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The Klingon
Empire is the Federation's most advanced & most powerful ally. Their
starships are designed purely for combat, with little thought given to science
labs, rec facilities, or soft beds.
Klingon Starship Design
has evolved from the D7 class, just as Federation Design evolved from the
Daedalus. The basic Klingon Design is made up of a forward command pod
attached to an engineering section by a long narrow neck which houses crew
quarters, mess halls etc. The engineering section usually features aft
Torpedo Launchers and disruptor cannons along with one or more cargo bays, troop
accomidations and the warp engines. The Command Pod features the forward
torpedo launchers, more disruptor cannons and any Pulse Disruptors the ship may
feature. The location of the Disruptor and Torpedo Weapons was thought to give
Klingon Warships a greater distribution of fire over their federation
counterparts. Early on in the 23rd century, during their short lived
alliance with the Romulan Empire, the Klingons gained cloaking technology in
exchange for a number of D7's. Of course, when you look at the parrael's
between the Klingon and Federation Fleet, you of course know the the Klingon
Fleet has older, more venerable designs, serving side by side with their newer
counterparts.
Looking back,
the Klingons started out small, filling their fleet with the D7 Class
BattleCruiser and it's varients for some 30 years until the development of the
B'Rel Class Bird Of Prey (Scout). Once the B'Rel was entered into service,
their fleet became more balanced with various BattleCruiser and Scout designs
which served the Empire well. Klingon Ships generally served alone or with one
or two others and didn't participate in any large fleet action until the last
3/4 of the Dominion War. The Dominion gained new allies in the Breen, a
relativly low tech species whose oddly designed warships were equipped with an
energy dampening/draining weapon which devastated the forces of the Federation
and Romulan Empire. Klingon Warships however, were able to stand up to the
breen and while the Federation and Romulans formulated a defense against this
new weapon, the Klingons were fighting the war all alone. During
the Dominion War, the Empire's total ship count was reduced by some 2/3 because
the Federation and Romulans had disengaged in order to defend against the Breen
and because Chancellor Gowron sent large numbers of ships on attacks that were
viewed as virtual suicide runs.
If you know the
Klingons at all, you know that this wasn't the whole answer. The Klingons
view a battle or a war as a chance for them to gain unlimited glory and prove
their personal honor to themselves and their people. While the Federation
and Romulans would sit back and plan strategy, the Klingons would be on the
prowl for Jem'Hadar, looking for a fight, no matter what the odds, launching
attacks that the federation would label as "Death Runs." These attacks
combined with the pressure of the war was behind the massive loss.
However bleek
this may look in the eyes of the Federation, is no matter to the Empire. The
Klingons viewed their performance in the war as proof which vindicated their
military policies & strategies.
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