Battlestar Columbia

The Reimagined Series
(Battlestar Galactica 2004, Caprica and Blood & Chrome)

Battlestar Columbia
General Information
Affiliation:	United Colonies of Kobol Colonial Fleet
Hull Number:	83
Fate:	Destroyed, 40 BCH
Technical Specifications
Class:	Jupiter-class
Crew:	~5000
Length:	1438.6 Meters
Width:	536.8 Meters
Height:	183.3 Meters
Armament:	24 Primary Dual KEW 12 Missile Tubes
Defenses:	514 Dual Point-Defense KEW Armor Plating
Aviation facilities:	2x Flight Pods 2x Flight Decks 40x Viper Launch Tubes
Complement:	Viper Mk. II Viper Mk. III Raptor Mk. I Raptor Mk. II
Propulsion:	6x Sublight Engines Manoeuvring Thrusters
FTL:	Yes

Columbia was a Colonial warship, and one of the original twelve Jupiter-class battlestars built during the First Cylon War. After Galactica, she was one of the most decorated warships of the war, serving in virtually all colonial campaigns.

History

During the twelfth and final year of the Cylon War, Columbia had been assigned to Operation Raptor Talon along with Galactica and one other unnamed Jupiter-class Battlestar. The three battlestars attempt an assault against Cylon forces in orbit over an unnamed ice planet.

During the battle, Columbia's mid-ship defense fails, and it is targeted by Cylon forces. Despite attempts by Colonial vipers, including those from Columbia's sister ship Galactica, to fend off Cylon raiders, Columbia is on fire and heavily damaged to its top mid-section. Shortly thereafter the Columbia is destroyed although someone has enough time to send out a warning for the pilots to clear its airspace before an explosion tears through its hull, sending it into the atmosphere of the planet below. Screams of crew members can be heard briefly as the explosion ripped through the ship.

Columbia is the last known ship lost during the Cylon War, with the Cylons signing the Peace Accord shortly after the ship was destroyed.

Design

Armament

The Jupiter-class was armed with kinetic energy weapons scattered throughout the ship, primarily located on its dorsal and ventral hull (2 groups of 4 on each side), each capable of firing large shells at any given target; usually enemy vessels. 24 batteries made the Jupiter's one of, if not the heaviest hitters of the Colonial Fleet. Only during the interwar period, the newer and larger battlestars of Mercury-class began to outshine Jupiter's in their offensive role.

Twelve missile tubes, armed with both conventional and nuclear-tipped weapons give Jupiter's the capability to level entire cities within minutes. Unlike Valkyrie-type, which uses its main batteries to fire missiles, the Jupiter carries its missile on top of its middle section, in separate missile tubes hidden beneath the ships armor plating.

Defenses

514 CIWS point-defense weapons scattered throughout the ship to defend against the incoming ordinance, as well as enemy fighters. As virtually every other Colonial vessel, this is only half of the ship's defensive potential. Two-layered armor plating provides effective defense against both conventional and nuclear weapons. Similar to Galactica, by the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, virtually all Jupiter's had their armor partially stripped, exposing the inner hull layer and ships "ribs".

Fighter Complement

Large flight decks support a sizable complement of fighters, multi-purpose crafts, and shuttles. During the Fall, the Jupiter-class carried an assorted complement of Vipers Mk. VIIa and VIIb, alongside Raptors and Colonial shuttles. While the precise numbers are not known, possessing 40 launch tubes would indicate that the standard loadout of Jupiter-class consists at least of 80 Vipers.

The port and starboard flight pods were designed to be retractable. While Vipers were launched via special tubes on the side of the flight pods, all craft needed to land on the flight deck, which would be extended when needed. As this required the port and starboard flight decks to be exposed to vacuum conditions, the deck was magnetized to simulate gravity conditions when extended.

Computer Systems

Due to the serious threat of Cylon hacking imposed on the Colonial Fleet, Jupiter-class were designed to rely on primitive computers without networking, and so were less advanced than older ships in the fleet. These computers, whether in the original design or a later refit, were capable of being networked, when necessary, but per standard procedure were not. Calculations for faster-than-light jumps were also limited as a result of this, and by the 0 ACHs Galactica's computers were considerably slower at computing jumps than modern civilian ships if not networked.

Considering that Galactica was unique, the last ship of her class in service, it can be presumed that post-war build Jupiters were networked very much like the newer Mercury-class and therefore susceptible to Cylon infiltration. At least one Jupiter-class was actively deployed by the Colonial Fleet in defense of Caprica, and therefore likely succumbed to the Command Navigation Program infiltration.

Propulsion

FTL Engines of Jupipter-class

Ships of this class have 4 main rearward-facing sublight engines mounted on their outer hull, two on the dorsal and ventral surfaces each. Smaller maneuvering thrusters are also scattered throughout the ship to allow it to maneuver quickly in combat scenarios while two synced FTL drives are installed aboard to allow for faster-than-light travel. Unlike the Valkyrie-type, the Jupiter-class is large enough to house its FTL engines internally, mitigating the weakens exposed FTL engines pose.

While state-of-the-art for the Colonials, even by the time of introduction, the FTL engines of Jupiter-class were sub-part to contemporary Cylon design. By the time of the Fall however, this weakness was largely elevated, as even relatively un-upgraded Battlestar Galactica was able to jump ever couple of minutes.