COLONIAL WARSHIPS - BATTLELINE UNITS

[Tinman]

RA CLASS DREADNOUGHT



The classification "Dreadnought" had been retired from use in the unified Colonial Fleet by the time the specifications for what would eventually become the RA CLASS came into being.

As the TIGER CLASS Destroyers came into combat service with their specification that they be able to take out a Cylon Basestar or Gunstar by themselves - after the first battles the engagements were studied and a list of improvements were worked up for the design. One of the biggest was that though the TIGER CLASS was very effective against the Cylon warships as long as they had some kind of fighter support to keep the Cylon fighters from interfering in the fight.

A personal project of the legendary Commander Cain - he worked up the specifications and pushed the project of the "Super-Destroyer" through all the red tape of the bureaus of Colonial Fleet Headquarters. After using all his influence to get the project going - a Battlestar under early construction was ordered converted to the design to get the project completed as soon as possible (much to the VERY vocal protests from many High Officers in the Fleet that felt that construction of Battlestars would better benefit the war effort).

The new design combined the already extensive firepower of the Destroyers weapons with the KEW railgun killing power of the older Battlecruisers on a Battlestar size hull with it's massive engines to make a truly formidable anti-ship platform. As a nod to the new era of Fighter to Fighter combat the ship also incorporated a single, standard sized Battlestar Hangar Bay pod capable of both launching, servicing & landing aircraft under combat conditions.

The term "Super-Destroyer" didn't stick for long as it was so different from the standard Basestar Destroyers in the Colonial Fleet so the term "Dreadnought" was resurrected for the type. The lead ship was name RA in honor of the Sun God as worshiped by some sects of the Colonials. However after the completion of the RA no further ships of this class or type were built due to the overwhelming need for new Battlestars.

The RA had a very impressive career as flagship of the 5th Destroyer Squadron with Commander Cain's 5th Fleet taking part in many of his famous "Hit & Fade" operations - including probably the most famous - the strike on the Cylon Shipyards that destroyed over 50 major warships. However the RA was destroyed with the rest of the Colonial Fleet's Destroyers during the ill-fated Battle of Molecay.

RA CLASS DREADNOUGHT:
LENGTH: 1,385 meters
STANDARD CREW: 2,200 Officers and Crew
PASSENGERS: 500 Marines

ARMAMENT:
2x Super-Heavy Turbo-Laser Cannons (Lower Bow)
4x Heavy, Turbo-Laser Cannons (two in each wing)
4x Twin, Super Heavy, Anti-Ship Class KEW Turrets
4x Twin, Medium, Anti-Ship Class KEW Turrets
12x Heavy, Solonite Missile Tubes (Reloadable) (500 Megaton Thunderbolt anti-ship/anti-surface missiles)
12x Twin, Heavy Dual-Purpose Blaster Batteries
40x Twin, Light Point-Defense Blaster Batteries

AIRWING:
2x Squadrons Viper Mk.I Fighters (24 aircraft each)
2x Squadrons Adder Mk.II Strike Fighters (24 aircraft each)
2x Condor Class Drop-Ships
1x Transport Flight - 6x Alpha Class Shuttles - 6x Micro-Shuttles

[Tinman]

TIGER CLASS DESTROYER


TIGER CLASS DESTROYER
LENGTH: 1,074 meters
STANDARD CREW: 1800 Officers & Crew
PASSENGERS: 200 Marines

WEAPONS:
2x Mega-Pulsar Cannons (nose mounted)
4x Heavy, Turbo-Laser Cannons (two in each wing)
18x Heavy, Dual Purpose Blaster Batteries
50x Light, Point Defense Blaster Batteries
12x Heavy, Solonite Missile Tubes (Reloadable) (500 Megaton Thunderbolt anti-ship/anti-surface missiles)

AIRWING:
1x Fighter Flight - 8x Asp Mk.I Point Defense Fighters
1x Transport Flight - 4x Alpha Class Shuttles, 4x Micro-Shuttles

SHIPS IN CLASS:
TIGER BDR-01
LION BDR-02
JAGUAR BDR-03
LEOPARD BDR-04
PANTHER BDR-05
PUMA BDR-06
COUGAR BDR-07
SABRE-TOOTH BDR-08
AMUR BDR-09
BLACK SHADOW BDR-10

[Tinman]

TIGER CLASS DESTROYER - MOD.II


TIGER CLASS DESTROYER - MOD.II
LENGTH: 1,074 meters
STANDARD CREW: 1900 Officers & Crew
PASSENGERS: 200 Marines

