Cochrane Deceleration

The Cochrane Deceleration maneuver was a tactic used by the United Federation of Planets.

Named after Zefram Cochrane and was a ship to ship tactic that was used to partially counter against swarming and the Klingon Six o'clock low. The technique was more effective, however, when a Federation starship faced an attacking vessel with greater speed and maneurability. The defending ship needed to cease all forward tactical movement. As the attacking ship came about and passed by close range, the Starfleet vessel would make a 120 degree pivoting stress turn. Whilst doing this, the forward shields remained at the highest state of readiness and all possible forward weapon systems would engage the target which was now hopefully presenting its rear arc.

The tactic worked best if the vessel was near one flank of the enemy swarm or if the attacking ship was expected to pass at high speed within the range of an accelerator cannon or photon torpedo. The Klingon Empire never adopted the maneuver due to the high skill that was needed to perform the tactic but did learn to respect it as they named it "k'yan ndarsliv" (slow source of doom).