This warship was the mainstay of the Klingon Defense Force in the mid-23rd century. At 228 meters in length, it was only three-fourths the length of the Federation's Constitution-class vessels, but with its phase-disruptor and torpedo armament, it was a close match in battle. Its maximum speed remains unknown (to the viewing audience), however, and its exact weapons configuration is also uncertain, but we do know that it had two forward disruptors mounted on its warp nacelles and one forward torpedo launcher, forming a distinctive mouth shape on its bow. Other weapons banks are certainly possible and likely, of course. For example, the aft pod, housing the impulse engine and shuttlebay, would be an ideal place to mount aft weapons. In addition, on either side of the bulb nose, there is a small pod mounted on the underside of the wedge-shaped bow section; this could be a typical weapons embankment, although that is pure conjecture.

As for the size of the crew, one can only estimate that it is probably several hundred, but less than the 430 which crewed the larger Constitution-class starships. Over the years, however, several sets of publishers have placed the crew count at between 385 and 450; since nothing seems to have been firmly established on-screen, though, we'll leave the question open.

During the brief Klingon-Romulan alliance of the late 2260s (and possibly lasting somewhat beyond), this battleship design was shared with the Romulan Star Empire in return for cloaking technology. The starship Enterprise discovered this during a staged incursion into Romulan space while under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. Other than the addition of a cloaking device, it is not known whether the Romulan versions differed from their Klingon cousins.

A personal thought concerning the D7 designation. There is the possibility that Starfleet simply classifies all unknown class names with such alphanumeric sequences. "D" may refer to Klingon ships, the D7 being the seventh Klingon vessel class with an unknown name. This would help to explain why "D12," only a step of five above "D7," was used to name a Bird-of-Prey over half a century later. This explanation is also useful with regards to the B designation which denoted the D'deridex-class Romulan Warbird. Of course, all of this is simply speculation.

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