IKS Rotarran The IKS " Rotarran " was a Klingon Bird - of - Prey that was in service with the Klingon Defense Force in the late 24th century . The " Rotarran " served with distinction during the Dominion War , with General Martok using the vessel as his flagship . Service on the Cardassian border . During the Klingon - Cardassian War that began in 2372 , the " Rotarran " spent two years as part of the occupation force patrolling against the Cardassian fleet . ( ) In mid - 2373 , the " Rotarran " was forced to retreat along with the rest of the Klingon fleet when the Cardassian Union joined the Dominion . ( ) Following that event , the " Rotarran " suffered half a dozen defeats in combat with the Jem ' Hadar . Heavy casualties mounted as this continued over a period of seven months . In one instance , a Cardassian ship was trapped between the " Rotarran " and an asteroid field . The Cardassians ' power was failing , they had no other reinforcements nearby , and the " Rotarran " s weapons were fully charged . Suddenly , three Jem ' Hadar ships appeared out of the asteroid field , and the " Rotarran " was denied the kill . Because of this and many other similar encounters , the crew came to believe that the " Rotarran " was a cursed ship , and all aboard were dishonored . ( ) Martok ' s captaincy of the " Rotarran " . In late - 2373 , General Martok was assigned command of the " Rotarran " by the Klingon High Council and dispatched to locate the missing . Joining him as his first officer was Lieutenant Commander Worf and Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax as science officer . Both were serving on detached duty from Starfleet at the time . Plotting course for the last known position of the " B ' Moth " , the " Rotarran " was forced to circumnavigate the Tong Beak Nebula in order to avoid the Jem ' Hadar . Martok ' s wish to avoid a fight struck a sour chord with his weary crew . On the way , Martok reviewed his crew ' s personnel reports , which included remarks such as : " Dishonorable conduct , " " lack of respect , " " dereliction of duty , " " inattention to orders , " " unmotivated , " and " insufficiently aggressive . " This did not go over well with Martok nor Worf , Martok likening the report to a prison record . Together they vowed to restore honor to the " Rotarran " and make it a ship worthy of the Empire . Mid - route , the " Rotarran " detected a Jem ' Hadar attack ship on a reconnaissance mission outside of Cardassian space , performing active polaron scan s of the sector . Despite the tactical advantage the cloak ed and armed " Rotarran " had over the attack ship , Martok opted to avoid a conflict and continue to pursue their mission of locating the " B ' Moth " . Frustration from this missed opportunity , combined with three barrels of bloodwine , finally made things come to a head on the " Rotarran " . Upon reaching the Cardassian border , the " B ' Moth " was discovered 500 , 000 kellicam s inside Cardassian territory . Martok , who had explicit orders from the High Council not to enter Cardassian territory , was unwilling to cross the border to rescue a crew that may or may not be alive at all . This struck a major chord with Martok ' s crew , which nearly led to mutiny . Moments later , a Jem ' Hadar warship entered sensor range , which the " Rotarran " defeated . Afterward , the " Rotarran " successfully rescued thirty - five survivors from the " B ' Moth " . Upon their return , the High Council issued a commendation to the entire crew of the " Rotarran " . Despite crossing the border against orders , the Council viewed the destruction of a Jem ' Hadar ship and the rescue of thirty - five warriors as ample justification for crossing the Cardassian border . ( ) Martok continued to maintain the " Rotarran " as his flagship , and also continued using it for patrolling the Cardassian border . ( ) Prior to the Second Battle of Deep Space 9 , the " Rotarran " served as a lookout for the incoming Dominion - Cardassian fleet . Upon its return to Deep Space 9 , the " Rotarran " took up a defensive position near the , which was mining the entrance to the Bajoran wormhole , and engaged several Jem ' Hadar warships . Following the battle , Worf was once again assigned to the " Rotarran " . ( ) Service during the Dominion War . Duty with the Second Fleet . Following the Second Battle of Deep Space 9 , the " Rotarran " and the " Defiant " joined the Second Fleet . After three months of defeat by the Dominion , the " Rotarran " , with the remains of the Second Fleet , was forced to return back behind Federation lines in early - 2374 . ( ) The " Rotarran " later rescued Captain Benjamin Sisko and his crew from a planet in an uncharted dark matter nebula , and returned them to Starbase 375 . The " Rotarran " docked at the starbase briefly before rendezvousing with the to receive reinforcements . Although Martok requested fifteen replacements , he only received five from General Tanas . After the completion of the personnel transfer , Martok received orders to escort a convoy of Klingon cargo vessel s to Donatu V , a two - day journey . En route , Martok conducted battle drills to train the reflexes of his new crew . Following the simulation , the crew was recalled to the bridge because the ship ' s sensor s detected a Jem ' Hadar attack ship . After a frantic yet fruitless " encounter " , it was realized that Bekk Alexander Rozhenko had forgotten to erase the battle simulation program from the sensor display . The next day the convoy came under attack from two Jem ' Hadar attack ships . During the attack , the " Rotarran " lost internal communications , and experienced a plasma leak on Deck 5 after suffering damage to the primary plasma injector . Ultimately the " Rotarran " destroyed the two attacking warships , and successfully delivered the convoy to Donatu . ( ) The " Rotarran " later undertook another mission . Benjamin