List of ships in Battlestar Galactica (2004)

There have been many appearances of various spacecraft in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica science fiction television series, with the primary means of travel being FTL.

Ships

Adriatic

The Adriatic is one of the few ships in President Laura Roslin's refugee fleet armed with ship-to-ship missiles. It is part of Roslin's fleet that returns to the planet Kobol, and provides defense before the Galactica joins them.

The Adriatic appears to have been lost while being escorted by Brendan "Hot Dog" Costanza through a star cluster in the episode "The Passage".

Astral Queen

The Astral Queen is a prisoner transport ship. There are currently 1,500 prisoners on board (a figure retconned from 500). The Astral Queen was transporting prisoners from Sagittaron to their parole hearings on Caprica at the time of Cylon attack and is one of the vessels that manage to regroup with President Roslin's refugee fleet. Viewed as another transport ship, albeit one with a slightly undesirable cargo, none of the government personnel that survived the assault knew that it was carrying Tom Zarek, a dangerous political prisoner and anti-government terrorist.

Following an attack on the fleet water supply, Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama is dispatched to the ship in order to enlist the prisoners so they can help transport water from an icy moon that has been found nearby. After greeting the prisoners' spokesman, Tom Zarek, the prisoners break out of their cells and manage to hijack the ship. They later surrender once Apollo agrees to Zarek's demands, which are to hold a fair election for a new president at the end of Roslin's term. In return, Apollo leaves Zarek's men in control of the Astral Queen, against the wishes of both President Roslin and Commander Adama.

The Astral Queen becomes the focus of several incidents within the fleet. First, repair crews made up of the vessel's ex-convicts begin to operate in competition with those organized by the government. For these efforts, Tom Zarek becomes the Sagittaron representative to the reformed Quorum of Twelve. From there, Zarek makes a failed bid at the vice presidency.

Later, after Laura Roslin is stripped of her presidency by Commander Adama, and martial law is declared in the fleet, the Astral Queen becomes the flagship of a splinter group departing the fleet for Kobol, made up of 24 ships. The crews and passengers of these ships are supporters of Laura Roslin's presidency, and she is aboard the Astral Queen when it jumps away from the fleet. The splinter fleet rejoins Galactica and the fleet after Commander Adama and President Roslin resolve their differences.

The same ship design appears in the original series, where it is known simply as the "Prison Barge", but serves the same basic function as it does in the re-imagining. Count Baltar spends most of the latter part of the series imprisoned on the Prison Barge.

According to Ronald D. Moore, the Astral Queen is named for a passenger ship mentioned in the original Star Trek episode "The Conscience of the King", which is his favorite episode of the original series of Star Trek.^[1]

That ship was in turn named for the ship which serves as the centrepiece of Isaac Asimov's short story, Marooned off Vesta.

Atlantia

In the events of the miniseries, after the destruction of Colonial Fleet Headquarters on Picon in the first wave of the Cylon attack, Admiral Nagala takes command of the fleet from the Atlantia. Atlantia is one of the first Battlestars to engage the Cylons after the attack. The Atlantia is newer and more advanced than the Galactica, and has an integrated computer network running Doctor Gaius Baltar's Command Navigation Program, which allows the Cylons to infiltrate the system and cripple the vessel. As a result, Atlantia is easily destroyed by the Cylons over the planet Virgon.

Episodes of the re-imagined series establish that William Adama served on the Battlestar Atlantia as a Major, where he had an ongoing feud with that ship's landing signal officer that inspired a celebration of his thousandth landing. Chief Galen Tyrol says he also served on board the Atlantia prior to his assignment to the Galactica.

Baah Pakal

A freighter among the fleet that had a pair of outdated DDG-62 engines that Chief Tyrol acquired to power his Blackbird stealth fighter in "Flight of the Phoenix".

Botanical Cruiser

Also called "Agro Ships", these vessels are nothing more than massive greenhouses filled with all varieties of plants and animals from the colonies. These vessels carry geodesic glass bio-domes. Each dome has an "environmental theme" simulating arid deserts to tropical jungles. Two botanical cruisers are part of Roslin's original refugee fleet (during the Cylon attack). One of the botanical cruisers was a sublight vessel and has to be abandoned when the Cylons discover the fleet.

