Fusion reactor overload?

[Icosahedron]

Any explosion, whether created by fission, fusion, gunpowder, capacitor overload or misjump, is just an explosion. You can't say for sure how catastrophic a catastrophic explosion will be. The term 'vapourised' that first appeared in CT is just a Referee's guide to say the ship is no more.

Only your particular Referee can say what was destroyed and what might remain.

Even after a deliberate misjump from the surface of a moon close-orbiting a gas giant, your Referee might decide that someone finds the hardened core of a computer hanging from a fragment of wreckage thirty parsecs away...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

What about the use of nukes being proscribed by the Imperium, though? Wouldn't that be a problem? After all, how do you know that scuttling charge won't be used to open an enemy starport to vacuum after all?

Just asking.

 

[far-trader]

What about the use of nukes being proscribed by the Imperium, though? Wouldn't that be a problem? After all, how do you know that scuttling charge won't be used to open an enemy starport to vacuum after all?

Just asking.

Regarding the Imperial Rules of War they are not Laws and as rules they are widely open to interpretation however...

"...one prohibition is clear and firm throughout the Imperium: use or possession of nuclear weapons, if discovered, and regardless of size or type, will almost certainly trigger Imperial intervention. The Imperium alone retains the rights to such weapons."

And I thought we were talking about an Imperial Warship, so there's no problem at all with a nuke self-destruct mechanism, nor nuke missiles for that matter. It's also not a problem for warships outside the control of the Imperium (though they may have other limitations).

 

[whartung]

The primary benefit of a catastrophic explosion in space or orbit is simply lots of smaller chunks rushing out at high velocity. Unlike a terrestrial explosion, gathering the fragments of the remains will be pretty much impossible. If you witness the explosion, and it's not forceful enough, then you might be able to well track the "large" piece of pieces, and even track them down, but then you get the joy of trying to stop the no doubt violent tumbling of the piece.

Orbit adds values since likely a good amount of the volume of the craft will be deorbiting, soon, and rather rapidly. Assuming an atmosphere, that too aids in the overall destruction.

Again, you may be able to track the "big piece" down to impact for investigation.

As far as debris recovery, recall what happened and was able to be recovered from the 9/11 aircraft, when Columbia re-entered violently, and even Flight 800 when it exploded. All of those where horribly violent. Were they "1 Mt Nuke in the center" violent? No. But its hard to imagine more catastrophic events. Was it a lot of work to do that recovery? Absolutely, but you can see from those events that if the situation calls for it, it's worth recovering.

Deep space explosion thwart that kind of recovery, simply because the debris never lands. It can likely be tracked with powerful RADARs. Heck, with hi G (3+) drives, and enough fuel, you can probably catch and collect a large quantity of it, but that would likely require a lot of ships. And it would be a LOT of work.

So, explosions only destroy "so much" when it really comes down to it. If you're trying to "protect" something important, wrap it in thermite and burn it.

There's a seen in Blackhawk Down when they send a Delta team after one of the helicopters. Basically they took incindiaries and toss them in to the cockpit, as they run away they call to base "Crash site secured" as the explosive go off and no doubt start melting avionics and other gear within the helicopter.

So, be specific about what you want destroyed. And be thorough.