QeylIS BetleH class

The QeylIS betleH class (English: Sword of Kahless) was a Klingon battleship class used by the Klingon Defense Force in the late 23rd century.

In 2293, there were only two ships of this class in service, one of which was the flagship of the Klingon Empire. There production caused much outrage among the members of the Klingon High Council who felt that that the ships were too costly to produce, especially in the light of the loss of one of these units in the Third Battle of Hydrax in 2289. (RIS Bouteina: "Monster-in-a-Box")

They were large bulky designs which consisted of six warp nacelles. They also possessed a heavy assault phaser that was capable of breaking the shields of starbases and heavily fortified locations. This weapon had a slow recharge rate, requiring 30 seconds before each weapon burst. Furthermore, a feedback can be implemented to increase the weapons damage potential. Despite its strong firepower and defences, it was very slow due to the space devoted to the ships weapon array. This made attacks on the ships near suicidal to enemy commanders, especially at the bow of the craft. (TOS video game: Klingon Academy)

The lead ship of that class was built at the Vekah Shipyards in orbit over Qo'noS. There has been no serious attempt to calculate the cost overruns that resulted from an unending succession of design changes, errors, experiments and "disciplinary actions". Much to the Klingon Empire's chagrin, the QeylIS BetleH was known as "the battlenaught". The construction of this ship began in 2273. (RIS Bouteina: "Limit at Minus Infinity")

In an alternate timeline caused by the Q Continuum, the Romulans have gotten an empty ship of that class, named ChR Ficuda. However, in the "prime" timeline, they never received any. (RIS Bouteina: "Limit at Plus Infinity")

Also, the "super battleship" version, codenamed B11 by the Romulan Guard, was launched in 2298, as IKS NobwI' Heghna'. (RIS Bouteina: "The Day Where Students Have Stopped Calculating")

Star Fleet Battles

The Klingon Empire was the first to build a battleship, and they were the only empire to deploy multiple battleships at the same time. The cost to build these ships was so great that it nearly bankrupted the Empire. The original construction estimate was four to five years to complete. It eventually took over 15 years to complete the first unit.

In an effort to have the largest battleship in the galaxy while continuing to drive their bankers crazy, the KDF commissioned and built the largest warship ever. A slight improvement over the basic QeylIS BetleH in terms of weapons and shields, it put an upper limit on the size of starships.

While it was doubtful that the Klingons could have spared a QeylIS BetleH battleship hull for the Romulans to convert, the Romulans prepared the conversion plans. The Klingons did sign a contract to deliver a QeylIS BetleH hull, but it was never fulfilled.

Note: In Star Fleet Battles, the QeylIS BetleH class was referred to as the B10 but the video game Klingon Academy lists it as QeylIS BetleH, which serves as the canonical name in RIS Bouteina.

External link

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