Olympic Carrier

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Olympic Carrier
Race	Colonial
Type	Civilian
FTL	Yes
Propulsion
Crew
Capacity	approx. 1,345
CO	{{{co}}}
XO	{{{xo}}}
Role	Passenger liner
Weapons	{{{weapons}}}
Armaments	{{{arm}}}
Status	Destroyed by Colonial forces (33)
Other Images	More images...
Dimensions
Length	825 feet
Width	130 feet
Height	75 feet
Weight	{{{weight}}}
Wingspan	{{{wingspan}}}
Other	{{{otherdi}}}

Olympic Carrier is an FTL-capable passenger liner that joins the Fleet carrying 1,345 survivors of the Cylon attack.

Olympic Carrier, sometimes referred to as Carrier, is officially designated an "Intersun Passenger Cruiser." With a length of 825 feet, it comfortably accommodates 1,000 passengers in style and luxury on journeys between the Twelve Colonies. A commercial passenger ship, it has no weapons or defense capabilities.

Carrier is able to successfully execute the first 237 jumps in the relentless 5-day Cylon pursuit of the Fleet that occurs a short time after their escape from Ragnar Anchorage. Prior to Jump 238, Carrier sends a message to President Laura Roslin aboard Colonial One. The message purportedly comes from a Doctor Amorak, formerly of the Colonial Ministry of Defense and a former colleague of Dr. Gaius Baltar, with information regarding "a traitor in their midst." Soon thereafter, Carrier goes missing after failing to arrive with the rest of the Fleet on Jump 238.

Three hours later, the Olympic Carrier suddenly materializes at the Jump 238 coordinates, raising the suspicions of Roslin and Commander Adama. When asked over wireless by Lieutenant Sharon Valerii how they avoided Cylon attack, a voice from the starliner claims ignorance, saying that someone must have been looking after them, and that they used the intervening three hours to fix their malfunctioning FTL drive. Baltar, fearing exposure of his own deeds in the undermining the Colonial defenses, urges Roslin to cut off communication with the ship.

When radiological alarms sound on Valerii's Raptor on CAP, indicating the presence of a nuclear device, Commander Adama and President Roslin come to a quick consensus that the ship must be destroyed. Lee Adama and Kara Thrace reluctantly carry out the order and destroy the vessel before the nuclear weapon could detonate. Neither viewers nor the characters know for certain whether the Cylons offloaded the humans aboard the starliner or left them aboard (and out of sight) to die (33).

President Roslin later writes the ship's name down on a piece of paper and leaves it in her desk aboard Colonial One as a reminder of her role in the tragedy. She had once seen President Richard Adar do something similar when he also gave an order which resulted in the loss of innocent life through military action (Water).

A copy of Number Six using the name Shelly Godfrey claimed to been a former passenger of Olympic Carrier. She was Amorak's assistant and lover, and was supposedly instructed by him to take video evidence incriminating Dr. Baltar off the ship for safe-keeping. It's possible that she played some role in the Cylon takeover of this vessel (Six Degrees of Separation). However, She is seen on board a ship resembling the Pyxis in orbit of Canceron during the attacks (The Plan).

When discussing the stories of Admiral Cain's questionable actions with Colonel Tigh, Commander Adama references their own attack on Olympic Carrier, claiming there were over 1,000 people on board when it was destroyed (Pegasus). During Baltar's trial, Lee Adama cites the destruction of the vessel when listing a series of questionable or illegal actions for which he wasn't punished (Crossroads, Part II).

Related Imagery

Olympic Carrier appears, heading towards the Fleet (33).

The destruction of the vessel (33).

The ship's name on a piece of paper Roslin uses to remind her of her mistakes (Water).

Notes

• During "33," the survivor count appears to drop from 49,998 (after Billy Keikeya revises the numbers down at the beginning of the episode) to 47,972, before he informs Laura Roslin of the birth of an infant on Rising Star. This is a drop of 2,026, much larger than the 1,345 person crew of Olympic Carrier. However, in a scene cut from the episode, the whiteboard figure has apparently been revised downward again in mid-episode to 49,317. This is perfectly consistent with the reported crew of Olympic Carrier.
• Producers Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and director Michael Rymer noted in their DVD commentary for "33" that digital effects artists from Zoic hid small signs of movement within Olympic Carrier during the up-close shots of the ship. In the scene where Lee Adama is trying to look for people inside through the windows, lights within the ship flicker on and off and several dark figures can be observed darting about the aisle ways between seats in the lower part of the ship. This is revisited in a deleted scene from "Razor", where Adama and Kara Thrace review their gun camera footage of the ship's destruction and Apollo claims to see a person peering through one of the windows.
• In their DVD and podcast commentaries of various episodes, Moore and Eick have stated that there were originally going to be live people on the Olympic Carrier at the time of its destruction, and that Apollo was going to see them before giving the order to attack, but the network would not allow them to do it, claiming that "33" was becoming too dark of an episode. Regardless, every subsequent reference to Olympic Carrier's destruction has been written from the perspective that the ship was inhabited at the time of its destruction, whether or not its passengers were seen.

Olympic Carrier Blue Prints

http://media.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/File:Olympic_Carrier_Blue_Prints.png