Romulans and Warpdrive

A common idea is that Romulans did not have warp drive during the Romulan War. This is mostly influenced by the following lines given in “Balance of Terror”:

This lead many fans to believe the Romulans could not travel with warp speed, an idea also promoted in the Star Trek Chronology. However there are several things that make the idea sound ridiculus: first if the Romulans can’t go faster than light, why would they be such a threat to the universe?

Also why should the fact that the cloaked Bird-of-Prey can’t go faster than light also apply to other vessels of the Romulan fleet? My car can’t go faster than 150 kilometres per hour, but I don’t drive a Ferrari either.

Furthermore there is an interesting line in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, which I noticed just recently.

If we apply the same rules to the Valiant which was an Earth vessel and travelled to the galactic barrier we have to conclude: Earth vessels aren’t able to fly faster than light. Of course this is proven wrong several other times and we have to conclude that impulse doesn’t mean sub-light speed.

Further Reading

• Warp Drive and Romulan History by Bernd Schneider
• Romulan Warp Drive by Graham Kennedy