USS Argo Starship Library

Design Overview

The Defiant class was born in one of the darkest hours of Federation history, initiated in 2365 as a crash program to develop a starship capable of fighting and defeating the Borg. The general concept was to introduce a small, tough, easy-to-build vessel that was nonetheless packed with the most advanced weaponry that Starfleet had access to, including quantum torpedo launchers and a phaser pulse cannon devised specifically for the class. Such a level of urgency was placed on the design that the prototype had already entered early stages of production when a Borg cube attempted to assimilate Earth a year later.
Much has been said about the craft that finally emerged from the docks of Antares Fleet Yards, but it is certainly accurate to say that the Defiant was unlike anything ever contemplated by the Federation before. Designed with simplicity and ease of construction in mind, the ship was a compact, boxy design that her first test captain described as "about the ugliest starship I'd ever seen". But regardless of the ship's appearance, it certainly delivered on the requirements of its design; the Defiant was one of the most heavily armed vessels in Starfleet at its launch, despite also being one of the smallest. As evidence of the amount of firepower packed into the design, a warp core large enough to power a Galaxy-class starship had to be mounted mounted on the spaceframe, which was barely four decks deep. (The core was in fact so powerful that a forcefield had to be erected around it for safety and environmental purposes, as the exterior surface became extremely hot to the touch while it was in operation.)
For armament, the Defiant became the first Federation starship to mount quantum torpedoes, having two launchers flanking the main deflector that are capable of firing both quantum and photon torpedoes. The four pulse phaser cannons are divided between the ship's warp nacelles, receiving their power directly from the plasma feed, a method that tends to burn out the phaser coils quite rapidly and makes conventional beam-firing impossible, but provides a tremendous increase in overall weapon intensity over the Type-X that was at the time Starfleet's most powerful ship-mounted array. The ship also mounted a single aft torpedo tube, and a type-X phaser array encircling the bridge.
As the Defiant proceeded through test operations, serious faults began to surface in the design. Most were related to the sheer amount of power and weaponry that had been packed onto the vessel, and the problems were not altogether unanticipated. However, the severity of the difficulties became a serious concern, especially problems with structural integrity during warp flight and tight maneuvers; the Defiant's engines seemed to be simply too powerful for the hull they had been mounted on. On many occasions during combat trials, the ship had to be completely powered down because she was in imminent danger of shaking herself apart. With the Borg threat now less urgent, the Defiant project was shelved in favor of the new Sovereign class which was then under construction.
In 2370, the USS Odyssey was destroyed in a disastrous first encounter with the Dominion. Commander Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space Nine, former commander of Utopia Planitia during Starfleets' efforts to rebuild the fleet after the Borg incursion, requested that the Defiant be reactivated for a mission to contact the Dominion's mysterious leaders. After receiving approval from the Federation Council, the ship was brought online once again and crash-retrofitted with the help of a number of design experts, including a group of Romulan engineers who had considerably more experience with gunship-type vessels such as the Defiant than their Starfleet counterparts. The Romulans also supplied Commander Sisko with a cloaking device in order to facilitate his mission, in return for Starfleet sharing any intelligence it gained in the Gamma Quadrant.
On that first mission, the Defiant was quickly overpowered and captured by the Dominion; but she nonetheless proved her worth as a combat vessel over the next few months. The field engineering team under Chief Petty Officer Miles O'Brien managed to overcome — or at least minimize &mdash her most damning design shortcomings by re-calibrating and reinforcing the Structural Integrity Field and heavily modifying the ship's drive assembly. Although certainly not a particularly fast ship by Starfleet standards, Defiant is far more maneuverable than any vessel of comparable size at both warp and impulse speeds. This, combined with her inherent toughness and extraordinary firepower, makes the ship a formidable fighting force.
Despite this, Starfleet has had a difficult time getting approval to put the ship into series production, both due to the design's perception as a failure and political trepidation within the government over fielding a dedicated warship. However, with the outbreak of open hostilities first with the Klingons and then the Dominion, these obstacles were finally overcome and the Defiant-class entered full-scale production in 2373. The class proved extremely effective in the Dominion War, and remain in limited production for use as area defense craft now that peace has been restored. (Ironically, however, the remarkable store of firepower that had been included on the Defiant did not prove exceptionally effective against its originally intended target when the ship fought in the second Borg incursion in 2373; although the craft was successfully salvaged after being disabled over Earth.)

