Duranium was a naturally occuring, extremely strong metallic, substance. Due to its abundance in numerous planetary cores, duranium was used for hull construction for starships and facilities by numerous races across the Milky Way galaxy. (DS9 reference: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual)
History and specifics[]
In the early 2370s, the Europani began creating sculptures from duranium, and they became quite popular amongst the population. (DS9 novel: Demons of Air and Darkness)
Duranium was used in the hulls of 29th century Federation starships. During a mission to the 13th century to observe the origin point of the Typhon Expanse class-B temporal incursion, the observation lounge window of the timeship USS Relativity was made of transparasteel blended with duranium. (ST - Coda novel: Moments Asunder)
Other applications[]
Spun duranium is used to create .50 caliber bullets. Cervantes Quinn had two clips of spun-duranium rounds for his sniper rifle. (VAN - Declassified novella: The Stars Look Down)
"Duranium shadows"[]
The term "duranium shadows" refers to situations where sensors are incapable of penetrating duranium with accurate readings of the contents of a spacecraft or outpost's hull. In combat situations, this can refer to specific and intentional methodology (such as thoron fields) used to fool enemy scans, such as creating impressions of a large stockpile of weapons where none exists, or obscuring the ability to see an actual arsenal or fortifications.
In the year 2369, Chief of Operations Miles O'Brien and the crew of Starbase Deep Space 9 were able to fool Gul Jasad and his attack force that the station was more heavily fortified than they believed. (DS9 episode & novelization: Emissary)
The same trick was used to opposite effect when the space station was under siege from an attack fleet led by Chancellor Gowron and General Martok in early 2372. They saw that the same trick was being used to block their sensors, and assumed that the station was as unguarded as it was on the previous occasion. In actuality, Starfleet had indeed re-armed the station, and the Klingons were caught off guard by the increased firepower. (DS9 episode & novelization: The Way of the Warrior)
Appendices[]
References[]
- DS9 reference: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual
- DS9 novel: Demons of Air and Darkness
- VAN - Declassified novella: The Stars Look Down
- DS9 episode & novelization: Emissary
- DS9 episode & novelization: The Way of the Warrior
- ST - Coda novel: Moments Asunder
External link[]
- Duranium article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.