USS Defiant
The Defiant-class escort vessel is one of the most powerful vessels
in Starfleet. Originally developed to fight the Borg, her powerful weapons
technology has been turned against the Dominion.
The reason for her boxy, compact shape has to do with the design team
being told to produce a small, tough, easy to build vessel packing the
maximum level of firepower possible.
Several new revolutionary technologies were incorporated into her design
from the beginning, such as the pulse phaser cannon and quantum torpedoes.
To help resist Borg attacks, the Defiant was equipped with a then-revolutionary
auto-modulating shield system and ablative armor.
She was still in the shipyards being built when the Borg first attacked Earth in mid-2367.
Luckily, the Borg Cube was destroyed in Earth orbit by the Enterprise-D.
Unfortunately for the class, several design faults cropped up during her initial tests.
More specifically, the ship was over-powered and over-gunned for her size, and she
nearly tore herself apart during her initial trials. With the Borg threat now less urgent,
the Federation President ordered the Defiant project shelved.
However, in 2370, the USS Odyssey was destroyed in a disastrous encounter with the
Dominion. To counter the threat of the Dominion, Commander Benjamin Sisko of DS9
requested that the Defiant be assigned to contact the Dominion leaders. For that mission,
the Defiant was outfitted with a Romulan cloaking device, under a special agreement made
with the Romulan Star Empire.
That first mission was a disastrous failure, with the Defiant being captured. However, over
the next few months, her reputation was redeemed, and she earned a fearsome reputation
among the Dominion for her ability to "pop Dominion Attack Ships like a lightbulb"
Recently, the prototype quantums carried were replaced with the new version, which offered
improved reliability and warhead yield.
Unfortunately, the class has been limited to just two ships so far, with one, the USS Valiant
having been destroyed. This is primarily due to political limitations from the peace faction
in the Federation Council. The Defiant-class is not alone in this regard. The Sovereign-II
class has been limited to just one ship, the USS Hood because of political limitations.