D'deridex class
Port quarter view
Owner:	Romulan Star Empire
Operator:	Romulan military Tal Shiar
Type:	Warbird
Active:	24th century
Decks:	45+
Speed:	Warp 6 (under cloak) Warp 9 (observed) Warp 9.6 (causes irreparable damage to the propulsion systems)
Armament:	disruptor arrays; phasers; photon torpedo launcher/primary disruptor array
Defenses:	Deflector shields, cloaking device
Starboard profile
Aft view

The warbird design referred to as D'deridex-class, B-type warbird, or Warbird class was one of the largest and most powerful mainstays of the Romulan Star Empire, serving as the backbone of the Romulan fleet during the latter half of the 24th century.

History Edit

The uncloaking of a warbird of this type in 2364, during an encounter with the USS Enterprise-D on the edge of the Neutral Zone, signaled the end to fifty three years of Romulan isolation. (TNG: "The Neutral Zone") Over the next ten years, these warbirds, under the command of both the Romulan military and Tal Shiar, participated in numerous encounters with Starfleet and the Dominion.

By 2374, they were prominently featured in the Dominion War, where they were instrumental in forcing the Dominion fleets back time and again. The design saw action during the First and Second Battles of Chin'toka, as well as the final showdown of the conflict, the Battle of Cardassia. (DS9: "Tears of the Prophets", "The Changing Face of Evil")

At least four warbirds were used in the Battle of the Omarion Nebula, joined with at least twelve Cardassian Keldon-class cruisers in a combined fleet of twenty ships. The entire fleet was ambushed and destroyed by a fleet of 150 Dominion ships. (DS9: "The Die is Cast") At least seven warbirds were present in the Federation Alliance fleet at the Battle of Cardassia. One is known to have been destroyed and at least five were seen to have survived. (DS9: "What You Leave Behind")

Technical data Edit

The D'deridex-class warbird was classified as a battle cruiser by Starfleet. Using a forced quantum singularity as a power source and the latest in Romulan cloaking technology, the D'deridex was not only one of the most advanced vessels in the Romulan Star Empire, but also in the Alpha Quadrant. These warbirds were roughly twice as long as a Federation Galaxy-class starship with a lower overall maximum speed. (TNG: "The Neutral Zone", "Tin Man")

Physical arrangement Edit

The outboard plan of the warbird's design incorporated a unique horizontally split-"shell" hull design, with a prominent forward section. The bulk of the ship's overall size was incorporated in the open-shell, which resemble two separate "wings" that meet at either side at the warp nacelles, at the "tail" and off the "neck", which was connected to the "head" or primary forward hull section. The "head" featured the bridge, main engineering, and a majority of the primary weapon systems of the vessel. (TNG: "The Neutral Zone", etc.)

Tactical systems Edit

The primary directed energy weapons array of a warbird was located in its "head", and consisted of a disruptor array, capable of firing both beams and pulses, which also appears to have been shared with a torpedo launcher. (DS9: "The Die is Cast"; TNG: "The Defector", "Face of the Enemy", "Timescape"; VOY: "Message in a Bottle") Some warbirds were also known to have been equipped with phasers. (TNG: "Contagion")

Three additional weapon arrays were located, one each, along the top of the upper "neck" support, along the bottom of the lower "neck" support, and at the tip of the "nose". (TNG: "Contagion", "Unification II"; DS9: "What You Leave Behind")

Firing forward disruptor beams

Firing forward disruptor pulses

Firing forward torpedoes

Firing phasers
(inner upper array)

Firing disruptors
(outer upper array)

Firing disruptors
(nose array)

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Cloaking device Edit

Like earlier Romulan ships, D'deridex-class warbirds were equipped with cloaking devices, which protect them from detection in most evasive situations. Like all cloaking devices, the D'deridex-class could utilize them when in defensive situations or combat situations. However, cloaked warbirds radiated a slight subspace variance at warp speeds; therefore ships traveling at speeds above warp 6 ran a much greater risk of being detected through their cloak. (DS9: "The Search, Part I", "The Die is Cast") There were other unconventional means to penetrate the warbird's cloak. While traveling under cloak, all electromagnetic emissions, including communications, aboard a warbird were carefully monitored. (TNG: "Face of the Enemy")

