Memory Alpha
Register
Advertisement
Memory Alpha
Photonic torpedoes

Photonic torpedoes in Enterprise's armory (2153).

A Photonic torpedo is a type of tactical photonic antimatter weapon designed for use aboard starships.

Specifications

The photonic torpedo is equipped with a variable yield antimatter warhead. It has over fifty times greater range than the spatial torpedo. The variable yield was described by Malcolm Reed as being able to "knock the com array off a shuttlepod without scratching the hull, or put a three-kilometer crater into an asteroid." Antimatter to the warheads on NX class starships is provided by the ship's antimatter reserves. (ENT: "The Expanse", "Hatchery")

An illegible warning label on the torpedo casing calls the photonic torpedo an antimatter ordnance device to be maintained on power at all times. There is a magnetic isolation field, that if breached will release lethal levels of energetic gamma rays. Also, magnetic devices operated nearby may interfere with the antimatter containment fields.

History

The Vissians utilized torpedoes armed with photonic warheads and charged with sarium microcells aboard their starships by 2153. So sophisticated were these weapons that the Vissians described the spatial torpedoes used aboard Earth Starfleet starships as "antiquated." (ENT: "Cogenitor")

Prior to their encounter with the Vissians, Malcolm Reed was not familiar with "photonic weapons." (ENT: "Cogenitor") Starfleet began to utilize the technology by 2153, when it began installation of the technology aboard the NX-01 Enterprise following its return to Earth. These new weapons were installed in the ship's armory to better prepare them for the search for the Xindi superweapon. (ENT: "The Expanse")

The use of antimatter warheads aboard Earth starships came as quite a surprise to the Klingons in 2153. However, this form of torpedo still could not effectively penetrate the deflector shielding of a typical Klingon Bird-of-Prey. (ENT: "The Expanse")

Klingon torpedo technology of the time, nevertheless, appeared to be much more advanced than both Earth and Vulcan technology, as some of their ships were already equipped with photon torpedoes. (ENT: "Sleeping Dogs")

Other uses

It became something of a Starfleet tradition to place dead crewmembers inside an empty torpedo casing, and often such torpedoes were launched into space. For such a burial in space by the crew, the Captain of the starship often conducted the funeral service.

Sim was one of the first to be placed in an empty torpedo casing after his death. (ENT: "Similitude")

Background

Startrek.com describes the photonic torpedo as the earliest model of a Starfleet photon torpedo.

The precise distinction between photon and photonic torpedoes remains unclear, since both seem to have antimatter warheads with variable yields, and the casings for 22nd century photonic torpedoes and 23rd- and 24th-century photon torpedoes are very similar. It is possible that "photon torpedo" is a shortening of the original term, similar to the way "cellular telephone" has been shortened over time to simply "cell phone." This possibility is supported by VOY: "Living Witness", in which the 31st century Kyrians describe a Starfleet photon torpedo as a "photonic torpedo." However, in ENT: "Sleeping Dogs", when Hoshi Sato and Malcolm Reed examine the controls of a derelict Klingon Raptor-class ship, both are puzzled by a description (in Klingonese) of "photon torpedoes," although Reed and T'Pol are subsequently able to use the torpedoes with reasonable effectiveness, and it could safely be said that both "photonic torpedo" and "photon torpedo" are both interchangeable terms that are used for one object.

If photonic torpedoes are different from the later photon torpedoes, it is unclear when Starfleet upgraded to the later weapons, although the change had apparently been made by 2267, as seen in TOS: "Arena". The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual indicates that Starfleet began work on the photon torpedo in 2215. Either this particular type of antimatter based was rushed into service due to the threat of the Xindi and was phased out of service in favor of the more readily available Spatial torpedo or the photonic torpedo was more of a stopgap weapon issued only during the conflict with the Xindi. ENT: "Sleeping Dogs" indicates that the Klingon Empire had photon torpedoes as early as 2151.

A photonic torpedo casing was auctioned off in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction.

Advertisement