NuEnterprise Torpedo Tubes (spoilers, sort of)

[Mister_Atoz]

In "Into Darkness" there is a close shot of a section of the Enterprise where we see a number of ports opening up to reveal the new torpedoes she is equipped with.

Did anyone happen to notice what section of the ship that was?...it appeared to be the rim of the saucer, but I could be wrong.

 

[GalacticWierdo]

It seemed to me like they were located on the engineering hull.

 

[Unicron]

I got that impression too, though it is hard to tell.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

It seemed to me like they were located on the engineering hull.

Engineering hull, near the shuttlebay.

Actually, I got the impression that the torpedoes never left the shuttlebay and their launch tubes were retrofitted to a location relatively close to the warp core (hence Scotty being so pissed about them; he later bitches to Keenser that "it's not just the retrofits..."). I also figured those tubes were probably converted from existing escape pod tubes or something of that nature; existing features re-purposed for this mission.

 

[bryce]

I wonder what these weapon launchers are then? Some people assumed that they were the Alternate Universe version of Photon Torpedo Tubes - even though they don't seem to correspond with the torpedo launcher in the front of the ship.

Yet they aren't phasers either? Are they...? (Though the nuEnterprise phases seem more related to the bolt-type phaser weapons the the DS9 Defiant, rather than the cutting/lancing beams we have seen on the various Enterprises...)

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/_...bay_on_USS_Enterprise_(alternate_reality).jpg

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I wonder what these weapon launchers are then?

Could be either one. I vote phasers because they're consistent with the power cells they were using on the Defiant a century later.

But again, considering how NEW these torpedoes were implied to be and how angry Scotty was at knowing absolutely nothing about them, they were probably a totally new type of weapon unlike anything the ship had ever carried before; the new tubes were probably required since the main torpedo launcher was too small or otherwise incompatible with them.

 

[F. King Daniel]

(Though the nuEnterprise phases seem more related to the bolt-type phaser weapons the the DS9 Defiant, rather than the cutting/lancing beams we have seen on the various Enterprises...)

The nuTrek phasers look like the Wrath of Khan ones to me - just fired all at once, rather than the ultra-conservative one or two banks at a time we saw in that movie.

 

[sojourner]

Just saw the movie today. The tubes were arranged like broadsides on the engineering hull. It was a fairly strange arrangement.

 

[DEWLine]

"Broadsides".

Good choice of phrasing. It does fit, and it does seem odd.

 

[throwback]

There are 72 of these torpedo tubes. There are 36 on each side, and they are located on either side of what would be main engineering. There is a schematic seen by Khan that shows the placement of these tubes. When I saw the tubes, I thought they resembled the tubes that were used on submarines.

Scotty was worried about the effect the torpedoes would have on the ship's systems. Think cell phones and airplanes.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Scotty was worried about the effect the torpedoes would have on the ship's systems. Think cell phones and airplanes.

As I alluded to earlier, it's more like "ICBMs on an aircraft carrier." Which is a pretty scary thought if you don't even know what kind of fuel the missiles contain and don't have the first clue how to respond if one of them springs a leak (which, cruising into the heart of enemy territory, is a pretty strong possibility).

 

[beamMe]

There are 72 of these torpedo tubes. There are 36 on each side, and they are located on either side of what would be main engineering.

I don't think there are exactly the same number of tubes as there are torpedoes.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

^ There would be if the tubes were specifically installed to carry those torpedoes.

 

[Timo]

The one in-universe criterion would be that these tubes should be as difficult for the crew to access in-flight as possible, to hide their true nature. This might indeed best be achieved by having 72 individual single-shot launchers that come pre-loaded (or at least starbase-loaded-by-stevedores-in-black) and don't requite any in-flight tampering such as loading of the next round...

On the other hand, these were supposedly refitted in a somewhat hasty and clandestine manner, and adding 72 tubes might be beyond the means of the small cabal of warmongers. I mean, if an important man comes and says "I want this single secret device installed, no questions asked, and it needs these power leads and this control cable", you do it; it's simple enough to plug in yet another module of weirdness to an already flexible design. But if he says "I want 72, ahem, torpedo tubes dotting the hull", you do start questioning his sanity out of simple professional pride.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Jose Tyler]

I assumed the ports were refitted probe/escape pod launchers. Having probes facing port/starboard would make some sense when orbiting a planet. Scotty likely modified what ports were there.

