Name:
U.S.S. DefiantStatus:
Active, stationed at Deep Space Nine
PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Length : 163 meters (535 ft)
Beam : 106.7 meters (350 ft)
Draft : 30.5 meters (100 ft)
Weight : 50,000 metric tons
Hull : Ablative armor matrix (does not contain Nuetronium)
Number of decks : 6
COMPLEMENT
Total Crew Complement : 50
A Defiant-class starship is a heavily armored, limited-role Starfleet vessel developed at the Antares Fleet Yards in response to the Borg threat to the worlds of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The project was officially begun in 2366 by Starfleet's Advanced Starship Design Bureau (ASDB) under less then ideal conditions, as far as the accepted normal sequence of research, development, testing, and evaluation was concerned. Fortunately, a number of hardware innovations and design adaptations were already in the inventory and allowed for an acceptable level of reliability versus speed of systems integration and vehicle construction.
All protected internal systems that require access to the vessel exterior are equipped with articulated or jettisonable hull plates, so that most of the familiar structures are hidden from view, including shuttlebay doors, docking ports, lifeboats, impulse vents, and consumables resupply connectors. An integral set of ventral docking clamps and landing pads had been designed into Defiant for possible ditching operations as well as for recoverable planetary landings. No practical demonstration has been attempted, though simulations indicate that if the impulse and reaction control thrusters are fully operational, a successful liftoff to orbital velocity is likely.
Construction history
The USS Defiant NX-74205 was one of at least three Federation starships to bear the name, and the prototype of the Defiant-class vessel. the Defiant-class was specifically designed to counter the Borg. Soon after the first vessel was completed however, a combination of a less urgent Borg threat and several design flaws caused Starfleet to suspend the project. Benjamin Sisko became intimately involved with the project while stationed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards after the destruction of the Saratoga at Wolf 359. Early in 2371, as Federation-Dominion hostility escalated, the Defiant was taken out of storage and assigned to Deep Space 9 to protect the station from the Dominion, who had recently destroyed the USS Odyssey, a Galaxy-class starship. It was Starfleet's first true warship and had no provision for families or diplomatic missions, no science labs, no holodecks, or any of the other comforts of home. It was a heavily armored, stripped-down vessel that was created as a first strike vehicle for use in war, and incorporated the latest in Starfleet weaponry and defensive technology. As befitted its role, the U.S.S. Defiant was considerably smaller than most Federation starships. It had a normal operational crew of 40 people, but could accommodate up to 192 in emergencies. Work on the Defiant project began in 2366 after Starfleet was alerted to the threat of a Borg invasion. The ship also was granted special dispensation to carry a Romulan cloaking device. The Romulans loaned and allowed the limited supervised use of the cloaking device in the Gamma Quadrant only. In return, the Federation would provide the Romulans any and all intelligence data collected in the Gamma Quadrant about the Dominion.
Once the Defiant prototype had proven itself, Starfleet took the decision to put the Defiant-class into production. By the end of 2373, there were a significant number of Defiant-class ships in operation, and over the next two years they played a vital role in the Dominion war.
USS DEFIANT