Galactica

Re-imagined Galactica

Overview

Battlestar Galactica is the most famous warship in the Colonial fleet. Built in time to participate in the Cylon War she remained the only military vessel not to be upgraded with the new integrated defense systems developed by Dr. Gaius Baltar and his team. Because of this and other fortune, she became one of only two battlestars to survive the renewed Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies, some 40 years after the end of the first war.

Fleet Details

File:Bsg-gal-1.jpg

Battlestar Galactica

Designation: Colonia Warship, (Battlestar). Battlestar Type: Columbia Class Battlestar

Deployment: Formerly an element of 75th Battlestar Group

Current Status: One of two remaining Colonial military units, commanded by Commander William Adama.

History

Galactica was one of the first five battlestars to be laid down by the Colonials, the others being the Columbia , Rycon, Atlantia, and Pegasus (Zoic). As such, she is some 50 years old (Mini Series). Following the outbreak of Cylon hostilities, seven more battlestars were laid down: Pacifica , Triton, Acropolis, Solaria, Prometheus, Argo and Poseidon - giving the Colonials one battlestar representing each of the Twelve Colonies (Zoic / Mini-Series). She was first captained by Commander Peter Dash (Mini-Series).

These vessels were all designed with non-integrated systems to avoid the Cylons demonstrated ability to override or subvert networked command and control systems early in the war (Mini-Series). Instead, the battlestar depended on its sheer bulk and defensive / offensive capabilities to ward of any threats to itself or the Colonies.

Following the armistice with the Cylons, and their withdrawal from Colonial space, Galactica and her sister ships continued to serve the Twelve Colonies in a wide variety of roles. While her surviving sister ships were upgraded to match the systems capabilities of more modern Colonial vessels, Galactica continued in service without any of her systems being fully networked or integrated, making her unique among Colonial military vessels (Mini-Series).

With her active career drawing to a close, a decision was taken to retire Galactica and decommission her from service. However, due to her unique status a decision was taken not to scrap her, but to turn her into a combination of living museum to the original Cylon War and an educational center, with her conversion being overseen by her final Commander, William Adama (Mini-Series).

At the time of her formal decommissioning ceremony, Galactica had been stripped of all but one of her operational Viper Mark VII squadrons, her munitions destroyed, and her starboard landing pod converted into a pressurized museum housing (among other things) a full squadron of 20 Mk. II Vipers (Mini-Series, also in Deleted Scenes).

With the unexpected resumption of hostilities on the part of the Cylons, Galactica quickly proved her worthiness as a warship was far from over as she withstood a direct hit from a tactical nuclear weapon, and then took on a flotilla of some 3 Cylon basestars after re-arming herself at the Ragnar Anchorage, providing an umbrella of fire cover under which the surviving people of the Twelve Colonies were able to escape the Cylons on some 75 civilian vessels.

Since the exodus of the Colonials from their overrun homeworlds, Galactica has become both protector and provider for the fleet. She has provided direct fire-cover for the fleet during Cylon attacks no fewer than 240 times (33, Act of Contrition); she provides much of the fleet with recycled water (Water) and she is the primary source of medical care, with groups of civilians routinely being brought aboard for check-ups, etc. (Litmus). She has also undertaken internal policing duties within the fleet (Water, Bastille Day).

Galactica has also been able to successfully go on the offensive against the Cylons (The Hand of God), capturing a tylium fuel mining and processing plant in the process.

Technical Specifications

Galactica shares the same overall technical specifications as other original Colonial battlestars, with the following key differences:

Available Flight Pods

• 1 - port side
• Starboard flight pod enclosed and pressurised as the main museum display facility

Offensive Armament

Point Defense

• The majority, if not all of Galactica's own guns appear operational. Though Galactica presumably took on a full supply of ammunition at Ragnar Anchorage, repeated engagements may have depleted ammunition substantially.

Vipers

• 60 Vipers (mixed Mk. II and Mk. VII) with kinetic energy weapons (KEWs) and optional missile / munitions pod racks (3 squadrons)
  • 20 Mk. VIIs are lost en-route to Caprica while under the command of Jackson "Ripper" Spencer, Galactica's CAG, when they were disabled by the Cylon infiltration virus and subsequently destroyed
  • At least 11 Vipers are launched during the first attack on Galactica, one of which is destroyed
  • Three Mk. VII Vipers are seen in formation inside the ragtag fleet before they hooked up with Galactica. These could have been left behind with the non-FTL capable ships, or could have been carried to Ragnar in other ships as Apollo was. This would help to account for the discrepancy between the Mini-Series and "Act of Contrition" (see below).
  • 39 Vipers are launched at the Battle of Ragnar Anchorage, of which 8 are destroyed and one is severely damaged (piloted by Lee Adama), leaving 31 plus William "Husker" Adama's reconditioned Mk. II. Some Vipers damaged in the previous engagement were possibly held for repairs.
  • In "Act of Contrition", Lee Adama stated that there were 40 Vipers left on the ship. Perhaps this discrepancy can be accounted for by other Mk. VIIs that happened to find their way to the fleet at Ragnar? This is unlikely, given the Viper's lack of Jump capability and the absence of any Mk. VII's in "The Hand of God".
  • At the end of that episode, one Viper, piloted by Hot Dog, has been severely damaged, and a second, piloted by Kara Thrace, destroyed in a crash landing on a nearby planet.
  • In "You Can't Go Home Again", Tyrol reports that due to atmospheric SAR operations, 13 Mk. II's and one Mk. VII are down for repairs, and that he's "out". Presumably the remaining 25 constitute the CAP and Alert Fighters.
  • One additional Viper is "slapped together from pieces of the others". This probably doesn't change the total count, since still-useable parts are just being shuffled around. The damage inflicted by the atmosphere of the planet is apparently a matter of cleaning time, not total failure and replacement.
  • In "The Hand of God", Strike Force Two is comprised of twelve Vipers (three of which, piloted by an unidentified pilot, Chuckles, and Stepchild, are destroyed) and Strike Force One is comprised of at least seven (at least one of which, piloted by Fireball, is destroyed).
  • According to the official Sci-Fi website, following Galactica's attack on a Cylon tylium mine in "Hand of God", there are 35 remaining Vipers aboard Galactica. This is consistant with the losses seen in that episode and "Act of Contrition", assuming that Hot Dog's Viper was recovered and repaired.
  • At least 18 Vipers (11 Mk. IIs, 6 Mk. VIIs, one unidentified) are launched to defend the ship in "Scattered". None are destroyed onscreen, but in "Fragged", Apollo remarks that "seven birds" are down for repairs.
  • Kat crashed her Viper into the flight deck in "Final Cut", and Chief Tyrol declared the fighter a total loss (after salvaging what spare parts from it he could) in "Flight of the Phoenix". This would leave 34 remaining Vipers.
  • 42 Vipers are deployed in the episode "Flight of the Phoenix", including 7 Mk. VIIs. This flatly contradicts the counts given in previous episodes and official statements, and also ignores the continued attrition of Vipers noted by Tyrol in the episode itself. This must probably be regarded as a visual effects gaffe.

Raptors

• 8 Raptor multi-role vehicles (at least)
  • The Raptor accompanying Ripper's squadron, crewed by Boomer and Helo, manages to escape destruction but is forced to land for Repairs on nearby Caprica. It later returns intact to Galactica. (Mini-Series)
  • Raptors are deployed to five nearby systems in Water.
  • Two Raptors, piloted by Boomer and Stubbs, perform reconaissance duties in "The Hand of God".
  • In "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I", three Raptors are deployed to scout Kobol, but unexpectedly encounter a Cylon Basestar in orbit. Raptor 3 is immediately destroyed by collision with a Cylon Raider. Raptor 1 is forced to crash land on Kobol, and only Raptor 275 survives to report back to "Galactica".
  • In "Part II", three Raptors are sent to board "Colonial One" while Boomer and Racetrack simultaneously take a fourth to deliver a nuke to the Basestar. All four return safely.
  • In "Fragged", Raptor 305 is scrapped for parts in order to mount a two-raptor search-and-rescue mission. This seemingly takes place very late in the same day as "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II". Is fielding all six for any extended time period is beyond the ship's ability? Have Galactica's Raptors been in chronically poor condition?
  • Tigh orders a Raptor deployed to each ship refusing to resupply Galactica in "Resistance". At that time, these number at least eight, and Gaeta cites manpower shortage as the chief limiting factor. This means that either Tigh is unaware of Galactica's resources (unlikely), or the ship had or acquired 11 Raptors in total by the time they left the Colonies (which makes the equipment shortage in "Fragged" difficult to explain). At the end of this episode, Apollo escapes with one Raptor which he abandons on Cloud 9. It is presumed Galactica retrieves this vehicle later.
  • Events in "The Farm" explicitly indicate that Galactica has at least five Raptors in operation. Including the two destroyed in "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I" and the one scrapped in "Fragged", this implies an initial complement of at least eight. If the Raptor stolen in "Resistance" was never returned, the number would be nine.

Other Craft

• Galactica currently posesses two Cylon Heavy Raiders (one crash-landed in starboard flight pod in "Valley of Darkness" (now possibly unusable), the other returned in operational status from Caprica in "Home, Part I")
• An experimental stealth fighter, the Blackbird, was constructed using spare parts in the episode "Flight of the Phoenix".

Crew

• Crew: approx. 2,800 (essential personnel only).

In "Water" Baltar says there are 45,265 civilians in the fleet. Given the stats of total fleet population in that episode, that means there were 2,693 military personnel in the Fleet at the time. In addition to the 85 killed in the flight pod fire, 29 Viper pilots lost on-screen in the first three sorties, and Helo going MIA (all events in the Mini-Series), that makes for a pre-attack total of 2,808.

• Galactica's offensive capability has been limited by the number of qualified pilots available since "Act of Contrition". See List of Pilots for details.

Original Series Galactica

The original Battlestar Galactica

Galactica and her sister ships were the Colonial response to a need for massive capital ships which arose during the Thousand-Yahren War with the Cylons. Introduced some 500 yahren into the war, she and her sister ships combined the roles of battle cruiser and aircraft carrier, having a massive offensive capability in terms of on-board weapons and Starhound Viper space superiority fighters.

Galactica served with distinction throughout the war, and at the time of the supposed Peace Treaty at Cimtar, was presumed to be one of only five surviving battlestars in the Colonial fleet.

This section requires information on the history of the original Galactica.

Video Game Variant

Battlestar Galactica from the Video Game

The Galactica of the video game is predominantly based on that of the original series, but with notable changes, designed to reflect her 500-year service and the fact that she has had to rely on alien technology for upgrade / refit. Text from the game notes:

"The Battlestar has been repaired often and parts of its structure are clearly newer or are made of stranger, alien materials. Parts of the huge engine nacelles are broken and partly scaffolded, the repairs half-complete, the exposed structures vast and skeletal."

Given the ship is based on the original, it is logical to assume her displacement, capabilities and dimensions mirror those of the original Galactica given above, and the battlestar design.

Galactica's commander in the game is Magus.