Does anyone have any idea as to what the total yield is of photon and quantum torpedoes in megatons, I think they are at least in the 2-5 megaton range, with photon torpedoes having a yield of 2 megatons and quantum torpedoes having a yield of 5 megatons, but I do not know how much more, plus how much damage can the shields of a Galaxy class absord in terms of how many megatons of yield is needed in order to punch a hole in it, if say, the United States were to use all of its nuclear weapons against the shields of the Enterprise D, will it be enough to bring down its shields?
Depends on the writer. Photon torpedoes supposedly use anti-matter. There was that old Star Trek episode where Kirk takes some anti-matter down to a planet, lures this vampiric energy cloud towards it and then beams away before it goes off. The explosion blows away half the atmosphere of the planet.
The tech advisors helped out the writers a lot here, postulating a variable yield for the torpedoes. This was an observed fact for basically the entire history of photon torpedoes in Trek, and was made retroactively canonical in ENT when photonic torpedoes were introduced in the third season (that is, the mid-2150s) and explicitly said to have a highly variable yield. In terms of real-world timeline, the idea was solidified earlier on already: tech books began to speak of variable yield in the eighties with the rebirth of Trek in the form of TNG and the TOS movies. The first canon reference to variability might be in TNG "Redemption" where Data orders "love pat" torpedoes fired to expose the cloaked Romulan ships. So the real question here is probably "How much is the highest possible yield that a starship's shields have to defend against in a characteristic Trek space battle?". It might be that the highest technically possible yields are never used in actual ship-to-ship combat; perhaps multiple medium-yield torpedoes are the preferred way. Or then a succession of yields, so that at first a volley of low-yielders would hurt the enemy and make him an easier target for the more expensive medium-yielders... I guess the point is, we don't know the upper limit of photon torpedo or quantum torpedo yield for an onscreen fact, but thanks to the tech advisors, we are at liberty to choose as high or low a value as we please. Further, we are also at liberty to choose how much of that the shields of a starship need to repel in a typical battle. To be sure, some books, mainly the TNG and DS9 Tech Manuals, suggest a maximum of 3-5 kg of matter being converted to energy per photon torpedo, meaning hundred-megaton blasts at best (not really enough to do the "atmosphere-ripping" effect from TOS "Obsession" as mentioned above, even assuming a very small planet). Whether such blasts would have the same effect against shields as hundred-megaton nukes would is unknown; the mechanisms involved might be quite different, as the spectra of radiation released would differ a bit. Timo Saloniemi
I always found it a terrible shame that the VFX guys rarely, if ever, tried to convey the awesome power of the ship-to-ship weapons of Star Trek. Even when weapons were supposedly set to maximum yield, the resulting explosions seemed to carry all the destructive force of a small cruise missile. Often less.
There was an episode in Voyager where photon torpedoes were said to have a yield of 500 megatons, far above the figures of the TNG and DS9 technical manual.
What I am wondering is why are the yield figures so low, considering that the technology is 400 years adavanced of our time, if the typical photon torpedo has a yield no higher than the most powerfull nuclear weapons, then what is the one of using such advanced technology, why not stick to using hydrogen bombs and just stick a matter/antimatter warp core to them so that they can travel FTL or something, the most powerfull nuclear weapon ever tested was 57 megatons, the Tsar bomb of the Soviet Union, and that was in the 1960s, it is amazing to know that in the 400 years after that event, weapon yields have largely stayed the same, considering that 400 years have elapsed between the testing of the Tsar bomb and the TNG/DS9 era, you would expect photon and quantum torpedo yields to reach into the low gigaton range already, considering the fact that you have 400 years to research on making more powerfull and effective weapons.
Isotons, to be accurate. It's anybody's guess what an "isoton" is. Literally taken, "iso" is the prefix for "same", while the "ton" in current-day "megaton" means a thousand kilograms of TNT. Perhaps "isoton" simply means a thousand kilograms of something else than TNT? Something more easily standardized? If this new standard is anywhere near TNT in explosive power (or simply is the modern, more accurate name for tons of TNT), then 500 isotons would be half a kiloisoton, or about one-twentieth to one-thirtieth the kaboom of the Hiroshima bomb. Well, the naval gun shells of our time are much less powerful than those designed fifty or sixty years ago. Aerial bombs get smaller and weaker by the day, too. And modern nuclear missiles strive for smaller and smaller warhead yields, as the destructive effect against hardened targets can be achieved through accuracy alone, and no real benefit against such targets would result from increasing the yield. There might be little point in creating a gigaton explosion if a starship can be killed with a sub-megaton one. For planetary bombardment, why devise a special gigaton munition when the same effect can be achieved by firing a few thousand of the sub-megatonners? It's not as if a starship would often risk running out of torpedo casings... Especially in a planetary bombardment situation where she already must reign supreme in orbit. To be sure, some Trek species do see the need for very large explosive devices. The Cardassians built the Dreadnought antimatter missile, with the potential for something like 20 gigatons. Apparently, this wasn't even a "superweapon" by their terminology, as they readily fired one against an insignificant Maquis encampment. Starfleet might have similar weapons in its possession - but a starship with a couple of hundred photon torpedoes with sub-megaton yield could present a comparable strategic threat, using accuracy and flexibility to multiply the destructive effect. Timo Saloniemi
^^ I also think that with Trek technologie you would be wary of constructing a gigaton kboom device because its not unlikely that some smartass/fluke/gaga computer turns the thing around and you'll be on the receiving end of yer own kboom..
