Battlestar
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Re-imagined Series
Overview
A Battlestar is a capital Colonial warship that combines the functions of aircraft carrier and battleship.
The original five battlestars were laid down shortly before the start of the first Cylon War and saw action in the early years of the war (Mini-Series). Seven further battlestars were constructed during the war (Zoic), leading to a total fleet size of twelve, one battlestar representing each of the Twelve Colonies (Mini-Series).
All the original battlestar vessels deliberately avoided the use of highly-integrated or networked computer systems, as the Cylons were able to infiltrate and subvert such systems, disabling Colonial defensive capabilities (Mini-Series).
Following the end of the war, the original battlestars remained in service, and other battlestars were built. Their numbers steadily increased to a grand total of 120 ships in the Colonial Fleet. Unlike the original battlestars, later vessels did include networked systems (Mini-Series).
While the term "battlestar" was also used to describe these newer vessels, it is apparent that there are other battlestar classes with subtle or significant design or dimensional changes. While this article primarily discusses the original battlestar design like that of Galactica, there is at least one other battlestar class: The Mercury-class battlestar, of which Pegasus is a member.
Several of the original twelve vessels were also upgraded (Mini-Series), with the exception of battlestar Galactica, which retained its original command and control systems at the insistence of Commander William Adama, and presumably other commanders before him, since constant massive retrofitting and refitting would be detrimental to the ship's active status and mission.
There was a structural upgrade phase where an extra layer of defensive compartmentalized armor was added. Galactica (of Battlestar Group BSG-75) was cannibalized of much of the second layer as an economic way to keep the remaining fleet operational in preparation for her decommissioning.
Possibly as a result of her "original" condition, Galactica was selected to become a living museum / educational center once decommissioned (Mini-Series). Following the surprise attack by the Cylons on the Colonials, Galactica was left as the only battlestar known to be capable of mounting a counter-offensive, although she was initially hampered by the lack of any defensive munitions on-board. While Pegasus also escaped the Cylon onslaught, most of her networked computer systems, particularly her defensive controls, were offline pending a refit, so the ship was essentially helpless. Pegasus escaped certain destruction by making a Blind jump (Pegasus (episode)).
Original battlestars are space-going leviathans. Some 4,640ft in length (Zoic), they combine the role of a modern airacraft carrier with that of a battle cruiser. Housing some 80 "Viper" space superiority fighters arranged in 4 squadrons of 20 apiece, a fully-armed battlestar is capable of a wide range of offensive actions, while her defensive armaments ensure she is fully capable of both protecting herself from attack, and of engaging an enemy at close quarters.
Despite their massive size, battlestars are extremely maneuverable (Mini-Series and can dock with space stations such as the Ragnar Anchorage depot. Battlestars are not designed for atmospheric flight, although their hulls can manage a tenuous upper atmospheric storm like that surrounding the gas giant Ragnar. A battlestar's FTL systems are capable of incredibly-accurate Jumps, able to place them precisely in synchronous orbit above any point on a planet (Mini-Series) and of placing them in the midst of debris fields, such as an asteroid belt, without risk of a devastating impact (The Hand of God) or dense fleet of ships (Scattered).
Battlestars are intended to operate for long periods without resupply. Their water purification capabilities alone are so efficient that, barring an emergency or unforeseen event, a battlestar can operate without re-tanking "for several years before replenishing" (Water). They also appear capable of undertaking large-scale repairs following battle damage (Mini-Series), and may well have small manufacturing/fabrication facilities on-board (Litmus).
