Talk:Auto-destruct

Methods of Destruct For Each Class?
Could it be determined which methods of self-destruct are used for each class? In ST:TMP Kirk orders preparations for self-destruct and Scotty explains that "when that much matter and anti-maitter come together" the explosion would kill V'Ger. This, to me, suggests that the Constitution refit class uses a core breach. But in ST:TSFS we see a drawn-out sequence of explosions which suggests no core breach but instead demolition charges.

Of course the question, I think, is largely academic since the core will breach by cause of demolition charges anyhow. -Andrew 1-7-05 17:21 PST


 * On TSFS the destruct sequence was used to dispose of the Klingons and was therefore more drawn out to make it more exciting. Personally I found it much more entertaining than the boring white "poof" that Voyager went up in in that episode where the ship got cloned. -????


 * I think in the TNG Technical Manual it says the Ent-D has matter/antimatter charges spread throughout the ship. Perhaps this is the sort of demolition seen in TSfS, though it didn't seem very successful at destroying every salvageable part of the ship. But according to Scott's Guide, there are two different methods of self destruction on the Connie Refit, one of which is designed not to damage nearby ships. Maybe Kirk set the 1701 to blow up enough to take out the Klingons, but not so much that they'd lose their escape ship home(Kruge's BoP)--Pearse 18:32, 23 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure if I ever saw it stated anywhere official (or if it was just a possibility that came up in discussion with friends), but it's also possible that part of the reason for the lack of complete destruction of the 1701 over the Genesis Planet may have been that the damage to the ship, which knocked out the relays, accordingly may have not had the self destruct command transmitted to ALL of the (presumed) demolition charges on the ship... --umrguy42 04:48, 9 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I must admit, I thought that there were always two forms of self-destruct. i) An anti-matter containment breach and ii) placed charges. The former being used for compelte destruction (the most common) the second being used when (i) is not possible, ie close to a planet/ship etc. - Nick   22:51   26 Aug 2008


 * I was under the impression that the primary method of self-destruct from the TNG era onward resulted in a complete shutdown of the antimatter containment fields within all of the ship's antimatter storage pods. With the amount of antimatter stored aboard a starship, that would be an instantaneous method which results in the destruction of the ship. - TP 10:30pm(EST) March 23, 2010

Destruct Sequence Codes and Sequence Omega
I would think that destruct methods and codes would be standard throughout the fleet. If ship is found abandoned, and it's in danger of falling into enemy hands, any command crew in the fleet would need to be able to implement the sequence. In other words, having senior officers that the ship's computer recognizes as having a sufficent security clearence could walk onto any ship in the fleet, and give the proper codes for self destruct. As for Nemesis, Picard specifies "Destruct Sequence Omega". This seems (to me) to be a special security sequence that one could/would use in a case where three officers (of sufficent security clearence) are not on the bridge. Or perhaps Sequence Omega is an immediate destruct order. Implement it, and the ship blows up instantly. I imagine this would be a useful sequence to use in battle, as Picard tried to do. Picard felt the Enterprise was lost, and indeed it was only a matter of time until Shinzon finished her off. But Picard was going to be damned before he let Shinzon get away, and said "If I'm going so are you". Had the Enterprise destructed at that range, she surely would have taken the Scimitar with her. Pure speculation here, but perhaps the idea for this sequence even came out of The Search for Spock.

All this is my humble opinion of course. --Dovid 05:16, 10 Aug 2005 (UTC)


 * Could Destruct Sequence Omega not be an extreme-measures protocol involving the Omega Particle? It probably wouldn't take much for an Omega Particle to be replicated without paying any attention to stability, in order to completely savage the ship and everything within a certain radius - for example a Reman Predator and planet killer.
 * Doubtful. Based on the information available from  the Omega particle was so top secret that if the element was found by sensors the entire ship basically locked up.  Only the Captain could release the controls.  Additionally, its unlikely that Starfleet would ever permit the use of a device that will disrupt subspace across a light-year, preventing warp travel (Omega molecule), simply to destroy a ship. -- Kooky 04:22, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Computer Logs
References duplicated from redundant pages. I haven't deleted them, but redirects are recommended. "Black box" references still need tightening up.--Mike Nobody 13:18, 30 Sep 2005 (UTC)

Nemesis Destruct Protocol and Sequence
Greetings, the article on the destruct sequence states that the Auto-destruct from  did not occur because the computer was offline. I do not recall there being a statement that the auto-destruct would not work due to the computer offline, but it is more likely due to the Scimitar's continuous shots straining the warp core. Also, on another note, to prevent confusion to the user who made the note, I removed the note on Picard saying "Data, I need you" for needing to activate the auto-destruct sequence, as Riker would be the next in line for the activation and that I don't even recall Picard saying it, just sighing. - Adm. Enzo Aquarius 03:46, 22 January 2006 (UTC)


 * By the time of the battle in Nemesis Data was the 1st officer of the Enterprise-E, Riker was Captain of the Titan (Picard said this in his toast at the wedding) so Data would have had the XO command codes, not that Riker could have used his as well but if I was the Captain I would want my XO to agree with me in killing the crew to save the..well everyone on earth. -- Marc
 * That's not what happened in Nemesis, no. Riker's new command was announced, he was due to take command of the Titan, but just like he was not yet married to Troi (also announced by Picard in his toast), it had not happened yet. Further evidence is that Riker was still wearing the three pips of a commander during most of the movie and the battle, only wearing the four pips of a captain at the very end, when he was leaving for the Titan. --OuroborosCobra talk 21:37, November 17, 2011 (UTC)

