Klingon bird-of-prey

The Klingon Bird-of-Prey was a classification of starship used by the Klingon Empire. They were typically small and agile classes of ships which made up a significant proportion of the Klingon fleet along side the larger classes.

Overview
The Klingons produced numerous classes of starships designated Bird-of-Prey, traditionally these were smaller classes used as scouts. Over time the designation was expanded to be used on larger classes with a similar design to traditional birds-of-prey. 

The typical Bird-of-Prey design featured a primary hull with a long protruding neck at the front with a command bulb at the end. Usually a photon torpedo tube was located on the lower side of the command bulb. To either side of the main hull are wings with disruptor cannons mounted at the end. Certain classes featured additional armaments such as rear firing torpedoes and additional disruptors. (, et al.)

Names
In tlhIngan Hol, a Bird-of-Prey type ship is called a toQDuj. The word can be broken down into toQ, "bird-of-prey", and Duj, "ship". 

The D'Gavama class gets its name from a klingonaase word meaning "bird-of-prey". 


 * In analyzing the word D'Gavama, the reader may also wish to consider these other ship names from the Klingon Ship Recognition Manual: d'ama ("predator"), z'gavva ("stronger bird") and z'gavasta ("great bird").

History
The earliest known classes of Bird-of-Prey were in operation in the mid-22nd century. 

By 2270 the Empire had introduced one of the most successful and long serving class of Bird-of-Prey, the. The B'rel-class was designed from Romulan concepts obtained in the Klingon-Romulan Alliance, the most notable technology integrated into the vessel from that alliance being a cloaking device. 

The B'rel was a highly successful design and served long into the 24th century. It also spawned several other Bird-of-Prey classes of near identical design, including the and. Though the K'vort, and later were notably larger than the original B'rel design. (, et al.)