The Fleet (TRS)

For information on the military fleet of the Twelve Colonies before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, see Colonial Fleet. For information on the rag-tag fugitive Fleet of the Original Series, see The Fleet (TOS).

The Fleet is the convoy of ships that contain what is effectively the last survivors of humanity after the Cylon Attack. The Fleet forms the backdrop of the drama of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series. Unofficially, off-screen many viewers also refer to the Fleet as the "RTF"; "Rag Tag Fleet", or more fully, "RTFF"; "Rag Tag Fugitive Fleet", a holdover name used in the voiceover for the Fleet of the Original Series.

Overview

A screenshot from the Miniseries highlighting the in-joke appearance of the USS Enterprise in the rag-tag fleet.

"The Fleet" begins as a convoy of about sixty stranded commercial and civilian ships around the area of Caprica assembled by new President Laura Roslin in the immediate aftermath of the Cylon Attack (Miniseries). Of these ships, only a handful were Colonial military craft, such as Raptor 478 and three Viper Mark VII fighters. One ECO, Crashdown, is called a "refugee from Triton," suggesting that he escaped that battlestar's destruction with Roslin's convoy.

Twenty ships of the convoy are abandoned to an imminent Cylon attack because they lacked FTL drives. The remainder of the Fleet joins with battlestar Galactica, the only known surviving warship in the first months after the events of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. The Fleet represents the last vestige of humanity. The political and social troubles of the Fleet as it wanders through space function as a metaphor for all of humanity, since the Fleet literally is what is left of humanity in the television series.

The phrase "the Fleet" functions not only as a signifier for the actual ships of the convoy, but as a substitute for the people on board, and therefore for mankind. Usage of the term "the Fleet" has not gained more than an informal acceptance, as can be seen by President Roslin's continued use of the term President of the Twelve Colonies. This may be interpreted as either an expression of hope that eventually the people on board the ships of the Fleet will reestablish themselves on a new colony permanently, or a psychological inability to confront that the Fleet may be the only home that humanity knows for a very long time.

Saul Tigh's assertion in "The Farm" that the twenty four ships which departed with the Laura Roslin faction during her insurrection represented "almost a third of the fleet" imply that the number of ships in the Fleet is approximately in the mid-70's.

Ships

Military Vessels

• Galactica, last remaining original battlestar and main protector and flagship of the Fleet, under direct command of Admiral William Adama (Miniseries)
• Pegasus, a Mercury class battlestar formerly commanded by Helena Cain (Pegasus), Jack Fisk (Resurrection Ship, Part II) and Barry Garner (The Captain's Hand). It is currently under the command of Lee Adama (The Captain's Hand)

Government Vessels

• Cloud 9, a luxury liner designed to mimic the enviroment of a habitable planet.
  • Meeting place of the Quorum of Twelve. (Colonial Day)
  • Base of operations for Demand Peace (Epiphanies)
  • Destroyed by a nuke along with at least three other ships. (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II)
• Colonial One, President Laura Roslin's ship, previously known as Colonial Heavy 798 (Miniseries)

Civilian Vessels

• Astral Queen, prison ship

See Also

Colonial Craft