History Main / MileLongShip

* While it is ultimately up to the interpretation of the player, Battleships and especially the gigantic Titan ships in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' are implied to be in the several-kilometer range.

* The capital ships in ''[[VideoGame/EliteDangerous]]'' are all several kilometers long, including the Federation and Imperial battlecruisers, various megaships, and the player-owned fleet carriers. Most of them are equipped with frameshift drives, though these operate differently than those of smaller ships, opening a stationary hyperspace portal and then moving into it. None of them can be piloted by players directly.

* ''[[http://sciencefiction.com/2013/09/29/ultimate-science-fiction-spaceship-comparison-chart-update-5/ The Ultimate Starship Size Comparison Chart]]'' lines up notable ships and space stations from several different science fiction franchises (along with a few real-life ships for the sake of argument) side-by-side to compare their length. They're all dwarfed by the aforementioned ''Executor''-class star dreadnought from ''Franchise/StarWars''.
** [[https://www.deviantart.com/moreorlesser/art/Spaceship-Size-Comparison-Updated-V22-903959442/ More recently, an updated version with ships from after 2014 has been created using the original as a foundation.]]

* In ''Literature/ChrysalisBeaverFur'', a 27-kilometer long rocket full of drone hangars, automatic factories, and nuclear warheads is built by a massive underground supercomputer -- [[BrainUploading uploaded on which]] is [[SoleSurvivor the last human consciousness]] -- to escape Earth and [[GenocideBackfire go to war against the aliens who destroyed it]]. Mount Everest had to be hollowed out to hide the construction of the rocket from any aliens still surveying Earth, and its launch process was violent enough to cause a mass extinction -- [[ApocalypseHow if there was any life on Earth left to extinguish, that is]]. Once in space, the vessel terrified aliens, as, even before realizing it had been built by a a vengeful AI, they thought only an impossibly advanced civilization could put such a thing together.

** GW eventually gave the exact measurements of several ship classes in the ''TabletopGame/RogueTrader'' books. As it turns out, even the smallest sloops are almost a kilometer long and have crews numbering in thousands. Escort ships, such as destroyers, raiders, corvettes and frigates, usually do not exceed 2 km, and light cruisers are usually between 3 and 4,5 km. Heavy and battle- cruisers[[note]]Miniatures for these types in the Imperial Navy use the same hull[[/note]] are somewhere around 5 km, and grand cruisers are about 7,5 km. There is no canon specs for Battleships, Battlebarges and Mechanicum Arcs, but they must be around 8 km[[note]]Battleships have one weapon section more than heavy cruisers, and a weapon section is about 1,5 km long[[/note]]. Other races' ships have comparable sizes.
** Less confirmed is information about Gloriana-type[[note]]Each Gloriana was/is a unique vessel, united only with their purpose to serve as their legion's flagship, so they are not really a class[[/note]] (20–28 km long), various Xeno ships (i.e. Interex) that were 2-3 times bigger, Eldar Crafworlds (DependingOnTheAuthor and on exact craftworld, they might be the size of a planet or "just" 40 km long), the Rock (size of a city and accompanying bedrock), the Phalanx (small moon sized) and World Engine (planet made into spaceship).

* ''Fanfic/{{Fractured|SovereignGFC}}'': The Trans-Galactic Republic has the ''Revenant''-class [[TheBattlestar Star Dreadnaughts]] that measure 35 kilometers ([[WeAllLiveInAmerica 21.748 miles]]) from end to end. The ''Mass Effect'' races have their large ships, but they're typically smaller due to being more realistic with known physics and lacking AppliedPhlebotinum that lets ''Franchise/StarWars'' ships grow so astronomically huge. A regular capital ship from the Trans-Galactic Republic [[InsistentTerminology Spacelane Protection Force]][[note]]They seem to see themselves similarly to RealLife Japan's [[UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce Self-Defense Force]], at least on paper, though characters lampshade how silly a "defense" force seems with constantly-growing ships and massive firepower. This becomes important later.[[/note]] actually is larger than a ''Reaper'' but it's considered "ordinary." Later on, ships derived from [[spoiler:Eridian/Forerunner]] technology are seen to reach 4 and 32.5 kilometers in length respectively.

