Galactica (TOS)

This article needs to be expanded. Please improve this entry (Galactica (TOS)) in accordance to the guidelines on requests for expansion and in any notations on the article's talk page. Once the requested improvements have been completed, you may remove this notice.

This article discusses the Battlestar Galactica found in the Original Series. For information on the Battlestar Galactica of the New Series, see Galactica (RDM).

The battlestar Galactica. (c) Universal Studios.

The Battlestar Galactica is the namesake of the entire franchise, and the primary setting for the story.

In the original series, the Galactica was on of twelve battlestars constructed to represent the Twelve Colonies of Man. The Galactica represented the Colonial planet Caprica.

The Battlestar Galactica was built 500 yahren before the close of the Thousand Yahren War, and the start of the TV series. It was believed to be the only Battlestar to survive the Destruction of the Twelve Colonies, until the Battlestar Pegasus was found.

Galactica is a Colonial battlestar. With her sister battlestars, Galactica is part of 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, Galactica and her sister ships combined the roles of battle cruiser and fighter 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, is presumed to be one of only five surviving battlestars in the Colonial fleet since the start of the Cylon War.

Galactica and sister battlestars during the Peace Conference. (c) Universal Studios.

Specifications

• Galactica serves three main military functions provided by battlestars, operating as fighter carrier, a battleship and a mobile base of operations all in one massive platformTemplate:Ref.

• Following the destruction of the Twelve Colonies, Galactica is forced to dramatically increase the number of crew she carries. Galactica, in addition to her to original Viper squadrons, Red and Blue, now has two additional Viper squadrons, Silver Spar and Bronze Spar of the battlestar Pegasus.

• The additional Viper squadrons join Galactica following the apparent destruction of Pegasus in "The Living Legend, Part II", boosting Galactica's fighter strength to one hundred-fifty Vipers (as mentioned in "Fire in Space").

• Galactica has her own heavy offensive batteries, consisting of 32 known turbo-lasers and fusion missiles.

• The primary power aboard Colonial battlestars are provided by a combination of tylium energizers and advanced fusion reactors.

• Galactica is able to travel at the speed of light, but rarely does so with her civilian Fleet in tow, as no other ships in the Fleet have lightspeed ability.

• Galactica is 2,000 feet (610m) long.Template:Ref

• From "Saga of a Star World", viewers learn that the standard battlestar type vessel has a crew of 496 personnel with 200 Warriors. From "The Living Legend" we know that battlestars carry 75 Vipers, 12 Landram land based troop transports and 12 shuttlecraft.

An internal schematic of Galacica (Fire in Space).

Sources

1. Template:Note Much of the information for Galactica's specifications section was derived from The Battlestar Galactica Tech Manual website. Because of the age of the Original Series and the limited information presented by official sources on the internet, the canonical validity of this source is unknown, which violates the conventions of the Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad.
2. Template:Note The length of Galactica is noted in the August 1978 issue of Starlog magazine. page 53.

Original Series definition: unit of time akin to a "year" (see: Yahren)

Original Series definition: Warrior slang for their Viper's high-velocity booster engines, e.g. "hit your turbos"