Missile tubes: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:49, 26 October 2008

The outer doors opening on a Colonial battlestar

Battlestars of Galactica's class are armed with at least twelve missile tubes. These are located behind the bow of the battlestar, at the fore of the vessel's midsection, with the tubes' launch doors opening on the dorsal side of the hull. As the outer doors open, the missiles are moved forward into launch position by powerful hydraulic rams.

Once the missiles are loaded into the tubes and are ready to be fired, they must be armed with a target package and a point of aim. This is typically ordered by the vessel's Commanding Officer, with the order being relayed by the Tactical Officer.

Conventional Warheads

It is likely that Colonial battlestars have the ability to launch missiles, either at ground targets or suitable spaceborne targets, armed with conventional, non-nuclear warheads.

While not strictly the same type of ordnance, other battlestars have been seen to fire ship-to-ship missiles (Hero). From this point, it seems likely that other, non-nuclear missiles exist for orbital bombardments as well.

Nuclear Ordnance

With nuclear ground strike missiles loaded in the tubes and ready to launch with the appropriate target information, the command authority must then specifically authorize the release of such weapons.

Following authorization, the safety protocols on both the launch systems and the warheads themselves are disabled by the Tactical Officer, following the CO's order.

The two most senior officers aboard ship, usually the Commanding Officer and the Executive Officer, then input their firing codes. The final stage is for the firing key to be inserted into the master control console and turned, thus initiating the launch sequence. The order to fire is given by the CO ("The Eye of Jupiter", "Rapture").

The missile tubes can also fire on enemy vessels, although it is unclear if the same missiles as for planetary bombardments are used (Razor).

Notes

While the release of biological and chemical weapons are normally illegal for the Colonial Fleet and requires a presidential mandate (A Measure of Salvation), the release of nuclear ordnance, even used against planets and not just in space, does not seem to require presidential approval (The Eye of Jupiter).

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-A [[Galactica type battlestar]] is armed with at least twelve '''missile tubes'''. These are located behind the "head" of the battlestar, at the front of the vessel's midsection, with the tubes' launch doors opening on the dorsal side of the hull. As the outer doors open, the missiles are moved forward into launch position by powerful hydraulic rams.
+[[Image:Missiletubes1.jpg|thumb|right|The outer doors opening on a Colonial battlestar]]
+[[Galactica type battlestar|Battlestars of ''Galactica's'' class]] are armed with at least twelve '''missile tubes'''. These are located behind the bow of the battlestar, at the fore of the vessel's midsection, with the tubes' launch doors opening on the dorsal side of the hull. As the outer doors open, the missiles are moved forward into launch position by powerful hydraulic rams.
 Once the missiles are loaded into the tubes and are ready to be fired, they must be armed with a target package and a point of aim. This is typically ordered by the vessel's [[William Adama|Commanding Officer]], with the order being relayed by the [[Tactical Officer]].
@@ Line 5: / Line 7: @@
 ==Conventional Warheads==
-[[Image:Missiletubes1.jpg|thumb|left|The outer doors opening on a Colonial battlestar]]
+It is likely that Colonial battlestars have the ability to launch missiles, either at ground targets or suitable spaceborne targets, armed with conventional, non-nuclear warheads.
-It is likely that Colonial battlestars have the ability to launch missiles- either at ground targets or suitable spaceborne targets- armed with conventional, non-nuclear warheads. This has been shown when ''[[Valykrie]]'', which is a battlestar of a different class though, fired a small missile at a fighter ([[Hero]]).
+While not strictly the same type of ordnance, [[Valkyrie|other battlestars]] have been seen to fire ship-to-ship missiles ([[Hero]]). From this point, it seems likely that other, non-nuclear missiles exist for orbital bombardments as well.
 ==Nuclear Ordnance==
-[[Image:Groundstrike.jpg|thumb|left|Nuclear Groundstrike Missiles being moved into firing position]]
+[[Image:Galactica nukes.jpg|thumb|right|Nuclear Groundstrike Missiles being moved into firing position]]
+With nuclear ground strike missiles loaded in the tubes and ready to launch with the appropriate target information, the command authority must then specifically authorize the release of such weapons.
+Following authorization, the safety protocols on both the launch systems and the warheads themselves are disabled by the Tactical Officer, following the CO's order.
+The two most senior officers aboard ship, usually the Commanding Officer and the [[XO|Executive Officer]], then input their firing codes. The final stage is for the firing key to be inserted into the master control console and turned, thus initiating the launch sequence. The order to fire is given by the CO ("[[The Eye of Jupiter]]", "[[Rapture]]").
-With Nuclear Groundstrike Missiles loaded in the tubes and ready to launch with the appropriate target information, the final stage before actual delivery requires for the Command Authority to specifically authorise the release of such weapons. Following such authorisation, any officer aboard ship with sufficient rank to order weapons fire- the Executive Officer, for example- may order the release of the missiles.
+The missile tubes can also fire on enemy vessels, although it is unclear if the same missiles as for planetary bombardments are used ([[Razor]]).
-*It should be noted that, while the release of biological/chemical weapons requires a Presidential mandate ([[A Measure of Salvation]]), the release of nuclear ordnance does not require the assent of the Office of the President ([[The Eye of Jupiter]]).
+== Notes ==
+*While the release of [[w:Biological warfare|biological]] and [[w:Chemical warfare|chemical]] weapons are normally illegal for the Colonial Fleet and requires a presidential mandate ([[A Measure of Salvation]]), the release of nuclear ordnance, even used against planets and not just in space, does not seem to require presidential approval ([[The Eye of Jupiter]]).
 [[Category:A to Z]]
 [[Category:Galactica Areas]]
 [[Category:Galactica Areas (RDM)]]
+[[Category:Weapons]]
+[[Category:Weapons (RDM)]]
 [[Category:RDM]]
+[[de:Raketenschächte]]