Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The Klingon Bird-of-Prey

Because of its relatively small size (we'll get there), the Klingon Bird-of-Prey performs numerous unique feats throughout Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, including landing in the middle of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, swooping down to intimidate a whaling ship, and crashing into San Francisco Bay.

In order to achieve the crash, ILM's VFX crew rigged the Bird-of-Prey filming model and literally crashed into a wave pool, later combining the footage with photography of a miniature Golden Gate Bridge.

However, the final moments of the film also called for Kirk and company to escape the sinking Bounty through a hatch in the bridge, requiring the production to build a full-scale section of the Bird-of-Prey.

Obviously unable to actually film the scene in the open ocean, the filmmakers instead constructed the Bird-of-Prey's nose section in Paramount Studios' disused water tank, at the time being used as a parking lot. As Michael Okuda described the location:

This parking lot at Paramount Pictures was known as "B Tank." With short walls on 2 sides, raised berms on the other two, and the blue sky backing behind, it could be flooded to simulate an open ocean.

One of the very rare instances of a full-size section of a starship being built for a Star Trek production and they parked the Bird-of-Prey in Paramount Pictures' parking lot. Appropriate.