Ronin class

Starship Classes
Starfleet Explorers Cruisers Frigates Escorts Scouts Support Vessels Shuttlecraft Federation Romulan Romulan Star Navy examples Klingon Battleships Warships Cruisers Frigates Fast Attack Ships Destroyers Escorts Scouts Specialized Support/Auxiliary Cardassian Edit this nav

• Class and Type: Ronin-class Explorer
• Commissioning Date: 2378

The Ronin-class was fielded in the 2370's to provide a smaller, more numerous counterpart to the Sovereign-class. Whereas the similarly designed Kelvin-class was better armed and more geared towards exploration, the Ronin was designed with more of a scientific bent. The design was intended to parallel that of the Sovereign-class as closely as possible in order to allow for many identical systems to be installed in both classes; this has resulted in significant improvements in the design and construction processes for the Ronin-class and thus allowed comparatively high numbers to be fielded. Compared to the Sovereign-class, the Ronin has a more compact shape - the engineering hull is integrated directly to the saucer section, a measure which saves some 200 square meters of interior volume and materials.

The major difference in capability is the addition of a prominent housing aft of the saucer section of the Ronin-class. This enables the vessel to carry any one of a variety of special equipment pods - current models include a high capacity sensor pod, an enhanced weapons pod, a colony transport pod, an emergency field hospital unit, or a science laboratory pod. Although the basic Ronin design has approximately 80% of the capability of a Sovereign-class vessel in most areas, the addition of the mission pod brings that figure up to 95% or more in that specific area. This flexibility actually allows the Ronin design to accomplish almost identical missions despite its smaller size.

In service the Ronin-class has proved highly satisfactory, and in many ways these ships are a fully satisfactory replacement for the Nebula-class that forms the backbone of Starfleet's exploratory and scientific programs. Like the Sovereign-class they have received regular upgrades to their systems, most notably a new warp core design. With the advent of the threats from the Romulans, Dominion and Borg, in a standard issue weapons pod. the pod carries eight standard torpedo tubes and a stock of 300 casings, approximately doubling the ships overall rate of fire.

Noteworthy Vessels/service records/encounters:

• USS Ronin: NCC-, prototype;
• USS Morningstar: NCC-81269;
• USS Dominance
• USS Enigma
• USS Hobbes
• USS Samurai
• USS Tiber
• USS Discovery-B: NCC-31929-B;

---

Information provided courtesy of Star Trek:Miranda