USS Defiant, NX-74205
| USS Defiant, NX-74205 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Defiant-class |
| Registry | NX-74205 |
| Affiliation | Federation/Star Fleet |
| Status | Destroyed (2375) |
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.
Designed in 2366, the Defiant was the first of what was to be a new class of heavily-armed Federation starships. Later, the ship would hold the reputation of being one of the most heavily-armed vessels in the entire Alpha Quadrant. Officially designated as an escort vessel, the Defiant (and 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, as well as several design flaws, caused Star Fleet to suspend the project.
Benjamin Sisko became intimately involved with the project while stationed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. As Federation-Dominion hostility escalated in 2371, the Defiant was taken out of storage and assigned to Deep Space 9, in order to protect the station from the Dominion.
Along with other class-specific abilities, the Defiant was granted special dispensation to carry a Romulan cloaking device. The Romulans had loaned (under limited supervision) the cloaking device, to be used only in the Gamma Quadrant. In return, the Federation would provide the Romulans any and all intelligence collected in the Gamma Quadrant regarding the Dominion.
The Defiant was destroyed in 2375, during the Second Battle of Chin'toka.
Contents
Service History
Daily Missions
- Soon after its arrival at DS9, the Defiant entered the Gamma Quadrant on a mission to open negotiations with the Founders of the Dominion.
The Jem'Hadar attacked, and boarded the ship. The senior officers were taken to the Founders' homeworld, and placed into a simulation.
Odo and Major Kira Nerys search for and found the crew, and the Founders allowed them to return home.
- In one instance, the ship was stolen by members of the Maquis, who used it to attack several Cardassian targets.
Major Kira then took the Defiant to the Cardassian Demilitarized Zone to rendezvous with another Federation starship to transfer the remainder of the Maquis for arrest.
- The Defiant later followed a rebel Jem'Hadar strike team that had attacked DS9 into the Gamma Quadrant.
After rescuing more Jem'Hadar from the rebels, the two crews worked together to destroy an Iconian gateway that the rogue Jem'Hadar had captured.
- Several weeks later, the Defiant destroyed a runabout that had been stolen by a Founder and equipped with a bomb that was to be detonated in the Bajoran sun, thus destroying the entire system.
- When Deep Space 5 detected a Borg cube on a direct course for Earth, the Defiant, under the command of Worf, joined a Star Fleet task force to stop the cube.
Worf was about to order a suicide run against the cube but the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-E arrived.
The Defiant was repaired and returned to Deep Space 9.
- In late 2373, the Defiant was used to deploy a minefield near the Bajoran Wormhole to stop more Dominion ships from entering the Alpha Quadrant.
After a Dominion attack and takeover of Deep Space 9, the Defiant evacuated all Federation citizens from the station.
Scientific Missions
As Star Fleet's first dedicated warship, the Defiant had no on-board science facilities.
Nevertheless, it was occasionally used for scientific investigations as well.
In 2372, the ship was assigned to help a Professor from the Trill Science Ministry in creating an artificial wormhole.
The attempt was successful, but the wormhole only existed for a few seconds before it destabilized, damaging the ship.
Two years later, Star Fleet sent the ship to investigate a recently discovered phenomenon, a subspace compression anomaly.
The Dominion War
The Defiant fought valiantly throughout the Federation/Dominion War, participating in the majority of its battles.
- In early 2374, the Defiant was assigned to operate out of Starbase 375. Jadzia Dax was given command of the Defiant, and commanded the ship on a mission to destroy a Dominion sensor array.
- The ship was used in Operation Return to reclaim DS9, and stop the Dominion from dismantling the minefield, bringing in reinforcements from the Gamma Quadrant. After failing to stop the Dominion from destroying the minefield, the Defiant entered the wormhole in a vain attempt to stop the Dominion reinforcements. Captain Sisko convinced the Prophets to intervene, and they destroyed the Dominion ships, also making the wormhole impassable to any further Dominion invasions.
- The Defiant participated in the First Battle of Chin'toka. The ship located and destroyed the power source for the orbital weapon platforms, thus helping the Federation Alliance to conquer the system.
- The Defiant's short but illustrious life ended during the Second Battle of Chin'toka, when the ship was disabled by the Breen energy dissipator, and subsequently destroyed by Dominion weapons.
- The USS Sao Paulo, NCC 75633 was renamed in honor of the Defiant, and it fought in the final battle of the Dominion War, the Battle of Cardassia.
Unique Characteristics
Ablative Armor
Equipped with an ablative armor coating, designed to disintegrate under enemy fire at a controlled rate. It dissipates the effects of directed energy weapons, decreasing damage to the main hull of the ship, and therefore providing an extra layer of defense. As late as 2372, Defiant-class vessels weren't commonly equipped with this type of technology.
Cloaking Device
A special amendment to the Treaty of Algeron allowed the Defiant to be fitted with a Romulan cloaking device. The Romulans loaned, under limited supervised use, at least one cloaking device. Operation of the cloaking device was to be limited to the Gamma Quadrant. In return, the Federation would provide the Romulans any and all intelligence collected in the Gamma Quadrant and about the Dominion. Though dissatisfied with the intelligence that was brought back, the Romulans allowed the cloaking device to remain on the vessel. The Defiant was the only Federation vessel to be seen regularly operating a cloaking device.
