A battleship is a warship that is designed to maximize both firepower and protection, while maintaining operational mobility, in a single vessel. As such they are usually large ships relative to others employed by the same fleet. (ST video game: Legacy)
In the Yesterday's Enterprise timeline, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) was equipped as a battleship. (TNG episode: "Yesterday's Enterprise")
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|---|---|
| By type | argosy • assault ship • attack cruiser • attack fighter • battle cruiser • battleship • bird-of-prey • cargo transport • carrier • colony ship • combat support tender • construction ship • corsair • corvette • courier • cruiser • cutter • destroyer • dreadnought • escort • explorer • fast attack ship • fast cruiser • freighter • frigate • fuel transport • gunboat • heavy cruiser • heavy escort • hospital ship • liaison cutter • light cruiser • light frigate • medical frigate • mining freighter • monitor • passenger liner • patrol cruiser • personnel carrier • prison barge • repair tender • research vessel • research cruiser • runabout • scout • strike cruiser • super carrier • surveyor • tanker • tender • timeship • transport • troop transport • tug • warbird • warpshuttle |
| Alphanumeric | I • II • III • IV • V • VI • VII • VIII • IX • X • XI • XII • XIII • XIV • XV • XVI |
Battleships are among the most powerful type of warship, heavily armored and equipped with powerful weapons. While powerful combatants that are dangerous to attack directly they often are somewhat lacking in manoeuvrability. Many governments field battleships in their fleets and they are favoured as flagships. (LUG RPG: Spacedock: The Advanced Starship and Construction Manual)
Battleship was a name widely used for types of capital ship. Often, it was reserved as a term for the largest and strongest warships in a navy, broadly comparable with dreadnought, but sometimes, smaller vessels in the same navy were described as performing the duties of a peace-keeping battleship. At times, it was synonymous with "warship" and simply described larger combat ships.[1]
The earliest known battleships, were the vessels created in the long-running Kumauri Battleship line. Culminating with the Cal-class battleship, the line was popular with several governments, most notably the Galactic Republic.
Throughout the Great Hyperspace War, the primary combatant ships in both Sith and Republic fleets, were denoted as "battleships".[2][3]
During the Great Sith War[4] and the Mandalorian Wars,[5] the Mandalorian factions used Kyramud-type battleships in their fleets. The Republic maintained fleets of large, blocky battleships[6] that slowly became outdated and replaced.[7] The Mandalorian Wars saw the Galactic Republic constructing and fielding the Inexpugnable-class tactical command ships[5] which were sometimes referred to as "battleships."[8]
In the final stages of the New Sith Wars, the term "battleship" for capital ships like the corsair battleship and Republic battleship, fast-moving vessels which, along with starfighters, served in a picket/attack role, and provided support for other warships like Sith Destroyers and Hammerhead-class cruisers.[9]
The "battleship" designation was again used by the Trade Federation for the militarized version of their LH-3210 cargo freighter. Though very large ships, and at least sometimes heavily shielded, the original militarized version of these ships was more of a starfighter carrier and battle droid assault ship than a combat warship, with a relatively light defensive armament of quad lasers. Later versions used during the Clone Wars, however, lived up to the "battleship" designation with a massive armament of turbolasers.[10][11] During the Clone Wars, the Republic also faced the threat of the battleship Malevolence, Grievous's flagship and the strongest vessel in the Separatist fleet.[12]
During the Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War, ships such as the Venator-class, Victory-class and Imperial-class Star Destroyers could be referred to as either "battleships" or "peacekeeping battleships".[13][14]
At the same time, the Venator-class was also contrasted with battleships in the Republic fleet, for which they acted as escorts. Little else is known about these battleships, except that they were heavier in some sense than "medium-weight" warships like the Venator-class.[15] This would be mirrored in the Imperial Navy, with Star Destroyers of the day acting as escorts for larger vessels, like Star Dreadnoughts.[16]
During the Galactic Civil War, the Imperial Navy described ships bigger than Imperial Star Destroyers as its largest battleships, built for the Imperial Navy by shipwrights like Kuat, Rendili and Loronar.[17]
In the Alliance to Restore the Republic, the Mon Calamari MC80 Star Cruiser Home One-type Home One served in a battleship role for the Rebels,[18] alongside vessels known as Corellian battleships.[19] In the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic, at least one model of Corellian gunship, could be described as a "battleship"[20] or a "ship of the line".[21]
The Cal-class was a 3km long cylindrical battleship derived from the Kumauri Battleship design, and last in this line of battleships. Like the others, it was armed with a Mass-driver cannon, which was made obsolete with the development of stronger planetary shields.
The CGS Dreadnought was a 900 meter long battleship that served in the Republic Navy at some point prior to the Great Sith War. By this time it was obsolete and most ships were scrapped.
This type of battleship was used by the Rebel Alliance in their attack on the second Death Star battle station.
