeSeve when Vice Proconsul M'ret and two of his aides defected. M'ret, who had served on several defense related councils in the Romulan Senate, was able to provide a great deal of detailed information on the capabilities of the Warbird - among other things. The appearances of overwhelming size and strength was to prove somewhat deceptive. Much of the vessels internal volume is given over to ground forces and their supporting equipment. Although the disrupter armament is impressive, the technology behind it is significantly behind that of the Federations phaser banks; the disrupters have a high power but relatively low rate of fire and somewhat limited range. The twelve torpedo tubes are capable of firing only one torpedo each at a time, and have a combined rate of fire some 80% that of the two tubes of a Galaxy class battle section. The Warbird is somewhat slower than a Galaxy class starship10, and also a great deal less agile. The Federation has also made considerable progress in defeating the Romulan cloaking technology in the past few years; the deployment of wide area tachyon nets along the border together with advanced sensor posts has made penetrating Federation space a rather chancy proposition for the Warbird. Nevertheless, the Romulan Warbird remains an impressive design which is capable of defeating all but the most advanced and powerful Federation vessels. Starfleet continues to treat these behemoths with a considerable degree of respect. |
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SCIMITAR (Reman Design)
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Warp Speeds (TNG scale) : Maximum Rated : 9.99 for 12 hours. Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000) Beam Firepower : 20,000 Torpedo Firepower : 16,875 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 1,420 Shield Strength : 800 Hull Armor : 1,000 Speed : 4,125 Combat Maneuverability : 3,000 Overall Strength Index : 10,745 Diplomatic Capability : Unknown, but probably limited to Grade 2 Expected Hull Life : Unknown |
Notes : Produced by the Remans but technically operating under the flag of the Romulan Empire, the Scimitar was first encountered by the USS Enterprise-E, which traveled to Romulus in 2378 at the invite of the new Praetor, Shinzon. The ship is a large vessel, roughly the size of the D'Deridex in terms of volume. It was classified by Captain Picard as a predator, and this is certainly an apt description. The ship carried very heavy armament and shielding, enabling it to remain in a battle for prolonged periods under heavy fire. Like most Romulan ships the Scimitar is fitted with a new cloaking device, but this is of a new type which is undetectable to the current generation of Federation sensor systems. There were no detectable tachyon emissions or residual anti-protons from the cloak, making accurate targeting impossible. Still worse was the fact that the Scimitar could fire all weapons whilst cloaked, much as the Klingon prototype Bird of Prey which Captain Kirk faced at Khitomer could. When Shinzon attempted to invade the Federation Captain Picard took the Enterprise-E into battle with the Scimitar. The results were shocking; whereas General Chang's ship was unshielded and lost its cloak when the Enterprise-A scored a single hit, the Scimitar retained its cloak and was undamaged throughout numerous weapon impacts. The difficulty in scoring hits on the ship made an already lopsided battle a hopeless affair for the Enterprise. Although two Norexan-class Warbirds joined the Sovereign class ship in battle, the Scimitar was easily able to defeat these ships in a matter of minutes before turning its attention back to the Enterprise. Captain Picard did give a good account of his ship, fighting until all weapons were exhausted before then ramming the Scimitar rather than surrendering. The Sovereign's hull did appear to be rather stronger than the Scimitar's, yet although the impact did inflict considerable damage on the Reman ship even this did not stop it. Only a last desperate boarding action by Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data was able to stop the enemy vessel. Perhaps most worrying of all, the Scimitar was designed to house a Thalaron radiation emitter system, which could engulf ships or even whole planets. As a weapon of mass destruction the Scimitar would be horrendously effective, able to exterminate planetary populations with ease. The
Romulans seem unlikely to proceed with class production of the Scimitar
as the design stands - the employment of a Thalaron system would likely
provoke a quadrant-wide armaments race of horrific scale and scope.
