Romulan bird-of-prey

A 23rd century Romulan bird-of-prey.

The Romulan bird-of-prey was a classification of starship used by the Romulan Star Empire. They were typically small and agile classes of ships which made up much of the Romulan fleet along side the larger Warbird classes.

Classes

A Kelvin timeline bird-of-prey.

• Romulan bird-of-prey (22nd century)
• Romulan bird-of-prey (2150s)
• T'Liss class
• Vas Hatham class
• Ferrax class
• Romulan bird-of-prey (25th century)
• Romulan bird-of-prey (Kelvin timeline)

History

22nd century

A 22nd century Romulan bird-of-prey.

The earliest known birds-of-prey were in service of the Empire in the 22nd century. Through the 2150s the Empire has at least three distinct classes in service; The saucer type, of which vessels of the class had the distinction of being the first Romulan ships to encounter Humans at first contact in 2152, and the being the first class to deploy cloaking devices, though said device eventually proved to be dangerously unstable and destroyed the test ship Praetor Pontilus. (ENT episode: "Minefield"; ENT novel: The Good That Men Do)

A modified T'Liss class bird-of-prey.

Also in service in the 2150s was the T'Liss-class. A number of vessels of this class were modified with telepathic remote equipment and holographic masking systems to be used as remote drones. (ENT novel: The Good That Men Do; ENT episodes: "Babel One", "United", "The Aenar")

A Romulan bird-of-prey in service in the Earth-Romulan War

The third type of bird-of-prey known to be in service in the 22nd century featured a cyclindrical hull design, vessels of this class were known to be service in the Earth-Romulan War. (TOS - My Brother's Keeper novel: Republic)

23rd century

A century later a descendant of the saucer-type 22nd century bird-of-prey, the Vas Hatham-class, was used as the test bed for a new and far more successful cloaking device. This class was first encountered by James T. Kirk's USS Enterprise when the Romulans used it in strikes on Federation outposts along the Neutral Zone in 2266. The bird-of-prey was a similar size to its 22nd-century counterpart but was armed with a powerful plasma weapon and the new cloaking device. This advanced weaponry used a great deal of power making the use of warp drive in this class impossible at times. (TOS episode: "Balance of Terror"; TOS reference: Romulan Ship Recognition Manual)

24th century

A 24th century Romulan bird-of-prey.

The Romulans had classes of birds-of-prey into the 24th century, such as the Ferrax-class, introduced by the 2340s decade. (ST video game: Infinite) Bird-of-prey vessels saw action in, and after, the Dominion War. (DS9 novelization: What You Leave Behind; TNG novel: Q & A)

25th century

A 25th century Romulan bird-of-prey.

In the early 25th century, the Romulans used a design that was based on its predecessor of the 22nd century. It was equipped with disruptor beams, plasma torpedoes and a cloaking device. The Remans built a version of their own, the Reman bird-of-prey. (STO mission: "Defend the Alpha Centauri Sector Block")

Appendices

External links

• Romulan bird-of-prey article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• Romulan_Bird_of_Prey article at Star Trek Online Wiki.