Difference between revisions of "Klingon Bird of Prey"

Revision as of 05:46, 15 November 2007

The Klingon Bird of Prey is a type of vessel that has seen service in the Klingon Empire for almost a century. It has become a ubiquitous warship of the empire used in a wide variety of missions, such as spying, reconnaissance, commerce raiding, and combat. Birds of Prey proved quite effective even during the Dominion War, where they fared well against the mainstay of the Dominion fleet - the Jem'Hadar Attack Ship.

One cannot think Klingon without immediately thinking of these vessels.

Technical Specifications

There are actually two distinct classes of Klingon Bird of Prey.

B'Rel-class

The B'Rel-class is usually classified as a scout or fighter. It is a small, agile and very light craft with a crew of about twenty. The class was first encountered on screen during the Genesis Incident, when Captain Kruge took his Bird of Prey deep into Federation space and destroyed the USS Grissom and ambushed and crippled the USS Enterprise. Pavel Chekov detected the Bird of Prey for a moment on the scanners before she cloaked and identified her as a "scout class vessel" (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock). Sulu verified that the crew compliment of as about a dozen. The Bird of Prey in the movie novelization is described as a Klingon fighter.

K'Vort-class

The K'Vort-class cruiser which is a far heavier vessel designed to go toe-to-toe with Federation starships. The class is first identified as such by Wesley Crusher during an attack by three K'Vort-cruisers on the Enterprise-D and Enterprise-C in "Yesterday's Enterprise".

Common Features

Despite the differences in size and combat role, all Klingon Birds of Prey share certain common features.

Cloaking device - every Bird of Prey is equipped with a cloaking device. During the Genesis incident, the cloaking device on Kruge's vessel created a visible distortion effect, especially when the ship was in motion. No similar distortion effect has been seen in any other cloaked Bird of Prey, which could indicate that Kruge's cloak was an inferior model or malfunctioning at the time.

Disruptor cannons - both variations of the Bird of Prey carry rapid-fire disruptor cannons in their wingtips. A steady fusillade from these cannons could destroy a Dominion fighter in a single salvo.

[Photon torpedo|[Photon torpedoes]] - every Bird of Prey has a torpedo tube located in the bow.

Variable-geometry wing design - the angle of the wings of Bird of Prey is variable. What role the various wing positions play is unknown, as the Birds of Prey have been observed to attack in all wing positions: raised above the hull, parallel to the hull, and down below the hull.

Atmospheric Flight

The B'Rel-class has one feature that is not confirmed in the K'Vort-class. The B'Rel-class can safely enter a planet's atmosphere and land on the surface. There is one instance where K'Vort cruisers may have exhibited atmospheric capabilities. During the Dominion War, an attack led by General Martok against a Dominion base on Trekla V shows Birds of Prey decloaking and strafing a base on the surface. There is no mention of the class of these vessels, but the fact that they later engaged Cardassian capital ships -- and Kor commanded a single Bird of Prey in a suicide attack on 10 Dominion fighters -- suggests that this was a K'Vort-class cruiser. (DS9, "Once more Unto the Breach")

History

The Klingon Bird of Prey was first depicted during the Genesis incident in which it was instantly recognized by Sulu when decloaking suggesting the vessel was already in service for some time by the time it made its appearance in Star Trek III.

The Bird of Prey soon replaced the Klingon D-7 and the K'T'Inga class cruisers as the standard Klingon warship generally encountered by Starfleet during the Motion Picture era of Star Trek and even during TNG era it was an extremely common vessel probably produced in massive numbers given the inordinate amount of Birds of Prey encountered as opposed to other Klingon warships.

