| Universe : |
Prime Timeline |
| Affiliation : |
Romulans |
| Class Name : |
Scimitar Class |
| Type : |
Heavy battleship [1] |
| Unit Run : |
At present, only one ship of this type has been observed. [1] 1 built in total. 1 have been lost in all. |
| Commissioned : |
2378 [1], remained in service until 2378 |
| Dimensions : |
Length : 890 m [2]
Beam : 1,350 m [3]
Height : 245 m
Decks : Approx. |
| Mass : |
Unknown |
| Crew : |
Unknown |
| Armament : |
52 [1] x heavy disruptor cannon [1], total output 1,000,000 TeraWatts
27 [1] x S3 photon torpedo tube [1]
1 x Thalaron Radiation emitter (excluded from strength indices) [1] |
| Defence Systems : |
Primary and secondary [1] shield system, total capacity 2,160,000 TeraJoules
Standard Duranium / Tritanium Double hull plus 9 cm High density armour.
Standard level Structural Integrity Field |
Warp Speeds
(TNG scale) : |
Unknown, but capable of matching the top speed of a Sovereign class starship [1] |
Strength Indices :
(Galaxy class = 1,000) |
Beam Firepower : 20,000
Torpedo Firepower : 16,875
Weapon Range and Accuracy : 1,420
Shield Strength : 800
Hull Armour : 1,000
Speed : -
Combat Manoeuvrability : 3,000 |
| Overall Strength Index : |
10,464 |
| Diplomatic Capability : |
Unknown, but probably limited to Grade 2 |
| Expected Hull Life : |
Unknown |
Notes
Produced by the Remans but technically operating under the flag of the Romulan Empire,
the Scimitar was first encountered by the USS Enterprise-E, which travelled to Romulus in 2378 at the invite of the new Praetor, Shinzon. The ship is a large vessel, roughly the size of the D'Deridex in terms of volume. It was classified by Captain Picard as a predator, and this is certainly an apt description. The ship carried very heavy armament and shielding, enabling it to remain in a battle for prolonged periods under heavy fire. [1] Like most Romulan ships the Scimitar is fitted with a cloaking device, but this is of a new type which is undetectable to the current generation of Federation sensor systems. There were no detectable tachyon emissions or residual anti-protons from the cloak, making accurate targeting impossible. Still worse was the fact that the Scimitar could fire all weapons whilst cloaked, much as the Klingon prototype Bird of Prey which Captain Kirk faced at Khittomer could. [1] When Shinzon attempted to invade the Federation Captain Picard took the Enterprise-E into battle with the Scimitar. The results were shocking; whereas General Chang's ship was unshielded and lost its cloak when the Enterprise-A scored a single hit, the Scimitar retained its cloak and was undamaged throughout numerous weapon impacts. The difficulty in scoring hits on the ship made an already lopsided battle a hopeless affair for the Enterprise. [1] Although two Norexan-class warbrids joined the Sovereign class ship in battle, the Scimitar was easily able to defeat these ships in a matter of minutes before turning its attention back to the Enterprise. Captain Picard did give a good account of his ship, fighting until all weapons were exhausted before then ramming the Scimitar rather than surrendering. The Sovereign's hull did appear to be rather stronger than the Scimitar's, yet although the impact did inflict considerable damage on the Reman ship even this did not stop it. Only a last desparate boarding action by Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data was able to stop the enemy vessel. [1] Perhaps most worrying of all, the Scimitar was designed to house a Thalaron radiation emitter system which could engulf ships or even whole planets. As a weapon of mass destruction the Scimitar would be horrendously effective, able to exterminate planetary populations with ease. [1] The Romulans seem unlikely to proceed with class production of the Scimitar as the design stands - the employment of a Thalaron system would likely provoke a quadrant-wide armaments race of horrific scale and scope. However, there is nothing preventing them from producing a modified design with only conventional weaponry. Should this prove to be the case, Starfleet has much thinking to do.
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References
Comments
Seen in Nemesis, the Scimitar is an impressive ship in terms of its capabilities, but a little uninspired in terms of its aesthetics.
The Scimitar was designed by John Eaves, and in general layout pretty much resembles the Dominion Battleships or a very scaled up Klingon Bird of Prey. Interesting design features include the pop-out thrusters, which may indicate that Romulan impulse drives can not be used in reverse the way Federation ones can, and the fold-out spider like legs which fire the Thalaron radiation weapon.
The ship carries at least one hangar bay, containing a dozen or more Scorpion class attack craft. In fact there are probably several of these bays, and ordinary shuttles are presumably carried in addition to the Scorpions.
The Scimitar's hull is apparently weaker than a Sovereign's - the Enterprise-E seemed to fare much better in the ramming sequence than the Scimitar did, despite being much damaged already. I've rated the hull accordingly.
That the Scimitar is as fast as the Sovereign comes from the fact that Shinzon was able to follow Picard as he headed for the fleet on the other side of the rift. The agility is rated very high for a ship this size, since it was pulling some quite tight manoeuvres in the battle.
The biggest oddity of the Scimitar is the shields. We are told that its shields have been reduced by 30% shortly before the ramming - so how does the Enterprise penetrate the shields if they are at 70%? It's not reasonable to say that the shields cannot stop a kinetic impact, because they have been stopping all of the photon torpedo impacts just fine up to now. My only guess is that the 30% figure means that there is a shield hole at the bow of the ship, rather than that the shields as a whole have just been weakened. In fact it was most likely a combination of the two, with a small hole at the bow and some damage to other shields. And if we're wondering why the Enterprise-E didn't just fire through that hole, by this time it had no torpedoes or phasers left remember?
Although technically it could be called a Reman ship, this and the other reman ships are in the Romulan section because the Remans at no time gained independence from Romulus - they went from being slaves to masters, but still remained within the Empire all along.