The Corellian Dreadnaught was built by Corellia in secret in the lead-up to the Second Galactic Civil War. Three of these blue, oval battleships fought in the conflict, wrecking many ships before being destroyed.
This Sith battleship was a warship used during the New Sith Wars.
The Sith-built Derriphan-class was the primary battleship of the Sith Empire. It was used during the Great Hyperspace War, where the ships were defeated by Republic designs. One was used as Exar Kun's command ship during the Great Sith War and more were built by the Empire ruled by Darth Revan and used as picket ships, against Republic frigates.
The Dreadnaught-class cruiser was one of the first designs made as part of a return towards heavier weapons-platforms in Republic Navy fleet doctrine. Despite its classification, the class was frequently referred to as the Rendili Dreadnaught and had a long career thanks to its heavy armor, which made many factions favor the ship even after it became outdated. The class was even produced by private companies in the Outer Rim, as trade barriers in the time before the Clone Wars barred rimward planetary governments from buying heavier material and warships from the Core.
The 17,5km long Eclipse-class was one of the largest and most heavily armed warships in galactic history. Shaped to resemble sea-going naval vessels of ages past, the black warships were infamous among New Republic personnel, particularly due to their superlaser main armament, lining the main dorsal hull.
The EX-F was an Imperial dreadnaught used as a testbed for various weapons.
The 19km Executor-class was a heavy battleship design built to command and coordinate fleets throughout a sector, and was armed with over 5,000 weapons-systems.
The Eye of Palpatine was a heavy battleship shaped like an asteroid, designed as a stepstone from torpedo platforms to battle stations like the Death Stars.
The Inexpugnable-class was a heavy warship used during the Mandalorian Wars, 3.1km in diameter. It could coordinate up to 64 smaller cruisers, but had several shortcomings, which were hoped to be solved by the production of the Centurion-class battlecruiser.
The Invincible-class was among the largest warships of the time of its construction and was classified both as a "dreadnaught" and a "heavy cruiser". At 2,011 meters, the cylindrical dreadnaught was covered with weaponry and heavy armor. Later, it was used as a picket ship by the Republic and Corporate Sector Authority, and had several shortcomings compared to newer designs.
The Mandalorian-made Keldabe-class had a design reminiscent of Mandalorian battleships of eras past, and was used by several fringe parties.
The Kor Chokk was a battleship-analog usually 8,180 meters in length, that looked similar to a collection of spheres consisting of various parts, grafted together after each won battle. They moved little in battle, but were equipped with many Yaret-Kor cannons. These ships fought in the Yuuzhan Vong War.
The Koros-Strohna were the huge colony vessels which the Yuuzhan Vong travelled in between galaxies. They were also used as heavy carriers and battleships, and were on average 10km in diameter.
The Kyramud type was a 752 meters long battleship-design shaped like insects used by the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders.
Loronar provided some type of battleship to the Galactic Empire. These were warships larger than the ubiquitous Star Destroyers.
The Lucrehulk-class was a Trade Federation battleship with a 3km-long diameter converted from an existing freighter design. It carried armies and fighter squadrons and was heavily armed by the Separatists during the Clone Wars, being covered with gun batteries.
The Mandator-class was one of several designs preceding the Executor and Eclipse classes, built for the defense of the Kuat Sector, and later the Republic Navy during the Clone Wars.
The Home One type Star Cruisers, of individual designs, were used as battleships and command ships of the Mon Calamari self-defense forces, which later joined with the Rebel Alliance.
Known for their heavy warship designs, Rendili created more for the Galactic Empire. These were larger than the standard Star Destroyers.
This type of battleship was used by the Republic during the Clone Wars, and was often escorted by the medium-weight Venator-class Star Destroyer.
This type of battleship was used as the main capital ship during the Great Sith War, participating in the First Battle of Empress Teta.
This type of battleship was a warship used to support the Hammerhead-class cruisers during the New Sith Wars.
This heavy command ship was a predecessor of the Inexpugnable-class and fought during the Great Sith War.
This was a battleship design based on the Acclamator-class assault ship at the start of the Clone Wars.
The ship of the line was a Corellian gunship design, much larger than other known designs, like the DP20 frigate. It saw service in the fleets of the Rebel Alliance.
Sienar Battleships were built for the Empress Teta system and fought the Sith Empire during the Great Hyperspace War.
The Sovereign-class was a mass-produced, compact version of the Eclipse design, at 15km in length. All known hulls were destroyed during the fall of the resurrected Emperor.
The Strident-class was a heavy warship made to complement the Mon Calamari-made Viscount-class Star Defenders in the final years of the New Republic.
The Subjugator-class was a heavy cruiser design used by the Separatists during the Clone Wars. Despite its classification, it eclipsed pre-war battleship designs used in the same navy and was often referred to as a battleship in its own right. It was infamous for its heavy ion cannons that were capable of disabling entire fleets of mainline Republic cruisers.