WEAPONS:
2x Mega-Pulsar Cannons (nose mounted)
4x Heavy, Turbo-Laser Cannons (two in each wing)
18x Heavy, Dual Purpose Blaster Batteries
50x Light, Point Defense Blaster Batteries
12x Heavy, Solonite Missile Tubes (Reloadable) (500 Megaton Thunderbolt anti-ship/anti-surface missiles)

AIRWING:
1x Light-Fighter Flight - 16x Asp Mk.I Point Defense Fighters
2x Condor Class Drop-Ships
1 Transport Flight - 4x Alpha Class Shuttles, 4x Micro-Shuttles

[Tinman]

TYPHOON CLASS DESTROYER


The direct predecessor of the more famous and powerful TIGER Class Destroyer - the TYPHOON CLASS DESTROYERS were testbeds for how both the technology, tactics and the general ship type known as "Destroyers" would be used in large scale fleet battles against other ships of their type - and later against the major Cylon Capital ship types.

The Typhoon's - a pre-war design - were developed by the Picon military for their own Space Navy. The design proved so sucsseful in capital vs. capital ship combat (by some of the feuding Colonies at that time) that it was both purchased and license-built by several of the Colonies for their own fleets and was found in respectable numbers at the time of the start of the First Cylon War.

After the unification of the 12 Colonies to fight the Cylons and the founding of the Colonial Fleet - almost all of the Typhoon Class Destroyers from each Colony were formed into either "Hunter Killer Squadrons" to engage and destroy Heavier Cylon capital ships by force of numbers or into "Heavy Escort Squadrons" to protect the Battlestars or other large warships of the Fleet from massed fighter attack with their heavy anti-spacecraft batteries or place themselves in the path of Cylon warships to keep them from getting close to the main fleet. Both which led to some amazing ship to ship victories for the Colonials - but also led to heavy losses amongst the class.

A fast, manuverable and sturdy design with a good heavy armament (for early war period) - the design did have a weakness in that it didn't carry many fighter type craft for self-defense. The problem wasn't that major when the fighting had been between individual colonies but when the war with the Cylons started - warships not in company with fighter carrying craft for protection frequently found themselves overwealmed with the Cylon mass wave fighter attacks.

Famous Vessels of this class - HURRICANE; Leader of the 2nd Hunter Killer Squadron "The Space Hawks", TORNADO; Destroyed with all hands trying to fend off a Cylon Hit and Fade raid on the Tauron shipyards, and possibly the most famous, TEMPEST; who during the Battle of Molecay, heavily damaged and with most of her crew dead managed to ram and destroy a Cylon Basestar punching a hole in the enemy's battleline allowing the Colonial Battlestar PEGASUS to escape the destruction that befell the rest of the 5th Colonal Fleet.

TYPHOON CLASS DESTROYER
LENGTH: 900 meters
STANDARD CREW: 1225 Officers and Crew
PASSENGERS: 100 Marines

WEAPONS:
3x Heavy, Turbo-Laser Cannons
12x Heavy Solonite Missile Tubes (Reloadable) (500 Megaton Thunderbolt anti-ship/anti-surface missiles)
12x Twin, Heavy Dual Purpose Blaster Batteries
30x Twin, Light Point Defense Blaster Batteries

AIRWING:
1 Fighter Flight - 8x Asp Mk.I Point Defense Fighters
1 Transport Flight - 4x Alpha Class Shuttles, 4x Micro-Shuttles

SHIPS IN CLASS:
Typhoon
Hurricane
Tornado
Suestado
Khamsin
Tempest
Simoom
Whirlwind
Sirocco
Squall
Borasco
Gale
Storm
Cyclone
Levanter
Monsoon

[Tinman]

SABRE CLASS DESTROYER



SABRE CLASS DESTROYER:
LENGTH: 845 Meters
STANDARD CREW: 1175 Officers and Crew
PASSENGERS: 100 Marines

WEAPONS:
2x Heavy, Turbo-Laser Cannons (nose mounted)
2x Twin, Heavy Assault Cannon Turrets (each wing tip)
12x Heavy Solonite Missile Tubes (Reloadable) (500 Megaton Thunderbolt anti-ship/anti-surface missiles)
12x Twin, Heavy Dual Purpose Blaster Batteries
30x Twin, Light Point Defense Blaster Batteries

AIRWING:
1 Fighter Flight - 8x Asp Mk.I Point Defense Fighters
1 Transport Flight - 4x Alpha Class Shuttles, 4x Micro-Shuttles