Computer effect
The TNG tech manual notes that a few milliseconds before detonation, a cascade failure and data erasure occur in all three of the ship's computer cores - it can be reasonably assumed that this occurs in all federation starships, as any surviving parts of the computer core could concievably contain sensitive information. 66.26.52.24 21:58, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

basics part1
in the voy episode basics part1 the computer says "unable to activate self destruct sequence due to damage to secondary command prosesors" could the primary command prosesors be used instead (if there are secondary ones then there would have to be primary ones)?
 * It's most likely that, as a safety precaution, both primary and secondary processors are required to activate the self-destruct sequence. --From Andoria with Love 20:15, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

De-Activation
There is absolutely nothing mentioned in any of these articles about how to deactivate the destruct sequence. In 11001001, it goes like this:

Picard: (lays hand on bridge computer console) "Cancel auto-destruct."

Computer: "Does the first officer agree?"

Riker: (laying hand on computer) "Affirmative"

Computer: "Auto-destruct cancelled."

It's also said in many episodes that the deactivation order can only be given from the main bridge. However, in Star Trek: First Contact, Data issued the deactivation order all by himself from a terminal in engineering.

There are a dozen contradictions here and none of them have been mentioned. Can someone assist in updating this article?


 * I think we're stuck with the contradictions as far as cannon allows. One could stretch a few of them and infer that some of the points were requirements of plot.  Example, in  Picard & Riker went to Main Engineering.  They were unsure about their ability to take control of the bridge, so they set the auto-destruct there.  With regards to USS Voyager, its possible that the computer was reprogrammed by the crew due to the lack of senior bridge officers that were members of Starfleet.  As far as Voyager's crew, we had Janeway, Tuvok, and Kim who were Senior Officers still in Starfleet.  If may have been determined that it was in the best interest that any Starfleet Senior Officer could activate the self-destruct unilaterally if the need arose.  (Tom Paris was a Starfleet officer, however his reasons for being onboard were not initally part of the crew.))  (This is all pure speculation, having no basis in canon, and is only offered as one possible explanation for the seeming discontinuity of the auto-destruct system.) -- Kooky 04:35, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

We have to remember that firstly we are talking different ships over a epriod of 80 years. Activation and de-activation techniques will change over that time. Although it seems, apart from the episode 11001001, the accepted form is the stereotypical 0 0 0 Destruct 0 form. A la ST III, First Contact etc, I suppose that the Enterprise-D could have had an experimental new form that was eventually rejected by Starfleet? Nick  22:51   26 Aug 2008

Auto-destruct authority
My comment is when reading the page on the auto-destruct sequence. It is stated the yoyager class ships only require one command code to activate. I believe that this maybe in error. I think the reason is because due to the loss of her starfleet first officer that she may have had the system reprogrammed to accept her sole authority over the auto-destruct. I don't believe starfleet would leave the authority in the hands of one officer only

-- stoveman831 07:24, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
 * There is no canon evidence that Janeway reprogrammed anything, and in fact there are problems with that argument. Remember that once the Maquis crew was integrated onto Voyager, they were quickly treated as if they were, in fact, members of Starfleet, even giving them uniforms and ranks. Chakotay himself was a former Starfleet officer. We have had other instances where the two people needed for auto-destruct did not even need to be in Starfleet. In (someone correct me if I am wrong), Sisko and Kira activate the auto-destruct. Kira is not even a member of the Federation, and is in fact an officer in a military that is not part of the Federation. The Maquis seemed to be still considered Federation citizens by starfleet, criminals, but still members, as stated a few times by Admiral Nechayev. So, on Voyager we had Federation citizens treated as if they are now considered to be Starfleet officers, and the auto-destruct only required Janeway. On the Defiant, we have one Starfleet officer and one member of the Bajoran Militia, completely independent of the Federation, and it still required both. --OuroborosCobra talk  16:04, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

I also have a question about this. In First Contact and another episode of TNG, it takes only Picard and Riker to activate the auto-destruct. But towards the end of First Contact, it takes 4 officers to deactivate it. It would also seem that autodestruct can only be activated from engineering, but de-activated from anywhere on the ship. Why?


 * Where did the 4 officer thing come from? Data deactivated the auto-destruct on his own in engineering when the Borg queen told him to unlock the main computer. Also we often see the auto-destruct activated by voice command on the bridge, so it can be activated there. As for whether it can be deactivated anywhere on the ship, I can't think of any instances when this occured other than in main engineering and on the bridge, but it would be reasonable to conclude that it should be easier to deactivate it than activate it, as in an emergency you may not have time to get to main engineering or the bridge should the situation change after enabling the auto-destruct Wheatleya 13:32, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Removed

 * The self-destruct was authorized in, but failed because the auto-destruct was off line. Picard, however, orders the "Auto-destruct sequence: Omega." Given that the Enterprise was lodged into Shinzon's ship, Picard likely planned to detonate the Enterprise from within Shinzon's ship; the "Omega" order may instantly destroy the ship and requires only the Captain's authorization due to the expediency that such an order would require.

Speculative. &mdash; Morder (talk) 20:12, November 4, 2009 (UTC)

PNA
This article mixes canon and background information in the in-universe sections of the article, and requires attention. - 20:32, August 31, 2011 (UTC)