In the original series, the botanical ship appears as a long red-painted scaffold with several domes affixed at one end. This is a reuse of the models from the 1972 Universal film Silent Running. The botanical ships in the re-imagined series have been redesigned with seven domes now covering the entire length of the top hull and another eight along the underside.

Brenik

The Brenik was a small military vessel, with a crew complement of 75. It was a former posting of Colonel Tigh, who served aboard her as an enlisted gunner's mate (and still a teenager) during the second year of the Cylon War. The Brenik was attacked and boarded by Cylon Centurions, leaving only 20 survivors (Tigh included). The bloody hand-to-hand shipboard combat that ensued left Tigh with mental scars that would last for the rest of his life.^[2]

Carina

The Carina is a salvage and repairs flattop ship that appears to have been lost during the dangerous transit of a star cluster in the episode, "The Passage". The ship was being escorted by Louanne "Kat" Katraine.

Celestra

Celestra is a deep space exploration vessel filled with scientific laboratories, research equipment and advanced sensor systems. It also features a long-range FTL drive for distant travel and designed to function for years without resupply of fuel reserves and life support.^[3]

Celestra appeared several times in fleet shots throughout the series but was not given a central storyline.

The Celestra seems to be a carry-over design similar in appearance to the "Electronics Ship" seen in the original series.

Chrion

A passenger liner similar in design to the Olympic Carrier and Pyxis, that was successfully guided by Kat through the star cluster in the episode "The Passage". It was first mentioned in the episode "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I", on the list of ballots.

Cloud 9

Cloud 9 was a massive vessel of unusual design that contained a five-star restaurant, a theater, a casino, several bars, and numerous hotel rooms and luxury suites. Its most notable feature was a huge biodome which contained a pressurized natural habitat nearly a quarter-mile in diameter that simulated an outdoor park. This dome was actually mounted to the starboard side of the ship and attached to a spoon-shaped bow, which contained the ship's hotel and scaffolding structure engineering section. The dome was attached to the center hull by a "V" shaped pylon structure. A large shuttle bay pod was mounted on the opposite side of the pylon on the port side of the center hull. Behind the hangar was the ship's bridge and crew area and further back the main drive engines and FTL system were located. Directly under the saucer dome were another set of drive engines.

Inside the dome, many varieties of trees and plants from the Twelve Colonies were grown on the grounds and were cared for by a dedicated gardening staff. The dome also contained an artificial lake used for swimming. At the center of the park was a large auditorium structure used for gatherings and festivals. This building was used by Laura Roslin as the meeting place for the new Quorum of Twelve after the Cylon attack on the Colonies. The dome used any natural sunlight that was available, in an attempt to replicate the atmospheric conditions of a planet's sky. However, Cloud 9 was still a spaceship, and didn't really live up to the quality of a real planet, as there were some flaws in the design—such as fake terrain used to disguise the machinery as well as the easily noticeable and massive support beams of the sky dome. Despite this, Cloud 9 was judged to be one of the nicer places to live in the colonial fleet.

The ship was primarily used as a hotel and resort which had hosted various diplomatic functions and been the site of a terrorist assassination plot against President Laura Roslin, most notably during an electoral meeting for the Quorum of Twelve council, in which the radical Tom Zarek attempted to manipulate the council into voting him into the position of Vice President.

The ship had an "open port" policy and did not keep track of those who came and went, which caused numerous security problems and allowed members of the terrorist group "Demand Peace" to use it as a base of operations. Even President Roslin herself fled to Cloud 9 during Commander Adama's military coup.

Cloud 9 was destroyed in the Season 2 finale episode "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", along with at least three other ships including a Colonial Movers freighter. A nuclear warhead, which was given to the Cylon agent Gina by then-Vice-President Gaius Baltar, was used to destroy the ship. The shock wave from the nuclear explosion left behind an identifiable signature that was discovered by a Cylon patrol one light-year away. One year after the destruction of the ship, the signature led a Cylon invasion force to New Caprica.

