Torpedo Launchers?

[Basill]

Well Chekov does ask for a "photon torpedo load status" in TMP prior to departure to intercept V'Ger. He could be querying the computer, but since nobody else asked the computer questions during the film, he might very well have been calling down to the torpedo room to ensure that the crew had both tubes loaded with shells.

I've often wondered that too. That Chekov dialog was in the pre-Director's edition I believe (I could be wrong, but I think it has since been cut, though I still hear it in my head every time the movie plays.) About asking the computer questions however, there was at least one example. When Kirk visits Decker for the first time, there is an engineering checklist bantered back and forth between a female crew member and the masculine computer voice. This too has been excised from the Director's edition I believe. (That cool computer voice was completely removed from the film)

Chekov could have been inquiring to that computer persona though we never hear a response (from a computer or a crew member.) As to the load status of the torpedoes, they could be simply referring to the loading of the torpedoes onto the ship in stockpile rather than any primed or armed status. The ship was about to leave dry dock for the first time in 18 months and they were in a hurry. I think they mentioned the torpedoes in that sequence specifically because they intended to use them later in the wormhole sequence. Decker would later order, "Arm photon torpedoes" and that took place lickety-split. That indicates auto-arming is a very fast procedure or that the torpedoes were already close to their launch port, unlike in TWOK. I also agree that the TWOK crew's "hands on" torpedo approach was the result of the ship's status as trainee vessel and the severe damage they took in the first attack.

So Chekov's dialog could be at any stage of the torpedo loading for all we know but it is a neat clue, if one's version of the movie still has it included.

 

[AudioBridge]

One thing to bear in mind, and the oldtimers here can correct me if I'm wrong, but at the time of TMP I think it was intended that the the photon torpedoes were not physical torpedoes. Or if they were, they were smaller devices that what we saw in TWOK.

I believe that part of the reason the m/am reactor shaft was so close to the torp launchers was because the torp system siphoned energy from the shaft and used it to "form" torpedoes. Essentially, m/am product was pulled off the system and loaded into devices with antimatter. So when Chekov is asking staff or the computer about load status, it might be to check if and how many torps have been pre-loaded for immediate use prior to departure.

The system above makes more sense considering the ship's size. As we know, the torp room set filmed for TWOK doesn't acutally fit the launcher area shown on the model. And things are packed in pretty tight on the 1701 refit. In the real world there wouldn't be much room to store torpedoes as shown in TWOK. Is there any "official" count of how many TWOK style torps the ship has stored?

 

[JuanBolio]

I don't buy the non-physical torpedo idea. Shooting globs of antimatter wouldn't really work. You need a casing, containment fields, a guidance system, some type of propulsion, and matter for it to react with. I do agree that's why the reactor shaft was so close to the torpedo bay, though - to load the casings up with antimatter.

 

[MarianLH]

Except the shaft doesn't carry antimatter. The reactor's down at the bottom of the hull, and the shaft only carries the energy from the already mixed matter and antimatter.

Even if you ignore the designers' intent because it's "not canon" it begs the question, what would unmixed antimatter be doing up there in the neck part of the shaft?


Marian

 

[MarianLH]

One thing to bear in mind, and the oldtimers here can correct me if I'm wrong, but at the time of TMP I think it was intended that the the photon torpedoes were not physical torpedoes. Or if they were, they were smaller devices that what we saw in TWOK.

Franz Joseph certainly got that idea from somewhere, since his deck plans show the photons as being large energy weapons. But I wasn't around then either, so I couldn't say.


Marian

 

[AudioBridge]

True, the intermix shaft doesn't carry antimatter. My understanding was that matter and antimatter were combined at the base of the shaft. The resulting energy product (warp plasma or whatever you want to call it) continued up the shaft where it split off to the deflection crystals in the warp nacelles and the saucer. Along the way the energy product was siphoned off to be combined with antimatter for torpedoes. Whatever ther resulting product was thought to at the time of TMP, I'm sure it was assumed that it would go boom with anti-matter.