It would also make sense that torpedoes, probes, and escape pods would all have similar launchers; it would make it easier to select your inventory based your mission profile.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

And its not as though the number of tubes is unprecedented. The TOS Enterprise had at the very least 6 torpedo tubes. Other ships like the Enterprise-E and the Akira have a plenitude of tubes as well.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

The one in-universe criterion would be that these tubes should be as difficult for the crew to access in-flight as possible, to hide their true nature. This might indeed best be achieved by having 72 individual single-shot launchers that come pre-loaded (or at least starbase-loaded-by-stevedores-in-black) and don't requite any in-flight tampering such as loading of the next round...

They definitely weren't pre-loaded. The tubes had to be loaded one at a time by a crane when the ship was in firing position. Seems the torpedoes themselves were actually stored in the cargo/shuttle bays close to the launch tubes, which were themselves in fairly awkward positions hardly appropriate for weapons stations.

On the other hand, these were supposedly refitted in a somewhat hasty and clandestine manner...

Hasty, yes, but not clandestine. Everyone on the ship knew what was going on, and everyone was noticeably uncomfortable with the implications. Most of all Scotty, who DID in fact question Starfleet's collective sanity and ultimately resigned in protest.


I'm going to see the movie in 3D again tonight so I'll let you know if I notice anything new about the tubes.

 

[blssdwlf]

They definitely weren't pre-loaded. The tubes had to be loaded one at a time by a crane when the ship was in firing position. Seems the torpedoes themselves were actually stored in the cargo/shuttle bays close to the launch tubes, which were themselves in fairly awkward positions hardly appropriate for weapons stations.

If that was the case, why couldn't they just re-use a smaller number of tubes to fire the torpedoes that had to be manually loaded in the first place? If they were going for an anime-style, fire-everything-at-once-attack shouldn't those tubes already come pre-loaded?

 

[Crazy Eddie]

They definitely weren't pre-loaded. The tubes had to be loaded one at a time by a crane when the ship was in firing position. Seems the torpedoes themselves were actually stored in the cargo/shuttle bays close to the launch tubes, which were themselves in fairly awkward positions hardly appropriate for weapons stations.

If that was the case, why couldn't they just re-use a smaller number of tubes to fire the torpedoes that had to be manually loaded in the first place? If they were going for an anime-style, fire-everything-at-once-attack shouldn't those tubes already come pre-loaded?

Upon additional viewing -- paying special attention to that scene -- we hear that area of the ship being repeatedly referred to as the "weapons bay," which IMO implies that those tubes (which I still believe are a relatively recent addition to the ship) were designed to carry various missiles/mines/drones and other weapons other than a standard photon torpedo (actually, I'm not sure that the Khanpedos were ever referred to as photon torpedoes in this movie).

Visually, I only counted between 9 and 12 launch tubes on either side, bunched together in groups of three, and I cannot be sure if there were three or four such groups. Reloading seems to take only five to ten seconds with the crane, however, and considering that the intended target of those torpedoes is a single fugitive hiding in an abandoned Klingon city, loading the torpedoes to be fired in salvos doesn't present that much of a problem, especially if those torpedoes are really as long range and undetectable as Marcus claims they are.

 

[ATimson]

Upon additional viewing -- paying special attention to that scene -- we hear that area of the ship being repeatedly referred to as the "weapons bay," which IMO implies that those tubes (which I still believe are a relatively recent addition to the ship) were designed to carry various missiles/mines/drones and other weapons other than a standard photon torpedo (actually, I'm not sure that the Khanpedos were ever referred to as photon torpedoes in this movie).

I'm reasonably certain that they were referred to as photorps at least once - probably in the scene with Marcus introducing them.

I was actually somewhat relieved they didn't try to introduce quantum torpedoes early!