V-8/VAS’HATHAM CLASS SCOUT

The primary (and only known) starship design in use by the Romulan Imperial Navy during

the first half of the 23rd Century, the V-8/Vas’Hatham class remains largely an enigma

thanks to the Romulans secretive nature and their infamous use of cloaking technology dur-

ing this era.

Following the end of the Earth-Romulan War in 2160—where the Romulans were forced to

sue for peace following their overwhelming defeat at the Battle of Cheron—the empire en-

tered a period of self imposed isolation which would last for nearly a century. It is estimated

that the design & construction of the V-8 began sometime between 2245-2250, with the

class entering service around 2253 and being produced in substantive quantity by 2260 at

the latest.

The design itself was fairly basic; comprised of a single, horseshoe-shaped hull section, with

warp nacelles mounted on wings that extended out, above the hull to port and starboard.

The single plasma torpedo launcher was mounted forward along the vessel’s centerline

while the impulse drive occupied the same position at the aft.

The first encounter of these ships by any outside power was made in 2266 when the Romu-

lan Guard decided to test the resolve of the Federation Starfleet—though there have been

rumors that at least one V-8 was lost in the vicinity of the Taurus Reach, near Federation

Starbase 47 sometime prior to that.

In the encounter, the bird of prey Gal Gath’thong breached the Neutral Zone and de-

stroyed 4 Starfleet Monitoring Stations with her powerful plasma torpedoes, before being

tracked down and subsequently destroyed by the Starship Enterprise.

The results of that battle, known as the Battle of Icarus IV, were heavily in Starfleet’s favor—

hardly a surprise to some in the Navy’s upper echelons who had been pushing for more ad-

vanced, well armed designs.

The chief drawback of the V-8 as it was, was that it was simply too underpowered. The ex-

ceedingly high power draw of the sophisticated, yet primitive cloaking system precluded

the use of the warp drive while the cloak was engaged—a severe tactical deficiency. The

situation with the plasma torpedo launcher was much the same. While capable of inflict-

ing heavy damage, it was still primitive—as proven by it’s high power costs, necessitating a

ship slow to sublight speeds and decloak if necessary, before firing.

The class itself continued in service from this point forward, but in a reduced capacity—as

the Navy was beginning to produce its V-10/Nightwing class Battlecruiser (an indigenous

spin-off of the Klingon D-6/Raxor) in numbers. Examples in service were presumably backfit-

ted with the improved cloaking system developed and deployed by 2268.

According to intelligence gathered in the early stages of Starfleet’s Project Grey Ghost,

these ships were consigned to general support duty in the Empire’s interior beginning in

2270, with a limited number used for border patrol and scouting operations. All remaining

ships of this type were withdrawn from service by 2284.

Class

Classification

Service

Number Active

Length

Beam

Height

Decks

Mass

Compliment

V-8/Vas’Hatham

Scout

2253-84 (est.)

0

192m

180m

51m

5

200,000 metric tons

150

Armament

Defense Systems

1 Plasma Torpedo Launcher

Standard Deflector Shield System, total capacity 40,500 TerraJoules

Light Monotanium Single Hull

Bibliography Logo—Kristian “Reverend” Trigwell (Gallery @ Star Trek Minutiae)

Schematic—Ex Astris Scientia

Blueprints—Michael McMaster

Visuals—Neutral Zone Starship Database