"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 warp factor 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 the time it can be maintained by a starship varies between classes. This is due to energy output limitations of the warp core and limitations of other systems, such as the warp coils, the structural integrity field and the amount of energy the propulsion system can handle without overloading. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly"; DS9: "The Sound of Her Voice"; TOS: "The Changeling")

Galaxy-class 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") Intrepid-class 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")

The USS Carolina traveled 0.7 light years in two hours when at maximum warp. (VOY: "Inside Man")

Even though the Nova-class was designed to travel at a maximum speed of warp factor 8, when the USS Equinox powered its warp drive with energy derived from the corpses of nucleogenic lifeforms, an increase of 0.03% was added to the warp factor, allowing the velocity of traveling ten thousand light years in less than two weeks. (VOY: "Equinox")

Maximum warp limitations by class Edit

• Warp 1.4^† - Arctic One-type
• Warp 1.8^† - Y-class
• Warp 2^† - Neptune-class, J-class
• Warp 4 - Type 9 shuttlecraft
• Warp 5 - NX-class^†, Danube-class
• Warp 6^† - D5 class, Class 3 neutronic fuel carrier
• Warp 8^† - Constitution-class
• Warp 8 - Nova-class
• Warp 9.8 - Galaxy-class
• Warp 9.975 - Intrepid-class
• Warp 36^† - Karla Five's vessel

^†Original Cochrane Unit warp scale

Maximum warp requests Edit

Background information Edit

There is evidence that maximum warp is not always the absolute 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 Enterprise-D can move faster in other episodes.