Without a doubt one of the most beautiful starships ever created, the Romulan D'deridex-class Warbird, at between 1200 and 1300 meters in length, is also one of the largest starships in the Star Trek universe. Until recently, it held the title of Most Massive in Trek; but, then, the ungainly, unworthy Kazon Cruiser usurped that title. Fortunately, it is some comfort to know that the Warbird could clean the chronometers of any Kazon ship. Indeed, the Warbird could easily destroy almost any opponent in one-on-one combat. It was once compared to the Federation's vaunted Galaxy-class starships with the following results: at twice the length of the Galaxy, it had greater firepower, although its maximum warp speed was believed to be slightly lower. However, that was several years ago, and the Federation has since shown itself to be highly adaptive to Threat technologies.

Equipped with a stealthy cloaking device and armed with powerful disruptors and photon torpedoes, the Warbird is indeed a formidable combatant, although its great mass may hinder maneuverability somewhat. The placement of weapons banks is uncertain, though, from "The Die Is Cast," it is known that the main forward disruptor array and torpedo launcher are housed in the ship's gargantuan bow. According to "Unification, Part II," the protrusion atop the bow is an emitter which is also a component of the forward disruptor array. Additionally, "Contagion" showed that the underside of the upper wing features a centrally located emitter (also the location of a spotlight), though the Romulans were described as having phasers in that episode. Twelve node-shaped protrusions peppering the hull's exterior may be other secondary disruptor turrets; the number and locations of other torpedo launchers remains unknown. This uncertainty may be due in large part to the Warbird's imposing size; its mere presence is enough to quell any pugnacious tendencies of enemy starships, especially when it decloaks directly ahead without warning. When it does find occasion to use its weapons (not while cloaked), the Warbird can be configured to fire either disruptor pulses or beams, both in the characteristic Romulan green (perhaps an intentional choice of color; Romulan blood is green, after all).

Inside, an unknown crew count handles the task of overseeing the Warbird's systems, which are powered by a warp core based on an artificial quantum singularity. The location of Main Engineering remains a mystery to the viewing audience, as does the location of the Warbird's numerous launching bays (at least three), bridge (originally planned to be a slight bulge approximately one-third the way down the front of the bow; however, this structure may have been left out in the final version), and even impulse engines (perhaps housed in the forward section of the lower hull).

Probably the most curious detail about the D'deridex class is its number. There seems to be a fairly large quantity of Romulan Warbirds in existence, enough that the Romulans can spare half a dozen without batting an eyelash. If that is indeed the case, maybe they can let me have one.

At one time, Starfleet designated the D'deridex class as the "B-Type Warbird." See the entry for the Klingon D7-class Battle Cruiser for my explanation of this.

Return to "Known Vessel Classes of the Romulan Star Empire"