Vulcan Ship Classes

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Known ships

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General description

Known ships

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Class specifications

General description

Known ships

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1. While there is no evidence in "Star Trek: First Contact" itself, the secondary literature (namely ST Magazine and Fact Files) makes it clear that it is the entire starship that lands on Earth, and not a shuttle or dedicated landing module. The name T'Plana Hath wasn't mentioned in the movie either, but only in the script.
2. Well, the design with its many movable parts and the incredibly complicated procedure of just opening the door doesn't seem to be very logical...
3. An engine of the T'Plana Hath can be seen in the wreckage inside the graviton ellipse in VOY: "One Small Step" (in the 24th century, as well as in the 21st century flashbacks).
4. The T'Plana Hath appears as an Easter egg aboard the Narada in "Star Trek (2009)" and presumably also among the shuttles on Vulcan. I don't take these appearances too seriously, unlike yet another one on Vulcan in DIS: "Lethe", which has a separate entry.

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1. The D'Kyr may be of the yet unseen Maymora class, but this is only speculation.
2. It is noteworthy that the Tal'Kir of the D'Kyr type from ENT: "Future Tense" is explicitly called "combat cruiser", just as the Sh'Ran of about the same size shown in "Fallen Hero". But unlike we previously speculated, the Sh'Ran probably wasn't just a stand-in for the not yet finished D'Kyr type but was built especially for "Fallen Hero".
3. The crew complement is stated by T'Pol in "Impulse".
4. We can see the D'Kyr type with an inclined engine hoop in ENT: "Future Tense", "Impulse", "Bounty" and "The Awakening". In the first two episodes this may be because of the battle damage. Still, it points to a hinge between the outer and the (inner) engine ring that the inner ring doesn't simply fall off when the ship is heavily damaged. In "Bounty" the inner ring is completely horizontal and submerged. We can safely say that the inner ring is not simply missing because it is glowing blue on the inside -- we know from all other appearances that the outer ring is never illuminated. Actually the ring may have been brought to horizontal position to launch the support craft (read on below). A sketch by John Eaves depicted in the German Star Trek Communicator (issue #88) corroborates this notion.
5. The D'Kyr was originally designed by John Eaves as D'Vahl ("Carbon Creek").

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1. We can see the support vessel in most appearances of the D'Kyr class, most clearly when we look at the ship from the aft, as for instance in ENT: "Cease Fire". The support craft is docked at its forward end in the center of the two rings. As a matter of fact, the three times when the engine ring of a D'Kyr type was not in vertical position, in ENT: "Future Tense", "Impulse", "Bounty" and "The Awakening", the support craft was missing too! In the latter episode we may see the support craft alone on the lower left (#3 on the screen cap), but it is barely recognizable even on the DVD caps.
2. John Eaves envisioned the support craft as a kind of rescue vessel comparable to the US Navy's DSRV.
3. Size according to Shipyards - Federation Members. 203.5m is correct, considering the support vessel has to fit into a 600m D'Kyr.

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1. The ship's interior was visible in ENT: "The Seventh". We can identify it from outside, as it is the only vessel besides the NX-01 shuttlepod that does not lift off after the fire has broken out in the station. Find the analysis of all vessels on the page on unknown ships.
2. Menos's ship is essentially the same design as the Klingon "rebel" ship from ENT: "Judgment", without the nacelles, with a cockpit window and with a door instead of the round docking port.

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1. The CG model used for the combat cruiser Sh'Ran in ENT: "Fallen Hero" is clearly based on that of the Surak class. But it is an entirely new mesh with dissimilar proportions (most obviously not quite as elongated) and dissimilar details. Doug Drexler needed just two days for his Surak class (below). It could not be shown up close, but a high-resolution version would have taken about two weeks. Pierre Drollet later built the Sh'Ran in high resolution.
2. Isn't the Sh'Ran simply a more detailed version of the Surak, with perhaps a few detail changes, but essentially the same ship class? 3D artist Rob Bonchune on the issue: "The original model was just not up to snuff for what we needed. So it was superseded. They are theoretically the same ship, not two different classes or types." However, the many obvious changes to the model are a clear sign that it is indeed a distinct class, and the smaller windows insinuate a larger size. Aside from the visual differences the two ship types also have different roles and different top speeds. Doug Drexler: "I like to think that they are two different classes."

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1. Doug Drexler quickly built this model for use in the background: "It was my first pass concept model. Like all the concept models, it's low to medium resolution. Usually I only take 2 days to build something like that, because Herman [Zimmerman] needs it pronto for approval. A high rez version was built later by Pierre [Drollet] so that they could get close to it." This better detailed model would appear as the Sh'Ran in "Fallen Hero" (see above).
2. The Surak class is a positive surprise, because here is a starship that reconciles different design lineages instead of screwing them up even more. First of all, it helps to rationalize the SS Enterprise with its odd ring structure. Secondly, the T'Pau from TNG: "Unification" has some sort of ringed warp drive too. Thirdly, the color of the Surak is similar to the one of the T'Plana Hath. We can hardly expect more consistency of a starship design. Cordial thanks on behalf of all concerned fans! Yet, from an engineering viewpoint it is quite adventurous and little logical to connect the ring to the hull at only one point at the bottom. Enormous lever forces would act upon the ship which could have been significantly lowered just adding a few tiny spokes. A preliminary version by Doug Drexler had additional struts, but they were removed on the final model.
3. The Surak class first appeared as the science ship Ti'Mur in ENT: "Breaking the Ice", then as the Ni'Var in "Shadows of P'Jem". The color was switched from red to brown between the Ti'Mur and the otherwise identical Ni'Var, in addition the lighting of these two ships is not quite the same. In the HD release the color difference appears to be smaller, although the visual effects were just upscaled.
4. The Surak class is depicted upside down in Daniels's files in ENT: "Future Tense". I assume this is accidental and not yet another ship class (some other vessels on that display are upside down too, if I recall correctly).
5. The class name of the Ti'Mur may have been supposed to be "Suurok" as in the close-captioning of the episode "Breaking the Ice", and the Fact Files confirms that. On the other hand, a more prominent article about the ship in Star Trek: The Magazine makes it clear that the name was indeed supposed to be "Surak". This class name is no problem, if it remains an exclusively Vulcan design, as opposed to the later Surak class of Starfleet. I take it that "Suurok" is simply a tentative spelling or something alien-looking made up based on the pronunciation in the episode because a part of the script was accidentally not available. The latest suggestion about the name comes from the Japanese Fact Files, where there are suddenly two classes, the science ship Suurok and the combat cruiser Surak. The author obviously turned the name dispute into an advantage. Yet, it seems idiotic that the two classes would have names that sound the same, even if there may be a slight difference in the original Vulcan pronunciation.

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1. The ship type with its characteristic crescent-shaped warp engines first shows up as the civilian ship Vahklas, not under control of the Vulcan High Command, in ENT: "Fusion". T'Pol is a bit surprised and says that "this class of vessel hasn't been used for a long time". The ship is somewhat shorter than Enterprise's saucer, giving us an overall length of about 110m.
2. Two years later, the High Command seems to have pulled some of these vessels off the mothballs for low-grade duty, as we see them in the Vulcan trilogy in ENT: "Awakening" and "Kir'Shara". I previously believed there were some modifications to the CGI model, but it is the same that was in "Fusion". Two of these small vessels appear together with one ship of the D'Kyr type to attack Enterprise in Vulcan's orbit. They are considerably smaller than the D'Kyr. A vessel of this type is also part of the "welcome fleet" in "Storm Front".

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