Colonial One (Colonial Heavy 798)

Colonial One is a civilian starship that serves as the headquarters for the President of the Twelve Colonies. It is a small, FTL-capable ship that is dwarfed by the Battlestar Galactica; the ship can easily dock within one of Galactica's flight pods. Colonial One can also land on and take off from a planetary surface.^[4]

Prior to the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies, Colonial One is a Caprican civilian starliner known as Colonial Heavy 798. The ship had been chartered by the Colonial government to transport then-Secretary of Education Laura Roslin and her staff to the Battlestar Galactica's decommissioning ceremony.

Following the Cylon attack, along with the elimination of most of the government, Laura Roslin becomes the President of the Twelve Colonies. The ship takes on the call sign Colonial One, and is used to coordinate the collection and organisation of the civilian refugee fleet. After leading the 50,000 survivors to rendezvous with Galactica, which survives the attack, Colonial One becomes the residence and de facto "capital" of the Fleet government. Although the call sign is based on the real-world United States protocol of referring to any Air Force, Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Coast Guard, or civilian aircraft as, respectively, "Air Force One", "Marine One", "Army One", "Navy One", "Coast Guard One" or "Executive One" when the President is aboard, Colonial One retains this moniker throughout the series, irrespective of the President's presence or absence and is never again referred to as Colonial Heavy 798, apart from during a flashback to before the holocaust; likewise, neither Galactica nor any other vessel adopts the name when the President is aboard.

After the discovery and colonization of New Caprica, Colonial One is landed on the planet's surface and serves as the residence and office of Gaius Baltar, who becomes president just prior to the colonisation. As such, it is captured in the Cylon occupation. During the liberation of New Caprica and the evacuation of its human population, Colonial One is recaptured from the Cylons and leaves the planet with Laura Roslin aboard. Gaius Baltar is left behind with the Cylon occupation forces. The ship becomes the seat of legislative authority as well; with Cloud 9, destroyed by the nuclear warhead which Baltar had given to Gina Inviere, the reconstituted Quorum of Twelve hold their meetings at a conference table aboard Colonial One. Most of the Quorum are assassinated aboard the ship by Tom Zarek during his coup d'état; only those absent from the meeting, such as Lee Adama, escape.

Colonial One is ultimately destroyed after finding a new Earth. On Admiral Adama's orders, Galactica and the rest of the fleet are directed into the Sun by Anders.

Colonial Movers transport

Colonial Movers is a transport company that owned at least three cargo ships in the refugee fleet. They appear as long, cylindrical shafts to which are affixed several bulk cargo modules of various livery design and nomenclature. The slogan "We Move Anywhere" can sometimes be seen on the side.

In the episode "The Hand of God", a Colonial Movers ship partook in the sneak attack of the Cylon tylium refinery. A squadron of Vipers was hidden inside a cargo module as reserve and launched against the Cylon tylium refinery which Apollo destroyed.

In the episode "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", one of the Colonial Movers vessels is destroyed during the explosion of Cloud 9.

The same ship design appears in the original series.

Columbia

There seem to have been at least two ships named Battlestar Columbia mentioned in the re-imagined series.

The first Columbia mentioned is in the Mini-series as one of the Battlestars lost along with the Battlestars Triton and Solaria during the Cylon sneak attack on the colonies.

During the regular series, it is mentioned that William Adama served on the Columbia as executive officer after his reinstatement in the Colonial Fleet and prior to his taking command of the Battlestar Valkyrie.

The second Columbia is apparently the ship's predecessor, appearing in the Battlestar Galactica: Razor movie. This Columbia appeared of a similar design to Galactica and is destroyed in a battle over a planet where the Cylons are found experimenting on human subjects.

Cybele

A freighter within the fleet that appears in Battlestar Galactica: The Plan as the ship a Cylon Number Four, (Simon), lives on with his wife Giana and stepdaughter Jemmy. Brother Cavil, who is trying to fulfill his plan of annihilating the human race, becomes angry when he finds out Simon has married a human. As Cavil passes orders to the Cylons in the fleet, he tells Simon to blow up the Cybele, but Simon requests his wife and child be spared. Cavil refuses, in fact stating the death of the woman and child will prevent them from ever knowing that Simon is really a Cylon. Simon returns to the Cybele, but commits suicide by jettisoning himself out an airlock. His version was not uploaded to the Resurrection Ship because it was too far away.

