The D5-class battle cruiser was a type of warship in service with the Klingon Imperial Fleet during the mid-22nd century.
In service as early as 2147, the D5-class Klingon battle cruiser was fully documented in the Vulcan database. (ENT: "Marauders", "Judgment")
Technical data
Like many of its successors in the Imperial Klingon fleet, the D5 battle cruiser was distinguished by a roughly bird-like form, with an elongated primary hull and angular wings and warp nacelles.
The fully-armed D5 cruiser was considerably more advanced than Earth Starfleet's most powerful vessel during the 2150s, the NX class starship. Like its Template:ShipClass counterpart of the same era, the D5 was outfitted with standard multi-spectral sensors as well as disruptors and photon torpedo launchers.
Structurally, the composition of the D5 included diffusion bonded monocrystal. (ENT: "Judgment", "Divergence")
Freighter variant
The D5 freighter variant was an adapted version of the standard D5 battle cruiser, which included eight under slung deuterium tanks. Considerably less advanced than its battle cruiser counterpart, the D5 tanker was significantly less armed, notably lacking the ventral disruptor cannon common to the class.
Unlike the D5 battle cruiser, the D5 tanker was considered to be inferior to an NX-class starship. (ENT: "Marauders")
Ships of the class
- Named
- Unnamed
- Unnamed D5 class starships
- Korok's freighter
- Krell's battle cruiser
Appendices
Appearances
- ENT:
- "Marauders"
- "Judgment"
- "The Augments"
- "Divergence"
Background
D5 master systems status
One discrepancy in the scaling of this class appears in the okudagram from "Judgment", which established the length of the D5 at a mere 75m, or nearly three times shorter than the NX class.
Visually, however, the length established for the CGI model, as scaled (in relation to the other models created) by Eden FX, was 155 meters, over twice the size established in the okudagram.
In writing the DS9 Season 7 episode, "Once More Unto the Breach", Ronald D. Moore stated that he intentionally included a nod to The Animated Series by means of a reference to the TAS Season 1 episode "The Time Trap". [1]
In this reference, the elderly Kor recalled the time when he commanded the IKS Klothos, a vessel he described as being "one of the old D-5 cruisers," during the Battle of Caleb IV. While the reference the cloaking device-equipped Klothos matched the Klothos that appeared in "The Time Trap", the design itself had actually appeared as a slight variant of the D7 class, rather than the D5 class design that was later introduced in Star Trek: Enterprise.
Apocrypha
In the Star Fleet Battles series of games, the D5-class is a newer, but smaller ship roughly based on the older and heavier D6- and D7-classes. It was primarily used as a light cruiser and was designed for rapid production and high combat power in a smaller class ship. The Klingon Empire was capable of building at least eighteen ships of this class per year. Considered an exceptional design in comparison to other races ships of that class, it was noted for its maneuverability and superior weapons arcs. Like most Klingon ship classes, many D5s were modified into a wide variety of variants during the General War.