Galaxy Class Torpedo Tubes

[Atekimogus]

According to the TNG technical manual those tubes are supposed to be able to launch 10 torpedoes simultanously. Now altough this is not canon iirc the largest cluster we have seen on TV was - and please correct me - 7 or 8 torpedoes.

Now my question is, how is this actually done since the launcher doesn't seem large enough to emit 10 torpedoes.

Are they fired only in a very fast succesion, in two rows of 5 each, gatling gun like in a star formation etc? Have we ever seen the GCS torpedo room like we did for the constitution in WotK and UC so that we may have at least an educated guess of the inner workings of the burst fire tupes?

[Aaron]

According to the TNG technical manual those tubes are supposed to be able to launch 10 torpedoes simultanously. Now altough this is not canon iirc the largest cluster we have seen on TV was - and please correct me - 7 or 8 torpedoes.

Now my question is, how is this actually done since the launcher doesn't seem large enough to emit 10 torpedoes.

Are they fired only in a very fast succesion, in two rows of 5 each, gatling gun like in a star formation etc? Have we ever seen the GCS torpedo room like we did for the constitution in WotK and UC so that we may have at least an educated guess of the inner workings of the burst fire tupes?

I always figured it was done ala double shotting a muzzleloading canon; one in front of the other. Mind you we really haven't seen any shots of the torpedo without it's "glow" to compare to the tube. Unless some out in the net has scaled it.

[Mikey]

Agreed with Kendall - I always subconsciously figured it was like a caseless shot round, or more properly like a grapeshot load in a cannon.

[Teaos]

Yeah I just assumed they were in a row. Kind of like the metal storm gun.

[Praeothmin]

Didn't the E-D fire 10 torpedoes in "Encounter at Farpoint"?

[Deepcrush]

All out of the same tube. Most likely just a rapid feed system.

[Praeothmin]

Exactly, but weren't they fired as a "cluster" and then separated?
I don't remember them being fired as a "stream" like the QTs in First Contact...

[Deepcrush]

The PT seemed to fire as one then burst into five split. So maybe they have either a different type of torp or the tube can just hold that many at once.

[Captain Seafort]

Exactly, but weren't they fired as a "cluster" and then separated?

Entirely consistent with them being fired in extremely close succession - you wouldn't be able to distinguish individual torps that close together at that range given how small they are.

[Deepcrush]

That works too.

[Atekimogus]

The PT seemed to fire as one then burst into five split. So maybe they have either a different type of torp or the tube can just hold that many at once.

Well that is what we observe on screen.
Now I do not know the exact dimension of a torpedo but did anyone actually check if it would be physically possible to fire 10 torpedoes at once from the tube? (Not in fast succession but really a cluster of 10 torps)

[Aaron]

Well that is what we observe on screen.
Now I do not know the exact dimension of a torpedo but did anyone actually check if it would be physically possible to fire 10 torpedoes at once from the tube? (Not in fast succession but really a cluster of 10 torps)

The torpedo is about the size of a coffin going by STII/III but I haven't a clue as to the dimensions of the E-D's tube.