Minefield

A minefield was a passive defense measure consisting of a network of mines deployed in space. Several races knew how to make use of them.
The Romulan Star Empire was known to deploy minefields in the 22nd century to protect the sovereignty of their borders. The Earth Starfleet starship strayed into a cloaked Romulan minefield in April 2152. One mine breached its hull while another attached itself to the ship. ()
Section 31 Headquarters was surrounded by a minefield incorporating blade mines and blackout mines, despite the Federation banning the use of minefields at the time. Admiral Katrina Cornwell attempted to justify allowing this to the bridge crew of the by stating that the Federation had not built the mines and that the had forced them to tolerate their use, drawing criticism from Captain Christopher Pike. ()
During the Federation-Cardassian War, several minefields were deployed. ()
The Dominion was known to use minefields. In 2374, Worf mentioned that he had piloted starships through these. ()
After the Klingon Empire withdrew from the Khitomer Accords and the began, the Klingons attempted to mine the Bajoran system, thus preventing the Dominion from leaving the system if they invaded. This would have left the Empire able to focus on conquering the entire Cardassian Union and the rest of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. A cloaked mine detonated and was detected by a runabout from Deep Space 9. Later, another mine detonated and a ship, the , was badly damaged. This led to the failure of the Klingons' plan as Worf and Kurn boarded the ship and obtained the detonation codes. The detonated the minefield and the other Klingon ships retreated back to the Empire. ()
As war with the Dominion seemed increasingly likely in late 2373, the Federation mined the entrance to the Bajoran wormhole to stop more Dominion reinforcements coming through. The mines were self-replicating and were equipped with cloaking devices. Even after the Dominion seized control of Deep Space 9, the minefield remained in place. The field stood for at least three months before it was destroyed after disabling the replication units with an antigraviton beam. ()
The planet Salina Prime in the Delta Quadrant was protected by subspace minefields. In 2375, a Druoda series 5 long-range tactical armor unit took control of the and plotted a course around the minefields in an attempt to the reach the planet. ()
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== External link ==
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de:Minenfeld
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Category:Explosive weapons