General Information

Category Unit Run Time Between Resupply Time Between Refit Expected Service Lifetime

Escort Vessel 56 (39 in service) 1 Terran Month 6 Terran Months 20 Terran Years

Dimensions

Length Beam Depth Mass Crew Capacity

120 m 70.5 m 14 m 120,000 metric tons 75

Crew Compliment (Standard)

Officers Enlisted Crew Marines Civilians Total

15 35 8 0 58

Armament

Four Type-U Pulse Phaser Emitteres -- maximum output 50,500 TW

One Type-X Phaser Bank -- maximum output 20,500 TW

Three torpedo launchers (2 forward, 1 aft)

+180 torpedoes (100 quantum Mk-I, 50 photon MK-VI, 20 Hellfire Mk-I, 10 tricobalt devices)

Defensive Systems

Auto-modulated high-capacity deflector shield, total capacity 2,376,000 TJ
Heavy Duranium/Tritanium double hull + 20 cm ablative armor
high-level structural integrity field

Warp Systems

Standard Core Output Maximum Core Output Maximum Cruise Speed Maximum Safe Speed Maximum Speed

10.61 x 10⁶ TW (Cruise Mode) 8.74 x 10¹⁴ TW Warp 8.70 Warp 9.00 (24 hrs.) Warp 9.55 (3 hrs.)

Impulse Systems

Primary Fusion Output Secondary Fusion Output Impulse Engine Output Impulse Engine Tolerance Maximum Accelleration

