Battlestar (re-imagining)

A Battlestar is a space battleship in the re-imagined science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The re-imagined series' Battlestars, as well as the series' other visual effects are designed and created by Zoic Studios for Battlestar Galactica.

The Battlestars Galactica, Atlantia, Triton, Solaria and Columbia are named in the miniseries; Battlestars Pegasus and Valkyrie are seen during the subsequent television series. Initially, twelve Battlestars were built at the start of the Cylon War, one for each of the Twelve Colonies, the Galactica represented the colony of Caprica. The fleet has grown by the time of the miniseries, as over thirty are lost during the opening wave of the Cylon attack, a loss which Starbuck describes as "a quarter of the fleet".

Design

Flight pods

Battlestars are seen to possess two flight pods. The Galactica's flight pods retract during an FTL jump, although the Pegasus does not retract its flight pods during jumps. The flight pods are landing bays for returning Vipers and Raptors. The pods are normally 2 story decks, with the top deck being an open-ended landing bay for vipers, raptors, and small civilian ships like Colonial One. Vipers and Raptors move to a side elevator lift and descend to the lower hanger bay, where they are maintained. The launch tubes for Viper egress is also located on the lower level. Once in launch position, an airlock closes behind the Viper and the front of the tube is open-ended, exposing the Viper to space for launch. The Mercury class battlestars, like the Battlestar Pegasus, have a third story on each flight pod. There is a second landing bay that is upside down. Vipers landing on this deck flip 180 degrees and land on the lower deck.

Propulsion

The Galactica is shown to possess six sub-light engine pods while the Pegasus is shown to possess eight. The Battlestars themselves are highly manoeuvrable and are capable of docking, for example with the Ragnar Anchorage station.

Defence

Armour

A Battlestar is armoured with plate over a rib structure. The Pegasus, which had just arrived in dry dock for maintenance, has a full complement of armour. The miniseries shows Galactica withstanding a direct nuclear detonation with little apparent damage to its command structure and fighter bays. The Mercury class Battlestar Pegasus has full armour plates and withstands at least five nuclear hits while still remaining operational to inflict heavy damage to a Cylon Basestar with a salvo from its bow battery. While Galactica loses 85 lives during damage control operations after being hit by a single nuclear missile, Pegasus loses fewer than six lives during its battle with three Basestars while bombarded with missiles.

Armament

Gun batteries : Two guns on each battery fire rounds in tandem. The guns are stated to possess at least two settings: suppression-fire mode, where they fire explosive flak rounds, and a salvo mode where the guns fire anti-ship rounds. When firing in salvo the rounds are shown to be highly effective against Cylon Basestars.

Point-defence guns : The Primary purpose shown on-screen is to suppress enemy fire, such as destroying incoming ordnance. Ammo fired from the guns are shown to be effective in destroying Cylon Raiders.

Nuclear warheads/missiles : Galactica has five nuclear warheads on-board as of the outbreak of war.

Galactica is armed with at least seven nuclear missiles as of "The Eye of Jupiter" with at least ten launch tubes. Admiral Adama orders the nuclear missiles targeted at the Algae Planet in "The Eye of Jupiter".

Ship-to-ship missiles

The Battlestar Valkyrie is fitted with at least one ship-to-ship missile launch tube.

The Battlestar Pegasus can launch ship-to-ship missiles from its missile tubes.

Air group

The Battlestar Galactica was originally equipped with 80 Viper Mk. I fighters. These were upgraded to Viper Mk. II fighters during the Cylon war. In addition to improved manoeuvrability, the Mk. II fighters are also equipped with two light missile racks.

Before the Cylon holocaust on the Twelve Colonies, the Galactica had its fighter squadrons upgraded to Mk. VII Vipers; most of these, however, are removed and reassigned pending the Battlestar's decommission. A squadron of Galactica's Mk. VII Vipers are destroyed by two Raiders after being deactivated by the Cylon virus in the upgraded navigational program.

At the onset of the second Cylon War, the Vipers in the ship's starboard hangar museum, mostly Mk. II's, were pressed into service to defend the ship. These fighters, supplemented by a Small number of Mk. VII's, gave Galactica an effective air group of roughly 40 craft. This number diminished over time as the ship and her fleet of civilian craft fled the Cylons. The arrival of the battlestar Pegasus with her mostly intact squadrons and Viper production facilities increased the size of Galactica's group. Pegasus' Air Group was subsequently transferred to Galactica after the former's destruction, giving Galactica a full complement composed largely of Mk VII Vipers.

