To be, or yacht to be

[Graham Kennedy]

When First Contact came out a lot of fans assumed that that launcher was a turret. It seemed reasonable, but we've never seen it turn, so it sure doesn't seem to be a turret in the sense of a battleship-type turret.

That tube is also unlikely to be capable of burst fire. Rapid fire, sure, but we've never seen it fire multiple torps in one shot, and it doesn't seem like the tube could be big enough to take multiple casings.

One of the things I hate most about the Sovereign is this idea of tiny torpedo tubes with no apparent space for internal mechanism. Out of universe it shows a simple lack of thought in designing the ship. In universe... well if torp tubes are so small, you could put them anywhere. No reason why a Sovereign couldn't have fifty tubes, or several hundred for that matter.

[Teaos]

And somewhere a fanboy just creamed himself.

[Sionnach Glic]

Dammit, Graham, now you've just validated the legions of wank-ships out there!

[Mikey]

It seemed reasonable, but we've never seen it turn, so it sure doesn't seem to be a turret in the sense of a battleship-type turret.

Exactly what I was saying. We've only seen it turn to face a fresh "barrel" toward the same forward target (if I'm remembering the scene correctly...)

No reason why a Sovereign couldn't have fifty tubes, or several hundred for that matter.

Especially since it's 16km long...

There is a reason. They're not necessary, as the NEM Sov seems to have all fields of fire fairly well covered; and since we've never seen a starship carry nearly as many torps as sheer internal volume would allow, there is ostensibly some other reason for limiting the torp load-out. Therefore, having fifty tubes means you'd get roughly one or two shots per.

[Graham Kennedy]

It seemed reasonable, but we've never seen it turn, so it sure doesn't seem to be a turret in the sense of a battleship-type turret.

Exactly what I was saying. We've only seen it turn to face a fresh "barrel" toward the same forward target (if I'm remembering the scene correctly...)

We've never seen it turn at all that I am aware of.

[Lazar]

We've never seen it turn at all that I am aware of.

Yeah, if you look at the exterior detail from FC, it looks like it's a fixed tube.

[Mikey]

K. I thought it rotated to present a new tube for each of the four shots at the sphere in FC. Guess not.

[Sionnach Glic]

A while back I traced an arc on the tube that I thought may allow it to rotate. I'll try and find that picture.

EDIT: Here we are:

Note the black area on the launcher. That's where the torps appear to come out. If the tube inside that area can rotate, we get this fire arc:

[Teaos]

You wonder why they would bother since torpedoes have pretty good agility by themselves.

[Sionnach Glic]

Maybe they did it in case heavy jamming renders torps unable to track their targets, requiring them to be fired on a straight trajectory.

Then again, that would imply forsight on behalf of Starfleet. Hmm....

[m52nickerson]

You wonder why they would bother since torpedoes have pretty good agility by themselves.

Maybe quantums do not have the same level of agility as photons?

[Mikey]

You wonder why they would bother since torpedoes have pretty good agility by themselves.

Maybe quantums do not have the same level of agility as photons?

Who knows? You are correct in your assertion that the true, canon-following answer about QT's is "nobody knows."

[m52nickerson]

It could also be at torpedoes, like some missles, track targets better if fired directly at that target.

As you said, nobody knows?

[Tyyr]

There is a reason. They're not necessary, as the NEM Sov seems to have all fields of fire fairly well covered; and since we've never seen a starship carry nearly as many torps as sheer internal volume would allow, there is ostensibly some other reason for limiting the torp load-out. Therefore, having fifty tubes means you'd get roughly one or two shots per.

Except that your average cargo bay could hold several hundred torpedos. Aside from their non-militaristic bent there's no reason a ship the size of the Ent-E couldn't be carrying several thousand torps. If there's a reason they don't it must be some kind of technobabble. If you chose to have fifty tubes there's no reason you couldn't carry a few dozen or a hundred tops per tube.

[Mikey]

That's the point. For whatever reason, UFP starships don't carry even a small fraction of the number of torps that they could. So, if they won't carry the torps, why have all those extra empty barrels?