The vessel was mentioned several times in the series but was not seen until 'The Plan (although a ship resembling it and Scylla did appear in several fleet shots in Season 4).

Cylon freighter

Two ships of this design are seen in the vicinity of a Cylon Basestar in the first season episode "Kobol's Last Gleaming". The design is somewhat obelisk-shaped and visibly possesses at least two engine pods on the rear.

Daru Mozu

Daru Mozu is featured in the episode "Epiphanies", and is a tylium processing vessel which refines raw tylium ore into fuel vital for the fleet. The Mozu is damaged in a suicide bombing by the terrorist group "Demand Peace" (who want the violence with the Cylons to stop), but later repaired.

Demetrius

The Demetrius is a sewage recycling ship within the fleet, first mentioned in the episode "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II". In the episode "Six of One", the ship was secretly appropriated by Admiral Adama and given to Starbuck for her mission to find a route back to Earth. It is later damaged when the cylon fighter that it was docking with exploded killing Gunnery Sergeant Erin Mathias.

Faru Sadin

The Faru Sadin is a civilian vessel first seen in the episode "The Passage", it is in the last batch of civilian ships being escorted through a star cluster by Galactica's Raptor squadrons. Louanne Katraine loses her life due to radiation exposure while getting the Faru Sadin through the passage. It was first mentioned in the episode "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II".

Freighter 212

Freighter 212 is one of the many ships to survive the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol by the Cylons. It was the home vessel of Louanne "Kat" Katraine before she joined the Galactica Combat Air Group. The fate of Freighter 212 is currently unknown.^[5]

Galactica

Main article: Battlestar Galactica (ship)

The Galactica is the featured ship of the eponymous TV show.

Gemenon Traveler

The Gemenon Traveler is a bulk cargo vessel. The Cylon infiltrator Leoben Conoy is found hiding aboard. After interrogation by Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, Conoy is ejected into space from the Gemenon Traveler's airlock on the order of President Laura Roslin.^[6]

The Gemenon Traveler was mentioned in the finale of Season 2. Its fate since then is unknown as it hasn't been seen since the New Caprica colonization. A ship of apparently identical design is seen early during Episode 13 Season 3.

Gemini

A large ship, yet still dwarfed by Galactica, the Gemini appears as a long container transport consisting of a central hull structure affixed with numerous external cargo pods of various livery design and nomenclature. During the miniseries, Gemini is originally part of Roslin's refugee fleet before joining the Battlestar Galactica.

A second Gemini freighter would be seen with it several times throughout the series after the Season 1 episode, Hand of God.

The ship is a carry-over design of the Gemini, (an ordnance freighter), from the original series.

Gideon

The Gideon was featured in the episodes "Resistance" and "Final Cut". It was the cargo vessel which became the focus of attention once martial law was imposed upon the fleet. When the Gideon crew refused to resupply Galactica, Col. Tigh ordered the cargo to be taken by force which resulted in bloodshed. The media termed the event "The Gideon Massacre". The ship's name comes from a character in the Holy Bible; Gideon was a judge in the Book of Judges.

Greenleaf

Mentioned in "Epiphanies", Greenleaf was a freighter that the saboteur Asha Janik worked on before tampering with Galactica's ammunition supplies. The ship was attacked ten weeks prior to the Season 2 episode Sacrifice, which claimed the life of at least one person, Ray Abinell. This caused his widow, Sesha Abinell, to take hostages aboard Cloud Nine.

Greenleaf would be mentioned again in , "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", Razor and Crossroads, Part I. The ship itself was seen briefly from outer space in a flashback in Sacrifice but was only part of the hull. No establishing fleet shots have seen the design to date.

Hitei Kan (Refinery Ship)

Hitei Kan is the fleet's tylium processing ship and is one of the most important ships in the fleet. The ship processes raw tylium ore into fuel for the fleet. Conditions aboard the craft are extremely dangerous and the work is grueling.

In the episode "Dirty Hands", Galen Tyrol witnesses the hardship aboard the craft where even the children and elderly are forced to work. He leads a work stoppage in protest when a teenager is seriously injured, that leaves the fleet short of vital fuel. Tyrol demands a fleet work rotation where the people are given a change of jobs periodically to retain morale. In response, President Roslin has Tyrol reinstate the labor union that he once led on New Caprica.