However, there is nothing preventing them from producing a modified
design with only conventional weaponry. Should this prove to be the
case, Starfleet has much thinking to do. |
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SCORPION SHUTTLE (Reman)
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Crew : 2 Armament : 1 x disrupter cannon Sublight propulsion only Combat Maneuverability : 23,800 Overall Strength Index : 28 |
Notes : The Scorpion is a Reman design in use with the Romulan Empire from circa 2378. Starfleet intelligence had gained some intelligence on the craft, but relatively little was known about them. The first close up look was gained when Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data used a Scorpion to make their escape from the Praetor's flagship Scimitar. The Scorpion is essentially a militarized shuttlepod - small, relatively limited in its capabilities, but easy to produce in quantity. Its flight performance is insufficient to allow it a serious role as a fighter craft, and it most probably serves as a ground attack craft. The armament is light even by those standards - a single disrupter cannon is carried, and although no hard figures are available this was used by Picard during his escape and appeared to be approximately the equivalent of a Starfleet Type IV phaser as used on many Federation shuttlecraft. Mounting this on the dorsal surface limits its field of fire against ground targets. There was no sign of any torpedo launcher or other weapons, though possibly these can be fitted externally if required. The lack of shields or armor would make lingering
over, or even near, hostile forces an unlikely proposition. The Scorpion
is most likely intended to be used in support of Romulan (or Reman)
ground troops, loitering above friendly territory and then making fast
diving runs at the enemy's forward areas before rapidly escaping. Even
so, the casualty rate against the kind of defenses mounted by Federation
forces would be quite high. |
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SCOUT SHIP
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Type : Scout vessel - Modified Science ship |
Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000) |
Notes : Very little is known about these ships; they appear to be light scout vessels, but could also be used for general patrol in areas where a large and costly D'Deridex class vessel is not required. Admiral Jarok used a scout ship to cross the Neutral Zone during his defection in 2366. The Admiral set the ship to self-destruct before Federation personnel could board and inspect it, in order to prevent the Federation from learning about Romulan technology. These ships were used widely in the Dominion war, and suffered heavily at the hands of the Jem'Hadar. |
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SCIENCE SHIP
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Strength Indices :(Galaxy class = 1,000) Beam Firepower : 20 Torpedo Firepower : 62.5 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 20 Shield Strength : 25 Hull Armor : 212.5 Speed : 680 Combat Maneuverability : 11,240 Overall Strength Index : 113 Diplomatic Capability : None Expected Hull Life : 30 Refit Cycle : Minor : 1 year Standard : 2 years Major : 5 years |
Notes : As with most Romulan vessels, little is known about the Romulan Science ship. They are apparently a development of the Scout ship that the Romulans fielded in 2358, and are believed to have very similar performance characteristics. The basic hull design is identical, but the forward and aft ends have been radically altered. The entire forward hull has been redesigned, and a large semi-circular module has been added to the aft. Some detail of the forward section was gained when the Enterprise-D lent aid to one of these vessels in 2368. The forward section was found to contain the ships engineering spaces and warp core. The ship was found to be equipped with a phased cloak device, which in theory would allow the ship to pass through normal matter whilst cloaked. This technology was tested by the Klingons some years ago, and found to be highly unstable and dangerous. Presumably the Romulans found some of the same difficulties. The aft section probably contains a variety of sensor
and scanner devices, and the main body presumably contains science
laboratories and other such areas. |
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WARP SHUTTLE
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Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000) Torpedo Firepower : 25 Weapon Range and Accuracy : unknown Shield Strength : 15 Hull Armor : 0.62 Speed : 1,000 Combat Maneuverability : 16,500 Overall Strength Index : 108 Diplomatic Capability : 1 Expected Hull Life : 15 Refit Cycle : Minor : 1 year, Standard : 1 year |
Notes : This vessel has only recently been seen up close by the Federation, more because no serious effort has been put into learning about such a low priority craft than due to any great effort at secrecy on the part of the Romulans. The craft is approximately equal to a Federation Runabout in size and capability, although it is more biased toward long range transportation and so is considerably faster. The armament is on a par with the Danube class, with six Disruptors and a pair of photon torpedo tubes. One unusual feature of a vessel this size is the installation of a cloaking device. These vessels are not produced in anything like the same numbers as the Federation Runabouts, even accounting for the smaller Romulan fleet. This has lead to some speculation that the vessels suffer from an undisclosed design fault, perhaps in the warp drive system. A more likely answer is that relatively high warp capability of this model makes it too expensive to be worth producing in very large quantities, and it is likely that the Romulans operate slower classes of shuttles - perhaps variants on this one - to make up the difference.
