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File:Photon-torpedo.jpg

A standard Starfleet issue photon torpedo.

Mark XXV torpedo interior

A schematic of a mark XXV torpedo

File:Battle ds9 station.jpg

DS9 firing photon torpedo volleys from torpedo turrets

Overview

A photon torpedo (sometimes called photon) is a projectile weapon commonly used by Starfleet starships and starbases in the 23rd and 24th centuries. Its predecessor was the photonic torpedo.

A photon torpedo utilizes a warhead of matter and antimatter which produce a destructive explosion when mixed. The torpedo is propelled through space via warp sustainer engine, which allows it to be fired at warp, including ahead of the vessel. 24th century photon torpedoes are equipped with navigational sensors to seek and track its targets, as well as a remote self-destruct system. (TNG: "Genesis") A Starfleet torpedo shares the same oblong casing as a Class-8 probe.

Launching photon torpedos at short-ranged targets is noted to be somewhat dangerous, since the explosion can also damage the firing ship as well, but it is still an almost unheard-of occurance. The Enterprise-D escaped damage after attacking a pursuing Borg cube in 2365 and later in 2367 when an agressive Cytherian probe prompted the same action. (TNG: "Q Who?"); (TNG: "The Nth Degree")

Photon torpedoes appear as red, yellow or blue bulbs of light when fired. While technically antiquated by the invention of the quantum torpedo in 2368, photon torpedoes remain a crucial part of Starfleet's arsenal, at least until the fabrication process for quantum torpedoes is streamlined.

See also: Torpedo, Photonic shockwave, Torpedo bay

Tactical

The Mark VI photon torpedo has a maximum explosive yield of 200 isotons (VOY: "Scorpion, Part II"), but even earlier models were capable of substantial destruction. An unshielded ship (for example, the Miranda class USS Lantree) could be obliterated with a single hit. (TNG: "Conundrum")

Torpedoes can also be programmed to fire in a set dispersal pattern when brute force would not provide optimal results. By attacking multiple key systems on an enemy vessel at once, the overall damage can possible be increased. The Enterprise-D was able to destroy a Klingon K'vort class battle cruiser in an alternate timeline with one volley followed by phaser fire.

Despite the danger of a close-range explosion damaging the firing ship, a Starfleet crew's inherent knowledge of the weapon's design means that it is possible to modify the shields to protect the ship from the torpedo's impact, as Lieutenant Barclay once demonstrated. (TNG: "The Nth Degree")

Starfleet technical manuals measure auto-destruct protocols in the approximate photon yield that would be required to equal the explosion. For a Galaxy class vessel, 1,000 torpedoes would be required to match the energy released.

Other uses

  • Many other species also use defensive projectiles known as photon torpedoes; it is known that Klingons possessed such technology as early as 2151.


Background Information

  • The idea that the photon torpedo is a physical missile-like casing was never confirmed for the Enterprise of the original series. This idea was first introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as a graphic on Chekov's weapons display, but oddly enough Andrew Probert did not envision the photon torpedo to be a capsule even then, as he says in his 2005 Trekplace interview. He says "I envisioned them as what we saw during the TV era, they were glowing globs of plasma or some sort of energy. They weren't giant capsules. I envision them as big, glowy, dangerous blobs of... scariness." [1]
  • The original photon torpedo as it was used in TOS did not have a torpedo room that we saw nor which was mentioned in dialogue. Instead, it seemed more like a setting of the phaser weaponry, which may explain why the term "photon torpedo" was not actually introduced until quite late into the first season (episode 19, "Arena") and why globular bursts that the ship fired were called "phasers", like they were in "Balance or Terror" (episode 8) and a few others. Despite that, photon torpedoes were definitely physical missile-like casings by the time of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

References

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