War Room

The War Room is a tactical planning and strike operations center aboard a ship. On battlestar Galactica, it is located in proximity to CIC ^{(TRS: "The Hand of God")}.

The room has two functions:

Monitoring and controlling large-scale operations which cannot be fully monitored or controlled from the CIC without interfering with shipboard operations
Providing a dedicated planning and briefing center for the development of and execution of special operations under the control of a battlestar.

Galactica

Hewing to its pre-networked First Cylon War origins, Galactica's War Room is heavily crewed due to its hands-on acquisition and use of data vis-a-vis "foot networking" and other person-to-person communications that eschew all but the most basic computerized methods.

The predominant centerpiece is the plotting table, a large light table that can be configured for a variety of uses, supported by a number of information-relay consoles (e.g. monitoring communications). Translite maps are laid upon the table, having been printed from available data from the ship's stores, including newer data acquired via astronomic surveys and Raptor reconnaissance missions.

Atop the center table are models used to visually depict phases of missions with assets rendered as models, such as Vipers, Raptors, and Galactica itself. These models may hand-written name tags to identify callsigns or other unique identification terms, as needed, and are moved or removed by crew members acting as plotters with forked plotting rods. The models themselves are made as needed, likely hand-constructed by crew, as they are facsimiles of new ships the Fleet encounters or ships within the Fleet itself, e.g. the Fall-era Raider and various civilian ships ^{(TRS: "The Hand of God")}; and later, the Fall-era Basestar, Resurrection Ship, and Pegasus ^{(TRS: "Resurrection Ship")},

One wall of the War Room features light boxes where smaller translites are used to mount maps, gun camera photos, and other visual aids assist in mission planning and review. A chalkboard on another wall is used to track pilot and ship rosters for missions.

Around a dozen personnel staff the War Room during an operation, in addition to any command staff that may be in attendance.

Appearances in episodes

In "The Hand of God," its first appearance, during the planning and execution of the Battle for the Tylium Asteroid.
In "Resurrection Ship, Part I," during the planning of the attack on the Cylons and when Commander William Adama recruits Kara "Starbuck" Thrace to kill Admiral Helena Cain.
In "Occupation," when Admiral Adama attempts to come up with a plan to rescue the people on New Caprica.
In "Revelations," when Kara Thrace and Sharon "Athena" Agathon present their plan to rescue the hostages on the rebel Cylon basestar.
In "Face of the Enemy," when Saul Tigh orders Felix Gaeta to take a week's leave on Zephyr.