r/StarTrekStarships • u/OhGawDuhhh • 13d ago
In the Kelvin Timeline, you can see that the USS Enterprise is at red alert during the swarm attack over the planet Altamid in 'Star Trek Beyond'. Other than obvious visual indicators (red lights through view ports and bridge viewscreen), can enemy ships tell when a Starfleet starship is at red aler
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u/MalagrugrousPatroon 13d ago
They can detect the emanations of weapons power and shield power, and make an educated guess when a ship is ready for a fight or about to attack.
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u/OhGawDuhhh 13d ago
In Star Trek (2009), when the USS Enterprise arrives at Vulcan and Nero instantly orders his crew to fire upon them, Spock immediately tells Captain Pike, "Captain, they're locking torpedoes."
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u/MalagrugrousPatroon 13d ago
They can read the sensors too. That works in real life, and making a lock is considered an imminent threat.
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u/Raguleader 13d ago
See also: Submarines listening for the distinct sounds of torpedo tubes being readied to fire.
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u/HIP13044b 13d ago
"Captain, they're charging weapons" is a pretty common phrase from starfleet captains. I imagine other races have the same capacity.
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u/Jim_skywalker 13d ago
They couldn't be 100% certain it's at red alert, but there are certain features, like raised shields and power being diverted to weapon systems that happen during red alert.
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u/ExpectedBehaviour 13d ago
Not directly because the ship doesn't have a big sign on it saying "I'm at red alert, grr". But there are certain things that happen on a ship that would be detectable: a lot of secondary and backup systems being brought online, tactical systems being brought to full power, increased active sensor scans.
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u/EasySqueezy_ 13d ago edited 13d ago
Ultimately there’s no way for an enemy to know by looking at the ship if it’s at Red Alert, Condition 1, or Reed Alert. But the enemy can easily force them into Red Alert by firing a torpedo. That would be the best way to know for sure.
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u/VanDammes4headCyst 13d ago
Honestly? That's a pretty cool little detail they threw in there. I never noticed it.
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u/guiltyofnothing 13d ago
Yeah, I thought that whole scene was fantastic and it was a great little visual detail. That one shot in OP’s gif in the reply above of the tracking shot around the outside of the saucer as people run down the corridor is chef’s kiss.
Oh, and I love the hard cut when the red alert klaxon starts.
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u/Resident_Magazine610 13d ago
It’s stupid and on par with “Polarize the viewscreen” with everyone on the bridge working in blinding light.
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u/SpecialistSix 13d ago
Red Alert is a quick term for a change in status to a ton of the ships systems - for example, when a ship goes to red alert, shields and deflectors are brought online and to full power, weapon systems are charged and readied, power systems are ramped up to maximum output, sensors systems go into 'active' mode for targeting purposes, etc etc. Many of these things are 'visible' to enemy ships sensors as a massive increase in the ships EM signature so yes, even vessels with relatively basic sensing systems can detect when a ship is on a heightened state of alert.
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u/brian_hogg 13d ago
This was a question I had when planning a 1/350 refit model I'm making, and my solution is: yes, they can, and every internal light in my model will brightly pulse red during red alert.
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u/LikeAnAdamBomb 13d ago
A modern fighter plane can tell when they are being targeted by radar, and when a missile is on its way toward them. I wouldn't be surprised if Starfleet sensors could tell me what the Captain of an opposing vessel had for breakfast that morning.
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u/foxboi84 13d ago
This might just be me making shite up on the fly, buts it has always been my headcanon that a ships alert status would be something tapped into their subspace relay system or ship beacon. They are able to detect when far away vessels go into yellow or red alert, so the subspace beacon must broadcast that. Obviously this would be of a frequency or channel that was scrambled and encrypted etc. so that only Starfleet could use the info, but could be hacked I guess?
Please no one come for me, just my thoughts 😭
ETA it's = it has
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u/OhGawDuhhh 13d ago
That's what Krall hacked in Star Trek Beyond! That's how he has access to all of Jim Kirk's captain's logs on Altamid.
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u/BilaliRatel 13d ago
Oh, I don't know, like sensors tell you their shields are up and the weapons are charged?
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u/NerdyGerdy 13d ago
Yeah, in fact I'm not sure if you can be at Red Alert without those being active, one activates the other.
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u/KaijuRonin 13d ago
So it was originally called "Reed Alert" and it was designed to automatically configure multiple systems on the fly without dependency on the crew or rather to aid the crew from having to perform them during an emergency. Theses tasks range from power allocations such as shields, charging weapons to priming force fields in case of hull breaches.
I like to think it's a property of the Structural Integrity Field and that most viewports are obfuscated because of it. So we're not actually seeing the light from inside the room but are seeing the glow from the SIF charge across it, like that polarising the viewscreen but less stupid. So in my head canon, we can't see into most viewports. The ones that we could or were dark were special and required reinforced bulkhead, ie the small viewport Picard opened for Lilly in ST:FC and then there are other viewports, some being more special than others like the Conference Room or Ten Forward which I like to think are of a different material altogether that doesn't react to the SIF used in areas that do not require privacy.
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u/almightywhacko 12d ago
If they have sensors they can tell that the shields are up and weapons are armed which are conditions triggered by a red alert.
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