Propulsion systems Edit

In order for a warbird to remain undetected while under cloak, the radiative emissions from the warp engines had to be precisely balanced. A slight misalignment in any of the warbirds' nullifier cores would create a small magnetic disturbance in space whenever the ship was in motion. This could make the ship detectable while cloaked. The effect of this disturbance, when it occurred, appeared intermittently as a polarized magnetic distortion. (TNG: "Face of the Enemy")

The use of the confined singularity limited the warbird's overall maximum speed. For a warbird to match the maximum speed of a Galaxy-class starship, it needed to exceed its engine output by thirty percent. Doing this would typically cause the warbird's warp drive to sustain irreparable damage. (TNG: "Tin Man")

The confined singularity could occasionally cause time shifts into the future. This occurred to Miles O'Brien for a brief period. As a result of this effect, he was able to prevent an attack on Deep Space 9 by a Romulan warbird. Also, if the singularity signature was carefully scanned, it could be monitored through the cloak. (DS9: "Visionary")

Additional systems Edit

The warbird was equipped with at least one tractor beam, located in the forward section of the warbird, specifically in the lower "neck". (TNG: "The Mind's Eye")

Interior design Edit

The primary color scheme aboard warbirds was distinctively beige and green-gray or teal.

Due to the extreme size of warbirds, these vessels were littered with numerous long corridors. (TNG: "The Mind's Eye"; DS9: "Improbable Cause")

Main bridge Edit

The design of the main bridge of a warbird shared numerous similarities to both its Klingon and Federation starship counterparts.

Located in the front of the bridge, against the forward bulkhead, was the ship's main viewscreen.

Directly behind the viewscreen, and to the left, was the location of the pilot's console, which contained helm (and possibly navigator) functions. In some ships, the pilot stood at his console; in others the pilot was allowed a chair.

To the right of the pilots' position was the station sometimes held by the executive officer. This console had access to the ships' weapons systems.

The command chair was located near the rear of the bridge on a raised platform. Around the perimeter of the command chair were various stations. (TNG: "Contagion", "Face of the Enemy"; DS9: "The Die is Cast")

Major variations in bridge design include a side-by-side seating arrangement for the commander and subcommander. (TNG: "The Neutral Zone")

Bridge of Tebok's warbird, 2364

Bridge of the Haakona, 2365

Bridge of the Khazara, 2369

Bridge of Lovok's warbird, 2371

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Ready room Edit

Adjacent to the bridge was the commander's ready room or command center. Although appearing to vary by ship, one style included (but was not limited to) a large desk and couch, with removable table and a window viewing into space. (DS9: "Improbable Cause", "The Die is Cast")

In some cases, ready rooms functioned as command centers, and included monitors and display consoles. This allowed the commander to monitor the control of ship or fleet activities without actually being on the bridge. (TNG: "Redemption II")

Wardroom Edit

The wardroom was the conference or officers' room connected to the main bridge by a set of doors. Its function was similar to that of an observation lounge, but also served as the dining area for the ship's senior officers. (TNG: "Face of the Enemy")

Engine room Edit

The engine room section was located at the ventral base of the forward "head" of the warbird. Its layout was similar to that of a Galaxy-class starship, with primary situation station in the center of the room, and associated consoles along the walls surrounding the room.

One outstanding difference between the main engineering of a warbird and other Romulan starships, from those of the Federation and Klingons, was the absence of a large matter-antimatter reactor core. In place of this bulky component, the Romulans had a wall compartment, which contained their Romulan engine core. (TNG: "Timescape")

Procedure room Edit

The procedure room aboard a warbird was a starkly-lit chamber, with a chair at one end of the room, and with various movable pieces of equipment positioned around it. (TNG: "The Mind's Eye")

Shuttlebay Edit

A shuttlebay was located two decks down from the ship's "C" Deck, in Section 25. The size was large enough to contain at least one Starfleet Danube-class runabout. (DS9: "The Die is Cast")

Cargo bay Edit

The cargo bays served as storage areas for the ship's cargo, and possessed shelving space along the walls opposite of the main cargo bay doors. (TNG: "Face of the Enemy")

