Hello all, Ric here with a video looking at a different form of canon today, one of the
beefier armaments of Starfleet, the Phaser Cannons.
It came about as a variation of phaser technology that
harkens back to the older designs used on ships around the 23rd century.
At this time, phasers arrays were still fired from individual turrets or
emitters, with the phaser strip not emerging until the early
24th century.
The strips are these darkened lines you see around the saucer section of most vessels
and will have their own video coving their development, but the eventually the standard
emitter would take a back seat to the newer innovation.
The Phaser cannon is not to be confused with the phase cannon, which was a much earlier
weapon from the 22nd century, while phaser technology
was still coming into its own.
While the technology was still present, during the mid-2300s, weapons
development was not exactly a priority for Starfleet with their greater focus on exploration,
however that would shift when the institution became aware of the Borg threat in 2365 and
plans to modernise their fleet were underway.
In order to support the Defiant project and other such ships, several new armaments were
developed including the Quantum torpedo, ablative armour and the pulse Phaser Cannon.
Unlike the Quantum torpedo however which only required
a bit of an alteration to a torpedo launcher to
accommodate them, the Phaser Cannon was generally only implemented on ships it was designed
for, with the first class to have them fitted as standard being the Defiant.
It is safe to say then, with the ease at which these developments were introduced, that such
technology had been worked on behind the scenes within the Tokyo Starfleet Research and
Development branch, until it was accelerated from the Borg threat.
So, this cannon was designed to hit hard and with rapidity, averaging anywhere
between 4 to 12 rounds per second.
The premise was to develop something that could effectively
hammer through shielding at close range, while the
drawback was considerably less accuracy and power with range.
Considering the Borg’s tendency to get in close with tractor beams when in combat,
this was not really an issue, plus the cannons were
generally fitted alongside the more common strips or emitters for versatility.
They work as a standard phaser, drawn on nadion particles, but instead of containing them
into a stream and projecting them as a phaser beam,
the emissions are encased in magnetic fields which
forms into high energy orbs, which is then release towards the target.
This is similar to how phaser’s have been seen to work before and a common
sight on other species’ ships, singular blasts instead
of Starfleet’s generally preferred sustained beams.
The trick to the cannon is that this magnetically contained energy blast is repeated from multiple
generators along the length of the cannon, creating
a stream of these pulses, basically a machinegun phaser array.
They are more effective against shielding and punching through a ship as they are harder
to disperse than a phaser beam against deflectors and
ablative armour, with the intent to overwhelm such
systems.
Such technology is implemented not just on Starships, but seen as mounted weapons on
things like the Argo, although these would end less powerful as they drew on a far smaller
energy source that a ship’s reserves.
The Pulse Phaser Cannons were not as widely produced because they demanded specialty
components, such as completely flawless emitter crystals, rapid discharge Electroplasma capacitors,
and phaser coils uniquely calibrated for rapid fire.
But when these implements are brought to bear, they prove their effectiveness, especially
during the Dominion War and would later become fitted on
ships beyond the Defiant class, especially those expected to see much combat such as
the Prometheus and Gagarin.
However the Defiant had their cannons tied into their plasma conduit
systems, almost doubling the yield at the cost of warp efficiency which draws on 15%
of the ship’s energy supply when charged.
In conjunction the cannons had their own dedicated power cells which
would eventually be drained and needed frequent replacing.
Sufficed to say, other cannon fittings on ship may not have matched the Defiant class’
teeth when it came to cannons as these were effectively
the ship’s “specialty” if you like.
The final point I will add is that they are still based on Phaser technology
and therefore have the intrinsic adaptability which
proliferated phasers as Starfleet’s go-to armament of choice, although they were not
as easily convertible into more “tool” based functions
as a beam was.
That about covers the lore on the Pulsed Phaser Cannons, I’ve been Ric and thanks for watching,
I’ll see you again later for another lore video
and until then, thanks again and googbye!