USS Defiant: Encyclopedia - USS Defiant

USS Defiant

In the Star Trek fictional universe, the USS Defiant (NX-74205), and later (NCC-75633), is the lead ship of an experimental class of starship. It was featured in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) and appeared in the feature film Star Trek: First Contact. The ship first appeared in the DS9 episode "The Search, Part I", after which it continued to play a significant role throughout the series.

This ship was reportedly named after the Constitution class starship USS Defiant (NCC-1764) from Star Trek: The Original Series.

Officially designated an escort, the Defiant was a prototype vessel for the Defiant class of warships, originally developed to counter the Borg. Following the Borg invasion of 2366–2367 the Federation approved a project committed to enhancing Starfleet's offensive and defensive military capabilities; the Defiant was to be the pathfinder for a new Federation battle fleet. After the Battle of Wolf 359, Benjamin Sisko was assigned to Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards to oversee the project.

Designed to be fast, highly maneuverable, and have extremely powerful weaponry, the ship's warp engines were almost too powerful and needed extensive modifications to keep them from tearing the ship apart. The ship was designed specifically for battle, featuring innovative pulse phaser and quantum torpedo armaments, in addition to photon torpedoes and a high-capacity deflector shield system. The Defiant was relatively spartan by Starfleet standards of the time: the ship was not designed to carry family members, had no science labs, and had a limited infirmary. The Defiant's hull consisted of ablative armor which dispersed high-intensity directed plasma or particle weapons such as phasers and disruptors.

Additionally, the Defiant was the first Starfleet ship to legally carry a cloaking device. Supplied by the Romulan government, it was initially operated by a Romulan officer serving aboard the Defiant. Primarily, the cloak was only to be used to gather intelligence in the Gamma Quadrant, but the cloaking device also ended up being used (illegally) in the Alpha Quadrant.

With a subsiding Borg threat and after failed systems tests, the project was scrapped and the prototype mothballed in 2368. However, first contact with the Jem'Hadar (the shock troops of the Dominion) in 2370 prompted the ship's relaunch in 2371, under the command of Commander Sisko and attached to station Deep Space Nine (DS9). The Defiant allowed the crew of DS9 to travel faster and farther and with far more firepower than previously possible using the Danube-class runabouts originally supplied to the station.

In 2373, the Defiant played a crucial role in the Battle of Sector 001, but was facing destruction by the Borg before the USS Enterprise-E under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard arrived and led the remaining Starfleet vessels to destroy the invading Borg cube. During the battle, the Defiant was under the command of Commander Worf and suffered severe damage, but was salvaged.

In early 2375, the Defiant was destroyed by the Breen during the invasion of the Chin'toka system. During the planning of the invasion of Cardassia some months later, a new Defiant class starship, the USS São Paulo (NCC-75633) was stationed at DS9. The São Paulo was renamed Defiant prior to the Battle of Cardassia.

USS Defiant - Design notes

The Defiant was designed by DS9 art illustrator Jim Martin. The Defiant’s addition to DS9 was intended to open up storytelling by making the show more mobile. Original designs called for a beefed-up 'runabout'-type ship, but this soon gave way to a full-fledged starship design initially called Valiant. This name was dropped out of fear that it would conflict with the series Star Trek: Voyager and its titular starship, also beginning with a "V". The name Valiant would later be ascribed to another Defiant-class ship (in the DS9 episode, "Valiant"). As well, one of the initial designs for the Defiant would much later appear, somewhat modified, in Star Trek: Voyager as the Nova-class USS Equinox (VOY: "Equinox").

There is some dispute as to what the follow-on Defiant’s registry number should actually be. Due to time constraints, the physical ship model that was filmed throughout the series was used for both the Defiant and Defiant-née-São Paulo: both new and stock footage (with registry number "NX-74205" in external shots) was used for the newer ship. There has also been controversy over the internet regarding the 'true' size of the Defiant, since various Star Trek sources (from canon, semi-canon works such as reference manuals, and fanon speculation) have provided apparently conflicting specifications.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "USS Defiant", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki