Propulsion (TOS)

For the propulsion counterparts in the Re-imagined Series, see Propulsion in the Re-imagined Series.

In the Original Series, the Fleet moved seemingly only at sublight speeds. There are inferences to FTL use though, even if sporadic and uncertain.

Lightspeed is the term for a Colonial battlestar accelerating to the speed of light or faster. Galactica's is one of the few ships in the rag-tag Fleet had lightspeed ability, so normally the battlestar moved no faster than the slowest ship in the Fleet during its exodus from the destroyed Twelve Colonies. Starbuck's Viper "Recon 1" could be inferred to be able attain this lightspeed also, as it had to drop to sub-light when it detected a freighter and fighter.

Even with the lack of hard substation, FTL in the Battlestar Galatica (TOS) is inferred several times. Even just the mention of leaving solar systems (possibly mentioned inaccurately as 'galaxies') and showing up in other solar systems within short periods of times lead one to suspect that some form of FTL was used.

Other than these oblique references, we are shown nothing that would substantiate how they achieve this form of propulsion other than by just accelerating until they reach their top speed. Oddities include never showing Fleet using FTL, though this is probably due to budget constraints in the special effects that could be used in an ongoing series at the time.

Commander Cain brings Pegasus to lightspeed in order to outflank Baltar's attack force, though Cain earlier commented that such a maneuver would result in using half of Pegasus's fuel (The Living Legend, Part I).

Commander Adama orders Colonel Tigh to take Galactica to lightspeed, despite Tigh's objections that suggest that it had been some time since the battlestar was ordered to accelerate that fast (Experiment in Terra).

Notes

• Unlike its Re-imagined counterpart, however, Galactica apparently accelerates to lightspeed through its engines and does not perform any hyperdimensional movement.

• While the Re-imagined Series attempts to ground its technology to plausible theories regarding apparent FTL travel, the Original Series is less scientific. The mechanism and theory of lightspeed travel in the Original Series is never explained.

• Given that the Fleet and Vipers regularly visit other star systems and even a few references to flying to other galaxies, it's scientifically implausible that the Fleet only moves at sublight speeds. Even at a large fraction of the speed of light, traveling from one star system to another would take years and/or decades. Flying to another galaxy is impossible within a human lifetime without severe time dilation due to relativity. Even the nearest galaxies are several hundred thousand light-years distant from the Milky Way.

• From what we can gather, the FTL employed appears to somehow negate the ever increasing mass due to reaching relativistic speeds, at least partially. This could then be related to somehow negating the mass of the ship or by at least keeping it constant

Re-imagined Series definition: technology enabling travel across distances faster than the speed of light would permit, see: FTL