Technical Specifications of the Original Battlestar
Dimensions
Hull:
- Length (approx): (4,640ft) (1,414.2 meters)
- Beam (approx): 1,820ft (554.736 meters) (flight pod to flight pod - extended)
- Draft (approx): 585ft (178.308 meters)
Flight Pods:
- Length (approx): 2,019ft (615.391 meters) HI
- Beam (approx): 360ft (109.728 meters)
- Draft (approx): 211ft (64.3128 meters)
Propulsion
- 2 x FTL engines and drive coils (series)
- 6 x sublight engines (observed - 33)
- 40 x manuevring engines (10 clusters of 4 apiece) (Zoic)
Aramaments - Defensive
- 24 x primary railgun turrets (mounting 2 guns apiece)
- 512 x point-defense turrets (mounting 2 guns apiece)
Armaments - Offensive
- 4 squadrons of Mark VII "Viper" atmosphere-capable space superiority fighters (fan estimate)
- 10 "Raptor" reconnaissance/assault vehicles (fan estimate).
Crew
- Ship's company: 2,000 (series)
- Officers (TBA)
- Enlisted (TBA)
Notes
- Commander Adama stated that he had close to 2,000 people on Galactica when he confronted Leoben Conoy on Ragnar station.
- A Colonial fighter squadron is comprised of 20 Vipers and is generally supported by a single Raptor.
- Raptors can also be used to deploy Colonial Marine detachments to the surface of planets or to storm other vessels. Raptors are equipped with a docking collar and accessway in their undersides for the latter. (Bastille Day)
- Viper operations are overseen by the CAG - 'Commander, Air Group', the most senior pilot aboard a battlestar.
- An appreciation of the size of an original battlestar can be gleaned from the following:
- An original battlestar is over 4 times longer than a Nimitz-class US Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
- The flight pod of an original battlestar is almost twice the length of a Nimitz class carrier, is some 150ft wider and is approximately as tall as a Nimitz class carrier measured from the waterline to the top of the carrier's communications and ELINT tower
- The beam of an original battlestar's "alligator head" is as broad as a Nimitz-class carrier's flight deck is long
- Each of the nacelles of an original battlestar's outer four sublight engines is large enough to house a Nimitz-class carrier.
Layout
The original battlestar design common to Galactica and her sister ships can be broken down into two main sections:
- Main Hull
- Flight Pods
Main Hull, Original Battlestar
This comprises the bulk of a battlestar, and can itself be divided into three sections:
- "Alligator head", containing the primary living space for the crew, recreational facilities, mess halls, shipboard operations centres (such as the CIC and Situation Room); water storage tanks
- Midships area: containing the pod retraction mechanisms, crossways linking the hanger pods for the transfer of equipment, Vipers, personnel, etc. All the necessary hoists for such transfers; main munitions stores and distribution mechnanisms to "local" munitions stores for main and secondary batteries; fabrication facilities; etc.
- Stern section: sublight engines, FTL drive coils, etc. Note that 4 of the sublight engines are mounted in distinctive nacelles of their own, with 2 more mounted between the nacelles, in the stern of the battlestar. The FTL drive coils appear to be mounted between the drive pods and between the hull-mounted sublight engines and the midships section of a battlestar.
The main hull houses all of a battlestar's offensive railguns, and also has a number of point-defence batteries mounted around it.
The manoeuvring thruster packs are located in the port / starboard bows of the "alligator head" (4 thrusters apiece), and on the port / starboard extremities of the four sublight engine nacelles (2 "packs" of 4 thrusters per nacelles).
Flight Pods, Original Battlestar
These are mounted on either side of the hull and contain a battlestar's offensive Viper force. During normal operations, they are extended away from the main hull. During FTL jumps, the pods are retracted against the hull, to provide a smaller cross-section for the battlestar during the jump itself.