The Uro-ik v'alh was a oblong battleship design averaging 2,240 meters in length. It was used by the Yuuzhan Vong during their invasion of the galaxy.
The 17km long Viscount-class represented a new direction of the New Republic Navy, of heavy dreadnaughts that could withstand an assault by Imperial Remnant Super Star Destroyers. Although they rarely saw action against rogue Imperial forces, their value became apparant against the Yuuzhan Vong.
The wooden-hulled battleship Fairwind was used by the Jedi Valenthyne Farfalla to carry a group of Jedi Knights to the battlefields of Ruusan towards the end of the New Sith Wars. It was also referred to as a "gunship".
In real life, the term "battleship" emerged with a precise meaning in the late nineteenth century, as an abbreviation of "line-of-battle ship". It denoted a ship that could fight in the "line of battle", the main fleet formation. The early battleships were contrasted with cruisers, which while at this time were similar in size and speed, but were designed for longer-range patrol missions, and carried less armor. Over the following decades, cruisers became faster, with more speed but less armor than a battleship.
The term dreadnaught (or in UK English, "dreadnought") became synonymous with "battleship" after the introduction of the revolutionary "all-big gun" battleship HMS Dreadnought in 1906. Overnight, all battleship classes prior to HMS Dreadnought were made obsolete, and two modern eras in battleship history would later be considered: Classes made before HMS Dreadnought were referred to as "pre-Dreadnoughts" while classes made afterwards, based on its design-principles, were referred to as "Dreadnoughts". However, this was not a fixed nomenclature, and didn't replace the term "battleship" (for instance, the US Navy referred to its largest ships as Battleships: [1]).
Alongside the dreadnaught, a type of large cruiser with a similar armament of heavy guns was introduced, called the battlecruiser. These retained the traditional of less armor and greater speed, but they quickly came to be perceived as closer cousins to Dreadnoughts than to normal cruisers, a situation that was formalized in the international naval treaties after World War I, which limited the size of cruiser guns.
In the twentieth century, battleships were often only slightly larger than contemporary cruisers, even the limited post-WWI types, and usually smaller than battlecruisers; but they were much heavier in tonnage, due to their massive armor.
The SW galaxy diverges somewhat from the real-world terminology by having a mix of "battleships" and "dreadnoughts" in the same cultures and eras.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Rising Malevolence" (First appearance) Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Shadow of Malevolence" Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Destroy Malevolence"
TCW Episode Guide: Rising Malevolence on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org) TCW Episode Guide: Shadow of Malevolence on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org) Episode Commentary: Shadow of Malevolence on StarWars.com (backup link on Archive.org)Jump-capable starship intended to stand in the line of battle in space combat. Two opposite view in naval architecture have dominated the design of the major battleships of space navies. The battleship concept involves large, well armed and well-armored starships of massive tonnage and capable of meeting almost any adversary. In a battle against a superior force, however, the battleship can flee using its own jump drives. The opposite concept (of the Battle Rider carried into combat by a Battle Tender) does not allow for the possibility of superior force; no matter how good a rider is, if it meets a superior adversary, it is placed in a position of winning or dying. Retreat is nearly impossible without losses.
The power of the Imperial Navy is concentrated in its battleships. The definition of a battleship is a ship which, due to its armament and protection, is capable of standing in the line of battle. When a battleship meets any lesser type of ship, its victory is almost guaranteed. When battleships on two sides meet, victory goes to the better armed, better armored, and better directed ship.
The battleships of the Imperium are designed to overcome any opponent in battle. As technology advances, these designs also advance, both to take advantage of any possible technological benefits, and to experiment with new strategies and construction techniques.
The technological basis for Imperial battleships is the BB- 11. From it was developed the BB-12 and then the BB-13.
The light battleship line (BL-13, BL-14, and BL-15) was based on the BB-12, but showed great innovation in producing a smaller tonnage vessel. The BS-15 and BM-15 are also members of this line.
At TLI 3, it was decided to produce a superbattleship, the BI-13, which was later developed into the BI-14. The BI-I5 was an independent design.
The heavy battleship line (BH-14 and BH-15) is a hybrid of the lessons learned and techniques developed in both the BI-13 and the BB-13.
The battle rider system was developed in an attempt to produce the benefits of the BB-13 in greater numbers. The BT/R-14 system was the result. The BT/R-15 system is an evolution of the BT/R-14.
Finally, the BZ-I5 takes the battle rider system one step further and places a battle rider on a battleship for combat support deployment. This design is a hybrid of the BT/R-I 5 system and the BL-15.
| This article was copied or excerpted from the following copyrighted sources and used under license from Far Future Enterprises and by permission of the author. |
| – Supplement 8 Library Data (A-M) |
| – Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium |
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