During the planning of the invasion of Cardassia Prime some months later, a new Defiant class starship, the USS Sao Paulo (NCC-75633), is assigned to Deep Space Nine. The Starfleet Chief of Operations grants special dispensation to rename the ship Defiant. Although the USS Sao Paulo commissioning plaque gives a registryof “NCC-75633″, in all exterior shots the new ship has the “NX-74205″ registry. This is because most external shots of the new vessel were reused shots of the old one, and the new CG shots subsequently used the same registry number for consistency.
Ron Moore said in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion that the new ship was intended to be designated “Defiant-A”, but it was prohibitive to redo the CG model for one episode because stock shots from earlier episodes had to be used as well for budgetary reasons. Nevertheless Moore stated that as far as he was concerned, the change did happen.
Courtesy of Wiki
The Sao Paulo dedication plaque used the English spelling, without the tilde, instead of São Paulo
In the DS9 episode Shattered Mirror, a Mirror Universe version of the Defiant is seen, constructed by the Terran Rebellion. A computer readout, barely visible onscreen, gives the ship’s name as the ISS Defiant
Pictures Courtesy of TrekCore.com
The USS Defiant, Moscow, Valiant and São Paulo are selectable on the PC game Star Trek: Legacy in The Next Generation era.
The Defiant class is a playable ship class in the MMORPG Star Trek Online.
The USS Sao Paulo was assigned to DS9 to replace the Defiant after its destruction. Captain Sisko was granted special dispensation by the Chief of Starfleet Operations to rename the Sao Paulo to Defiant. (DS9: “The Dogs of War“)
Courtesy of Memory Alpha.org
Unique Characteristics
Ablative armor
The Maquis attack the Defiant
The Defiant was equipped with an ablative armor coating that was designed to disintegrate under enemy fire at a controlled rate. It dissipated the effects of directed energy weapons, decreasing damage to the main hull of the ship and therefore providing an extra layer of defense. As late as 2372, Starfleet wasn’t informed that the Defiant was equipped in that way. (DS9: “Past Tense, Part I“, “The Way of the Warrior“, “Paradise Lost“, “The Changing Face of Evil“)
Cloaking device
The USS Defiant activating its cloaking device
After the Dominion threat emerged in late-2370, a special amendment made to the Treaty of Algeron allowed the Defiant to be equipped with a Romulan cloaking device. In exchange for providing the cloaking device, the Federation agreed to share all of its Dominion intelligence with the Romulan government.
Additionally, the cloak was only authorized for use in the Gamma Quadrant; although Captain Sisko violated this provision on numerous occasions. Use of the cloaking device was initially supervised by Subcommander T’Rul, although the Romulans later discontinued supervision. (DS9: “The Search, Part I“, “Defiant“, “The Way of the Warrior“)
Because of the amount of power the Defiant used, the cloak did not completely hide the ship from Jem’Hadar sensors during normal operation. (DS9: “The Search, Part I“)
Command Crew
The Defiant’s permanent assignment at Deep Space 9 as a support vessel meant that it had no specific or dedicated crew complement. The vessel was manned by station personnel; its crew complement, as well as their assignments, often varied by mission.
Captain Benjamin Sisko – commanding officer (CO) (2371-2375)
Colonel Kira Nerys – executive officer (XO)/tactical officer (2371-2375)
Lieutenant Commander Worf – executive officer (XO)/tactical officer (2372-2375)
Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax – helmsman/science officer – (2371-2374)
Lieutenant Commander Michael Eddington – security chief (2371-2372)
Lieutenant Julian Bashir – chief medical officer (CMO) (2371-2375)
Lieutenant junior grade Ezri Dax – counselor/communications officer (2375)
Ensign Nog – helmsman (2374-2375)
Senior Chief Petty Officer Miles O’Brien – chief engineer (2371-2375)
Although DS9: “Apocalypse Rising” established that Worf was the first officer of the Defiant while Kira was the first officer of the station, there was some inconsistency in this arrangement. Based on DS9: “Sons of Mogh“, DS9: “By Inferno’s Light“, and DS9: “Tears of the Prophets“, it would appear that Kira retained the first officer’s position when the Defiant was operating outside of Federation space, while Worf took the position during operations inside Federation space, although this was not directly clarified on the show so it remains speculation.
The main reason for the creation of the Defiant was that Ira Steven Behr and the writers felt that the Danube-class runabouts would not be able to protect the space station from the Dominion, and that something with more muscle was necessary.
In the second season finale, “The Jem’Hadar“, the Dominion had shown themselves capable of destroying a Galaxy-class starship (the USS Odyssey) and it was felt that viewers would not accept the idea that the Federation‘s first line of defense against such a powerful enemy was three runabouts. As Behr explains, “We had all these plans for this Dominion, not so much the Dominion War yet, but the Dominion as a three-pronged attack, and what were we going to go after them with? Shuttlecrafts? You know, I mean, with the Galileo or whatever the hell those names were? You know, it just seemed ridiculous. So we needed a ship.“
Ira Steven Behr
Similarly, production designer Herman Zimmerman states, “We needed a ship that would give the writers the opportunity to have more direct conflict.” (USS Defiant, DS9 Season 3 DVD special features)
Ronald D. Moore originally wanted to call the Defiant the USS Valiant, but was unable to, as the USS Voyager also began with a “V”. It was three years before Moore was able to name a ship Valiant. The USS Valiant appears in the sixth season episode “Valiant”.
Rick Berman was originally against the idea of the ship having a cloaking device because one of the tenets of Gene Roddenberry’s universe was that Starfleet “did not believe in sneaking around.” However, Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe were able to convince Berman that the Defiant was a unique ship in a unique situation and, with the added stipulation that the cloak could only be used in the Gamma Quadrant, Berman agreed. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion)
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