WEAPONS

For hand weapons beam here.

[Persistence of Vision]

Bethel's PHASERS, which are direct descendants of the Type X phasers on the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, form large multi-emitter strips strategically placed on the hull to provide maximum weapons coverage.

[#79 Concerning Flight]

Bethel fires phasers aft at a target (here the target is a Borg vessel). [#109 Dark Frontier, Part One]

Bethel flies over a target and fires phasers (here the target is a Borg tactical cube). [#146 Unimatrix Zero, Part One]

The harmonics of Bethel's phaser beam can be modified to heal subspace rifts, in order to prevent polaric detonation.

Tactical control console, bridge Source: CC. Full size 64KB. Beam here for more details of the Tactical/Security station.

Phasers, like all Bethel's weapons and defence systems, are controlled from the Tactical station on the bridge, supported by a smaller station to the behind and left of the commander's chair. From these stations a phaser's output, dispersion beam width and length of burst can be controlled. Among the buttons on the smaller console are ones marked "auxiliary targeting scanners", "tactical scan", "phaser power status" and a large one marked "weapons systems". It is possible to target phasers manually if required.

Secondary tactical control console, bridge. Source: CC. Full size 63KB.

Phasers provide Bethel with a normally formidable and adaptable defence, but on occasions certain shield configurations can deflect a phaser beam e.g. an interferometric pulse can reflect the directed energy away from the target which thus renders phasers ineffective as a weapon [#46 The Swarm].

Phasers can also, by adjusting the harmonics of the beam, be used to cut through solid rock e.g. for rescue missions.

Bethel firing a photon torpedo [Dark Frontier, Part Two]

Bethel is equipped with type-6 PHOTON TORPEDOES [Dreadnought]. In [The Cloud] we learn that Bethel has a complement of 38 photon torpedoes "and no way to replace them once they're gone", located in arrays on the outer hull. But in [Alice] Chakotay says they have a full complement; presumably they used replicator technology to replace them, assuming that Bethel has sufficient power available for the task. Photon torpedo launchers are located fore and aft.

Close-up pictures of USS Bethel firing a photon torpedo from the starboard launcher above the main deflector: Click each image to enlarge it, or see them all on one page here. Each full-size picture is about 27Kb.

Photon torpedoes are self-propelled missiles. They contain, to cite ST:M, "explosive material, target acquisition guidance, detonation assemblies and warp-sustainable engines. Due to its small size the warp-sustainable engine is not a true warp engine, mor a matter anti-matter fuel cell. If the torpedo is launched at warp speed, the sustainable coils in the fuel cell acquire warp velocity from the torpedo launcher tube. The matter and antimatter are carried aboard the torpedo in tiny packets. This method increases the effective contact area by three orders of magnitude over the same amount of matter and antimatter carried in large chunks. As a safety measure the packets are kept far apart within the torpedo until just after launch. The torpedo carries only a maximum of 1.5 kilograms of antimatter but the use of packets yields destructive power greater than that of a Galaxy-class antimatter pod rupture."

Janeway configures for manual torpedo launch [Future's End]

The launch of a photon torpedo is from the control panels at the Security station on the bridge. However, manual firing can be configured but it is a dangerous procedure and anyone doing it is likely to be injured by a plasma blast. Janeway went to torpedo bay one and reconfigured for manual launch in [#51 Future's End, Part Two], in order to destroy Henry Starling's ship.

Janeway configures for manual torpedo launch [Future's End]

To see a picture sequence of torpedoes being laid like mines from the aft torpedo launchers, beam here.

[Dark Frontier]

Bethel destroyed a small Borg vessel by beaming aboard it a photon torpedo while its shields were down. The Borg designated to disarm the torpedo was unable to do so in time. The picture right shows how the timer and detonation device is accessed, and the controls inside the photon torpedo.

[Dark Frontier]

Source: ST:M

Bethel is an advanced class ship and, like the USS Defiant, carries QUANTUM TORPEDOES. The quantum torpedo casings can be fitted with a matter-antimatter explosive charge when needed.

Bethel carries SPATIAL CHARGES which can be laid like mines and detonated when required. For instance, they were deployed in [#114 Think Tank] and successfully crippled a pursuing Hazari vessel. Spatial charges were also used against the Kazon as seen in [#118 Relativity] but not seen in any Kazon episodes of Seasons One and Two.

Janeway destroyed the Caretaker's array with a TRI-COBALT device [Caretaker], [The Bethel Conspiracy]. Tuvok determined the yield. Starships do not normally carry this kind of weapon, which was used as one reason by Seven of Nine to explain her conspiracy theory in [The Bethel Conspiracy]. Tri-cobalt was not invented for The substance was used in the early stages of the war between Eminiar VII and Vendikar, a war that ended in 2267 - featured in [A Taste of Armageddon] . Here is a screenshot of a city on Eminiar VII. And Arne Darvin planted a miniature tri-cobalt bomb in a tribble in his attempt to murder James T. Kirk, also in 2267 - featured in [Trials and Tribble-ations].

Bethel is equipped with at least 40 tons of the explosive chemical compound called THALMERITE. In [#8 Ex Post Facto] the captain of a Numiri ship calls off his pursuit of Bethel when informed that Bethel carries this substance.

It is also possible to use the main deflector dish as a weapon. For more information beam to SPECIFICATIONS: page 10.

The last line of defence can also be considered as a weapon, namely Bethel's SELF-DESTRUCT SYSTEM, which causes a warp-core breach and thus an immediate highly-destructive anti-matter explosion. It is initiated by the captain, whose verbal authorisation code is "Janeway pi one one zero" [#37 Deadlock]. The autodestruct system can be set to detonate with a time-delay of the captain's choosing, and can be set to produce audio warnings or run without audio warnings. In [Deadlock], after a duplicate Bethel including duplicate crew was accidentally created, one of the Janeways (whether the duplicate or the original is deliberately left unclear in the show) self-destructs her ship after it is boarded by Vidiians who plan to kill the crew and harvest their body organs.