Destruction of Vulcan The destruction of took place on stardate 2258 . 42 after the Romulan Nero drilled to the planet ' s core where he detonated red matter , causing the planet to implode . A Starfleet task force attempted to stop the attack , but were no match for Nero ' s starship the " Narada " . Prelude . 129 years in the future , a supernova had completely destroyed the Romulan homeworld , Romulus , despite the best efforts of Federation ambassador Spock to prevent it . Spock was able to collapse the supernova into a singularity using a red matter device , before any other worlds could fall victim , but an enraged Romulan captain named Nero intercepted Spock ' s ship and threatened to destroy him . Before he could do so , however , the singularity ' s gravity well dragged both ships inside , with Nero ' s vessel , the " Narada " being thrown back to the year 2233 , while Spock ' s craft , the " " was pulled in a few seconds later and arrived in the year 2258 . The " Narada " had again intercepted the " Jellyfish " however , having waited twenty - five years to do so . Nero then captured Spock and marooned him on the near - by planet , so that he would be forced to witness Nero ' s revenge for the destruction of his homeworld . ( ) The battle . Afterward , the " Narada " arrived at Vulcan and deployed a high - powered plasma drill in Vulcan ' s upper atmosphere to drill a huge shaft to the core of Vulcan . The planetary government sent out a distress call which led to a Federation task force to pursue and the assess the situation . The " Narada " detected seven starships approaching , though it is known that ten federation ships were launched . When they arrived however , the ships proved no match for the advanced weaponry of the Romulan ship , and the fleet was out in short order . It is unknown if any crew members managed to escape this destruction via shuttles . One starship , had arrived later than the others ( owing to a minor mistake by helmsman ) and nearly collided with the debris field made up of wreckage from the other starships . Nero witnessed the arrival of the new starship and was prepared to destroy the " Enterprise " , when he realized just which ship it was , and that this reality ' s would be on the vessel . He ordered the captain of the " Enterprise " , , to surrender himself and come on board the " Narada " , which he agreed to do . Before he went to the " Narada " however , Pike dropped an assault team comprised of , Sulu and Chief Engineer Olson onto the Narada ' s drill platform ( interference from the drill made beaming impossible ) . In an effort to achieve total surprise over the Romulans , Olson delayed in deploying his parachute until the last possible instant . Unfortunately , Olson badly miscalculated as he crashed into the platform , fell off the side and was incinerated by the drill ' s energy discharge . Kirk and Sulu were suddenly left at a disadvantage since Olson had been carrying the explosive charges with which they intended to destroy the platform . Two Romulan crewmembers emerged from the drill and a hand - to - hand fight began between them and the Starfleet officers , which eventually ended when one of them was burned to death by flames from an exhaust outlet , while the other was impaled and thrown off the side of the platform . Using captured disruptor rifles , Kirk and Sulu shot at the mining platform ' s machinery until it ceased functioning . Unfortunately , their efforts came too late ; the " Narada " had already reached the planet core . Nero then ordered a bomb made up of red matter from the " Jellyfish " to be fired into the planet ' s core , and when it detonated it created an artificial singularity within the planet . Upon hearing of this , and that the entire planet would be obliterated within a matter of minutes , acting captain Spock sent a largely futile evacuation order to the planet and beamed himself down to retrieve the Vulcan elders ( including his parents ) who were tasked with preserving Vulcan ' s cultural heritage and wisdom . Since the elders convened inside the katric ark , direct communication and transporter functions were impossible . Not all of the elders escaped as the surface began to collapse and among the casualties was Spock ' s mother , . Seconds later the planet completely imploded into the singularity , leaving no trace of its existence , and resulting in the near - total extinction of the Vulcan species . ( ) Aftermath . The battle concluded with the destruction of the planet and the death of its six billion Vulcan inhabitants . The " Narada " had suffered only minor damage and the loss of two crewmen . Nero was also able to detain Captain Pike as a prisoner and information source . Through the use of a Centaurian slug , Nero gained pertinent knowledge of Federation defenses from Pike that would later be utilized in his follow - up attack against Earth . The deep emotional effects Spock suffered as a result of the destruction of Vulcan were later used to justify relinquishing his command of the " Enterprise " to its temporarily promoted first officer , Jim Kirk . In the wake of the devastation , Ambassador Spock was able to locate a suitable planet to establish a colony and assist the estimated 10 , 000 remaining Vulcans in restoring their way of life . The colony was simply named New Vulcan . ( ; ) The destruction of Vulcan resulted in Section 31 taking a much more active role in defending the Federation . They began to aggressively explore uncharted regions of the galaxy . Along the way , they recovered the carrying 85 genetically augmented humans in cryosleep . Admiral Alexander Marcus then awakened their leader , believing his superior intelligence would aid them . Marcus threatened to kill Khan ' s 72 surviving crew members , blackmailing him into helping Section 31 design advanced weapons and warships , among them the . ( )