In the episode "Crossroads, Part I", the Refinery Ship was discovered to be leaking radiation. The Cylon prisoner, Caprica Six, suggests that the Cylons were possibly tracking the radiation to stay one jump behind the refugee fleet. Repairs are begun to the ship, however Lee Adama comes up with a plan to throw off the Cylons by using the ship as a decoy by sending it along another course and once repairs are finished, the ship will rejoin the fleet at another designated jump point.

In the episode "A Disquiet Follows My Soul", the captain of the Hitei Kan follows Vice-President Zarek's orders to abandon the fleet as protest against Admiral Adama's order that all ships upgrade their FTL drives with Cylon technology. Afterward, Zarek is arrested and divulges the location of the ship which is later escorted back to the fleet.

Kimba Huta

Supply ship similar in design to the Gemenon Traveller. It stores the last stockpiles of meat in the entire fleet. Zarek temporarily hid President Roslin in one of the ship's freezers (during her escape from a Galactica jail cell) while covertly transporting her to The Astral Queen.

The ship's fate is unknown at the current time.

Majahual

Majahual is featured in the episode "Scar" and is one of the fleet's large mining vessels. It appears as a series of three saucers with four large gripping claws extending downward. The ship can land on asteroids and gather ore vital to the fleet. Living conditions aboard the ship are said to be filthy and deplorable.

This is, again, an example of a design from the original series being reused in the re-imagined series.

McConnell

The McConnell is a supply ship within the fleet that was mentioned in "Black Market". The ship was one of several that Commander Fisk secretly raided and built up a personal stock pile of high valued goods which he traded within the fleet's black market.

Monarch

Monarch is a mining vessel that is reported as having joined Laura Roslin's splinter group in the episode "The Farm". After Dualla reports its departure to Colonel Tigh, he laments the fact that the fleet could not afford to lose miners.

Monarch was mentioned again in Collaborators following the Battle of New Caprica.

Olympic Carrier

Olympic Carrier is a fish-shaped civilian passenger liner, typical of many such ships used by the people of the Twelve Colonies. It is mentioned in the first episode of Season One, "33". The Olympic Carrier is supposedly carrying 1,300 Colonial refugees, one of which is Dr. Amarak, a colleague of Dr. Baltar, who may have known that he was involved with helping the Cylons.

After the Cylon attack, the ship is compromised by the Cylons, who use it to pinpoint the fleet's location every time they make an FTL jump. Over the next few days, the fleet is attacked by Cylon Basestars every 33 minutes, to the exact second. Later however, the Olympic Carrier falls behind during a jump and did not return for several hours. In the meantime, the Cylons do not attack. Suddenly, the Olympic Carrier reappears; the crew claim they had a problem with their FTL drive. When asked over radio how they escaped the Cylons, they give unconvincing excuses that they were "let go" and "just lucky". Exactly 33 minutes after the reappearance of the Olympic Carrier, the Cylons reappear.

When they failed to follow an order by Commander Adama to stop their engines and not approach the fleet, Adama sent a Colonial Raptor - piloted by Boomer, flanked by Vipers piloted by Starbuck and Apollo - to scan the ship, where they detected the presence of nuclear weapons on board. Adama, with President Roslin's hesitant approval, ordered Apollo and Starbuck to destroy the Olympic Carrier.

Pan Galactic liner

During the Miniseries, at least one Pan Galactic liner survived the attack and joined the refugee fleet. The ship in particular is of the similar fish-shaped design seen in other liners like Olympic Carrier.

Pegasus

Main article: Battlestar Pegasus

The Pegasus is the second most featured Battlestar on the reimagined TV series.

Picon 36

Ship not seen visually, but was part of President Roslin's rescue fleet before joining Galactica. Her captain protests Roslin's decision to abandon the sublight ships when the Cylons show up in the Miniseries. It is assumed Picon 36 had FTL capability and jumped with the fleet as ordered.

