Mercury class battlestar

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For the unnamed original class, to which Galactica belongs, see Galactica type battlestar.

Mercury class battlestar
Race	Colonial
Type	Military
FTL	Yes
Propulsion
Crew	Unknown approx 2500 (Full crew)
Capacity
CO	{{{co}}}
XO	{{{xo}}}
Role	Capital battleship/carrier
Weapons	34 Primary Kinetic Energy Weapons (30 twin turrets, 4 fixed twin mounts) and point-defense Kinetic Energy Weapons, conventional missiles, nuclear warheads, Vipers, Raptors
Armaments	{{{arm}}}
Status	Final known ship of this class destroyed at the Battle of New Caprica
Other Images	More images...
Dimensions
Length	5872 feet (1789.8m)[1]
Width	{{{width}}}
Height	{{{height}}}
Weight	{{{weight}}}
Wingspan	{{{wingspan}}}
Other	{{{otherdi}}}

Mercury class battlestars are advanced Colonial capital warships/carriers of the Colonial Fleet, top-of-the-line vessels at the time of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies

Contents 1 Overview 2 Known Mercury class battlestars 3 Notes 4 References

Overview

Introduced some years after the First Cylon War, the structural design of the Mercury class differs significantly from the original Galactica type battlestar. The "neck" section is smaller, and the Mercury class features eight sublight engine pods instead of the older class's six. Its edges are more angular, and the hull is more completely armored (no exposed ribs). Each flight pod consists of two stacked landing bays with adjoined decks and hangars, which along with computer-assisted landings results in a faster Viper recovery rate. Each flight pod also has Raptor landing bays on the sides, allowing for rapid transfer of crew cargo when docked (TRS: "Razor"). These pods are fixed and do not retract when executing an FTL jump (TRS: "The Captain's Hand"), suggesting advances in jump systems. Inside, the class features automated sliding doorways, basic computer recognition stations in vital areas, and networked computer systems.

An example of this class, Pegasus, carries a complement of 50 Raptors and 200 Viper Mark VII fighters (8 squadrons and two reserve squadrons color coded blue, red, green, yellow, orange, purple, black, white, and reserve squadrons gold and silver) ^[2].

Gun batteries on the Mercury class are distributed all over the ship (TRS: "The Captain's Hand"), with the greatest concentration of large turrets found along the side of the ship, within the valley created by the upper and lower halves of the hull, and along the flight pods. Four are mounted on the underside of the upper hull on the ship's bow, below which sits four non-turreted large guns; these form the main forward batteries. Six turrets are mounted on each underside of the alligator head, grouped in pairs. There are also three turrets on the side of each flight pod along two more turrets are mounted on the front and back of each flight pod. This amounts to a total of thirty-four main gun batteries. The turreted guns of the Mercury class have a higher rate of fire than Galactica's turreted guns when operating in flak mode, as demonstrated during a skirmish with Cylon War-era raiders (TRS: "Razor").

The standard crew complement of a Mercury class battlestar is in excess of 2,500 (TRS: "Pegasus," "Razor"), a small number for a ship its size made possible by computer automation.

The Mercury class battlestar has production facilities to build new Viper Mark VIIs from basic resources (TRS: "Scar").

Known Mercury class battlestars

• Battlestar Pegasus

Notes

The shape of the Mercury class resembles the Original Series battlestar more than the Re-imagined Series' Galactica. Its engine pods number eight, compared to Galactica's six engine pods. The pods aboard the Mercury class battlestar appear more directly integrated with its rear section, and its flight pods share the original angular shape.

The visual effects artist of the re-imagined Pegasus, Jose A. Perez, has commented that, "The new design was somewhat of a cross between the look of the original-series battlestars, and yet with elements of the new one. Aside from that, it has mostly hull plating (to absorb more damage), as opposed to the Galactica which has more ribbing." Mr. Perez also commented that, "The harder edges [ of the Pegasus ] were intentional as well, to match the interior style of the sets more."

Fore and below

Mark VII Vipers landing in port flight pod

Batteries along the flight pod

Pegasus from the rear

References

Sources for this page may be located at: Sources:Correspondence with Jose Perez