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NOREXAN
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Strength Indices :(Galaxy class = 1,000) Beam Firepower : 1,100 Torpedo Firepower : 3,750 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 1,100 Shield Strength : 1,200 Hull Armor : 1,200 Speed : 2,184 Combat Maneuverability : 3,700 Overall Strength Index : 1,930 Diplomatic Capability : Unknown Expected Hull Life : Unknown |
Notes : Relatively little is known about these ships - they certainly have photon torpedoes and disrupter weapons, they have cloaks and shields. Their sleek lines are relatively high performance suggests a recent design, possibly even within the last few months. Two of these ships joined the Enterprise-E in battle against the Scimitar in an attempt to prevent Praetor Shinzon from using his Thalaron weapon against Earth. Both were disabled in short order, indicating that the Norexan class is not generally a match for the Sovereign class ship.1 Most probably, these ships are a result of the Dominion war. The Romulan D'Deridex did not fare especially well in the war despite its great size, and many predicted that the Romulans would move toward smaller, more sophisticated vessels in the future. Although the Scimitar itself seems to indicate that the Remans at least continue to pursue the idea of the "supership" concept, the Norexans indicate that the Romulan fleet has learned its lessons well. |
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D-7 CRUISER
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Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000) Beam Firepower : 110 Torpedo Firepower : 100 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 40 Shield Strength : 30 Hull Armor : 520 Speed : 267 Combat Maneuverability : 6,000 Overall Strength Index : 139 Diplomatic Capability : None Expected Hull Life : 100 Refit Cycle : Minor : 5 year Standard : 5 years Major : 20 years |
acquired a substantial number of Klingon D-7 class battle cruisers to supplement their fleet. Somewhat ironically, the impetus for this move on their part could well be the actions of the Federation Starship Enterprise. The Romulans had fielded a new "bird of prey" type vessel in 2266. As a test of this ship one was sent across the Neutral Zone to attack the Earth outposts along the border. The Enterprise engaged the Romulan ship in battle, ultimately defeating it. The loss of their most advanced vessel must have demonstrated to the Romulans that they had little chance of mounting a full scale invasion of the Federation; more worryingly, it may have implied that their own borders were not safe from possible Federation incursions. The precise nature of the deal the Romulans struck with the Klingons is unknown even today, but intelligence agencies have speculated that the Romulans traded their cloaking technology for Klingon warships. In the hands of the Klingons the D-7 was considered to be somewhat less than a match for the Constitution class, one-on-one. But when fitted with a Romulan cloaking device the Klingon vessel had a huge advantage over its Federation counterpart. Fearing a Romulan invasion, the Federation felt it had no choice but to act. Captain Kirk was sent on a mission into Romulan space, feigning mental unbalance in order to give the Federation a degree of deniability. His ship was quickly surrounded by D-7s, and Kirk was able to infiltrate the lead ship and steal its cloaking device. The Romulan commander was also captured as the Enterprise made its escape. By treaty the Federation is not allowed to develop or deploy cloaking technology, a rule Kirk briefly broke by using the captured Romulan device to evade pursuit and return to Federation space. Possession of the cloak allowed Federation scientists to devise counters to it, mostly in the form of more advanced sensor systems. Despite their possession of the D-7, the Romulans never did mount a serious invasion of the Federation. Little is known about the service life of the D-7 in Romulan hands, but by 2344 the Romulan fleet was equipped with Warbird type vessels which took part in the attack on the Klingon outpost of Narendra III. It is probable that the Romulans retired their D-7s as relations with the Klingon Empire went sour, so as not to have to rely on them for spares and support. A date of 2325 is generally regarded as being a reasonable figure for their retirement. |