Prometheus

Prometheus is a cargo vessel that appeared in the episode "Black Market". The ship has an "open port" policy similar to Cloud 9 and became the headquarters for the fleet's black market operations. The black market was allowed, unofficially, to continue operations with the stipulations that there are no killings, that they don't hold back on essential medicines and their child prostitution ring is ended. The ship's name comes from Greek mythology, Prometheus the Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans.

Pyxis

A civilian ship with 600 people aboard. In the 4th-season premiere episode "He That Believeth in Me", the Pyxis was destroyed during the Cylon ambush at the Ionian Nebula.

Refueling Tanker

Also called "Tanker Birds" these ships can link up to Vipers and Raptors for mid-flight refueling. The ships have not been seen on-screen but are believed to be modified Raptors with a fuel transfer boom. They are mentioned in dialog in both "You Can't Go Home Again" and "Occupation". There may be one or more larger tanker ships like the Hitei Kan, sized for refueling the fleet's bigger ships. In "Home", Part I, the Striker collides with one during a botched refueling maneuver.

Resurrection Hub

The Cylon Resurrection Hub was an enormous mobile base that controlled the function of all of the Cylon resurrection ships. The ship appeared as a diamond shaped craft with a skeletal structure similar to the resurrection ships.

In the episode "The Hub" a massive battle was engaged around it by the Rebel Cylons and Colonial Viper pilots. A Raptor manages to take out the Hub's FTL drive, thus stranding it in one spot, preventing it from escaping. While the Rebel Basestar engaged the Hub's two escort basestar and the Colonial Vipers and Cylon Heavy Raiders engaged the enemy Raiders, the Cylon D'Anna Biers was "unboxed" by Cavil (whom she killed) and Boomer (who runs away) and rescued by Karl "Helo" Agathon and a copy of Number Eight. The three escape the Hub on a Raptor and Helo orders a nuclear attack on the Hub. The Colonial Vipers, armed with nuclear missiles, line up and launch their nuclear missiles into the Hub, destroying it in an explosion so powerful at least one of its escort basestars are destroyed too while the other is either severely damaged or destroyed. With the Resurrection Hub destroyed, the Cylons lose their ability to resurrect forever.

Resurrection Ship

The Cylon Resurrection Ship is a class of Cylon FTL-equipped starship that allowed the consciousness of any Cylon, within an unspecified range, to download into a new body aboard the ship upon death. The ship appeared as an elongated vessel built as a series of spider-shaped support frames. In between the frames were levels upon levels of transparent containers each holding a humanoid Cylon body in suspended animation.

In the fourth season episode "The Hub", it was discovered that the resurrection ships were controlled by a central control ship called "The Hub", which actually kept a back-up of the persona for each model of Cylon. Once the hub was destroyed, the resurrection ships were useless and no Cylon was able to resurrect after death.

Rising Star

Rising Star is a hospital ship mentioned in the episode "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down". Col. Tigh's estranged wife Ellen Tigh was discovered alive aboard the vessel. It was also briefly mentioned in "33" when the fleet's first child is born on it. Doctor Cottle is aboard the Rising Star when the Cylons arrive at Kobol, making him unable to help the seriously wounded Adama.

The Rising Star appears as a sleek-looking, arrowhead-shaped starship and is another carried over design and name from the original series to the reimagining. The most notable features are a pair of vent-like openings above the "wings" on either side of the hull, which appear to be used as landing bays for smaller craft. A vessel that resembles the Rising Star is seen in Razor when the Battlestar Pegasus finds fifteen civilian ships.

Scorpia Traveller

Ship that docks with Galactica in the episode "Litmus" to offload civilians and take on supplies. A copy of Cylon agent Aaron Doral disembarks this ship and commits a suicide bombing that nearly kills Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh.

Scylla

The Scylla was one of 15 civilian transports picked up by the Battlestar Pegasus. Admiral Cain stripped the ship for spare parts and integrated its useful crew to the Pegasus. The Scylla was then abandoned with the rest of the fleet as Cain continued her pursuit of the Cylon fleet which was tracking Galactica. The ship is seen for the first time in Razor, along with a few other ships that were found by Admiral Cain. It is first mentioned in the episode Pegasus (Battlestar Galactica). This ship was the ship from which Laird was originally transferred.