* ''Fanfic/{{Fractured}}'': The Trans-Galactic Republic has the ''Revenant''-class [[TheBattlestar Star Dreadnaughts]] that measure 35 kilometers ([[WeAllLiveInAmerica 21.748 miles]]) from end to end. The ''Mass Effect'' races have their large ships, but they're typically smaller due to being more realistic with known physics and lacking AppliedPhlebotinum that lets ''Franchise/StarWars'' ships grow so astronomically huge. A regular capital ship from the Trans-Galactic Republic [[InsistentTerminology Spacelane Protection Force]][[note]]They seem to see themselves similarly to RealLife Japan's [[UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce Self-Defense Force]], at least on paper, though characters lampshade how silly a "defense" force seems with constantly-growing ships and massive firepower. This becomes important later.[[/note]] actually is larger than a ''Reaper'' but it's considered "ordinary." Later on, ships derived from [[spoiler:Eridian/Forerunner]] technology are seen to reach 4 and 32.5 kilometers in length respectively.

** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', [[BigBad Ronan]]'s ship, the ''Dark Aster'' is three kilometers wide.

* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' is 6 miles long, 4 miles tall, and 3 miles wide, according to the novels. The TV show states "5 miles long" repeatedly, but we might assume this refers to the ship's habitable volume, and the 6 mile figure includes the ram scoop and main engines at the front and back of the ship respectively. It originally had a crew complement of 169. Then in series 3 it was {{retcon}}ned to [[SerialEscalation 1,169]]. Then since about series 7 or 8 it was retconned again to 11,169...

*** The first Red Dwarf novel, ''Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'', gave the original crew size of 11,169.

** There were also the ''Explorer''-class vessels. Their task was to travel to unexplored systems, identify those worth permanently occupying, and deploy jumpgates. At 6.1km/4.8 miles long they're about three quarters the length of Babylon 5 itself, making them by far the largest ships operated by EarthForce and significantly larger than any other ship seen in the show not operated by one of the First Ones. They are so large that the pylons of the Babylon 5 jumpgate had to be moved apart to create a jump point large enough for one to pass. We're told that they're incredibly rare, mainly because they're ''incredibly expensive'' to build and operate, and those that do exist will spend most of their time out in the furthest reaches of explored space. Even most EarthForce officers will never see one in person.

** Pretty much every major Earthforce warship measures around a kilometer, with the ''Omega''-class destroyer breaking the mile barrier at 1700m, it's successor, the ''Warlock''-class making over 2000, and the ''Poseidon''-class supercarrier being of similar length to the ''Warlock'' but much wider.

** There were also the ''Explorer''-class vessels. Their task was to travel to unexplored systems, identify those worth permanently occupying, and deploy jumpgates. They were several miles long, and so broad the pylons of the Babylon 5 jumpgate had to be spread wider than normal to create a jump point large enough for them.

->(Running onto the bridge, panting) ''"The ship is too big. If I walk, the movie will be over."''

** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', [[BigBad Ronan's]] ship, the ''Dark Aster'' is three kilometers wide.

* ''Spaceball One'' in the movie ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', a parody of ''Franchise/StarWars'', has a similar scale, {{justified|Trope}} by [[spoiler:the fact that it needs to be capable of storing the entire atmosphere of an Earth-like planet]]. The movie opens with a shot of the ship flying past the camera -- and it takes almost ''two minutes'' to pass, with the shot functioning as an OverlyLongGag. And it's ''still'' not as long as Creator/MelBrooks [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally wanted it to be]]. There's also a number of jokes about how big the ship is, such as:
-->'''Colonel Sanderz:''' ''Prepare ship for Ludicrous speed. Fasten all seatbelts, seal all entrances and exits, close all shops in the mall, [[RuleOfFunny cancel the three-ring circus, secure all animals in the zoo...]]''\\\

