Maximum warp

"Maximum Warp" redirects here. For the Pocket Books miniseries, see Star Trek: The Next Generation - Maximum Warp.

Maximum warp (or top warp speed) is the maximum velocity a starship is designed for and a term whereby a bridge officer can ask the flight controller to accelerate the ship to its highest possible velocity.

The maximum warp velocity, and time it can be maintained, of a starship varies between classes due to warp core limitations. Template:ShipClass ships, such as the USS Enterprise-D, could only maintain their maximum warp for approximately twelve hours. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", "The Best of Both Worlds") Template:ShipClass ships such the USS Voyager, on the other hand, could maintain it from three days up to two months. (VOY: "Workforce", "Workforce, Part II", "Friendship One")

Maximum warp limitations by class

• Warp 1.4^† - Arctic One-type
• Warp 2^† - Template:ShipClass
• Warp 5^† - Template:ShipClass
• Warp 6^† - D5 class
• Warp 9.8 - Template:ShipClass
• Warp 9.975 - Template:ShipClass
• Warp 36^† - Karla Five's vessel

^†Pre-TNG warp scale

Maximum warp requests

• TOS:
  • "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (first mentioned)
  • "The Corbomite Maneuver"
  • "The Squire of Gothos"
  • "That Which Survives"
• TNG:
  • "Unnatural Selection"
  • "Time Squared"
  • "Redemption"
  • "The Chase"
  • "Descent, Part II"
  • "Parallels"
  • "Homeward"
  • "Lower Decks"
  • "Bloodlines"
  • "All Good Things..."
• DS9:
  • "Whispers"
  • "Defiant"
  • "The Die is Cast"
  • "The Adversary"
  • "The Way of the Warrior"
  • "Return to Grace"
  • "For the Cause"
  • "For the Uniform"
  • "By Inferno's Light"
  • "Soldiers of the Empire"
  • "A Time to Stand"
  • "Sacrifice of Angels"
  • "Waltz"
  • "The Sound of Her Voice"
• VOY:
  • "Parallax"
  • "Phage"
  • "Cold Fire"
  • "Flashback"
  • "Macrocosm"
  • "Scorpion"
  • "Scorpion, Part II"
  • "The Omega Directive"
  • "Counterpoint"
  • "Bliss"
  • "Dark Frontier"
  • "Think Tank"
  • "Equinox"
  • "Equinox, Part II"
  • "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy"
  • "Muse"
  • "Flesh and Blood"
  • "Body and Soul"
• Movies:
  • Star Trek Generations
  • Star Trek: First Contact
  • Star Trek

Background information

There is evidence that maximum warp is not always the highest reachable warp-factor. For example, in ENT: "Affliction", the Enterprise NX-01 already travels at maximum warp, but then accelerates to Warp 5.2. A similar occurrence is depicted in DS9: "The Sound of Her Voice": The USS Defiant already travels at maximum warp, but then accelerates to Warp 9.5.

In both TNG: "Time Squared" and TNG: "Bloodlines", maximum warp seems to be equivalent with warp 9, although the ship can move faster in other episodes.