Solaria

The Solaria is a Colonial Battlestar said in the Miniseries to have been lost along with Battlestars Columbia and Triton.

Stealthstar

A Colonial stealth craft, the Stealthstar was used to spy on the Cylons. In a recon mission under Adama's command, Lieutenant Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek piloted her beyond the Armistice Line. He was detected and his ship damaged, presumably by the Cylons, though the DRADIS contact was labeled as "unknown". Commander Adama, under orders not to cross the boundary decided to shoot down Novacek with a missile to avoid capture. Unknown to Adama, Novacek had ejected and was captured by the Cylons. The Stealthstar was featured in a flash back sequence in the episode "Hero".

Striker

A Colonial vessel that collides with a fuel tanker while Captain George "Catman" Birch is performing the role of CAG for the Galactica. Striker's wireless goes silent and they go into an uncontrolled spin after the collision, forcing Galactica to dispatch a repair team to the vessel. The Striker is of the same design as the Celestra from the original series. ("Home", Part I).

Tauranian Traveller

The Tauranian Traveller is a civilian transport in the fleet mentioned in a deleted scene from the episode "33". Because of the relentless Cylon attacks every 33 minutes, President Roslin informs Commander Adama that the ship's captain is threatening to leave the fleet and take their chances on their own. Adama initially says that if any captain feels they can make it on their own, they are welcome to leave, but Roslin deems that decision unacceptable and says there are 900 people aboard the ship and have to stay together to assure survival. Adama changes his mind and tells Roslin that any captain wanting to defect from the fleet will be arrested. He orders Vipers to do a close flyby of the Tauranian Traveller to get the message across.^[7]

Thera Sita

A civilian transport within the fleet. In "The Passage", the ship made it successfully through the dangerous star cluster to the Algae Planet. In "The Woman King", some of the passengers from the ship contract Mellorak disease and had to be transferred to Dogsville aboard Galactica for medical care. It was first mentioned in the final episode of season two, "Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II".

Triton

Battlestar Triton, part of Battlestar Group 39 (BSG-39), is said to have been lost in the Miniseries along with Battlestars Columbia and Solaria. Lt. Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo served on the Triton prior to its destruction: Boomer refers to him as a "refugee from Triton" in the episode "33", and Crashdown's flight suit still bears a Battlestar Triton crew patch.[1] Starbuck had also been stationed aboard the Battlestar Triton once.^[8]

Valkyrie

A Battlestar, part of Battlestar Group 41 (BSG-41), which was under Commander Adama's command prior to his command of Galactica. The Valkyrie was involved in a Black Ops recon mission to spy on the Cylons a year before their sneak attack on the colonies. The Valkyrie makes an appearance in a flashback sequence in the episode "Hero".

The Valkyrie is stated as being a newer and more prestigious ship than the Galactica,^[9] and was also a different type of Battlestar than the Pegasus. The eventual fate of the Valkyrie is not known, but she is presumed to have been destroyed along with the rest of the Colonial Fleet (except the Galactica and the Pegasus) during the Cylon assault on the Twelve Colonies.

In Battlestar Galactica: Razor, during the cylon attack on the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards, two battlestars similar in class to the Valkyrie are shown to be destroyed while docked. Several Valkyrie-type battlestars, including the Valkyrie herself, were shown being destroyed during the Cylon ambush of the colonies. The Valkyrie and Yashuman attempted to engage a Cylon basestar fleet without success shortly before succumbing to the Command Navigation Program virus that rendered their systems inoperative. Battlestar Galactica: The Plan.

History

Approximately one year prior to the actual Cylon assault on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, Commander Adama was ordered by the Admiralty to approach the Armistice Line and send over a stealth fighter (piloted by Lt. Daniel "Bulldog" Novacek) to test Cylon defenses and determine whether the Cylons were preparing to attack the Colonies under the guise of looking for Taurons who were mining illegally over the line. After the stealth fighter was disabled on the Cylon side of the Armistice Line, and two other (presumably Cylon) vessels entered the area, Adama ordered the Stealthstar shot down with a ship-to-ship missile. Unknown to Adama, "Bulldog" ejected from the stealth fighter before it was destroyed and was captured by the Cylon forces. Bulldog eventually escaped from the Basestar where he was being held and hijacked a Cylon Raider back to the Galactica. However, it is later revealed that the Cylons let Bulldog escape, hoping that he would discover the true circumstances surrounding his capture and kill Adama in revenge.^[9]