Crew quarters Edit

The crew quarters aboard a warbird were located on the ship's "C" Deck. They were sparsely furnished, with a table and chairs in the center of the floor, and a set of bunk beds incorporated into the walls. Crew quarters could also have force fields integrated in and around their bulkheads. (DS9: "The Die is Cast")

Variations are known to have included a bed fully detached from the wall, and a sink with mirror along the far left wall from the entryway. (TNG: "Face of the Enemy")

Ships commissioned Edit

Named

• IRW Belak
• IRW Decius (illusory)
• IRW Devoras
• IRW D'ridthau
• IRW Haakona
• IRW Khazara
• IRW Makar
• IRW T'Met
• IRW Terix

Unnamed

• Unnamed D'deridex-class starships
  • Lovok's warbird
  • Tebok's warbird
  • Tomalak's warbird
  • Sela's warbird

Uncertain

• IRW Dividices
• IRW Genorex
• PWB Koderex
• PWB Tomal
• PWB T'Tpalok
• PWB Aj'rmr
• PWB Preceptor

Appendices Edit

Appearances Edit

Background Edit

Designation Edit

The designation of "D'deridex-class" was first mentioned in "Tin Man", the designation as "B-type" was mentioned in "The Defector", which could be seen as an aptly conceived designation since it coincided with the introduction of the slightly differing second studio model (see below). The ship was also referred to as a "warbird class starship" by Picard in "The Defector".

The warbird that appeared in "Contagion" was referred to as a "battle cruiser", which seems to be an inaccurate classification for a vessel of this size. However, according to the script for that episode, the Romulan vessel was also referred to as a Bird-of-Prey. This indicates that the warbird model may not have been intended to be used in this case, and the battle cruiser reference was never changed to reflect the model used. It is also possible that the Romulan battle cruiser mentioned in TNG: "Angel One" may too have been the yet-unseen D'deridex.

Studio model Edit

DesignEdit

The D'deridex-class warbird was the last new ship designed by Andrew Probert for the show, approved by the producers in March 1988. On his design Probert later remarked:

"The Romulan Warbird from the original series had, of course, a bird design on it. And I wanted to stay with that in someway. So, I started with bird and bird wing shapes. And eventually came to a design similar to what is on the screen. But my concept was to have one engine above and one below, because I felt that having a vertical design alien ship in front of the Enterprise, which has a very horizontal configuration, would be a nice contrast of ships. Now, Gene dictated that there are no three-engine starships and no single-engine starships. When I was first designing the new Enterprise he said, "The Federation ship's engines always are co-dependent". It is the same as to say they always worked in twos. So that's why when Sternbach and I came up with the Stargazer, it had two sets of twos.
And then I started thinking that, back in World War II, all the nations that had fighter aircraft and airplanes did the same thing: they took off, they flew, they landed, they maneuvered. They usually had one engine, two wings, two tailwings – so they all had the same components, but they all looked different. There was a national design bias to each aircraft, but technically they all did the same thing.
So my thinking was in Star Trek – since the Enterprise used to have two engines – I came up with the idea that the engines had to reach out to each other in order to work co-dependently. In other words, there would be no obstructions between the engines to disrupt the energy fields or connecting forces between them. And, well, all the alien ships could look different but still operate in the same principle. So that's why the Ferengi Marauder is curved, is concave, because that allows the two engines to reach each other. And the same thing, the Romulan Warbird, the engines would see each other through the ship. The ship is built above and below the energy field of those engines.
But my original concept would be that there was a lot more ship, a lot more structure, packed inside those wings. So it was, looking like two big wing sections, obviously big enough to contain people and cargo. But my original concept had them bigger." [X]^wbm

In 2010 Probert revisited his vertical orientation design when he produced a more detailed painting for the Star Trek: Ships of the Line (2011) calendar. [10]

Physical studio modelsEdit

The studio model was made of cast resin and acrylic plastic. Built by Greg Jein the following month, it measured 36" × 25" × 10", and debuted in "The Neutral Zone" and was last seen in "By Inferno's Light". Jein noted on the build, "I enjoyed working on the Romulan ship, because it was such an unusual shape. We did that pretty fast. Again, we, because it was such an unusual shape, we had to carve that out of flores foam and we vacuformed on top of that and we take the foam out, so we had a hard shell, so we could put the armatures and lights in." (TNG Season 4 DVD, disc 7, "Select Historical Data" special)

