Klingon warbird

The Klingon warbird was a warbird class used by the Klingon Empire in the mid-22nd century.
It was also used by the Klingons in the mid-23rd century of the alternate reality.
In 2151, Vulcan diplomat Tos claimed that the Klingons would have sent a squadron of Warbirds to attack Earth had he not negotiated for the transport of Klaang's corpse to Qo'noS. ()
In 2258, in the alternate reality, Cadet heard a transmission which reported that forty-seven Klingon Warbirds had been destroyed by a single Romulan ship, which was later identified as the Narada, when it had attacked a Klingon prison planet.
During the same year, Klingon Warbirds were also part of the . These simulated Warbirds were capable of cloaking, had shields, and were armed with photon torpedoes. During 's third attempt at the scenario, two of five of these vessels entered the neutral zone before locking weapons on the , captained by Kirk. Moments later, the three other Warbirds decloaked while targeting the Starfleet craft, and then began firing torpedoes as they simultaneously maintained shields. After the simulation was affected by a subroutine that Kirk had secretly inserted, the shields of the Warbirds were suddenly eliminated, and the Klingon vessels were all vulnerable to a single photon torpedo strike each. ()
File:Klingon warbirds surround the Kobayashi Maru.jpg|Simulation of a Klingon Warbird in the Kobayashi Maru scenario
File:RADAR screen, 2258.jpg|The simulated Warbirds in the RADAR screen of the simulator bridge
== Background information ==
The term "Klingon Warbird" was used in the final draft script of , for one of multiple images Chakotay was to see in a vision while linked to the Borg Cooperative.
The term was also included in the first draft script of . In that teleplay, Gowron notified Admiral Ross and Captain Sisko that he planned to send "a swarm of Klingon warbirds" to bombard Cardassia, thereby ending the Dominion War.
The use of the term "Warbird" in relation to the Klingons, as used in , was a writer's error. Soon after the episode's production, Brannon Braga stated, "We made one mistake where in the pilot we called the Klingons' ships Warbirds, when in fact the Romulans use Warbirds and Klingons use the Bird-of-Prey. There was nothing we could do about it, and I'm sure we're going to get a lot of angry fans. But it was an honest mistake." () In the second draft script of "Broken Bow", these ships were actually referred to as "war ships" rather than "Warbirds".
The Warbirds in were designed by John Eaves. In a scene deleted from the film, after the Narada is disabled by the 's attack, a fleet of ten Klingon Warbirds decloak and surround Nero's ship.
The described these warbirds as being similar to the battle cruiser in the Prime Timeline.
=== Apocrypha ===
The 1993 adventure video game Star Trek: Judgement Rites mentions the existence of a Klingon Warbird as part of a museum exhibit at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Annex on Nova Atar III. This is the earliest mention of the Klingons employing the term warbird, 8 years prior to Broken Bow and 16 years prior to the Kelvin Timeline's first Star Trek movie.
In 2009 Burger King released Star Trek toys as part of their kids meals, including a Klingon Warbird as one of the toys. 
An Eaglemoss special edition issue feature a extra large model of a Klingon Warbird.
The virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals has a Klingon Warbird on card #71.
de:Klingonischer Warbird
fr:Oiseau-de-Guerre Klingon
ja:クリンゴン・ウォーバード
warbird
Category:Starship classes (alternate reality)