- Each flight pod is approximately 2,000ft in length and has a maximum beam of some 360ft (fan estimates)
- Each pod comprises two main decks for flight operations: the upper landing bay, which extends the full length of the pod; and the lower launch bays, which provide some 40 launch tubes per pod (Zoic)
- The landing bay serves as a recovery area for incoming Vipers and Raptors, approaches are made from the stern. The preferred approach is a slow run into the hanger, prior to making a vertical landing on a defined landing area. However, in emergencies, "rolling" combat landings can be made, in which a Viper or Raptor approaches at speed and makes a running landing on its undercarriage
- The forward end of the landing bay also serves as a launch area for Raptors and shuttles
- Each hanger bay is large enough to accept a variety of other Colonial vessels, up to and including vessels classified as "heavy" (such as Colonial Heavy 798)
- Docking collars are located throughout the upper sections of the landing bay in order to provide a pressurised connection between an docked vessel and the battlestar
- Pods additionally contain a number of a battlestar's point-defence railguns - one turret being mounted above each Viper launch tube, and others being set along the length of the pod itself
- The hanger bays in the pods are used as general dispersal areas for Vipers. The hangar bay runs the length of the flight pod, but can be divided and sealed off into five sections for damage control puroposes. Each hangar bay section has eight launch tubes, two launch control stations, and an elevator that leads to the landing bay above. The hanger bays are used for maintenance & repair of Vipers / Raptors, re-fuelling, re-arming and launch operations
- Viper flight operations are overseen by a Landing Signal Officer LSO, with each launch supervisor being directly responsible for all launch operations for a group of four launch tubes each
Other facilities within the pods include fuel storage areas for the Vipers and Raptors (and potentially for refuelling large vessels docked within the landing bays); munitions stores for Viper weeaponry; munitions stores for the point-defence railguns; parts stores for maintaining Vipers and Raptors, etc.
List of Known Battlestars in the Re-Imagined Series
Of these ships, viewers have seen only Galactica and Pegasus thus far. The class or design of other mentioned battlestars has not yet aired in an episode. In the Mini-Series, as Helo and Sharon Valerii descend to Caprica for an emergency landing, they pass by a massive debris field orbiting the planet. In this debris is the wreck of a battlestar, its hull burning and back broken. The full design or name of this ship is not known. The source for each battlestar name here is from Zoic, unless otherwise noted. Note that the Zoic source is not considered canon as information for these names may been provided to the special-effects company by TPTB, but the names have not been mentioned in an aired episode as of mid-Season 2. The names of original battlestars, according to Zoic, are shown here in bold.
- Battlestar Acropolis
- Battlestar Argo
- Battlestar Atlantia (Mini-Series, Act of Contrition, Resistance)
- Battlestar Columbia (Mini-Series, Resistance)
- Battlestar Galactica
- Battlestar Mercury (It is presumed that there is a vessel named Mercury given the name of the class)
- Battlestar Pacifica
- Battlestar Pegasus (Resistance, Pegasus, Resurrection Ship)
- Battlestar Poseidon
- Battlestar Prometheus
- Battlestar Rycon
- Battlestar Solaria (Mini-Series)
- Battlestar Triton (Mini-Series)
Original Series
This section requires expansion
Overview
In the original series, battlestars were the direct response to the on-going war with the Cylons. The first battlestars were introduced into Colonial forces around 500 yahren into the war, and proved formidable when placed against the technically-superior Cylon basestars, although at least two battlestars were totally destroyed during significant battles, and a third, the Pegasus, was believed to have been destroyed at the Battle of Molecay.
Technical Specifications
Hull:
- Length (approx): 4,143-4,166ft
- Beam (approx): 1,672ft (flight pod to flight pod)
Flight Pods:
- Length (approx): 1,977ft
- Beam (approx): 351ft
Propulsion & Power
- 2 x FTL engines
- 2 x sublight engines
- 2 x Solium main energizers (Fire in Space)
Aramaments - Defensive
- 15 x laser batteries (series)
- 12 x Solonite air-to-air missiles
- 1 x Heavy Mega Pulsar Cannons
Note - laser armament from a weapons panel showing the top row with nine "ACTIVATE LASER TURRETS" and the bottom row with six "LATERAL LASERS" switches.
Armaments - Offensive
- 75 Viper (Starhound class) fighters
- 12 Landram (Scarab class) armoured ground vehicles
- plus six unarmed shuttlecraft
Crew
- 496 - 1,012
Notes on Dimensions
The length and beam figures given here are based on research carried out by Todd Boyce, a computer animator. There are many differing claims to the actual size of the original battlestars, ranging from some 2,000 (accepted length in a number of gaming systems) through to 2-3 miles in overall length.
