STAR HAWK CLASS WARBIRD

The latest starship class in the Romulan Imperial Navy’s legendary ‘Hawk’ family, the Star Hawk is also the replacement for the long-serving D’Deridex class, which is expected to be phased out beginning in 2420. The latter half of the 24th century saw the massive D’Deridex class warbird comprising the bulk of the Romulan fleet, with an assortment of smaller classes serving for staggered periods of time. The Dominion War exacted a punishing toll on these ships and served as the basis for the later Norexan, Shrike and Longsword classes. The Scimitar, an experimental battleship influenced and designed primarily by Remans was modified following the coup led by Shinzon and put into fleet production in 2383. However for all its advantages, the Scimitar was extremely crude and lacked the sophistication and adaptability of indigenously designed classes such as D’Deridex and Norexan. As part of the comprehensive reconstruction & redevelopment efforts underway in the wake of the Hobus supernova, a development project was commissioned and tasked with designing a new flagship on a grand scale for the Imperial Navy. The finalized design, codenamed Star Hawk, incorporated design elements not only of D’Deridex and Norexan, but older classes such as Super Hawk, Senator and Condor as well. Like D’Deridex, the Star Hawk’s profile features more smooth, graceful curves and less of the harsh, angular surfaces present in Norexan. It is also longer than Scimitar (937m vs 890m), though with a much shorter wingspan (478m vs 1350m). The graceful design however, precludes it being ‘overgunned’ as would be the case with many Klingon designs. Despite this, it is still a force to be reckoned with in combat, mounting 18 standard and 7 heavy disruptor cannons as well as 6 torpedo launchers fed by a large store of plasma torpedoes.

Star Hawk is also the only known vessel to employ both deflector shields and hull armor capable of withstanding a sustained assault by the Federation’s Type XV phaser weaponry—putting it on par with the Excalibur class in terms of tactical ability. As is the norm with all Romulan vessels, the ship is also equipped with a sophisticated cloaking system—this one adapted from Scimitar—that permits the ship to maintain high warp speeds and the use of full weaponry while the cloak is engaged. The Star Hawk entered service in 2393—5 years after Romulan reunification and the first class to be launched by the reunified Imperial Navy. The Kerchan was selected as the new Imperial flagship and personal command of Grand Admiral Taris. So far, the class has seen relatively little combat action—save for joint anti-piracy operations with the Federation Alliance in 2400 and 2405—and has primarily been used in a long-range exploration role, similar to the Federation Excalibur and Cardassian Hutet.

Class Classification Service Number Active Length Beam Height Decks

Star Hawk Battleship 2393- Unknown 937m 478m 233m 68

Mass Compliment

Unknown 1100

Armament Defense Systems

18 Standard Disruptor Cannons 7 Heavy Disruptor Cannons 6 Torpedo Launchers High Capacity Deflector Shield System total capacity 9,143,000 TerraJoules Heavy Duranium/Trititanium Double Hull plus 10cm High Density Armor

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Editor’s Annotations Originally, my idea regarding the Romulan Imperial Navy’s flagship centered around some convoluted idea of the Scimitar becoming the ‘magic bullet’ that would instantly sort of wipe away the failings of the D’Deridex. As I pondered that, I took into account everything we’ve heard/seen about their ships and then decided there wasn’t any way I come up with a plausible backstory that would stick. So, I sought out other designs of which I knew there had to be plenty and I stumbled upon the Kerchan. Designed by Rick “Hobbes” Snider, it had a suitably futuristic and slightly ‘weathered’ look and really wouldn’t look at all out of place in Star Trek: Online (should the Romulans ever become a playable faction. The mention of Starfleet’s Excalibur class and ‘Type XV Phasers’ as well as the Navy’s own Longsword class will definitely be expanded upon when I finally get around to editing/re-writing the articles for those classes, so apologies in advance for any confusion that may come up. Also, I know it seems kind of two-faced of me to say “oh yeah, this ship isn’t overgunned at all”……and then include such an armament as I did, but as one of the ‘Big 3’ superpowers, I had to keep the concept of tactical parity in mind.