| Universe : |
Prime Timeline |
| Affiliation : |
Romulans |
| Class Name : |
Early Bird of Prey |
| Type : |
Stealth warship [1] |
| Unit Run : |
Unknown |
| Commissioned : |
Entry date uncertain, but prior to 2151. [1] |
| Dimensions : |
Length : 250 m [2]
Beam : 273 m
Height : 60 m
Decks : 9 |
| Mass : |
Unknown |
| Crew : |
Approximately 100 |
| Armament : |
2 x Plasma cannon, total output 750 TeraWatts
4 x S1 photon torpedo tube |
| Defence Systems : |
Standard Monotanium Single hull plus 1 cm Polarised armour.
Standard level Structural Integrity Field |
Warp Speeds
(TOS scale) : |
Normal Cruise : 2
Maximum Cruise : 2.5
Maximum Rated : 3 for 2 hours.
|
Strength Indices :
(Galaxy class = 1,000) |
Beam Firepower : 15
Torpedo Firepower : 125
Weapon Range and Accuracy : 10
Shield Strength : -
Hull Armour : 30
Speed : 14
Combat Manoeuvrability : 2,400 |
| Overall Strength Index : |
56 |
| Diplomatic Capability : |
2 |
| Expected Hull Life : |
40 |
| Refit Cycle : |
Minor : 2 year
Standard : 2 years
Major : 20 years |
Notes
These vessels were in use by the Romulans during the 2150s, and featured
prominently in the Earth-Romulan war of that era. They were similar in capability
to the NX class Starships of the time, though their use of cloaking technology
gave them some advantage.
Colour key
References
| # |
Series |
Season |
Source |
Comment |
| 1 |
ENT |
2 |
Minefield |
|
| 2 |
|
|
Speculative |
Scaled from window rows on the nose, assuming a deck height of 3 metres. |
Comments
These vessels were seen in Enterprise "Minefield". As usual for enterprise,
the ships are rather too sleek and advanced-looking for the 22nd century - in
fact it looks more advanced than its Original Series counterpart, and could
easily have been shown in TNG as a descendant of that vessel!
Also lamentable is the fact that these ships carry cloaking devices. The whole
idea of a cloaking technology was unknown to Kirk, so it is absolute nonsense
for Romulan vessels of more than a century prior to TOS to have this system.
Weaponry in uncertain; according to Spock the upcoming Earth-Romulan war was
conducted with nuclear weapons, but plasma weapons should also be available
and the weapons used to fire warning shots at the Enterprise looked like plasma
weapons or possibly disruptors.
The prominent nacelles indicate that these ships are equipped with warp drive;
it is a common misconception that the Bird of Prey Kirk encountered also lacked
warp drive, but this is simply not supported by the episode. See this
article for details.
Overall these ships should be an approximate match for the NX - if they are
significantly more powerful, it would be hard to believe that Humanity actually
won a war with the Romulan Empire around this time. I usually pepper ships like
this with lots of "Unknown" entries but since we can assume that the
Humans came to engage in frequent combat with these ships, it is safe to say
that their capabilities would become common knowledge.
