Proximity blast

A proximity blast was a phaser and laser beam setting that was employed on Federation small arms and aboard starships. The proximity blast function operated by firing phasers in a concentrated bolt of energy, detonating at a predetermined point and affecting any object within the blast radius.

The proximity blast was used during the Federation-Klingon War by ships such as the USS Discovery and the USS Shenzhou. (DIS: "Battle at the Binary Stars")

In 2259, the Enterprise used several proximity blast shots to destroy a Crossfield class starship repaired by miners from a joint Klingon-Federation mining planet attempting to start another war with the Klingons trying to attack a D7 class battleship unprovoked. (SNW: The Broken Circle)

The proximity blast setting was used in 2266 by the USS Enterprise while engaging in combat with a Romulan Bird-of-Prey. As the Romulan ship was equipped with an advanced cloaking device, the proximity blast function proved useful against it, as a more precise targeting of the vessel was impossible. The proximity blast was also used in an alternate timeline by both the Enterprise and the Farragut in the same situation with the same Romulan ship. (TOS: "Balance of Terror"; SNW: "A Quality of Mercy")

The Enterprise used the proximity blast setting again a year later, when engaged in combat with a Klingon D7-class battle cruiser. The Enterprise was successfully able to destroy the Klingon vessel using blasts set to one hundred percent dispersal pattern. (TOS: "Errand of Mercy")

The USS Reliant used a semi beam/proximity blast when cutting into the USS Enterprise's hull and damaging the ship's warp core after being hijacked by Khan Noonien Singh and his followers in 2285. The Enterprise did the same during the multiple skirmishes as well. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

The proximity blast likely was used by the Enterprise to save power during the encounter, as Scotty says "A few shots sir!" after the Enterprise's warp core was damaged by the Reliant and went offline, disabling the primary phaser power source leaving very limited reserves. For the rest of the encounters, the Enterprise would instead use photon torpedoes due to phaser power reserves being depleted.

Ships of the alternate reality such as the USS Kelvin, the USS Enterprise and the USS Vengeance used proximity blasts quite frequently. (Star Trek; Star Trek Into Darkness; Star Trek Beyond)

The proximity blast setting was first described in the writer's guide, The Star Trek Guide (third revision, page 9). [1] When phaser fire is set for proximity explosion it acts somewhat like a "depth charge". The original special effect was also used to represent a photon torpedo launch on many occasions (giving the episode "Balance of Terror" a doubtful reputation in retrospect, as the occasion on which Captain Kirk repeatedly orders phaser fire but every time he does so the Enterprise appears to launch photon torpedoes).

To correct this, when the episode "Balance of Terror" was digitally remastered by CBS Digital in 2006, a unique special effect was developed.

Proximity blast

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