Sisko spoke to Worf while he was aboard , telling him there had been no news of the " Defiant " , which was on a mission to destroy a sensor array in the Argolis Cluster . ( ) The " Rotarran " later assisted the " Defiant " in destroying two Dominion ships . With the " Defiant " acting like a decoy , two Dominion ships were lured in to attack it . Just as the Dominion ships began their attack , the " Rotarran " decloaked and immediately destroyed one of the ships . The " Defiant " simultaneously powered up , and successfully destroyed the second ship . Following their successful ploy , the two ships were recalled to Starbase 375 . Following the recall to Starbase 375 , Martok and Worf returned to Qo ' noS aboard the " Rotarran " to make a plea to Chancellor Gowron , on behalf of Captain Sisko . It was their intention to convince Gowron that he must commit the Klingon Defense Force s to join the combined Federation fleet in their attempt to retake Deep Space 9 . ( ) After some convincing , Martok and Worf were able to persuade Gowron to spare some ships for Operation Return . Mid - battle , the Klingon fleet , led by the " Rotarran " , joined the fray and effectively opened a hole in the Dominion lines . ( ) Duty with the Ninth Fleet . On stardate 51247 . 5 , one week after the " Rotarran " s return to DS9 , General Martok was promoted to Supreme Commander of the Ninth Fleet . Despite his promotion and the offer to have quarters aboard the station , Martok chose to keep his flag aboard the " Rotarran " . He noted that despite the ship ' s cramped quarters , he would still feel like he was in the war . By the end of that same week , most of the " Rotarran " s crew was transferred to the battle cruiser , which had taken heavy losses in its previous engagement . ( ) In late - 2374 , Martok lead an attack wing of Klingon warships from aboard the " Rotarran " during the First Battle of Chin ' toka . Although fifteen ships were lost or severely damaged by Jem ' Hadar fighters during the initial stages of the battle , the " Rotarran " made it through unscathed . Upon the fleet ' s successful defeat of the Cardassian orbital weapon platform s , located around the orbit of Chin ' toka , the " Rotarran " began transporting ground troops to the planet ' s surface . ( ) In early - 2375 , Martok re - enlisted Worf to once again serve as his first officer for a dangerous mission , where they intended to use the " Rotarran " to destroy the Monac shipyards in the name of Worf ' s late wife , Jadzia Dax . To do this , Chief Miles O ' Brien devised a plan that used the " Rotarran " s deflector dish to fire an electromagnetic pulse at a magnetic instability near the equator of the Monac sun , to trigger a solar plasma ejection . When the " Rotarran " reached the system , the ship decloaked and fired the EM pulse at the sun ' s corona . Their first attempt was unsuccessful , but upon their second attempt , while under fire by the Jem ' Hadar , they successfully triggered a solar flare , which destroyed the shipyard s . ( ) Later that year , the " Rotarran " s cloaking device was stolen by Quark and Rom to be delivered to , a Trill mercenary in the mirror universe in exchange for the release of Grand Nagus Zek . Rom later installed the cloaking device aboard the Regent ' s flagship but also conveniently sabotaged it , disabling the ship . ( ) Several weeks later , repairs to the " Rotarran " , as well as the , were delayed to repair the Romulan warbird s " Dividices " and the " Genorex " . ( ) Near the end of the war , the " Rotarran " and the , commanded by Worf , were ambushed by a Dominion patrol near the Badlands . The " Koraga " was destroyed , but the " Rotarran " was able to recover six of its starboard escape pod s . ( ) Not long after that incident , the " Rotarran " was involved in a failed attack on a Cardassian world , Avenal VII . Martok himself was seriously injured in the attack . The " Rotarran " returned to Deep Space 9 three days after the news of the defeat had reached the station . ( ) Appendices . Background information . According to the script for the " Soldiers of the Empire " , " Sons and Daughters " , and " Behind the Lines " , the pronunciation for Rotarran was " row - TAR - an " . Later the pronunciation was changed to " ROW - tar - an " in the scripts for " You Are Cordially Invited " and " Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges " . Martok seems to have not used the " Rotarran " at the Second Battle of Chin ' toka , for if he had , it was likely it would have been disabled by the Breen energy dissipator s and destroyed . We know he was present at the battle as his voice was heard over the communications system . ( ) It is possible he may have commanded another ship , such as the , which he had also briefly commanded that same year . It was unclear if Martok continued to use the " Rotarran " through the end of the war , if it was the vessel he used during the final Battle of Cardassia in , or if he had taken command of the ( later unseen ) , being that he had since risen to chancellor . The " Rotarran " was the most frequently seen Klingon Bird - of - Prey in " Star Trek " , with thirteen appearances . The scenes in the " Rotarran " mess hall in the episode were filmed on Paramount Stage 18 , with the mess hall and ready room being redresses of the aft and the fore of the bridge set respectively . The " Klingon Bird of Prey Owners ' Workshop Manual " stated that the " Rotarran " was classified as a ship . It also says that the ship was launched in 2358 by the House of Gowron and served in the Klingon Civil War . Additionally , Martok used the " Rotarran " at the Battle of Cardassia , considering the " Vor ' cha " class sluggish and the " Negh ' var " too slow and unweildy for his tactics ( evading rather than absorbing attacks to minimise collateral damage ) . The " " RPG sourcebook gives its registry as IKC - 62127 .