Based on conversations in the episode "Hero", the Valkyrie was a more modern and desirable command than the soon to be retired Galactica. Per Colonel Tigh's comments, the admiralty was displeased with the results of the stealth fighter mission and transferred both Adama and Tigh to the Galactica as their way of "greasing" both of them, along with the ship, into retirement. Tigh, a high-functioning alcoholic, relied on Adama to "cover his rear" for him in order to retain his commission.

Behind the scenes

• In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is a minor female deity whose purpose is to choose the most heroic of those who have died in battle and to carry them off to Valhalla. The Valkyrie constitutes the second reference to Norse mythology in the re-imagined series, the first being Ragnar Anchorage in the 2003 miniseries.
• Series creator Ronald D. Moore confirmed in his podcast for "Hero" that the Valkyrie CIC was a redress of the Battlestar Pegasus CIC.

Virgon Express

The Virgon Express is a maintenance vessel that appeared in the episode "Water". Like many ships its size, the Express is too small to recycle its own water supply and must replenish it from larger vessels like the Battlestar Galactica. The Express was taking on water when an explosion occurs in the Galactica water tanks.

Zephyr

The Zephyr, also referred to as Space Park, is a luxury liner in the fleet. It has an unusual design reminiscent of early spacecraft used by the Twelve Colonies and consists of a massive wheel connected to a slender, central hull at the axis. The wheel contains an artificial biosphere and slowly rotates to simulate natural gravity. This unusual design is supposedly very old, when artificial gravity was too expensive on large ships, but the design proved popular and remains in use to this day.

When President Roslin is being held in Galactica's brig following Commander Adama's coup, the Quorum of Twelve takes a shuttle from the Zephyr to Galactica in the hope of questioning her and restoring her presidential authority. Later, during the presidential elections shown in "Lay Down Your Burdens", Part II, Zephyr was one of the last five ships in the fleet to dispatch her ballot results to the Galactica counting room. Petty Officer Dualla intercepted the Zephyr's ballots and replaced them with forged ones in an attempt to swing the election in Roslin's favor.

In the 4th season premiere episode "He That Believeth in Me", Zephyr suffered severe damage to the wheel section when it was struck by missiles during the Cylon attack at the Ionian Nebula. Later episodes show that the ship is still with the fleet undergoing repairs.

During the webisodes, "The Face of the Enemy" which aired on the scifi.com website between seasons 4.0 and 4.5, Felix Gaeta and others are en route from the Galactica to the Zephyr when the fleet makes an emergency FTL jump, leaving them stranded.

Shipping companies

Intersun

A civilian transport company that operated among the Twelve Colonies. (Also known as "Eversun", as seen on uniforms and prop artwork.) Intersun owned and operated the liner Colonial Heavy 798 which is renamed Colonial One after President Roslin is sworn in and takes the ship as Office of the President.

Pan Galactic

A civilian transport company with ships operating at the time of the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies. During the Miniseries, at least one Pan Galactic liner survived the attack and joined the refugee fleet. Pan Galactic's logo is nearly identical to the now-defunct Pan American World Airways airlines logo. Pan Galactic is a homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey, which featured an Earth-to-orbit passenger shuttle operated by Pan Am.

References

1. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20091026141652/http://geocities.com/Hollywood/6952/ron37.txt
2. ^ "Valley of Darkness (Deleted Scene)". Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series).
3. ^ SciFi.com: Celestra Information
4. ^ "Exodus". Battlestar Galactica.
5. ^ Season 2 Episode "Final Cut" Locker Room scene
6. ^ "Flesh and Bone". Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series).
7. ^ "33 (Deleted Scene)". Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series).
8. ^ "The Son Also Rises". Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series).
9. ^ ^{a b} "Hero". Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series).

External links

• List of Colonial Craft at the Battlestar Wiki.
• Richard Livingston's battlestar Pegasus, battlestar Valkyrie, Skylla and Scorpion Spacestation Concept Art