Starfleet records are unclear exactly when the K'T'inga-class starship came into service. There are numberous accounts of ships of this design during the 2260's, at which time the Federation and Klingon Empire were on the verge of war. With very little intelligence reports, these ships were simply designated D7 type vessels. During the Klingon/Romulan alliance this design was share with Romulan ships, as well as the Romulans sharing cloaking technology with the Klingons.

The original design measures at 228 meters in length, were equipped with warp drive and phaser disruptor and photon torpedo aramaments.

In the 2270's a newer refit version of the K'T'inga-class battle cruiser was introduced, slighly smaller than the original, at 214 meters, it featured more powerful weapons. The K'T'inga, dispite it's old age has been sighted still in use by the Klingon Defense Force during the Dominion War. Prior to the war, when open hostilites increased dramatically between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, a few were seen attacking Deep Space-9.

The Klingon battle cruiser was designed by Matt Jefferies and introduced during the third season of the original Star Trek series. A more detailed version was built by Magicam for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and was re-used in Star Trek II, Star Trek VI, and in Star Trek: The Next Generation. A hybrid version, a copy of Jefferies's original model, but with the elaborate hull panelwork from the feature film version, was built by Greg Jein for "Trials and Tribble-ations" - DS9. The term K'T'inga is conjectural. The term D7 was originally a gag devised by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy during the filming of TOS, but "Trials and Tribble-ations" made the term official.