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ROMULAN BIRD OF PREY (23rd Century)
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Strength Indices : (Galaxy class = 1,000) Torpedo Firepower : 1,250 Weapon Range and Accuracy : 50 Shield Strength : 15 Hull Armor : 0.31 Speed : 33 Combat Maneuverability : 7,510 Overall Strength Index : 371 Diplomatic Capability : None Expected Hull Life : 30 Refit Cycle : Minor: 1 year, Standard: 1 years, Major : 5 years |
Notes : One of the most interesting designs of the 2260's, this vessel was designed to combine a very high level of firepower with stealth, small size and maneuverability. Unfortunately for the Romulans, this came at the cost of very low speed and limited range. The Bird of Prey was the first vessel in standard military service which was known by the Federation to incorporate cloaking technology. A force field selectively bends light - and sensor signals - around the ship, while a series of measures were taken to reduce the emissions from internal systems to an absolute minimum. The power required to maintain the cloaking device was enormous, and the Romulan vessel was unable to raise shields or fire whilst using this system. This difficulty was not helped by the fact that the ship had only simple impulse style fusion generators to power her. While these were of a very high output, they were no match for the matter/antimatter system of contemporary Federation designs. To provide sufficient firepower to destroy heavily shielded vessels and installations, the bird of prey was equipped with a plasma torpedo system. This vented the entire output of the ships EPS system into an enclosing force field (see weaponry section for details), creating a large and highly destructive energy bolt. In 2266 the Romulans sent the first of their new ships across the neutral zone in order to test out the Federations technological and psychological preparedness for open warfare. The vessel was successful in destroying several of the Federation outposts along the zone before being engaged by the USS Enterprise. A game of cat-and-mouse ensued as the two ships attempted to destroy each other repeatedly. The Romulan cloaking device proved only partially successful; the Enterprise was unable to gain a solid targeting lock, but was able to gain sporadic position information sufficient to follow the Romulan ship. Several other weaknesses in the Romulan design surfaced; use of the cloaking device for long periods drained most of the ships fuel reserves, while the plasma torpedo itself did not perform well even against an Enterprise suffering from several important malfunctions. Performance of this weapon against a fully functional Starship would subsequently be seen to be questionable at best. Ultimately the Enterprise was able to cripple the
Romulan vessel, whose captain self-destructed the ship rather than be
captured. The Romulans were convinced that they could not compete with
the Federation technologically, despite having fielded a somewhat
innovative design. Instead they turned to the Klingon Empire for
assistance. In return for cloaking technology the Klingons agreed to
supply D-7 heavy cruisers, and these rapidly became the core of the
Romulan fleet. |
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ROMULAN BIRD OF PREY (22nd Century)
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Strength Indices :(Galaxy class = 1,000) Beam Firepower : 15, Torpedo Firepower : 125, Weapon Range and Accuracy : 10 Shield Strength : unknown Hull Armor : 30 Speed : 14 Combat Maneuverability : 2,400 Overall Strength Index : 56 Diplomatic Capability : 2 Expected Hull Life : 40 Refit Cycle : Minor: 2 year, Standard: 10 years, Major: 20 years |
Notes : These vessels were in use by the Romulans during the 2150s, and featured prominently in the Earth-Romulan war of that era. They were similar in capability to the NX class Starships of the time, though their use of cloaking technology gave them some advantage. |
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