- For other uses, see Defiant.
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)
- In official and licensed sources alike, the Defiant is always listed as having four phasers and two torpedo launchers. Onscreen canon evidence has shown that these weapons can be fired from more numerous points along the hull.
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")
Known vessels
This article or subsection has an associated category. | Defiant class starships |
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- USS Ajax
- USS Alaska
- USS Albatross
- USS Aldebaran
- USS Alexey Leonov
- USS Armstrong
- USS Ark Royal
- USS Avenger
- USS Baracus
- USS Barracuda
- USS Baton Rouge
- USS Belfast
- USS Bennington
- USS Boxer
- USS Champion
- USS Cheyenne
- USS Cobra
- USS Concord
- USS Condor
- USS Cormir
- USS Corvus
- USS Crockett
- USS Dauntless
- USS Defiant (NX-74205)
- USS Defiant (NX-74205) (II)
- formerly USS Sao Paulo (NCC-75633)
- USS Eagle
- USS Eclipse
- USS Falkirk
- USS Fargo
- USS Formidable
- USS Franklin
- USS Gallant (NCC-74206)
- USS Galahad
- USS Gauntlet
- USS Gawain
- USS Grant
- USS Halberd
- USS Havoc
- USS Helena
- USS Horizon (NCC-75668)
- USS Hornet
- USS Hurricane
- USS Illustrious
- USS Incessant (NCC-75636)
- USS Iwo Jima
- USS Javelin
- USS Kant
- USS Kingfisher
- USS Law
- USS Lee
- USS Leyte
- USS Logan
- USS Loki
- USS Man-o-War
- USS Matador
- USS Maya
- USS Medvedev
- USS Merrimack
- USS Michigan
- USS Mongoose
- USS Monitor (I)
- USS Monitor (II)
- USS Monsoon
- USS Morgana
- USS Moscow (NCC-75655)
- USS Myrmidon
- USS Narcissus
- USS Neptune
- USS Nomad
- USS Pendragon
- USS Pleiades
- USS Potemkin
- USS Python
- USS Quillon
- USS Ramses
- USS Ranger
- USS Raven
- USS Redoubtable (NCC-75634)
- USS Relentless
- USS Renegade
- USS Revere
- USS Rockford
- USS Rome
- USS Saladin (NCC-74350)
- USS Sao Paulo (II)
- USS Savannah
- USS Scorpion
- USS Sioux
- USS Sirocco
- USS Snake Eyes
- USS Spitfire
- USS Stalwart (NCC-75635)
- USS Stromming
- USS Tenacious
- USS Thor
- USS Ticonderoga
- USS Titan
- USS Treplev
- USS Triumph
- USS Triton
- USS Tsunami
- USS Turin
- USS Valiant (NCC-74210)
- USS Valiant (NCC-75418)
- USS Valorous
- USS Vanya
- USS Victoria
- USS Victorious
- USS Vigilant
- USS Voltaire
- USS Warspite
- USS Wasp
- USS Wolverine
- USS Zeppelin
Incursion type
- USS Incursion (NX-74808)
Mirror universe
- The following Defiant-class starships were built in the mirror universe.
Appendices
Connections
Background
The USS Defiant first appeared in canon in DS9 episode: "The Search".
Apocrypha
The ebook Dominion War Sourcebook: The Fires of Armageddon from Last Unicorn Games released after they had lost their Star Trek license mentions additional ships USS Victorious (NCC-66012) and USS Nemesis (NCC-72495).
Several more previously unheard-of ships of this class were described in unused code that can be decompiled from the software of the video game Legacy. These vessels include the USS MacGoohan, USS Portmeirion, USS Drake, USS Harmony and USS Grainer.
References
External links
- Defiant class article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- class Defiant class article at The Star Trek Online Wiki.