[Tinman]

PULSAR CLASS GUNSTAR



The Gunstars were the last "Big Combination Warships" (Gunship & Aircraft Carrier) before the building of the large Battlestars.
In the earlier years of the Cylon War their design was balanced with the heavy gun armament against the need to carry fighter craft to protect themselves as well as carry the fight to the enemy. This made the Gunstars one of the most effective warship types against the Cylon Forces. At the time of their building they were the largest and most versatile warships in the Colonial Fleet. However as the war progressed and the size of Cylon warships increased it became increasingly apparent that the size of the Gunstars simply weren't large enough to carry the required number of fighter aircraft to be effective against the enemy. Many of the Colonial Gunstars were destroyed in "Formation Attacks" trying to close to weapon range before they were overwhelmed by the mass fighter wave attacks of the Cylons.

With the commissioning of the much larger and more capable Battlestars, the still invaluable Gunstars changed roles. Now they were charged with heavy anti-ship/anti-fighter escort for the Battlestars or as the center of Battle or Strike Groups were the presence of a Battlestar isn't needed or one just wasn't available.

The PULSAR CLASS Gunstar was the last and most heavily armed of the type to be launched by the Colonial Fleet. The Class of Gunstar was very effective against Cylon warships with it's large Rail Gun and three plasma cannons plus the ability to carry at least half the standard Battlestar sized Fighter Wing. Another very valuable feature of the class was it's Kryton Phase-Pulse range finder and fire control system. Operating through a very large trainable antenna mounted below the bow - the system has the ability to "see", track & engage multiple targets even through small planetoid and asteroids above the abilities of regular scanners.

It was general practice for when engaging Cylon Basestars for the Colonial fighters from the Battlestar to keep the Cylon fighter defenses busy while the several Gunstars of the Battlegroup would stand off and engage the Basestar with long-range fire from their main weapons and missiles. Another SOP of the Colonial Battlegroups was for the Gunstar's fighters to provide cover for the Battlegroup's ships while the Battlstar's fighters and fighter/bombers to provide the offensive punch for the formation.

PULSAR CLASS GUNSTAR:
LENGTH: 950 meters
STANDARD CREW: 1,700 Officers and Crew
PASSENGERS: 350 Marines

ARMAMENT:
1x Super-Heavy Mass Driver Rail Gun
3x Super-Heavy Plasma-Bolt Cannons (Lower Bow)
16x Heavy, Solonite Missile Tubes (Reloadable) (500 Megaton Thunderbolt anti-ship/anti-surface missiles)
(In 8-tube lateral launchers, P&S, located between the hangar pod supports on each side of the ship)
8x Twin, Heavy Dual-Purpose Blaster Batteries
35x Twin, Light Point-Defense Blaster Batteries

AIRWING:
2x Squadrons Viper Mk.I Fighters (24 aircraft each)
2x Squadrons Adder Mk.II Strike Fighters (24 aircraft each)
4x Thunderbird Class Drop-Ships
1x Transport Flight - 6x Alpha Class Shuttles - 6x Micro-Shuttles
(Can and is usually modified per the mission assigned)

[Tinman]

NOVA CLASS GUNSTAR

[Tinman]

OSIRIS CLASS BATTLECRUISER



Of Piconese origin, the six Battlecruisers of the OSIRIS CLASS were a pre-unification design that had just finished construction prior to the outbreak of the Cylon War. As such the original design did not incorporate much in the way of the ability to carry fighter sized craft - having only a small hangar amid-ships. Instead it was a design that depended more on it's impressive battery of Turbo-Laser Cannons for ship to ship combat.

It did however provide the newly formed Colonial Fleet with a warship that could (for the early war period anyway) take on the heaviest Cylon Warships unless a Basestar with it's massed waves of fighters became involved. It also provided a valuable testbed for many of the technologies that were to be incorporated into the then building great Battlestars.

The OSIRIS CLASS Battlecruisers were generally used as the core element of the Fleet's Heavy Battle Groups.

As the war continued on, the need for anything that could carry fighters was greatly felt by the Colonials. Due to the Cylon's new tactics it was determined that it was critical to upgrade the design or the whole class would guickly be lost due to combat attrition before they could ever engage the enemy. As soon as room was available in the shipyards, units of the class were pulled off the battleline and fitted with a single Battlestar sized flight pod on the center-line. As the rebuilt ships (now known as the OSIRIS CLASS - MOD.II) reentered service, the original versions were relegated to escorting Battlestars, while the upgraded MOD.II versions took their places as the core of the Battle Groups. Later, as the more powerful TIGER CLASS Destroyers took over the head of the Battle Groups, the OSIRIS CLASS ships continued on with the valuable multipurpose ability of providing fighter cover for the group but still able to bring their formidable guns and missiles to bear on the enemy if needed.

