Collision course

This article is about the movement of one object or philosophy towards another. For other uses, see Collision course (disambiguation).

A collision course, also known as a kamikaze run, is the deliberate maneuver by the operator of a moving object (or often in Sci-Fi a spaceship) to collide with another object. It is a desperate maneuver since it often damages or destroys both.

Uses in history

• Ancient Greek Triremes were reinforced and equipped with bronze rammers, so they could collide with enemy ships to sink them
• Admiral Nelson used a similar tactic to attack the French fleet at Trafalgar, to the horror of Captain Hardy, when he ordered the British ships to 'run aboard' (crash into, or just ahead of the ships).
• Kamikaze pilots from Japan used collision course tactics to take out naval vessels or large Bombers in the latter days of World War 2. Such tactics even extended to the construction of dedicated kamikaze aircraft, such as the Ohka.

Fictional uses

• In Space Battleship Yamato (2010 film) the ship rams an enemy vessel to destroy it.
• In Star Trek Nemesis the Enterprise E rams the Scimitar.
• In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine the Jem'Hadar use a kamikaze run to stop large Federation ships, notably the USS Odyssey (NCC-71832) destroyed circa stardate 47990.
• In Star Trek: Voyager episode "Year of Hell" Captain Janeway used USS Voyager to destroy Krenim weapon ship.
• In J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, George Kirk rams the U.S.S. Kelvin into the Narada in order for the shuttlecraft to escape destruction by the Romulans. Spock also rams the Vulcan ship Jellyfish into the Narada in order to detonate the red matter that is onboard.
• In Galaxy Quest (a spoof of Star Trek) the NSEA Protector flies at Sarris' ship dragging space mines.
• In the Babylon 5 episode "Severed Dreams", the critically damaged EAS Churchill rams the loyalist ship EAS Roanoke, destroying both.
• In the Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) episode "Exodus Part 2" the Battlestar Pegasus is rammed into a Basestar.
• In Stargate SG-1, Jaffa Ha'tak vessels ram Ori battlecruisers on at least two occasions, but are unable to defeat the superior Ori shields, resulting in the destruction of only the Ha'taks.
• In Stargate Atlantis, two darts destroy the Ancient weapons platform that was going to be used to destroy the ZPM powered Hive Ship.
• In Stargate Universe, Destiny's shields were designed to take a lesser amount of damage from the drones, but used Kamikaze Runs to penetrate Destiny's shields and damage the ship.
• In Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi an A-Wing pilot crashed into the bridge of a Super Star Destroyer causing it critical damage.
• In Independence Day the final air battle which takes place over Area 51, pilot Russell Casse crashes his jet into the spacecraft core which in turn destroys it.
• In Killzone 2, Colonel Jan Templar after being mortally wounded reporograms hes flagship New Sun to crush into the Helghan defense grid.

Music

• Jay-Z and Linkin Park's collaboration album is Collision Course

See also

• Self-destruct
• International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea
• Last Resort