T'Pau type

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

T'Pau type
Three vessels of the class Three vessels of the class
Affiliation:	Vulcan National Merchant Fleet
Type:	Transport
Active:	24th century
Vessels of the class, under fire from a D'deridex-class cruiser Vessels of the class, under fire from a D'deridex-class cruiser

The T'Pau type was a type of Vulcan transport utilized by the Vulcan National Merchant Fleet during the mid-24th century. These vessels were partially constructed out of dentarium alloy.

In 2368, fragments from the navigational deflector array of a Vulcan transport were recovered in the Hanolin asteroid belt from a downed Ferengi cargo ship in crates marked "medical supplies". The debris was spread over one hundred square kilometers. After running a molecular pattern trace, the ship was later identified as the T'Pau.

That vessel, and two others were later used by the Romulans as a "peace" envoy sent to Vulcan. These vessels traveled from Romulus and across the Romulan Neutral Zone at warp 1; aboard the three vessels were over two thousand Romulan troops.

Following the Federation's discovery of the Romulans true intentions, the invasion of Vulcan, the Romulan force retreated toward the Neutral Zone. Upon an attempted interception by the USS Enterprise-D, a Romulan Warbird destroyed the three Vulcan transports and all the troops on board. (TNG: "Unification I", "Unification II")

For more information on history of this studio model, please see: studio models (TNG).

[edit] Background

The T'Pau was identified in the 2nd and 3rd editions of the Star Trek Encyclopedia as an Apollo-class starship. However, this connection has not been proved on-screen to date.