Battery
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Colonial Fleet
On Colonial warships, a battery is a group of large gun turrets working together. A battery may consist of any number of gun turrets. [1]
On Pegasus four forward guns are grouped to a battery (The Captain's Hand). [2] Galactica is armed with 24 gun turrets on her dorsal surface, with 2 guns each. It is likely, that the term "battery" refers to several of these turrets acting in concert.
Ammunition
The large turrets found on Colonial battlestars fire several types of ammunition-
- Flak ammunition (Scattered). This ammunition employs exploding metal fragments at high velocity, creating a defensive barrier around the battlestar which can shear enemy fighters or incoming missiles. This, along with the point-defenses, keep the enemy at a distance, allowing the battlestar's Viper forces to safely deploy and engage.
- Offensive ammunition. Salvos from the main cannons are extremely lethal to the unarmored Cylons basestars, which furthermore posess no such weapons or point-defense themselves ("Resurrection Ship, Part II", "Exodus, Part II").
It should be noted that the massive recoil caused by firing these flak rounds makes it impossible for the cannon to have a fast rate of fire like the battlestar's point-defense turrets. These shells are also too large to be loaded quickly and efficiently by crew members, and as such are loaded by mechanical hoists (33). [3]
Firing Solution
When engaging enemy targets over any kind of distance, a firing solution must be obtained. This requires several pieces of information to be input to a battery's fire-control computer, including the target's speed, course, and range; and the firing platform's speed and course. The velocity of the shells would be known, and is constant, given that there is no air friction in the vacuum of space. The resulting computation would allow the gun captains to accurately aim their weaponry to such a degree that firing will result in a probable hit.
Operation
As with modern naval cannon, Colonial gun batteries have several modes of operation.
- Salvo Fire: this calls for a battery, or elements of a battery, to fire simultaneously at a single target. (The Captain's Hand)
- Full Attack Mode: a battery's commander (Gun captain, 33) will target and engage targets of oppertunity. [4]
On Mercury-class battlestars, gun batteries can be set to one of several automatic firing modes (Exodus, Part II). It is unknown if the gun batteries on older battlestars have this capability as well. There are likely other modes of operation for these batteries, but none have been explicitly stated on screen.
At least on Galactica-type battlestars, the turrets appear to be manned and manually fired.
Limitations
Since its turrets are relatively slow to traverse, a battlestar's main guns would be a poor choice for engaging enemy fighters which are small, fast and extremely maneuverable. They would also be impractical for defending against enemy missile attacks, which would be more suceptible to attack from point defense weapons or Vipers.
The turrets' slow rate of fire also means that a single turret, if left to operate alone - either due to damage, power failure or any other events - may not be a very effective method of attack. It is for this very reason that the turrets are grouped in batteries.
References
- ↑ These are not "railguns". No official sources use this term to describe these weapons.
- ↑ Pegasus's bow battery can be seen to consist of four gun turrets when she engages a Cylon basestar.
- ↑ These have been referred to as railguns by some fan sources, but there is substantial evidence to the contrary.
- ↑ During the Battle of the Resurrection Ship, batteries are called to "fire at will".