If all the ships in Star Trek competed in a galactic drag race, which one emerges victorious? In the futuristic world of Star Trek, the ships are almost as important as the characters, and the longer the audience spends with a vessel, the more attached they become to it. The bridge of the original Enterprise occupied by Kirk, Spock and McCoy, as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Enterprise-D interior both became a second home to viewers tuning in each week, while the Klingon Bird of Prey and Borg Cube have both earned iconic status.

To explain high-speed travel from planet to planet, Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek introduced the concept of warp speed. Developed by Zefram Cochrane, warp-capable vessels enter a sub-space bubble to travel faster than the speed of light, covering great distances in mere moments. Ships have achieved speeds of Warp Factor 9.99 in Star Trek (albeit not always safely) but flashforwards have hinted at Warp Factor 13 and beyond.

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Ascertaining the fastest ship in Star Trek is difficult, as outside forces have sometimes altered vessels to make them considerably faster than they should be. In “That Which Survives,” the Enterprise is sabotaged, sending the warp drive into 14.1, which will destroy the engines in a matter of minutes. Kirk’s ship has also been modified on several occasions to attain Warp Factor 11, and the Voyager cannibalized Borg transwarp technology in order to finally get home. But in terms of unmodified ships that can travel safely at high speed, the fastest Starfleet vessel was for a long time considered to be the USS Prometheus. Introduced in Star Trek: Voyager, the Prometheus is an experimental vessel capable of Warp Factor 9.99 without the usual loss of structural integrity. In Star Trek: Picard, however, Riker arrives to save his former captain in the USS Zheng He, claiming the ship to be Starfleet’s fastest. Since this scene takes place after Star Trek: Voyager, it’s possible that the Prometheus has been superseded, but the audience only have Riker’s word to go on.

Away from the docks of the Federation, Star Trek has introduced several other super-fast ships. In Star Trek: The Animated Series, Karla Five’s antimatter vehicle can travel at Warp 36, which would be the fastest Warp Factor in the franchise, depending on whether the cartoon is considered canon. Voyager’s Tom Paris managed to take the Cochrane shuttle to Warp 10, but he couldn’t counteract the nasty side-effects that followed. In The Original Series‘ “Journey To Babel,” an Orion ship travels at Warp 10 seemingly without such problems.

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Beyond warp drive lies the advanced realm of transwarp, which greatly eclipses regular warp. Few species in Star Trek are transwarp-capable, and Starfleet has been unsuccessful dabbling in this area. The Borg can utilize transwarp, but only via a network of conduits in space – their cubes don’t generate transwarp speeds via their own power.

However, Star Trek: Voyager did feature a ship that could exceed warp speeds under its own steam. In “Hope & Fear,” Janeway and the gang encountered Species 116, which posed as the Federation in the USS Dauntless. Rather than transwarp, the Dauntless is installed with a quantum slipstream drive, creating a field around the ship and safely generating propulsion several times faster than the highest achievable Warp Factor in Star Trek.

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About The Author


Craig Elvy
(3630 Articles Published)

Craig first began contributing to Screen Rant in 2016, several years after graduating college, and has been ranting ever since, mostly to himself in a darkened room. Having previously written for various sports and music outlets, Craig’s interest soon turned to TV and film, where a steady upbringing of science fiction and comic books finally came into its own.
Craig has previously been published on sites such as Den of Geek, and after many coffee-drenched hours hunched over a laptop, part-time evening work eventually turned into a full-time career covering everything from the zombie apocalypse to the Starship Enterprise via the TARDIS.

Since joining the Screen Rant fold, Craig has been involved in breaking news stories and mildly controversial ranking lists, but now works predominantly as a features writer.
Jim Carrey is Craig’s top acting pick and favorite topics include superheroes, anime and the unrecognized genius of the High School Musical trilogy.

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