The Fleet (TRS)
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- This article involves the fleet of faster-than-light-capable civilian ships in the Re-imagined Series. For information on its sublight counterpart in the Original Series, see The Fleet (TOS). For general information on other articles pertaining to fleets, see: Fleet (disambiguation).
The Fleet is a convoy of ships sheltering the human survivors of the Cylon attack. The Fleet forms the backdrop of the drama of the Re-imagined Series.
Overview
"The Fleet" originates as a convoy of about 60 commercial and civilian ships in the space surrounding Caprica. Laura Roslin - with the aid of Sharon Valerii - initiates the clustering of stranded vessels in the aftermath of the Cylon invasion of the Twelve Colonies, thus forming the convoy. Twenty of these ships are abandoned to a squadron of attacking Raiders because they either lack FTL drives, or are damaged, like Gemenon Liner 1701. The remaining vessels join battlestar Galactica - the only Colonial warship known to have survived the Cylon attack - in the upper atmosphere of the gas giant Ragnar. From here on, Galactica shoulders the role of the Fleet's protector (Miniseries).
Anastasia Dualla explains in "33" that 53 ships have jumped away from an attacking Cylon baseship, with 10 still reporting trouble with their FTL drives. Adding Galactica to this tally, results in a total number of 64 ships. Saul Tigh's statement in "The Farm" that the 24 ships departing with the Laura Roslin faction represent "almost a third of the fleet", implies that the number of ships in the Fleet is approximately in the mid-70's. By "The Passage", there are likely fewer ships left in the Fleet because of the Cloud Nine destruction (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II) and the settlement and emergency exodus of New Caprica (Exodus, Part II).
The political and social troubles befalling the Fleet as it wanders through space, serve 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 an indicator of the people on board, and therefore for mankind. Often the term is used to refer to the civilian populations, as opposed to the military personnel of Galactica and Pegasus. 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 either as an expression of hope that the people of the Fleet will re-establish themselves on a new world, or a psychological inability to accept the Fleet as the only home that humanity will know for a long time.
After three years of searching the Fleet eventually reaches Earth, but are disappointed to find it a devastated wasteland as a result of a nuclear holocaust (Revelations).
Ships
- Colonial ships use launch keys to activate the ship's systems (Precipice). The keys are unique to each vessel and are extremely difficult to copy.
Remaining
Seen
Mentioned only
Unless otherwise mentioned, the following ships are only listed on the voting tally board in "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II".[1] Many of these ships are mentioned or featured again, as the production generated a master list for reference.
Passenger and luxury liners
- An unnamed Gemenon Liners passenger cruiser (33).
- An unnamed Pan Galactic spaceliner (Miniseries, "Exodus, Part II", "The Passage").
Additional ships
- At least six Colonial Movers heavy transport ships, at least three of which are among the remaining ships of the Fleet (Crossroads, Part II).
- At least four mining ships remain, including Monarch (Crossroads, Part II).
- At least four Kimba Huta-type transports throughout the Fleet, at least three remain after New Caprica.
Seen but unnamed
- Five-engined vessel, seen above Caprica City (Miniseries) and during the escape from New Caprica (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II)
- Wedge-shaped vessel, seen briefly during the end of "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II"
- Tubed vessel, seen throughout the Fleet and jumping away from New Caprica at the end of "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II"
- Rising Star type vessel, seen briefly in "Escape Velocity".
- Note: Any of these vessels is probably identical to one of the mentioned only ones above.
Destroyed
Additional ships
- The following ships are destroyed together in the Cloud Nine disaster (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II):
- One Colonial Movers ship
- A yellow vessel
- A long-necked vessel
Non-canonical
Initially, it appears that the production did not have a master list of ships in the first season, as evidenced by the numerical discrepancies to the later retconned numbers in Season 2. The following is a list of ships that have been mentioned in deleted scenes exclusively.