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2''[='s=] Arsenal Gear and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4''[='s=] Outer Haven, although their exact sizes aren't mentioned in-game, are two impractically-sized warships.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal}}'' has a three-episode arc set on board the ''Colossaeus'', a absolutely immense pre-modern naval ship that is apparently home to an entire [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Ancient Egypt-esque]] kingdom. The ship's exact size is never stated, but in scale with the characters it seems to be at least a mile long, and probably much more.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal}}'' has a three-episode arc set on board the ''Colossaeus'', a absolutely immense ship that is apparently home to an entire [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Ancient Egypt-esque]] kingdom. The ship's exact size is never stated, but in scale with the characters it seems to be at least a mile long, and probably much more.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal}}'' has a three-episode arc set on board the ''Colossaeus'', a absolutely immense ship that is apparently home to an entire[[FantasyCounterpartCulture Ancient Egypt-esque]] kingdom. The ship's exact size is never stated, but in scale with the characters it seems to be at least a mile long, and probably much more.

* The International Space Station, our current largest spaceship (technically; its rockets are only to help keep it in orbit), is around a tenth of a kilometer wide, and around 1/14 kilometer long (according to Wiki/TheOtherWiki). This sounds more impressive than it is, due to the space station's shape (some of the length comes from the arrays of solar panels on either end). The living space has been described as a six-bedroom house.

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' has the Cathedral Terra, later named the Super Galaxy Dai-Gurren, is a big-ass ship that ''was the moon for a while.'' It's roughly half the size of earth, and it is piloted by Simon, piloting Gurren Lagann, that pilotes Arc-Gurren Lagann. It also transforms into its own giant robot. This is taken [[UpToEleven even bigger]], reaching the point where galaxies are used as throwing stars. ''And that's not even the limit.''

** The infamous ''Imperial''-class Star Destroyers are 1,600 meters long, or approximately one mile, while Darth Vader's Super Star Destroyer ''Executor'' was 19 kilometers, taking this trope quite literally UpToEleven. As a real-world comparison, this makes ''Executor'' roughly the size of [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity Manhattan]]. [[http://io9.gizmodo.com/a-super-star-destroyer-is-manhattan-sized-1726012171 Literally.]] Then we come to the sequel trilogy and Supreme Leader Snoke's personal flagship, the Mega Star Destroyer ''Supremacy'', which is a whopping 60 kilometers, or ''thirty-seven miles'', from port to starboard, meaning it would span the exact width of ''Rhode Island''.

* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' is 6 miles long, 4 miles tall, and 3 miles wide, according to the novels. The TV show states "5 miles long" repeatedly, but we might assume this refers to the ship's habitable volume, and the 6 mile figure includes the ram scoop and main engines at the front and back of the ship respectively. It originally had a crew complement of 169. Then in series 3 it was {{retcon}}ned to [[SerialEscalation 1,169]]. Then since about series 7 or 8 [[UpToEleven it was retconned again to 11,169...]]

** It's stated that, over the course of the conflict between Manticore and Haven, both sides have steadily increased the sizes of their ships without reclassifying them (classification here is more based on tactical and strategic role than tonnage): late war Light Attack Craft (similar in role to fighters or gunboats) are nearly as big as prewar destroyers, the better to carry a spinal graser worthy of a battlecruiser. This doesn't really come into play until later, when the Solarian League Navy realizes that Manticoran destroyers should by all rights be classified as cruisers in terms of size, mass, and firepower.

** By the ''ComicBook/{{Legacy}}'' comics, ships of SSD scale are seen as AwesomeButImpractical (without a galaxy-sized tax base they cost too much to operate - a ''small'' SSD requires a crew of a quarter million people to run) and no longer in use. The Fel Empire's warship of choice is the ''Pellaeon''-class star destroyer, which is about the same length as an ''Imperial''-class but more massive. But when Darth Krayt seizes power, his Empire introduces the larger ''Imperious''-class (exactly how it compares to the previous era's Super Star Destroyers is uncertain, but it's bigger than any contemporary warships)… and [[LaResistance the Alliance]] [[GrandTheftPrototype promptly steals the first ship from him]].

