In season 1, Star Trek Discovery introduced many new Klingon ships. These ships were very different from anything we had seen before. They were very oddly shaped, seeming to be animalistic in some respects, as if they were insects or reptiles. We learn over the course of the season that the Klingon houses are fractured and the empire seems to be in a chaotic state. This could be a good reason for the diverse ship designs. Still, some of the designs were similar enough to be difficult to distinguish between them. Since one of the purposes of this site is to show the design lineage of different types of ships, I of course investigated

I was unable to find much information as to the nature of the ships. The Qugh is mentioned as a destroyer by Starfleet, but even that might not be authoratative. The Sech is called both a "D7", and later, a prison ship, which defies the D7 that is shown in Discovery's second season. The Chargh class is referred to as a battle cruiser.

Even more problematic is that throughout Star Trek's history, the classification of Klingon ships has been murky. The D7/K'tinga is referred to as a battle cruiser in Kirk's day, but we can see it being used 100 years later (or an identical looking ship). It likely doesn't have the same purpose 100 years later. During it's day, the K'tinga ruled, but the Vor'cha is obviously filling the battle cruiser role during Picard's time. The use of the Bird-of-Prey has also been mysterious. During the Star Trek 3 film, it was referred to as a scout, and carried only a few men. We see the same type of ship in episodes of Next Genereation, appearing to be much bigger and more powerful. The K'vort Bird-of-Prey was referred to as a destroyer at some point, I believe. Ex Astris Scientia has a whole page devoted to the Bird-of-Prey's size. It is a rabbit hole, to be certain.

I believe that it is John Dickenson who originated the Klingon designs. I would love his thoughts on what the designs meant. He may be the only person who has thought through the reasoning behind the ships. In the absence of his input, I have my theories😉

Chargh	Jach

My guess is that groups of Klingon houses shared ship construction, while some houses may have been forced to build their own ships. Ships with similar characteristics were likely built by the same shipyard. Each Klingon house would need ships for different functions. The Chargh and the Jach definitely look alike. If the Chargh is a battle cruiser, then the Jach is almost certainly not. I am a firm believer than structure determines function. The larger ship should usually be the battle cruiser. The smaller ship could be a light cruiser or a destroyer. The Klingons have never really had a designation for heavy cruiser. All their large ships are built for war, so they are all battle cruisers. Star Trek: Enterprise was the first show that had enough types of Klingon ships that different categories were needed. Until then, there were mostly just Battle Cruisers and Birds-of-Prey. I assigned the category of Light Cruiser to the K'tinga style ships of the 24th century.

Qoj	Veqlargh

The other group of ships that look alike are the Qoj, the Qaw' and the Veqlargh. Qaw' actually means destroy, which makes it tempting to assign it the Destroyer class. It is also the smallest of the 3. Destroyers must be fast, which usually causes them to have reduced size. Also, Destroyers aren't as heavily armed, so they need less space to account for armor and weapons. The other 2 are almost the same size. In fact they can be difficult to distinguish from one another. There is no remarkable characteristic which would suggest a particular use. It is likely that at least one of them is a battle cruiser. The other might be a light cruiser or they might even be 2 generations or variants of the same design.

Bird of Prey

The Birds-of-Prey seen in Discovery are the smallest of the ships. Much like in Star Trek 3, they seem to hold the function of scouts. They aren't very well armored, but they be produced quickly, and cheaply. It seems like they are too small to have any other functions.

The Qugh is referred to as a Destroyer. We will assume this is correct, since Starfleet at least should know what role the ship has in war. The next question that can be asked is, what do Klingon houses using this ship, use for a battle cruiser? The BortaS bir class looks a little like the Qugh, but it bears a resemblance to the Qaw' even more strongly. If it is related to the Qaw', Qoj, Veqlargh family, then it is anyone's guess what each ship does.

Qugh	Batlh	Daspu	'etlh

The 'etlh, Sech, Batlh, and DaSpu' all seem to be unique. It is possible that some houses can't afford to produce multiple types of ships and are forced to rely on only one. Also, we don't know that we have seen every ship type. It is even possible that designs are still shared among the houses and each ship has its own purpose. Then we have the cleave ship thrown into the mix, but its pupose seems very clear. The Sarcophagus ship is very old, and not a currently produced design, so we ignore it for now.

Stardate: -209628.68