Class-D nuclear warhead: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 04:11, 9 September 2020

Class-D nuclear warheads are a type of nuclear weapon used by battlestars and their Viper squadrons.

After news of the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies and the Colonial Fleet, Commander Adama orders a desperate search through Fleet database records for munitions depots to rearm the battlestar (whose own weapons were destroyed as part of her scheduled decommissioning).

Little else is noted about the weapons, except that Colonel Tigh's records indicate that 50 pallets of these warheads are kept at Ragnar Anchorage along with missiles and small arms ammunition (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1").

Use of Colonial nuclear weapons

Insufficient information exists as to whether the other nuclear warheads seen through the series are also Class-D or of some other type. It is probable, but not verifiable, that Pegasus gave some of these weapons to Galactica, when the two battlestars pooled their resources.

One warhead is given to Gaius Baltar for his Cylon detector (TRS: "Bastille Day"), which he later hands over to Gina Inviere and the Demand Peace movement. In her depression, Inviere detonates the warhead, destroying Cloud Nine and several other civilian ships (TRS: "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II").
Galactica herself deploys and arms (but never fires) several nuclear missiles in a standoff against a Cylon expedition to the algae planet and the Temple of Five (TRS: "The Eye of Jupiter").
A strike team from Pegasus takes a nuclear warhead to the Guardian basestar and subsequently destroys it (TRS: "Razor").

Notes

In the United States military, Class-D is the designation of a relatively light-weight thermonuclear weapon. The W-28 warhead in the B-28 TN bomb is an example of this type.

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-'''Class-D Nuclear Warheads''' are considerably more compact than any nuclear device currently known and qualify as a "suitcase nuke".  Judging by the total instant destruction of the [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylon]] [[Basestar (RDM)|Basestar]] in [[Kobol's Last Gleaming]], they would appear to have a yield in the megaton range.
+'''Class-D nuclear warheads''' are a type of nuclear weapon used by [[battlestar]]s and their [[Viper (RDM)|Viper]] squadrons.
-The exact technical details are not revealed in the series, in keeping with its philosophy of avoiding [[technobabble]]. However Probably a Class-D Nuclear Warhead is a fission-fusion bomb with a very high efficiency of matter to energy conversion.  Given the small size of the device that Baltar delivered to Gina, the fissile core is extremely small, and the the apparatus which compresses it to supercritical mass is equally compact. By itself the fission primary has a very low yield for a nuclear weapon; possibly only into the range of very large conventional bombs. In a fully assembled Class D the fission primary is used to ignite a fusion reaction which creates the vast majority of the yield.
+After news of the [[Fall of the Twelve Colonies|Cylon attack]] on the [[Twelve Colonies of Kobol|Twelve Colonies]] and the [[Colonial Fleet (TRS)|Colonial Fleet]], Commander [[William Adama|Adama]] orders a desperate search through Fleet database records for munitions depots to rearm the battlestar (whose own weapons were [[List of Deleted Scenes (RDM)#Miniseries|destroyed as part of her scheduled decommissioning]]).
-From its small size it seems likely that a nucleide other than plutonium is used in the fission primary. Aside from the rather unscientific introduction of a "new element", the most logical candidate would be Californium. This synthetic element exists only in miligram quantities in the real world, but the Colonies might produce much more using advanced -- but plausible -- technology. Cf-251 has a critical mass of around two kilograms, and this could be reduced even further using currently existing techniques. The Class D warhead is advanced technology, but it is in no way physically impossible, nor must it rely on scientific principles unknown in the present day.
+Little else is noted about the weapons, except that Colonel [[Saul Tigh|Tigh]]'s records indicate that 50 pallets of these warheads are kept at [[Ragnar Anchorage]] along with [[missile tubes|missiles]] and [[small arms]] ammunition {{TRS|Miniseries, Night 1}}.
+== Use of Colonial nuclear weapons ==
+Insufficient information exists as to whether the other nuclear warheads seen through the series are also Class-D or of some other type. It is probable, but not verifiable, that ''[[Pegasus (TRS)|Pegasus]]'' gave some of these weapons to ''Galactica'', when the two battlestars pooled their resources.
+*One warhead is given to [[Gaius Baltar]] for his [[Cylon detector]] {{TRS|Bastille Day}}, which he later hands over to [[Gina Inviere]] and the [[Demand Peace]] movement. In her depression, Inviere detonates the warhead, destroying ''[[Cloud Nine]]'' and several other civilian ships {{TRS|Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II}}.
+*''Galactica'' herself deploys and arms (but never fires) several nuclear missiles in a standoff against a Cylon expedition to the [[algae planet]] and the [[Temple of Five]] {{TRS|The Eye of Jupiter}}.
+*A strike team from ''Pegasus'' takes a nuclear warhead to the [[Guardian basestar]] and subsequently destroys it {{TRS|Razor}}.
 ==Notes==
-* This article is assuming that the shown nuclear warheads are Class D.
+* In the United States military, Class-D is the designation of a relatively light-weight thermonuclear weapon. The W-28 warhead in the [[w:B28 nuclear bomb|B-28 TN bomb]] is an example of this type.
-* In the United States military, Class-D is the designation of a light-weight Thermonuclear weapon. The W-28 warhead in the [[Wikipedia:B28_nuclear_bomb|B-28 TN bomb]] is an example of this type.
+[[Category: A to Z]]
+[[Category: TRS]]
+[[Category: Technology]]
+[[Category: Technology (TRS)]]
+[[Category: Terminology]]
+[[Category: Terminology (TRS)]]
+[[Category: Weapons]]
+[[Category: Weapons (TRS)]]
-[[Category: A to Z]] [[Category: RDM]] [[Category: Technology]]
+[[de:Klasse-D Sprengkopf]]