5.1 EJ/hr 2.4 EJ/hr 7.210 MeV/sec 10.047 MeV/sec 885,000 m/sec^-2

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Design Overview
The Defiant class was born in one of the darkest hours of Federation history, initiated in 2365 as a crash program to develop a starship capable of fighting and defeating the Borg. The general concept was to introduce a small, tough, easy-to-build vessel that was nonetheless packed with the most advanced weaponry that Starfleet had access to, including quantum torpedo launchers and a phaser pulse cannon devised specifically for the class. Such a level of urgency was placed on the design that the prototype had already entered early stages of production when a Borg cube attempted to assimilate Earth a year later. Much has been said about the craft that finally emerged from the docks of Antares Fleet Yards, but it is certainly accurate to say that the Defiant was unlike anything ever contemplated by the Federation before. Designed with simplicity and ease of construction in mind, the ship was a compact, boxy design that her first test captain described as "about the ugliest starship I'd ever seen". But regardless of the ship's appearance, it certainly delivered on the requirements of its design; the Defiant was one of the most heavily armed vessels in Starfleet at its launch, despite also being one of the smallest. As evidence of the amount of firepower packed into the design, a warp core large enough to power a Galaxy-class starship had to be mounted mounted on the spaceframe, which was barely four decks deep. (The core was in fact so powerful that a forcefield had to be erected around it for safety and environmental purposes, as the exterior surface became extremely hot to the touch while it was in operation.) For armament, the Defiant became the first Federation starship to mount quantum torpedoes, having two launchers flanking the main deflector that are capable of firing both quantum and photon torpedoes. The four pulse phaser cannons are divided between the ship's warp nacelles, receiving their power directly from the plasma feed, a method that tends to burn out the phaser coils quite rapidly and makes conventional beam-firing impossible, but provides a tremendous increase in overall weapon intensity over the Type-X that was at the time Starfleet's most powerful ship-mounted array. The ship also mounted a single aft torpedo tube, and a type-X phaser array encircling the bridge. As the Defiant proceeded through test operations, serious faults began to surface in the design. Most were related to the sheer amount of power and weaponry that had been packed onto the vessel, and the problems were not altogether unanticipated. However, the severity of the difficulties became a serious concern, especially problems with structural integrity during warp flight and tight maneuvers; the Defiant's engines seemed to be simply too powerful for the hull they had been mounted on. On many occasions during combat trials, the ship had to be completely powered down because she was in imminent danger of shaking herself apart. With the Borg threat now less urgent, the Defiant project was shelved in favor of the new Sovereign class which was then under construction. In 2370, the USS Odyssey was destroyed in a disastrous first encounter with the Dominion. Commander Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space Nine, former commander of Utopia Planitia during Starfleets' efforts to rebuild the fleet after the Borg incursion, requested that the Defiant be reactivated for a mission to contact the Dominion's mysterious leaders. After receiving approval from the Federation Council, the ship was brought online once again and crash-retrofitted with the help of a number of design experts, including a group of Romulan engineers who had considerably more experience with gunship-type vessels such as the Defiant than their Starfleet counterparts. The Romulans also supplied Commander Sisko with a cloaking device in order to facilitate his mission, in return for Starfleet sharing any intelligence it gained in the Gamma Quadrant. On that first mission, the Defiant was quickly overpowered and captured by the Dominion; but she nonetheless proved her worth as a combat vessel over the next few months. The field engineering team under Chief Petty Officer Miles O'Brien managed to overcome — or at least minimize &mdash her most damning design shortcomings by re-calibrating and reinforcing the Structural Integrity Field and heavily modifying the ship's drive assembly. Although certainly not a particularly fast ship by Starfleet standards, Defiant is far more maneuverable than any vessel of comparable size at both warp and impulse speeds. This, combined with her inherent toughness and extraordinary firepower, makes the ship a formidable fighting force. Despite this, Starfleet has had a difficult time getting approval to put the ship into series production, both due to the design's perception as a failure and political trepidation within the government over fielding a dedicated warship. However, with the outbreak of open hostilities first with the Klingons and then the Dominion, these obstacles were finally overcome and the Defiant-class entered full-scale production in 2373. The class proved extremely effective in the Dominion War, and remain in limited production for use as area defense craft now that peace has been restored. (Ironically, however, the remarkable store of firepower that had been included on the Defiant did not prove exceptionally effective against its originally intended target when the ship fought in the second Borg incursion in 2373; although the craft was successfully salvaged after being disabled over Earth.)



General Information
Category	Unit Run	Time Between Resupply	Time Between Refit	Expected Service Lifetime
Escort Vessel	56 (39 in service)	1 Terran Month	6 Terran Months	20 Terran Years

Dimensions
Length	Beam	Depth	Mass	Crew Capacity
120 m	70.5 m	14 m	120,000 metric tons	75

Crew Compliment (Standard)
Officers	Enlisted Crew	Marines	Civilians	Total
15	35	8	0	58

Armament
Four Type-U Pulse Phaser Emitteres -- maximum output 50,500 TW One Type-X Phaser Bank -- maximum output 20,500 TW Three torpedo launchers (2 forward, 1 aft) +180 torpedoes (100 quantum Mk-I, 50 photon MK-VI, 20 Hellfire Mk-I, 10 tricobalt devices)

Defensive Systems
Auto-modulated high-capacity deflector shield, total capacity 2,376,000 TJ Heavy Duranium/Tritanium double hull + 20 cm ablative armor high-level structural integrity field

Warp Systems
Standard Core Output	Maximum Core Output	Maximum Cruise Speed	Maximum Safe Speed	Maximum Speed
10.61 x 10⁶ TW (Cruise Mode)	8.74 x 10¹⁴ TW	Warp 8.70	Warp 9.00 (24 hrs.)	Warp 9.55 (3 hrs.)

Impulse Systems
Primary Fusion Output	Secondary Fusion Output	Impulse Engine Output	Impulse Engine Tolerance	Maximum Accelleration
5.1 EJ/hr	2.4 EJ/hr	7.210 MeV/sec	10.047 MeV/sec	885,000 m/sec^-2

Defiant Class Design Specifications