KDF: How do you use Cloaking effectively?

[BlueBard]

For Klingon ships, cloaking is pretty cool...

...but how do you really use it effectively?

As a Fed player, it's annoying to be chasing down a Klingon and then have them cloak and break target lock.

But as a KDF player, the cloak seems to be harder to use than that.  I could be mistaken, but it doesn't look like you can cloak once you're engaged in combat.  You can use it to sneak up on a ship from an advantageous vector, but if you get in too close you get detected anyway.

[Ares_God_of_War]

Only Birds of Prey can battle cloak

[BlueBard]

Only Birds of Prey can battle cloak

So if I'm in a BoP, I can cloak in battle?

I'm pretty sure that my first ship is a BoP and if I recall correctly I could not cloak in mid-battle.  Is the initial ship an exception to that rule?

I'll have to test it out when I get a chance.