The prefix "ISO" was used when they did not want to quantify how much it was. Or maybe soemone just liked it?
The Voyager episode Scorpion stated that at the time the ship carried 32 photon torpedoes, explosive yield: 200 isotons (Seven of 9 said that). I would hypothesize that the 200 isotons was a total number of output that all 32 photon torpedoes would generate at detonation. Meaning that each photon torpedo in effect has an explosion of 6.25 isotons.
My feelings exactly. We always got some pissy little gasoline explosion, often smaller than the ship the torpedo hit, rather than a nice 3-kilometer-wide blazing white ball of anihilating atoms.
As for future weapons being on par with modern nukes in terms of destructive power - keep in mind that you're comparing OUR doomsday weapons to THEIR standard-issue arsenal. The advantage of using antimatter over plutonium is that antimatter has a variable yield - you can inject a torpedo with a small amount to merely knock out a few of the enemy ship's systems, or you can fill it to the brim and outright atomize your opponent. I'm SURE that their WMD's were far more powerful. When the Cardassian and Romulan fleet opened fire on the Founder homeworld, 27% of the planet's crust was destroyed on the opening volley. That's one hell of a big boom.
Some time ago I wrote up a lot of tech info on torpedoes and phasers based on their 'canon' numbers and some real-world physics. The conclusions were interesting... I'll spare the details and give the final results (somewhat rounded), in MT of TNT. Tsar Bomba (1968): 57MT , world's most powerful nuclear weapon Tsar Bomba (Proposed): 100MT TOS Phaser: 3.2MT maximum per burst TOS Photon Torpedo: 20MT maximum per torpedo
How did you calculate yields for TOS weapons? After all, we have VERY little if any data regarding any kind of technical specifications during that period.
...Not to mention "The Changeling", where the Nomad probe hits our heroes with the equivalent of 90 photon torpedoes (and the Enterprise barely shakes), after which Kirk hits back with just one torpedo and is flabbergastered as to how the enemy could have survived. Timo Saloniemi
that and Spock's claim that the Enterprise can sustain four such attacks before the shields collapse. Personally I've filed that little piece of canon in the "to forget" folder next to the warp 10 salamanders.
I haven't seen the episode, but might it more be Kirk is expressing amazement that such a small object survived a photon torpedo hit?
360 photon torpedoes from the TOS era is what the shields of 1701 would be able to withstand ? Wow ... why weren't such strong shields developed in the TNG timeline ? I mean think about it ... most races use photon torpedoes, and if the TOS era SF was able to make their shields extremely resistant to those weapons, why didn't TNG counterparts do the same ? Would have saved the Enterprise D (not to mention other ships in the fleet) on a bunch of occasions. I know that it's likely the weapons underwent numerous upgrades over 80 years to have them pack more of a bang, but the shields would undergo same changes. Heck ... if the shields of SF vessels in the 24th century era were able to withstand 360 of 24th century photon torpedoes, taking down a SF ship fast would require several ships in total Then again, from a certain pov, such strong shields would not be far fetched really since the Federation is supposed to be more advanced from others in the a/b quadrants what with having over 150 different races/technologies mixing together.
They used a similar mistake in TMP, where a V'Ger projectile could disintegrate a K't'inga with one blow, yet the Enterprise survived thanks to its "new shields" albeit with a heavy drain. Obviously they can't kill the heroes off so quickly. I've heard it suggested that the torpedoes which killed the Klingons were a higher yield because their shields were up when they entered V'Ger, while the Enterprise only raised theirs when it was clear they were under attack. Therefore the one that hit them had a lower yield. It's not a bad explanation, but given the sheer power V'Ger has I'm not sure I entirely buy it either.
Nah - I'm pretty sure that V'Ger could adjust the yield of those puppies by remote. After all, it simply made the second shot at the Enterprise vanish without a trace seconds before impact. More likely the Enterprise just had better shields than the Klingons.