 

[Basill]

TMP made the distinction however, of mentioning that the phasers had been channeled through the main engines as part of the redesign, as a means to increase their yield. According to Decker, when the engines went wacky in the wormhole the phasers were useless mainly because of this feature. Many critical ship's systems failed to operate correctly in the wormhole, and yet the torpedo is what saved the Enterprise. So unless the Enterprise had previously armed some or all of their torpedoes prior to the failed warp jump (a likely possibility given their mission) something tells me this siphoning method would have been less than useful on a case by case basis. Still, even if that is the normal means of transferring antimatter to the torpedoes, the torpedoes themselves are essentially ordnance devices that are probably ready to go on a moments notice.

 

[Vanyel]

TMP made the distinction however, of mentioning that the phasers had been channeled through the main engines as part of the redesign, as a means to increase their yield. According to Decker, when the engines went wacky in the wormhole the phasers were useless mainly because of this feature. Many critical ship's systems failed to operate correctly in the wormhole, and yet the torpedo is what saved the Enterprise. So unless the Enterprise had previously armed some or all of their torpedoes prior to the failed warp jump (a likely possibility given their mission) something tells me this siphoning method would have been less than useful on a case by case basis. Still, even if that is the normal means of transferring antimatter to the torpedoes, the torpedoes themselves are essentially ordnance devices that are probably ready to go on a moments notice.

I know that TNG was some 80 years later, but when they were going through that area of space with the "holes" in it, didn't Riker say it was a good thing that the "holes" hadn't gone through a photon torpedo? Wouldn't that strongly imply that at least some photon torpedoes are kept armed 24/7?

 

[Tigger]

I know that TNG was some 80 years later, but when they were going through that area of space with the "holes" in it, didn't Riker say it was a good thing that the "holes" hadn't gone through a photon torpedo? Wouldn't that strongly imply that at least some photon torpedoes are kept armed 24/7?

I believe Riker spoke of one of the anti-matter containment pods for the warp engines...

 

[Vanyel]

I know that TNG was some 80 years later, but when they were going through that area of space with the "holes" in it, didn't Riker say it was a good thing that the "holes" hadn't gone through a photon torpedo? Wouldn't that strongly imply that at least some photon torpedoes are kept armed 24/7?

I believe Riker spoke of one of the anti-matter containment pods for the warp engines...

I could have sworn it was a photon torpedo he referred to. I'll check it out later, and apologize if I'm wrong.

 

[Mister_Atoz]

I just checked the script, you were both right Riker mentions the photon torpedoes AND the anti-matter pods. It's 1am and I can't sleep and so I had nothing better to do then to look it up.

 

[JuanBolio]

I dunno - the refit reactor shaft doesn't seem to have any centralized core. It looks more as if matter and antimatter mix at various points all over the shaft, and as such antimatter could be drained at any point. I think the vertical shaft is supposed to power ship functions, impulse engines, and fuel the torpedoes, while the horizontal shaft is dedicated to warp power. Just my theory though - the movie-era shaft is probably the least understood of any federation reactor seen.

 

[Vanyel]

I just checked the script, you were both right Riker mentions the photon torpedoes AND the anti-matter pods. It's 1am and I can't sleep and so I had nothing better to do then to look it up.

Thank you.

 

[Maurice]

Well Chekov does ask for a "photon torpedo load status" in TMP prior to departure to intercept V'Ger. He could be querying the computer, but since nobody else asked the computer questions during the film, he might very well have been calling down to the torpedo room to ensure that the crew had both tubes loaded with shells.

Not exactly. In the pre-DE versions you can hear him say "Photon torpedo load status", but it's not clear if he's querying or reporting. He could be confirming something.

 

[James Wright]

About the Miranda class torpedo launchers, what would happen to any crew members manning those launchers if they were destroyed during battle? They sure can'r get to another part of the ship!

JDW