Out of universe note on the nomenclature of the Klingon ship, in early drafts of Star Trek III Kruge was supposed to steal a Romulan Bird Of Prey and use its cloaking device to carry out his illegal mission into Federation space but over time the vessel became a Klingon ship but the class name never changed.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The Klingon Bird of Prey is a class of vessel that has seen service in the Klingon Empire for almost a century.  It has become an ubiquitous warship of the empire used for such a wide variety of missions such as spying, reconnaisance, commerce raiding, and of course combat.  Despite her age the Bird of Prey design is still quite effective even during the Dominion War where they fared well against the mainstay of the Dominion fleet - the Jem'Hadar fighter.
+The '''Klingon Bird of Prey''' is a type of vessel that has seen service in the [[Klingon Empire]] for almost a century.  It has become a ubiquitous warship of the empire used in a wide variety of missions, such as spying, reconnaissance, commerce raiding, and combat.  Birds of Prey proved quite effective even during the [[Dominion War]], where they fared well against the mainstay of the [[Dominion]] fleet - the [[Jem'Hadar]] [[Attack Ship]].
-One cannot think Kliungon without immediately thinking of these vessels.
+One cannot think Klingon without immediately thinking of these vessels.
 == Technical Specifications ==
+There are actually two distinct classes of Klingon Bird of Prey.
-The Klingon Bird of Prey consists of actually two distinct sub-classes of ship.
+===''B'Rel''-class===
+The ''B'Rel''-class is usually classified as a scout or fighter.  It is a small, agile and very light craft with a crew of about twenty.  The class was first encountered on screen during the [[Genesis device|Genesis Incident]], when Captain Kruge took his Bird of Prey deep into Federation space and destroyed the ''[[USS Grissom]]'' and ambushed and crippled the ''[[USS Enterprise]]''.  [[Pavel Chekov]] detected the Bird of Prey for a moment on the scanners before she cloaked and identified her as a "scout class vessel"  (''[[Star Trek III: The Search for Spock]]''). [[Sulu]] verified that the crew compliment of as about a dozen. The Bird of Prey in the movie novelization is described as a Klingon fighter.
-The first is called the B'Rel class and is usually classified as a Scout or Fighter.  It is small, agile and very light craft with a crew of about 20 Klingons.  The B'Rel was first encountered on screen during the Genesis Incident when Captain Kruge took his Bird of Prey deep within Federation Space and destroyed the Grissom and ambushed and crippled the Enterprise.  Pavel Chekov picked up the Bird of Prey for a moment on the scanners before she cloaked and classified her as a "Scout class vessel"  (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) and Sulu verified that the crew compliment of a Bird of Prey consisted of about a dozen officers and men. (Star Trek III)  The Bird of Prey in the movie novelization is classified as a Klingon fighter.
-The second class of Klingon Bird of Prey is the K'Vort class cruiser which was a far heavier vessel designed to go toe to toe with Federation starships.  The K'Vort class is first identified as such by Wesley Crusher during an attack by three K'Vort cruisers on the Enterprise-D and Enterprise-C during "Yesterday's Enterprise".
-Despite the differences in class there are certain common features that the ships all share.
-* Cloaking Device - all Klingon Bird of Preys are equipped with a cloaking device.  During the Genesis incident the cloaking device on Kruge's vessel emitted a visible distortion effect especially when the ship was in motion.  No similar distortion effect has been seen in any other portrayal of the Bird of Prey cloaks which could indicate that Kruge's cloak was malfunctioning at the time.
-* Disruptor cannons - all variations of the Klingon Bird of Prey sported rapid fire twin disruptor cannons with an impressive rate of fire.  Even up through the Dominion war a steady fusillade of these cannons could destroy a Dominion fighter in a single salvo.
-* Photon Torpedo launchers
+===''K'Vort''-class===
+The ''K'Vort''-class cruiser which is a far heavier vessel designed to go toe-to-toe with Federation starships.  The class is first identified as such by Wesley Crusher during an attack by three ''K'Vort''-cruisers on the [[Enterprise-D]] and [[Enterprise-C]] in "Yesterday's Enterprise".
-* Variable Geometry Wing Design - the Klingon Bird of Prey has wings that can raise or lower at certain angles.  What role the various wing positions play is unknown as the Birds of Prey have been observed to attack in all states of wing positions, raised above the hull, parallel the hull, and down below the hull.
+===Common Features===
+Despite the differences in size and combat role, all Klingon Birds of Prey share certain common features.
+* [[Cloaking device]] - every Bird of Prey is equipped with a cloaking device.  During the Genesis incident, the cloaking device on Kruge's vessel created a visible distortion effect, especially when the ship was in motion.  No similar distortion effect has been seen in any other cloaked Bird of Prey, which could indicate that Kruge's cloak was an inferior model or malfunctioning at the time.
-There is one feature which the B'Rel class has that is unknown if the K'Vort class shares.  The B'Rel have atmospheric capabilities.  There is one possible instance where K'Vort cruisers may have also exhibited atmospheric capabilities.  During the Dominion War an attack led by General Martok against a Dominion base on Trekla V has Bird of Preys decloaking and strafing a base on the surface.  There is no mention of the class of these vessels but given the fact that they later took on Cardasian capital ships and Kor led his single Bird of Prey in a suicide attack on 10 Dominion fighters would seem to suggest this was a K'Vort class cruiser.("Once more Unto the Breach")
+* [[Disruptor|Disruptor cannons]] - both variations of the Bird of Prey carry rapid-fire disruptor cannons in their wingtips.  A steady fusillade from these cannons could destroy a Dominion fighter in a single salvo.
+* [Photon torpedo|[Photon torpedoes]] - every Bird of Prey has a torpedo tube located in the bow.
+* Variable-geometry wing design - the angle of the wings of Bird of Prey is variable.  What role the various wing positions play is unknown, as the Birds of Prey have been observed to attack in all  wing positions: raised above the hull, parallel to the hull, and down below the hull.
+===Atmospheric Flight===
+The ''B'Rel''-class has one feature that is not confirmed in the ''K'Vort''-class.  The ''B'Rel''-class can safely enter a planet's atmosphere and land on the surface.  There is one instance where K'Vort cruisers may have exhibited atmospheric capabilities.  During the Dominion War, an attack led by General [[Martok]] against a Dominion base on Trekla V shows Birds of Prey decloaking and strafing a base on the surface.  There is no mention of the class of these vessels, but the fact that they later engaged Cardassian capital ships -- and Kor commanded a single Bird of Prey in a suicide attack on 10 Dominion fighters -- suggests that this was a ''K'Vort''-class cruiser. ([[DS9]], "Once more Unto the Breach")
 == History ==
 The Klingon Bird of Prey was first depicted during the Genesis incident in which it was instantly recognized by Sulu when decloaking suggesting the vessel was already in service for some time by the time it made its appearance in Star Trek III.