Cannon



A cannon was a primitive projectile weapon that fires cannon balls or other projectiles. The term cannon has also been applied to some types of mounted directed energy weapons with a fixed or limited firing arc.

Projectile cannons
Cannons were in use in the American Civil War, as witnessed in the Time stream. Cannons were also part of the history of the mirror universe Earth, where they were used as artillery and on sailing ships.

In 2267, James T. Kirk managed to defeat a Gorn by creating a primitive makeshift cannon. He made gunpowder out of potassium nitrate, sulphur and coal, and used a bamboo stick as the cannon and a diamond as the projectile. In 2293, the president of the Federation had a model of a cannon on his desk. 

In 2364, a Q recreation of a Napoleonic marshal's camp included a cannon. 

Some aspects of the 2373 Q Civil War were represented by cannons when it was perceived by Humans. During 2376, cannons were in use on Kelemane's planet, where the Central Protectorate was attacked by a neighbor state using cannons, destroying several buildings, and starting a short war. The Central Protectorate's Tactical Air Command responded. A new treaty was signed after a few weeks. 

During the Dominion War, the Remans were used by the Romulan Empire essentially as "cannon fodder" against the Jem'Hadar. 

Directed energy cannons
The term cannon has also been applied to several types of directed energy weapons. These have ranged from smaller vehicle-mounted turrets to starship-mounted weaponry. A common feature in these directed energy cannons is that their emitter needs to be physically aimed at the target where as directed energy weapon banks and arrays usually have a more omnidirectional firing arc and the direction of fire can be programmed without moving the actual weapon. (, et al.)

List of directed energy cannons

 * Disruptor cannon
 * Isokinetic cannon
 * Laser cannon
 * Particle cannon
 * Phase cannon
 * Pulsed phase cannon
 * Phased ion cannon
 * Phaser cannon
 * Photonic cannon (fictional technology)
 * Plasma cannon
 * Pulse cannon