DESIGN NOTE: The Battlecruiser OSIRIS (pre-rebuild to MOD.II design) was one of the first ships in the Colonial Fleet to carry the new ASP Mk.I Point-Defense Fighter - the ship being specially modified to operate the type even before the fighter had "Officially" entered service.
(Background story based in part on one by Terry Ollila)

OSIRIS CLASS - MOD.II BATTLECRUISER:
LENGTH: 1,395 meters
STANDARD CREW: 1,900 Officers and Crew
PASSENGERS: 500 Marines

ARMAMENT:
4x Medium Turbo-Laser Cannons (2x Upper Forward, 2x Lower Bow)
4x Assault Cannons (2x Twin turrets, one turret on each side of the ship)
1x Solonite Missile Turret (4x Tubes - 72 missiles) (500 megaton Thunderbolt anti-ship/anti-surface missiles)
12x Twin, Heavy Dual-Purpose Blaster Batteries
40x Twin, Light Point-Defense Blaster Batteries

AIRWING:
2x Squadrons Viper sized fighters (24 each)
1x Squadron Adder Mk.II Strike Fighters (24 aircraft)
2x Condor Class Drop-Ships
1x Transport Flight - 6x Alpha Class Shuttles - 6x Micro-Shuttles

SHIPS IN CLASS:
OSIRIS BCR-35
ANUBIS BCR-36
HORUS BCR-37
THOTH BCR-38
SET BCR-39
SOBEK BCR-40

[Tinman]

SHIVA CLASS BATTLECRUISER


THE SHIVA CLASS Battlecruiser is a Caprican post-unification design warship built around the early "Big KEW Weapon" tactic of fleets of ships closing each other and pounding away till the other side was destroyed, surrendered or retired the field. During the Yarens of inter-colonial warfare this was the main tactic of the navies from the different colonies.

With the coming of the first Cylon attacks and through the first few years of the First Cylon War these tactics were found to have become suddenly outdated. As the Cylons mostly used massive waves of fighters and small attack craft to project their attacks the large "All Gun" warships like the Battlecruisers with no ability to carry fighters were very quickly destroyed. Within five years, almost all the Battlecruiser type ships of the new, unified Colonial Fleet had been destroyed or relegated to secondary duties.

Of the original 15 SHIVA CLASS Battlecruisers of the Caprican Navy - only two survived the Cylon onslaught.
DRAGON was so severely damaged that she was laid up to be scavenged for parts to keep other ships in action.
KRAKEN also damaged, was repaired but kept in her original specification to be used as a surface bombardment vessel when needed by Colonial Ground Forces. A role not taken into account when she was built - it was surprisingly found that the ship was very good at. She is in great demand by the Colonial Marines and tentative plans have been put into place to rebuild DRAGON for the same purpose.

DESIGN NOTE: The Colonials determining that new tactics would have to be used and that fighters would be the naval weapon of the future and the side that could put the most of them in combat was likely to win the battles set to work on a new type of warship. The unfinished hull of the Battlecruiser MINATOUR was taken in hand and was put through a major redesign and rebuild. Her large KEW gun turrets were removed. In their place two fixed, forward firing Turbo-Lasers were fitted in the bow along with numerous light anti-fighter weapons placed around the hull. Her Solonite missile battery was retained. Lastly, massive launch bays for fighters were fitted to the ships port and starboard sides.

The newly re-built ship was launched as the first COLUMBIA CLASS BATTLESTAR.

SHIVA CLASS BATTLECRUISER (as rebuilt for the Planetary Bombardment role)
LENGTH - 1338 meters
STANDARD CREW: 2,000 Officers and Crewmembers
PASSENGERS: 500 Marines

WEAPONS:
4x Twin, Super Heavy, Anti-Ship Class KEW Turrets
8x Twin, Medium, Anti-Ship Class KEW Turrets
12x Heavy Solonite Missile Tubes (Reloadable)
12x Twin, Heavy Dual Purpose Blaster Batteries
40x Twin, Light Point-Defense Blaster Batteries

AIRWING:
1 Fighter Flight - 12x Asp Mk.I Fighters
2x Condor Class Drop-Ships
1 Transport Flight - 6x Alpha Class Shuttles, 6x Micro-Shuttles