Romulan Military

Led by the Generals and Admirals, the Romulan military follows the orders of the Senate (in turn rubber-stamping decisions already made by the Continuing Committee) and is divided up into a dozen or so Legions of warships. Obedience is everything in the military and the punishments for creative missions that embarrass the Star Empire are harsh for the perpetrator and their family. The Tal Shiar has agents serving aboard each warship to ensure the loyalty of each ship to the Praetor and the Senate.

Sentry stations and Garrison Worlds are placed along the Romulan borders to ensure no enemy forces can penetrate into Romulan space. Cloaked patrol vessels ensure pirates and smugglers are destroyed, being seen as a nuisance not worth prosecuting by the law.

  • Romulan ranks (highest to lowest):

  • Admiral
  • General
  • Commander
  • Sub-Commander
  • Centurion
  • Lieutenant
  • Sub-Lieutenant
  • Uhlan



  • Tal Shiar ranks:

  • Chairman
  • General
  • Colonel
  • Major
  • Captain
  • Lieutenant
  • Sub-Lieutenant

    Author Notes: this may not be a complete list of ranks. Images of all four Romulans from TNG 'The Neutral Zone'.



    The Imperial Romulan fleet is made up of thirty legions of warships, rotated around the Star Empire. There are between 5 – 6000 warships, as opposed to Starfleet at 8000 and Klingons at 11000. The Romulan uniform is an evolution away from those seen in the 2260s. The uniform retains the sash for officers over the right shoulder that depicts the status and department or division for the individual. Symbols on the sash depict actual rank - one symbol for Centurion, two symbols for Sub-Commander and three for Commander.

    Author Notes:

    I wanted the uniforms to be similar to those seen in TNG: 'The Neutral Zone'. Symbols on the sashes of Thei and Tebok depicted the ranks of the character. The uniforms were re-designed by the next appearance in season 2 TNG: 'Contagion'. The military are very much designed to reflect the Roman army with thirty legions and similar rank and structure. The TOS uniform elements with different coloured sashes (and trousers on the lower ranks) may well be part of the


    Border war with the Klingons:

    Ever since the early 2270s, the Romulan and Klingon Empires have been fightng along their border. The short-lived alliance of the late 2260s having soon been forgotten, murdered by the ambition both empires had. The Romulans had bolstered their common border with the Klingons with a significant number of legions assigned to their garrison worlds along the frontier. The Romulans used superior technology to overcome the numerical advantage of the Imperial Klingon Defence Force. The Romulans had superior cloaking technology, that they used to full effect to ambush the supply lines of the Klingons and stop their military advances in their tracks.

  • Klingon tactics are strength in numbers, superior ablative armour and boarding parties.

  • Romulan tactics are superior stealth and cloaking, plasma and better disruptors to finish off.

    The Vault is a research facility in the Haakona sector in central RSE that develops and copies or reverse-engineers new technology and ships.



    Class Type Notes Images
    Preax Escort They were created to be fast attack ships and used their cloaking devices to sneak up on enemy ships before de-cloaking and unleashing light plasma weaponry. Such ships have been known to destroy much larger opponents that had underestimated their capabilities which makes the Praex a deadly enemy to face on the battlefield.

    They were both cheap and easy produce which made them quite common; however, they were incredibly fragile against enemy ships, mainly due to their small size. Lean manned with only 24 crew with 4 marines.

    Gladius Frigate An incredibly fast ship with a mixed arsenal of Cohesive Fused Deuterium Irradiation Cannon (CFDIC) and light plasma torpedo. 40 Crew with 20 marines.
    T'liss Destroyer This design has evolved since at least the first encounter with the Romulans in 2152. Later designs in 2266 used stolen Federation starship designs to enhance the design. More recently, the Bird of Prey has reverted to a more Romulan appearance once more. The Romulans are renowned for painting raptor or bird of prey markings on the underside of their warships. The more recent models have reverted to the 22nd Century practice of all over green livery.

    Now slightly larger than earlier models with 45 crew and 30 marines.

    Legion Light Cruiser These starships had a near excellent weapon payload for its size which included three Plasma torpedoes both fore and aft. These allow it to hit enemy ships effectively. Its smaller size and more capable warp core made it ideal for deep space operations. These ships were designed to work in groups rather than as individuals.

    Legion class has 200 crew with 35 marines.



    Venatrix Cruiser Basic ‘monkey model’ D-7 Koro class cruisers purchased from the Klingon Empire in 2268-9 in exchange for first generation cloaking technology. The Romulan Government proposed a short-lived alliance with the Klingons to counter the United Federation of Planets. The D-7R had cloaking technology with superior plasma and disruptor weapons, but lacked the ablative armour that the later D-7 Koro and prototype D-8 K’T’inga class possessed. It is thought that only a small number were acquired before the treaty disintegrated into a border war with the Klingons.

    The Romulans have still got D-7 warships in service, it is thought they reverse-engineered the design and constructed more. At least one D-7R was modified as a proof-of-concept ship for the Vault, acting as the prototype for what became the D’talla class Warbird. The Venatrix has 300 crew and 40 marines.

    Senator Command Cruiser The ships possessed three warp nacelles with the third mounted in upswept wings from the port and starboard nacelles. The ship was a completely new design around 2290. They were equipped with two Plasma torpedo tubes.

    The Senator class has 300 crew and 55 marines.

    War Eagle Battlecruiser Prior to the D’talla class Warbird, these were the most powerful starship classes in the Romulan fleet. Only the Imperial Hawk class prototype battleship mounted greater firepower. They were also one of the first Romulan ship classes known to employ an artificially generated quantum singularity as the ship's main power source. They were often used as fleet flagships due to their superior firepower and systems.

    The War Eagle suffered from poor warp capability and the ship's four warp nacelles were vulnerable to attack. The War Eagle has 500 crew and 70 marines.

    Imperium Dreadnought These ships were made for a more striking grey-white livery. The design featured a massive command boom appearing at the center of the vessel, in between the elegant wings of the ship which gives the ship a near catamaran type of appearance. Strangely though, these ships are rarely encountered and their full capabilities were not known. Imperium class has 400 crew and 65 marines.

    D'talla Warbird Developed in the late 2270s as a response to the planned Klingon B-10 Accuser and L-24 Komo Val classes and Federation Excelsior and Ascension classes, the D’talla class was a generational step change for the Romulans in terms of power source, cloaking, weapons and defensive systems. The border war with the Klingons was taking its toll on the smaller, older Romulan types. The introduction of the D’talla in early 2286 helped to reassert the Romulan fleet on the Klingon border.

    Ivarex Warbird The most advanced class of Romulan starship in 2311. A development of the D’talla class.

    The Ivarix-class has been described as having a distinctly avian feel, with a flat thick neck reaching forward to the main section, holding two warp nacelles via wing-like supports. Ivarix-class ships were typically armed with disruptors, photon torpedoes, and plasma-energy weapons. The class was similar in size and capability to Federation Excelsior-class starships.

    Imperial Hawk Battleship Cancelled design that was supposed to match the Klingon B-10/B-11. This prototype was superseded by the A type Warbird.

    This white elephant design had 600 crew and 80 marines.








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