Interviews with Glen A. Larson and John Dykstra, the Visual Effects supervisor for the original series stated that the original Galactica was around a mile long. If the scale of the master model used for filming was set at 1/960, then the overall length of the Galactica and her sister ships would be some 6,080ft - or one nautical mile. However, there is no confirmation available that 1/960 (1 inch = 80ft) was in fact the scale of the model, and the figures have thus been "back engineered" to fit the case.
In undertaking his work, Boyce utilised an established baseline for his calculations: the full-size mock-up of a Viper built for filming purposes. This mock-up measured some 28.5ft in length and a wingspan of some 12.5ft, and formed a means by which Boyce could take key shots from various episodes, combine them with a scale model of the Galactica and extrapolate a reasonably-consistent set of measurements. Thus: using film footage alone, Boyce was able to determine the length of the Galactica to be some 4,143ft, while use of a scale model produced a figure of some 4,166ft: an acceptable difference of some 23ft. What is more, these measurements appear consistent with the overall size of the Viper launch tubes (calculated at some 16ft in diameter, based on the wingspan of the full-size mock-up and images of Vipers being launched).
Given this degree of similarity in final calculations, these figures have been adopted here as the probable dimensions of the original series battlestars. However, in using these figures, it should be noted that:
- Boyce also used a Cylon Raider as a benchmark for his calculations, and produced an overall length for the Galactica at between 12,818ft and 21,210ft (2.4 and 4 miles). However, these measurements can be discounted on the grounds that:
- They are initially based on assumed data: a shot of a Cylon Raider apparently "overflying" a Colonial Viper. However, no vertical separation distance between the two can be calculated, leading to a completely arbitrary figure (39ft) for the wingspan of the Raider
- These figures would yield launch tubes between some 50ft and 82ft in diameter - which is clearly not supported by film of Viper launches.
- Boyce also used close-up shots of Viper launches to try and calculate the size of the Galactica, and arrived at a figure of 2,712ft, with the flight pods measuring 1,294ft. However, these figures cannot be taken at face value, as they would render the Viper launch tubes with a 10.4ft diameter, making them too small to contain Vipers.
Myth of the Twelve Battlestars
Within fan circles, it has always been assumed there were twelve battlestars. Given there are Twelve Colonies, and a Quorum of Twelve, twelve battlestars was perhaps seen as a logical extension of the motif of twelve. However, Glen A. Larson has stated that there was never any decision to have a specific number of battlestars, nor did the original series ever mention there only being twelve battlestars; indeed, only eight battlestars were specifically mentioned within the series. Given the length of the human / Cylon war, it seems only logical that overall, far more than twelve of these warships were constructed.
List of Known Battlestars
The eight battlestars specifically mentioned in the original series are:
- Atlantia - destroyed by the Cylons at Cimtar (Saga of a Star World)
- Acropolis - mentioned in connection with the attack at Cimtar, and so assumed to be one of the battlestars seen near the moon
- Columbia - destroyed prior to the events at Cimtar (The gun on ice planet zero)
- Galactica
- Pacifica - mentioned in connection with the attack at Cimtar, and so assumed to be one of the battlestars seen near the moon
- Pegasus - presumed destroyed at the Battle of Molecay (The Living Legend)
- Rycon - destroyed at the Battle of the Cosmara Archipelago (Take the Celestra)
- Triton - mentioned in connection with the attack at Cimtar, and so assumed to be one of the battlestars seen near the moon
The Costume Department at New West has indicated that three further battlestars may have been referenced had the show been renewed: the Solaria, Cerberus and Prometheus.
Video Game
The battlestars of the video game were essentially the same as in the original series; there were a great many of them, they were used en-masse in the Cylon War, and they had existed for 500 years. The major differences were that they had been built centuries before the Cylon attack, and the rigors of the war had necessitated that alien technology be used in repairing them.
Six are mentioned in the game: