History Of The Romulan Fleet
History of the Romulan Fleet: The Nest of Fire Era
Romulan space, as is well known, is rather resource poor. By 2235 the Romulan Senate began to feel the effects of this shortage, in that the fleet would soon not have enough dilithium crystals to distribute between the ships. With their ability to generate warp power quickly evaporating, the Empire needed to expand into richer territories. However, the accomplishment of this would require large ammounts of warp resources to begin with.
The solution was to institute a carrier-style concept: Why build ten warp cores for ten ships, when one warp core transporting ten ships would be more economical? The fleet was largely rebuilt around this concept, producing massive 730 meter-long carriers, along with smaller cruisers and destroyers that were only powered by simpler fusion reactors that were designed to dock onto their lightly-armed carriers. Their newly developed countermeasures system, dubbed by their development teams as cloaking devices, aided this new system well. These carrier groups, aptly named "Nests of Fire", would deploy their lethal passengers under cloak, and withdraw to a safe distance while the attack was being carried out. If there was trouble, the smaller craft could cloak to escape, and rendezvous with the carrier once it was deemed safe. Patrols would be carried out under cloak as well, with cruisers conducting their tours in systems, and would be tended to by the Nests when refueling and crew rotation was needed. For a time this system was reasonably successful in their engagements against their old foe, the Klingon Empire.
However, the Praetor knew trying to invade Klingon space would be a difficult endeavor at best, and holding territory would be a constant struggle. He turned the Senate's eye toward their less warlike neighbor, the Earthers. Besides, there was an ancient score to settle with their round-eared nemesis...
The Romulans had virtually no contact with the Humans since their Great War a century earlier. A test of resolve was required: To see how this Starfleet would respond in the face of a minor invasion. A lone Bird of Prey destroyer was dropped off in the Neutral Zone under cloak, and stole into Federation space. The seasoned Commander that was assigned to this task quickly destroyed four enemy outposts with little resistance. Only a single cruiser, the USS Enterprise, a ship that would gain much notoriety within the Empire, challenged this attack. Unlike the Klingons, however, Starfleet's scanners proved to be more reliable, and the Enterprise was able to trail the Bird of Prey back to the Neutral Zone. Although the Commander was able to evade the Federation ship long enough to reach the Neutral Zone, the Enterprise risked entering the buffer, and destroyed their quarry.
In analyzing the failure of the mission, it was realized that the Bird of Prey would have escaped after destroying the outposts if it had been able to warp out of danger. Current tactics worked well against the Klingons, who's sensors could be fooled more easily, and who's crews preferred stand-up fights rather than chasing down invisible foes. However, the disastrous incursion into Federation space forced the Senate to rethink their fleet strategies. A protracted war against an enemy that you couldn't effectively evade was one they could not afford to fight.
Although it was apparent that all combat capable ships needed warp capabilities, the Empire still had the dilithium shortage problem. What was decided was to re-tool the carrier design to no longer carry smaller ships, but to re-outfit them as combat capable craft themselves. The Romulan fleet would have far fewer ships than other navies, but these individual craft would be able to balance this with massive firepower and resilience. The first of these refitted craft would enter service in the late 2270's, and would dictate the course of Romulan ship design for over a century. The lineage of the Nest of Fire can still be seen in the design of the mammoth D'Deridex Warbirds, still in service during the 2370's.
The retooling of their facilities, however, would take many years to implement, and the Romulans needed a way to bolster their fleet in the meantime. They grudgingly offered an exchange of technologies with the Klingons, of who of course required a great deal of convincing to enter the pact. The Romulans offered their older versions of the cloaking device, along with the now defunct S-11 scout hulls to use them in. The S-11 (renamed B'Rel by the Klingons) was to be used under the old carrier doctrine, but was now considered obsolete now that those tactics were being abandoned. As a result, this Romulan hull design would never be crewed by Romulans, but would be one greatly favored by Klingon crews for generations to come.
In return, the Klingons provided complete D-7 cruisers, of which the Romulans quickly put into service as they recalled the brunt of their fleet. In some cases the earlier D-7's were sent out before the Klingon markings were even removed, only taking time to install and tune the new generation of cloaking devices on them. Proper Romulan colors would eventually be added to them, and many would also be refit with the newer plasma torpedo. Otherwise, few of the other shipboard systems were changed on this class, so their crews could take advantage of the more robust Klingon components. These ships also allowed the Romulans ample study in more advanced warp engines, and allowed a redesign from the old Vulcan style ring nacelles to the more battle-efficient inline coil arrangement. The class was renamed the V-11 'Stormbird' by their crews, in part because of the storm of controversy that the use of alien ships caused. This class would only remain in use until the mid 2280's. By then, the newer, large-scale craft had been deployed in sufficient enough numbers to allow the dilithium hungry V-11s to be retired.
TOS Romulan Page
Romulan Fleet History, Pt II