** Also, the Babylon 4 station, which preceded Babylon 5, had a propulsion system (unlike its successor), so could serve as a mobile base-ship and carrier that was 6 miles in length (Babylon 5, meanwhile, was 5 miles in length).

** Less confirmed is information about Gloriana-type[[note]]Each Gloriana was/is a unique vessel, united only with their purpose to serve as their legion's flagship, so they are not really a class[[/note]] (20–28 km long), various Xeno ships (i.e. Interex) that were 2-3 times bigger, Eldar Crafworlds ,[[note]]DependingOnTheAuthor and on exact craftworld, they might be the size of a planet or "just" 40 km long.[[/note]] the Rock (size of a city and accompanying bedrock), the Phalanx (small moon sized) and World Engine (planet made into spaceship).

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' the Clans have the largest ships in Inner Sphere, such as the [[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Leviathan_(Heavy_Transport) Leviathan]], [[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Black_Lion Black Lion]] and [[http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Potemkin Potemkin]].
** And even ordinary [=JumpShips=] tend to be over a kilometer in diameter, though that's just the "sail" used to gather solar energy, the ship proper is usually around half a kilometer long.
* In ''TabletopGame/HcSvntDracones'' Capital ships are listed as ranging from 5,000–6,000 feet in length. They're also the only ships that can't land on planets, or even dock with space stations. ~Half-mile "large" ships can land, in water, but can't maneuver in atmosphere unless made by Pulse.
* In ''TabletopGame/StarFleetBattles'', there are two monsters, The Planet Eater (Based on the Doomsday Machine from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'') at kilometer in size, and the ''Juggernaut'', an automated giant ship over 1.6 km long capable of wiping out small fleets. The largest regular starships are under 500m

* The ambitious ''VideoGame/Battlefield2142'' mod ''VideoGame/FirstStrike'' prides itself on modelling all Star Wars assets to scale -- from 300 metres long corvettes and other small ships to the immobile, but very heavily armed 1600 metres Imperial Star Destroyer. To get a sense of how big this is, a BF veteran can consider that BF 2142 maps were typically 1–2 kilometres in length.
* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', Reaper capital ships like Sovereign and Harbinger are around two kilometers long and so massive that their kinetic barriers are severely weakened while they're landed in Earth-like gravity (due to the mass effect field strength needed to reduce their mass to the point where they don't crumple under their own weight). Citadel dreadnoughts vary by race, but average one kilometer. Ditto the much more common and expendable carriers. Ships of that size are {{justified|Trope}} by the setting's [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter reliance on kinetic weapons]]: a longer ship means the spinal [[MagneticWeapons mass accelerator]] can be longer, [[ShownTheirWork meaning it can fire its slugs with greater energy]]. The yield of the gun at the scale of warships is implied to scale more or less linearly with length, as the codex directly states "a dreadnought's power lies in the length of its main gun" and the description for the Thanix cannon in ''2'' reveals that even a frigate canonically has enough power generation to power the main gun of a cruiser a hundred times its volume. For these reasons, massive dreadnoughts are used like self-propelled artillery pieces, remaining at the rear line of a fleet battle and exploiting their greater muzzle velocity to take down targets while smaller, lighter ships either screen their flanks or maneuver in around the enemy's flank. (At least, that was the idea. Nobody apparently told the VFX artists, who in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' showed Citadel dreadnoughts engaging Reapers [[SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes well within visual range]].) Cruisers, the main combatants, are basically just down-scaled dreadnoughts (500-700 meters instead of a kilometer).

