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Romulan design philosophy has long relied on visually impressive starships and intimidating size as weapons in the arsenals of their fleet. Although the tradition of incorporating a "Bird of Prey" in the hull (a practice dating back to the 2150's or earlier), such markings had little effect on the enemies which the Empire faced in the late 24th century -- most notably the Jem'Hadar. Although the D'deridex-class Warbird was effective in its occasional encounters with the Federation and the Klingons, it found itself at a severe disadvantage once the Romulans joined the Dominion War in late 2374. Outclassed in terms of weaponry, hindered by its massive, underpowered bulk, the D'deridex proved to be too inflexible for all-out interstellar combat.
The Romulan High Command realized these shortcomings almost immediately after its entrance into the war, and Praetor Neral quickly ordered the construction of a new class of warbird using the most advanced technologies available to the Empire. Despite a rushed design process and a breakneck construction pace, the new Valdore-class launched too late to see any action in the Dominion War; indeed, the first ships were not launched until two years after the end of the war, in 2377.
As the new pride of the Romulan fleet, the Valdores were a key piece in the political turmoil when Reman soldier Shinzon seized control of the government in 2379. When loyalist and reactionary members of the Romulan fleet engaged Shinzon's flagship, the Scimitar, the Valdore's reputation was permanently tarred. Fighting alongside Starfleet's latest in advanced hardware, the Sovereign-class USS Enterprise-E, the two Valdore-class warbirds were both disabled within minutes after entering combat, while the Enterprise was able to maintain in continuous, single combat for nearly 20 minutes, sustaining massive hull damage yet still remaining operational.
In the aftermath of this embarrassment, the High Command went into a panic. With their best warships utterly outperformed, they went back to the drawing board, eventually developing the D'vorx-class warbird. The existing Valdores in service were relegated to low-priority missions and all production halted. Today, only a small handful remain in service, and are a relatively rare sight.
Type: Heavy Cruiser
Dimensions: Length, 603.57 meters; Beam, 908.32 meters; Draft, 113.10
meters; Decks, 24
Mass: 3,905,000 metric tons
Accommodation: 83 officers; 782 enlisted; 4,700 troops
Power Plant: One 4,500+ Cochrane artificial quantum singularity feeding
two nacelles; 8 Type-III impulse fusion powerplants
Performance: 6,800 m/s^2 (sublight); Warp 7 (cruise); Warp 9
(maximum); Warp 9.4 for 24 hours (burst)
Armament: 4 Class-VII heavy disruptor cannons (fwd, fixed); 12 Class-VI
disruptor cannons; 6 single-fire torpedo launchers; 1 plasma torpedo
turret; 900 photon torpedoes; 20 plasma torpedoes
Defenses: Standard shields (4.4 exajoules); Duranium hull armor (23 centimeters); Standard cloaking device
Source: Star Trek: Renaissance "Appendix B: Allied and Threat Force Spacecraft"
