D6 class

The D6 class was a type of battle cruiser fielded by the Klingon Empire during the 23rd century.

Star Trek: Origins

The prototype was launched in in 2233. The D6 was bigger than the previous D5 class, but still had a high capacity for maneuverability at sub-light speed. The class also had the first 8-factor warp core of the Klingon Empire.

Technical data

With the warp 8 core, the D6 had an average cruising speed of 5.8 and a theoretical maximum of warp 8. Theoretically, the ship could exceed warp 8 but the Klingons had some difficulty breaking the "time barrier" due to flaws in the warp coil design. Because of these flaws, the D6 was limited to a maximum warp of 7.3. Also, this ship had (like the F8-class) quad impulse engines, making it very quick at sub-light speeds, while keeping a good power reserve in case of a warp core failure.

Weapons

The D6 had five disruptors, two near the bridge module, allowing for a very open fire arc. The other two were located in the "wing" corners, near the warp nacelles. These also had forward firing arcs. The last disruptor was located on the ship's bottom side. Like the later D7, the D6 had two photon torpedo tubes, one in the bridge module, and another mounted near the impulse engines.

Star Fleet Battles

This ship was the original Klingon standard cruiser, until it was replaced by the more powerful D7. Compared with the D7 class, the D6 had fewer, shorter-ranged disruptors. It should be noted, however, that one of the four shipyards building D6/D7-class ships never converted to D7 production and continued to produce D6s. They may have been kept in production originally to fill the “light cruiser” or “destroyer” roles. Most of the additional D6 production was used for variants. One of the hidden strengths of the Klingon Empire was the ready availability of cruiser hulls for support variants.

Missile cruiser

The D6D is a conversion of the D6 designed to provide fleet fire support. The D6D was capable of direct combat, but was designed for long–range fire support. Ships of these classes almost never patrolled alone, and they usually operated as part of a fleet.

Commando cruiser

Designed as a heavy assault transport to deliver troops to planetary combat, this was one of the most effective commando ships in the galaxy. However, because heavy cruiser hulls were hard to spare, very few of these were built.

Under Romulan service

The Klingons supplied the Romulans with advanced ships and technology. The most important ships supplied were nine older D6 battlecruisers. While these were strictly second–rate ships to the Klingons, they were, at the time, the most powerful ships in Romulan hands. Later, the Romulans acquired more D6s from the Klingons and, even later, converted some into variants.

The Romulans only converted a few of their D6–class ships to this Commando variant. It was based on the Klingon D6G cruiser. The B–refit was almost always added during this conversion.

Background information

• Specifications from Star Trek: Origins

External link

• D6 class article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.