Defiant Class

Name: Defiant
Craft: United Federation of Planets Defiant-Class Heavy Escort
Type: Escort / Destroyer
Scale: capital
Length: 170.68 x 134.11 x 30.1 meters
Ship Mass: 355,000 metric tons
Starship Size: 5
Skill: capital ship pilot
Autopilot: 4D
Crew: 40; Skeleton: 4/+10
Passengers: 10
Cargo Capacity: 12,000 metric tons
Consumables: 1 year
Warp Drive: 6 / 9.2 / 9.982 (12 Hours)
Nav Computer: yes
Maneuverability: 1D+2
Space: 9.2
Hull: 3D+2
Ablative Armor: 2D+2
Shields: 1D+2
Sensors

• Passive: 40 / 2D
• Scan: 120 / 2D+2
• Search: 150 / 3D+1
• Focus: 5 / 4D

Cloaking Device: while cloaked, +2D+2 Difficulty to detect ship
Weapons

• 2 Type X Pulse Phaser Arrays

Fire Arc: forward
Location: port sponson, starboard sponson
Crew: 1
Scale: capital
Skill: capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D+2
Space Range: 1-2/5/15
Firing Modes: Standard, Wide-Beam
Rate of fire: 5
Damage: 5D

• Type X Phaser Array

Fire Arc: 360 degrees dorsal
Location: dorsal amidships
Crew: 1
Scale: capital
Skill: capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D+2
Space Range: 1-2/5/15
Firing Modes: Standard, Continuous, Pulse, Wide-Beam
Rate of fire: 3
Damage: 4D

• Type X Phaser Array

Fire Arc: 360 degrees forward
Location: forward
Crew: 1
Scale: capital
Skill: capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D+2
Space Range: 1-2/5/15
Firing Modes: Standard, Continuous, Pulse, Wide-Beam
Rate of fire: 1
Damage: 4D

• 5 Quantum Torpedo Launchers

Fire Arc: 3 forward, 2 aft, but are self guided
Location: forward in warhead, 2 dorsal, aft port, aft starboard
Crew: 1
Scale: capital
Skill: capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D+2
Space Range: 1-1/75/203
Ammunition: 200 Mark I Quantum 8Torpedoes total
Spread: 6
Damage: 8D

• 2 Class Delta Tractor Beams

Fire Arc: 1 forward, 1 aft
Location: forward ventral, aft dorsal
Crew: 1
Scale: capital
Skill: capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 1-3/5/10
Rate of fire: 1
Strength: 4D+2

Miscellaneous:

• Crew Quarters:

• Spartan: 30

• Decks: 4
• Escape Pods: 26

• Capacity per Pod: 6

• Year Commissioned: 2371 (Earth Reckoning)

Transporters

• Personnel: 1

• Range: 40,000 km
• Capacity: 3 persons

• Emergency: 1

• Range: 15,000 km
• Capacity: 12 persons

• Cargo: 1

• Range: 40,000 km
• Capacity: 400 kg

Complement: 3 shuttlebays on Deck 3

• Type 10 Shuttlecraft: 1
• Shuttle Pods: 4
• Probes: 10

Description: The Defiant-class was a type of Federation starship in use by Starfleet in the 24th century. Although officially designated as an escort, the Defiant ships were the first type of starship Starfleet ever created as a dedicated-purpose warship, and they are sometimes referred to as destroyers. (DS9 episode & novelization: The Search; ST video games: Armada, Armada II)

Overview

The Defiant was conceived as Starfleet's first warship in response to the many new threats faced by the Federation in the mid-24th century but primarily the Borg. The vessels were purposed as a compact design, packing a great deal of weaponry into a very small, maneuverable ship. As such, many of these vessels were fielded in battle during the Dominion War. The class has a compact warp core that produces enough energy to power a vessel four times its size. (DS9 episode: "Call to Arms"; DS9 reference: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual; ST reference: Starship Spotter)

History

The Defiant-class was one of many new Starfleet classes developed in response to the Borg threat following Starfleet's tragic losses in the Battle of Wolf 359. The class was the first that Starfleet ever developed purely as a warship—but for years following the Borg's early incursions, the expected invasion never materialized—the prototype USS Defiant spent much of its time in space dock in the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. Rising hostilities with the Dominion spurred the Defiant into full service, assigned to Deep Space 9 in 2371 and fitted with a Romulan cloaking device to defend the station from Dominion attack and conduct undercover operations in the Gamma Quadrant.

The Star Trek Roleplaying Game Player's Guide contradicts this by stating the the warship design was started in 2366, after the "initial contact" with the Borg.

By the time the situation escalated into full-scale war, several Defiant-class starships had been put into service and performed admirably. The original USS Defiant was destroyed by a Breen energy dampening weapon in 2375.

Following the Dominion War Starfleet developed a ship based on the lessons of the Defiant-class, the first and so far only vessel of this type, the USS Incursion is fitted with a holographic masking system and is operated by Starfleet Intelligence. (ST video game: Away Team)

Specifications

Defiant-class vessels crewed 50 officers and crew, with room for a maximum of 150 in evacuation situations. The Defiant vessels weighed 355,000 metric tons, measured 170.68 meters in length, 134.11 meters in width and 30.1 meters in height. The Defiant had a warp core power plant rated at over 1,500 cochrane units in output, feeding two warp nacelles. The warp drive was rated for a maximum output of warp factor 9.982 for 12 hours. The ships of the Defiant-class were also fitted with two impulse engine fusion reactor plants and thrust emitters.

The vessels have ablative armor to absorb enemy weapons fire and were fitted with beam weapons consisting of four pulse phaser cannons, capable of firing from numerous phaser arrays along the hull. Defiant ships also are equipped with two launchers, capable of firing either photon torpedoes or quantum torpedoes from numerous emplacements along the hull. In an extreme situation the Defiant-class's nose section, which contained the vessels stock of torpedoes, could be separated as a last resort to act as a large projectile. (DS9 reference: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual)

The Defiant-class was one of the few classes of Starfleet starships capable of planetary landing and lift-off, and as such, had four sets of landing gear in its ventral hull to facilitate this. (DS9 reference: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual; ST - Tales of the Dominion War short story: "Safe Harbors")

The compact type-10 shuttlecraft was designed alongside the Defiant-class and two can be held in its shuttle bay.

In the later 24th century, the Defiant-class was slated to continue production at the ASDB Integration Facility at Antares Fleet Yards shipyards, on Antares IV. (DS9 reference: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine dedication plaque)

Like other Federation and starfleet ship designs, the Defiant-class was fitted with intercooler systems to cool the warp and impulse engines and the power transfer grid. The plasma intercooler was fitted with safeties which could be taken offline at the discretion of the ship's chief engineer. Both Miles O'Brien and Nog had performed this action, in order to coax better performance from the engines, aboard the USS Defiant and the USS Valiant, respectively. (DS9 episode: "Valiant")

Source:

• Memory Alpha: Defiant-class
• Memory Beta: Defiant class
• Ship Recognition Manual vol 1 (Spacedock) (pages 39-42)
• thedemonapostle