Warp core breach

A warp core breach is when a starship's warp core fails.

There are several ways in which a warp core failure can occur. The most common is a coolant leak, which causes a cascade failure within the system. One system failure with catastrophic consequences is a loss of antimatter containment. When matter and antimatter mix, the ship, and any matter in the surrounding area, are destroyed.

A warp core breach is usually the last in a series of systems failure aboard a starship, resulting in an irreversible event. A chief engineer or other crew member can implement a warp core ejection as a last-ditch effort to save the ship -- this is a risky maneuver and usually does not work. The captain or commanding officer may order the ship's company to escape via saucer separation, leaving the stardrive section to be destroyed while survivors evacuate in the saucer section, or, where that is not possible, egress the ship via escape pods and shuttlecraft.

The USS Accord (Sadat class) fought off Klingon forces defending New Ruritania in 2331, but the damage to the ship cascaded into a warp core breach, destroying the ship. (Star Trek: Accord: "The USS Accord Fictional Timeline v. 2.0 beta")

The USS Pegasus was assumed lost to a warp core breach in 2358, but this proved later to be untrue. 

In 2364, two M'Tar attacked the USS Artemis (NCC-1992), triggering a false warp core breach signal. The survivors evacuated the ship, and some claimed to see it explode. In reality, the M'Tar stole the ship, and the flash was a jump to warp.

The Romulan freighter Void Runner suffered a core breach while attempting to seek safety while under attack for ferrying Romulan defectors out of the Romulan Star Empire in 2366. The USS Sherman (Excelsior class) saved the survivors.

During the Battle of Wolf 359 in 2367, the USS Rebellious (NCC-1807) and USS Saratoga (NCC-31911) were severely damaged. Eleven crew, including Elizabeth Singh, made it off the Rebellious before a warp core breach occurred, killing all other survivors aboard. Benjamin Sisko and his son Jake both escaped the Saratoga before its destruction. 

The USS Monitor (NCC-61826) was destroyed by a warp core breach in 2370. Then-Lieutenant Commander Jay Allan was one of the Monitor survivors. (Star Trek: Pendragon; Kal-Dixas Spaceport)

In 2371, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) suffered a core breach, destroying the stardrive section and sending the saucer section into an unrecoverable decent into Veridian III's atmosphere. 

Two Klingon cruisers ambushed the USS Ticonderoga (NCC-2034) in 2373, causing its stardrive section to be destroyed by a core breach. Quick thinking by Joseph Tyler saw some Ticonderoga crew survive the incident in the saucer section. Later in that same year, the USS Cantabrian (NCC-24705) suffered a warp core breach due to battle damage fighting Samantha Delaney's Dark Starship. The crew successfully escaped in the saucer section.

Around 2374, Logan MacLeod devised the MacLeod Maneuver, during which a starship charges an enemy starship while faking a warp core breach. (Star Trek: Defenders of the Federation) Also in the same year, the USS Swiftfire (NCC-76125-A) attempted a saucer separation to escape a warp core breach while stuck in a temporal causality loop. Both sections of the Swiftfire were destroyed in the resulting explosion, resetting the loop.

The USS Equinox (NCC-72381) was destroyed by a core breach in late 2375. 

In early 2377, a malfunction in the warp core ejection system saw the USS Shiloh (NCC-74683) destroyed by a warp core breach with no loss of life. (Star Trek: Black Hawk: "Breech!")

In 2379, the USS Pendragon had problems with its antimatter injectors, nearly resulting in a warp core breach. (Star Trek: Pendragon) In the same year, the original USS Luna (NCC-80100) was destroyed by a warp core breach during her shakedown cruise. (Star Trek: Luna) Karen Copeland and Alison Hughes successfully activated the explosive bolts to allow the USS Daedalus (NCC-74310)'s saucer section to escape but died in the resulting warp core breach that destroyed the stardrive section.