Klingon forces combine different real-world naval analogies

Which Second World War navies best match the major and minor powers in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine?

No one-to-one match works; Klingon procurement resembles an American pursuit of maximum power, while their combat ethos evokes Japanese patterns mixed with stealth.

No fictional faction in Deep Space Nine maps neatly to one Second World War navy. Klingon efforts to build the biggest and most powerful available systems resemble American procurement. Their combat style instead evokes Japanese ideas of honour and the charge, complicated by the use of stealth and deception. Procurement culture, doctrine, and battlefield behavior can therefore point to different historical comparisons.