| Defiant class | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type: | Escort |
| Length: | 170.68 m m |
| Beam: | 134.11 m m |
| Draft: | 30.1 m m |
| Max. speed: | warp 9.5 |
| Armaments: | 4 x Class I rapid fire phaser pulse cannon
1 x Type X phaser bank. 3 x Pulse fire quantum torpedo tubes 1 x Probe/photon launcher equivalent to standard photon torpedo tube. |
| Defenses: | Auto modulated shield system.
Heavy Duranium/Tritanium11 Double hull plus 20 cm Ablative armor. High level Structural Integrity Field |
| Crew: | 50 |
| |
The Defiant-class starship, officially classified as an escort, began development in 2366 as a small, highly-powered, heavily-armed warship intended to defend the Federation against the Borg. The was the first of what was to be a new Federation battle fleet being prepared to counter the Borg. Starfleet abandoned the project when the Borg threat became less urgent and design flaws turned up nearly destroying the Defiant during its initial shakedown cruise.
The Defiant prototype was pulled out of storage in 2371 when the Dominion threat emerged. After several upgrades by Operations Chief Miles O'Brien, the ship was deemed worthy of use and several more ships of the class were constructed. (DS9: "The Search, Part I"; VOY: "Drone")
Background[]
The Defiant Development emblem
The Defiant class was initiated in 2365 as a crash program to develop a starship capable of fighting and defeating the Borg. The design incorporated several new weapons concepts, including the Quantum torpedo and Phaser pulse cannon. The design and construction teams were briefed to produce a small, tough, simple to build vessel packing the maximum possible level of firepower. A secondary aim of the project was to develop new technologies for implementation in the Sovereign project and possibly into existing starship designs. The vessel which emerged from the design office was unlike anything ever contemplated by the Federation before. In place of the usual graceful structures, Defiant was a compact, boxy, almost ugly design. The central body is a three deck block with the a single deck bridge mounted on the top for four decks in all. The upper deck contains the bridge, engineering support spaces and some crew quarters. Deck two features main engineering, a simple medical bay, more crew quarters and the ships communal mess hall. The third deck includes the transporter room and ships storage and cargo bays and the deuterium fuel tanks. Deck four houses the ships replication storage tanks and systems, the antimatter fuel pods and the small shuttle bay. The single computer core is split between decks two and three. The navigational deflector is located in a prominent housing on the ships bow, which also contains a probe launcher. Flanking the deflector housing are a pair of torpedo tubes capable of firing both Quantum and photon torpedoes. Aft of this the nacelles are fitted directly to the main hull, flanking the bridge. Each nacelle housing includes four warp coils and two of the ships pulse phaser cannon. The nacelles supporting equipment are contained within a fifth deck which hangs below the normal four; this deck is divided into three levels of crawl way spaces. Aft of the nacelles is the aft torpedo tube, and the ships armament is completed by a turret type phaser array aft of the bridge.
First Deployment[]
In mid 2367 a Borg attack was launched on the Federation. The Defiant was still not completed, but her crew nevertheless prepared to launch the ship in a desperate attempt to inflict some kind of damage on the attacking vessel. In the event the Borg vessel was destroyed in Earth orbit by the USS Enterprise-D14USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) shortly after the Defiant left Spacedock to face it. The Defiant continued to outfit in Spacedock for several months, but serious faults in the design surfaced. Overpowered and over gunned for a ship of its size, Defiant experienced serious problems with her structural integrity during warp flight and weapons operation. With the Borg threat now less urgent, the the Defiant project was shelved in favour of the new Sovereign class which was then under construction.
Second Deployment[]
Spacestation Deep space 9
In 2370 the USS Odyssey was destroyed in a disastrous encounter with the Dominion. The first of the Sovereign class was still months away from completion, so Commander Benjamin Sisko of Deep space 9 requested that the Defiant be assigned to a mission to contact the Dominion leaders. The ship was equipped with a cloaking device by the Romulans in order to facilitate this mission, in return for Starfleet sharing any intelligence it gained. Despite a disappointing performance on her first mission, when she was quickly overpowered and captured, Defiant proved her worth as a combat vessel over the next few months. The field engineering team under Chief Petty officer Miles O'Brien have overcome her initial difficulties by re-calibrating and reinforcing the Structural Integrity Field system. Although not an especially fast ship by Starfleet standards, Defiant is far more maneuverable than any vessel of comparable size at both Warp and Impulse speeds. This, combined with her inherent toughness and high level of firepower, makes the ship a formidable fighting force. Despite this, Starfleet has had a difficult time getting approval to put the ship into series production, due in part to the designs perception as having failed originally, but also because of political trepidation within the government over fielding a dedicated warship. Fortunately these problems have now been overcome and the Defiant class is finally in full production.
The continuing saga[]
The USS Avenger (NCC-75461) firing her phaser pulse cannons.
The Defiant herself continued to serve at Deep spce 9 for some time, before being destroyed in late 2375 during the Dominion's recapture of the Chin'Toka system. Fortunately most of the crew were able to escape the ship. The USS Sao Paulo was subsequently renamed to the USS Defiant (NCC-75633) in honor of this "tough little ship". By wars end the Defiant class was once again in debate about production. Seeing the Vigilant class was discontinued altogether, most thought the same fate awaited the Defiant. Instead, it was proposed that they man the far flung outpost, and starbases in the Federation, as well as serve as escorts. In 2387, they achieved high combat skills dealing with Reman resistance in the Romulan Star Empire after the destruction of Romulus. As well as serve as vanguard protection for Deep space 10.
Sources[]
- Daystrom Institute Technical Library
- Star Trek: Generation Fleet Forum
- Defiant class article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
Notable ships[]
- USS Defiant (NX-74205)
- USS Defiant (NCC-75633)
- USS Valiant (NCC-74210)
- USS Valiant (NCC-75418)
- USS Avenger (NCC-75461)