The appearance of the D'deridex model has caused some confusion in regards to the color scheme. Well known early publicity stills showed the model both in a green-gray color scheme and a metallic blue-gray color scheme (mostly to represent ships of the Tal Shiar, notably in "The Die is Cast"). This was partly due, in the case of the first one, to "tweaking" the colors in post-production, but the other explanation for this was that the studio had two models made, the green one and best known first, and that they used them both. [11] Co-built by model maker Bruce MacRae and almost identical, the blue-gray model differed from the green one in that, apart for the color, it had an additional feature added on the outer sides of the warp engines and it debuted in TNG: "The Defector". It is not clear why the second model was commissioned though Daren Dochterman gave a possible explanation, "(...) and on other occasions, it's done to give an in-house model crew something to do to justify billing the production company for it... and to maintain its existence." [12]

The blue-gray model was the one that was included as part of the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection, estimated at US$8,000 to US$12,000, where it was sold at auction on October 7, 2006 for a winning bid of US$30,000 (US$36,000 including buyer's premium). [13] It was sold to British collector Adrian Hancock who also acquired the USS Voyager and the USS Enterprise-C studio models. [14] In a run up to the auction, the model was on tour at the Creation Convention in Las Vegas from 17 August to 20 August 2006. [15]

In the episode TNG: "Future Imperfect" a display model was seen aboard the Romulan Warbird IRW Decius. The model was an otherwise unmodified piece from the AMT/Ertl modelkit No.6858. This constituted the only time an other physical model was used to represent the class.

A limited production run of twelve, built from the same molds as the original studio model, was later sold in 1997, with a certificate of authenticity signed by Jein at the Viacom Entertainment Store in Chicago, sporting yet another slightly differing color scheme, gun metal blue-gray and without the extra detail on the warp engine assembly. [X]^wbm As of 2009, the green-gray model is presumably still in the possession of Paramount Pictures, though no sightings have been reported since.

CGI studio modelsEdit

For the later seasons of Deep Space 9 and Voyager a CGI model was built at Foundation Imaging, making its debut in VOY: "Message in a Bottle". The first, green-gray model was used as reference, so the variant with the additional detail on the warp engine assembly was initially no longer seen from then on. That was until DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil", when a close-up of a severely damaged Warbird was needed. Foundation's model was modified at Digital Muse to showcase the damage and the modeler at Muse made use of the opportunity to add the extra nacelle detail and color correct the model to resemble the second physical studio model.

The studio model of the Mazarite warship, from ENT: "Fallen Hero", was kitbashed from a D'deridex-class AMT/Ertl model kit, No. 6858, by Dan Curry, using the upper wing structure to be "sold" to the producers. The producers "bought" the design, and the prototype model was subsequently recreated in CG at Foundation Imaging by Koji Kuramura and mapped and animated by Robert Bonchune. [16] This CGI model was later reused as the Illyrian starship seen in ENT: "Damage". This was one of the very few times that a design feature of a signature "hero" ship was recycled to represent an alien design.

Technical Manual Edit

The following information of specifications and defenses comes exclusively from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual:

• Production Base: Unknown; Romulan Star Empire
• Type: Heavy Cruiser
• Accommodation: 1,500 plus officers, crew, and troops
• Power Plant: One artificial singularity-drive warp core feeding two nacelles; two impulse system
• Dimensions: Length, 1,041.65 meters; beam, 772.43 meters; height, 285.47 meters
• Mass: 4,320,000 metric tonnes (est.)
• Performance: Warp 9.6 (observed)
• Armament: Six ship-mounted disruptors; two photon torpedo launchers

However, some of this information contradicts data from the original specifications of warbird designer Andrew Probert and also some observations of the D'deridex-class in canon episodes.

Additional reading Edit

• Star Trek: Starship Spotter. Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz & Robert Bonchune. New York: Pocket Books, 2001. ISBN 074343725X