* The ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series doesn't explicitly give lengths for its ships. However, in 2009, a forum member in [[http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=244972 this thread]] scaled their in-game models and determined that the largest destroyers average 3 kilometers, with the [[TheBattlestar ATF Valhalla]] being the outlier at 5. The Valhalla's [[UnnecessarilyLargeVessel sheer size makes it wildly impractical to use normally]], because its engine nacelles will impact the rim of a [[PortalNetwork jump gate]] upon exit, causing it to get stuck inside the event horizon. This is fixed by the expansion pack ''X3: Albion Prelude'', but it still has size-related problems with its turret firing arcs. Our page picture is the more manageably sized Teladi Phoenix, which is approximately 4 kilometers long. The games also features some truly enormous space stations, such as the Terran Military Outpost, a station so large that the entirety of Rhode Island could fit within its bulk, or the [[RingworldPlanet Torus Aeternal]], a station large enough to wrap around the Earth.
** Mile long ships return in force in ''Videogame/XRebirth'', where the humble SpaceTrucker trading ships have been largely replaced by massive freighters that operate independently of the [[PortalNetwork Highway system]]. The Arawn battleship is large enough to have two hangars - one landing pad on the front for the ''Albion Skunk'', and an internal hangar for URV drones which is large enough to have ''internal'' point-defense turrets.

* In ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'', the all highschool carrier ships are pretty much "cities floating on the sea". While the series itself gives a rough image of the Ooarai carrier's size, the third OVA and other supplementary materials go in length about it. Ooarai carrier is a self-sufficient city with population about 30.000 people. The distance between the waterline and its main deck is 400m, and is around 7.5km in length depending on the definition of the main deck, whether it's from the lower deck or just the surface deck. The carrier is so large, there's a phenomenon of urban decay in its bowel. Also, Ooarai is one of the smaller schools; [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gup/images/f/f6/SSW3.png/revision/latest?cb=20170304090413 all other schools]] with the exception of Maginot (which has a submarine as their school ship), are larger than Ooarai. Black Forest Peak is said to have a population of more than 100.000 people.

* In the ''Series/BabylonFive'' 'verse:

** Pretty much every major Earthforce warship measures around a kilometer, with the ''Omega''-class destroyer breaking the mile barrier at 1700m, and it's successor, the ''Warlock''-class making over 2000.
** Jump-capable warships in general are this, as the jump drives of most races tend to be rather large (aside the First Ones, only Vree, Centauri and Minbari can make small ones), and even miniaturized drives are such power hogs that such small ships need to sacrifice weapons to make space for the reactors (only the Minbari can make jump-capable ''practical'' warships, and even they prefer larger ones).

** Aurora Carriers are 1.2 km long, compared to the Federation and Rebel Carriers which are only 500 m long. Note they carry many more fighters than their counterparts and the Aurorans love their railguns.
** Polaris Ravens are 1.2 km long and about 1 km wide making them the biggest playable ship in the game. Strangely, they have a crew of less than a hundred.

** GW doesn't like giving exact numbers for in-games vehicles because it tends to attract nerd rage. As of confirmed numbers, we have Imperial ships, escort frigates and destroyers are 750 meters to 2 kilometers long, while cruisers are up to 7.5 kilometers long. There is no canon specs for Battleships, Battlebarges and Mechanicum Arcs. The largest ship size confirmed in codex is of Necron Cairn class tomb ship which is 15 kilometers long.
** Less confirmed is information about Great Crusade era flagships (20–26 km long), various Xeno ships (i.e. Interex) that were 2-3 times bigger, Eldar Crafworlds ,[[note]]DependingOnTheAuthor and on exact craftworld, they might be the size of a planet or "just" 40 km long.[[/note]] the Rock (size of a city and accompanying bedrock), the Phalanx (small moon sized) and World Engine (planet made into spaceship).
** Bigger than even the Gloriana-class Battleships is the ''Imperator Somnium''[[note]]Imperial Dream[[/note]], second flagship of the Emperor after the ''Bucephulus''. For some context, the largest Gloriana was the ''Macragge's Honour'' at 26 km.
** The Abyss-class battleship, created by the forces of Chaos in preparation for the Horus Heresy was said to dwarf the aforementioned 26km long ships, being mentioned as rivalling the Phalanx in size and firepower.

-->--'''President Skroob''', ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''