A Vulcan D'Kyr-class starship from the 22nd century.
Coleopteric warp drive was a type of warp drive that employed a ring-like outboard structure that encircled a starship's hull to house the warp coils, rather than linear warp nacelles. (DTI novel: Forgotten History)
Among other races, Vulcans utilised coleopteric warp drive until at least late into the 22nd century. It was employed on their starship classes such as the Suurok-class and D'Kyr-class. (ENT episodes: "Breaking the Ice", "Future Tense" et al)
The UESP Enterprise starliner.
Humans also used the drive on some of their starships. The United Earth Space Probe Agency developed a starliner with coleopteric warp drive in the mid-to-late 21st century based on Vulcan designs of the same time period. (TOS novel: Ex Machina, ST reference: Star Trek Maps)
The United Federation of Planets eventually abandoned the drive as "ringships" were not very maneuverable at high warp factors. This weakness was utilised by Lieutenant Commander Hikaru Sulu when he was piloting the Enterprise away from the VHC Ahn-Woon, and two other ringships, from an alternate reality in 2274. He made an abrupt course change at high warp that the pursuing ringships could not match, thereby losing them. (DTI novel: Forgotten History)
Appendices[]
Background[]
- In Latin, coleopteric means "sheathed wing".
Connections[]
| warp drive technology | |
|---|---|
| types of warp engines | coleopteric warp drive • dicyclic warp engine • transwarp drive • warp sled • warp drive |
| warp components | warp core • matter injector • antimatter inducer • antimatter injector • intermix chamber • power transfer conduit • warp coil • bussard collector • coolant manifold • plasma manifold • phase discriminator • dilithium crystal • dilithium articulation frame |