Galactica is also equipped with numerous FTL jump-capable Raptors, multi-role spacecraft, used for transportation, reconnaissance, scouting, and electronic counter-measures.

Crew

Galactica's crew complement prior to its scheduled decommissioning was around 2,000. This figure is higher for a fully-staffed Battlestar, exceeding the 5,000 mark. After the Cylon attack, Galactica's crew complement rises to over 2,500 as civilians join the service.

After the settlement of New Caprica, Galactica's complement is gradually reduced as crew members leave the ship and join the civilians on the planet surface. When the Cylons reappear 380 days after the establishment of settlements on New Caprica, Galactica is manned by a Skeleton crew that could barely launch a squadron of Vipers for training, much less fly an efficient combat air patrol.

After the rescue of the population of New Caprica, Galactica's crew complement is bolstered by the return of the retired crew members from the surface as well as the survivors of the Pegasus. It is implied that the most if not all the Pegasus crew escapes, bringing the Galactica close to full complement.

A Battlestar's crew, aside from the Marine Corps component present aboard the vessel, are Colonial Fleet personnel. As such, the crew falls into a common, hierarchical, military rank structure. This hierarchy is divided into two broad groups: commissioned officers who exercise command oversight; and enlisted personnel (including non-commissioned officers) who perform technical duties or exercise first-line supervisory authority.

List of Battlestars

At the time of the Cylon attack, the Colonial Fleet was composed of approximately 120 Battlestars.

Battlestar Atlantia : Becomes the flagship of the fleet after Admiral Nagala takes command of the Colonial Fleet following the destruction of Picon Fleet Headquarters, and is subsequently destroyed along with most of the fleet.

Battlestar Columbia : The first Battlestar Columbia, in service during the First Cylon War, was destroyed during Operation Raptor Talon, approximately 41 years prior to the events of the Reimagined series. William Adama was involved in this action as first mission as a Viper pilot, and witnessed the ship's destruction. The second Battlestar Columbia was destroyed along with the Atlantia during the Second Cylon War. Columbia's executive officer some time before the events depicted in the show was William Adama.

Battlestar Galactica : The Galactica survives the Cylon attack on the Colonies. During its service during the original Cylon war, the Galactica was a part of Battlestar Group 75 (BSG 75). At the time of the attack, Galactica is undergoing formal decommissioning, to be turned into a museum. The Galactica is commanded by William Adama.

Battlestar Pegasus : The second season mid-season cliffhanger reveals that the Battlestar Pegasus also survived the Cylon attack. It is more advanced (a Mercury class Battlestar) than Galactica. Pegasus was part of Battlestar Group 62 (BSG-62). Originally commanded by Rear Admiral Cain, her former Executive Officer, Colonel Fisk is then appointed by Admiral Adama to command Pegasus. Commander Fisk is murdered in a conflict related to his illegal black market trading activities. Chief Engineer Garner is promoted to replace Fisk and takes command of Pegasus. Commander Garner is killed in action saving Pegasus from a Cylon ambush. Pegasus, under the command of Lee Adama, is destroyed over New Caprica by ramming itself into a Cylon Basestar during the battle to free the colonists; the Pegasus had left its Viper squadrons to protect the fleet prior to jumping to aid in the battle.

Battlestar Solaria : Destroyed along with the Atlantia.

Battlestar Triton : Destroyed along with the Atlantia. Triton was part of Battlestar Group 39 (BSG-39) and she was Crashdown's original posting. Starbuck also stationed aboard of the Battlestar Triton once.

Battlestar Valkyrie : Commanded by William Adama one year prior to the fall of the Twelve Colonies. Valkyrie is ordered by Admiral Corman to launch a black-ops operation to penetrate the Cylon Armistice Zone to gather intelligence on Cylon battle readiness. Battlestar Valkyrie was assigned to Battlestar Group 41 (BSG-41).

External links

• Official Elevations of the Battlestar Galactica by Zoic Studios.
• Galactica type Battlestar at BattlestarWiki.
• Mercury class Battlestar at BattlestarWiki.

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