History Main / TheBattlestar

** Ah, Obi-Wan...you [[FromACertainPointOfView pathological liar]] you.

Interesting military trivia: [[HistoryOfNavalWarfare The aircraft carrier has supplanted the battleship in terms of usefulness and importance]]. The carrier's ability to project force thousands of kilometers away made most WWII aerial/naval battles in the Pacific happen completely out of sight for the carrier's crew. Missile technology itself and remote piloting may do this to the carrier as well, with designs for "missile ships" in the works.

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

The one, tiny, ''insignificant'' flaw in the sheer awesome that is the Battlestar that could never be exploited is it usually has such a large size and mass[[hottip:* :(Weight is a result of gravity affecting mass, so objects in space are, you guessed it, weightless!)]] that it's significantly slower and less maneuverable than slimmer ships, and may present a larger target while being unable to move fixed guns [[LeadTheTarget quickly enough]] to [[HeroTrackingFailure track fast targets]]. Of course, these may be a non-issue if their propulsion/maneuvering system is so powerful mass doesn't slow them down, their guns have full coverage of all angles, or they have good [[PointDefenseless point defenses]]. When these aren't the case, expect the heroes or villain to engage in [[StandardHollywoodStrafingProcedure strafing]] against the Battlestar[[hottip:* :(Which will get very hairy if their fighter screen is intact)]].

* From 1974, the {{UrExample}} is probably the ''SpaceBattleshipYamato''. In 1979 the series was dubbed and broadcast in English as ''StarBlazers'', with the ship renamed the ''[[ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming Argo]]'' as a ShoutOut to a similar story from GreekMythology.

** Dreadnoughts, kilometre-long behemoths with a fighter hanger and an 800 metre long mass accelerator capable of taking down the shields (it spams nukes more or less) of any ship in Citadel space. Closest ship in the game to a [[TheBattlestar Battlestar]].
** Carriers, similar in size to Dreadnoughts but armed only with fighters. Similar to modern Aircraft Carriers (a well-placed shot in the hangar will gut the carriers, and general strategy is to defend them at all costs. An entirely human innovation and one of many examples of HumansAreSpecial. Because Carrier construction is not limited by the Treaty of Farixen (see the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty Washington Naval Treaty]]), the human Systems Alliance builds as many of them as it can.
*** In this case it's more of "only humans are crazy enough to ZergRush a ship with anti-fighter lasers to a point were they overheat allowing heavy bombers to come in"

* In the ''StarWars'' game ''Empire at War'', this is the Empire's [[PlanetOfTheHats hat]]: Any Imperial ship bigger than a corvette has several free fighter compliments. The logical conclusion is the ''Executor'', from the expansion, which can launch a squadron every few seconds, on top of being the biggest ship in the game.
* The ''Behemoth''-class battlecruisers in ''[[StarCraft StarCraft]]'' in ExpandedUniverse act as carriers for ''Wraith''-class fighters, dropships, and other small craft. This is not, however, shown in the game, probably because the game [[UnitsNotToScale unit scaling is way off]], showing the fighters to be a third of the size of the battlecruisers.

* The ''Durandal'' of the ''{{Xenosaga}}'' trilogy, a 4000m-long [[strike:[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything penis extension]]]] sword-shaped battleship belonging to the Kukai Foundation. It possesses advanced weaponry that outstrips even the Federation's special forces and is regularly seen kicking the crap out of fleets of enemy ships. It made its debut in ''Episode I'' by ''ramming'' an enemy vessel, for crying out loud. It serves as home base for the protagonists for much of the series [[spoiler:until its absorbed by the EldritchAbomination Abel's Ark and is turned into a twisted and grisly NightmareFuel-providing wreck]].

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* Infinite Space has several classes of battleship that have catapults and so can be equipped with fighters. Some cruisers have them as well, but equipping them with fighters is usually less efficient as they have less space to spare.

A type of MilitaryMashupMachine. Compare the Battlestar's "little brother", the AirborneAircraftCarrier. Battlestars and the [[SpaceFighter Space Fighters]] they carry are a major manifestation of the RuleOfCool, being AwesomeButImpractical. Plausible space combat theories suggest that big ol' Battleships with [[WaveMotionGun Wave Motion Guns]] would be untouchable by puny little fighters, but we love our [[AcePilot Ace Pilots]] engaging in OldSchoolDogfighting so much that huge gun-carrying warships practically get relegated to BigDumbObject status.

This trope is named for the ''Battlestar'' class of warships from ''BattlestarGalactica'', one of the first such depictions to reach widespread audiences. Has nothing to do with the elite Autobot fighters from ''[[TransformersReturnOfConvoy Transformers: Return of Convoy]]''.

** This isn't quite accurate, there are the [url=http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Federation_attack_fighter]Starfleet Attack Fighters [/url]in DeepSpaceNine. While on screen they may look a bit big next to the Defiant (which is rather small really), they're actually about the right size for a real life F-15. Of course for the purposes of this trope it doesn't actually make a whole lot of difference, as Battlestars themselves just aren't common in Trek, fighters or no.

*** Crew of seven for ''B'rel'' - See Star Trek III/IV. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Checkov, Uhura, Scott. Probably really only six, as Spock was not really all there for IV.

[[caption-width-right:350:The battlestar ''Pegasus'' shows us how it's done.]]

** The ''Destiny'' from ''StargateUniverse''. It has (at least) one armed and operational shuttle, and looks to be overloaded with guns including a giant triple-barreled main gun... [[GlassCannon good luck getting any of them to fire though]].

** The Goa'uld Ha'tak motherships carrying Death Gliders in {{Stargate SG-1}}''.

** The Prequels bring us the ''Acclamator''-class and ''Venator''class vessels serve as army transports and spacecraft carriers respectively. ''Acclamators'' also end up as being used as ''floating'' carriers as well.

The one, tiny, ''insignificant'' flaw in the sheer awesome is that the Battlestar that could never be exploited is it usually has such a large size and mass[[hottip:* :(Weight is a result of gravity affecting mass, so objects in space are, you guessed it, weightless!)]] that it's significantly slower and less maneuverable than slimmer ships, and may present a larger target while being unable to move fixed guns [[LeadTheTarget quickly enough]] to [[HeroTrackingFailure track fast targets]]. Of course, these may be a non-issue if their propulsion/maneuvering system is so powerful mass doesn't slow them down, their guns have full coverage of all angles, or they have good [[PointDefenseless point defenses]]. When these aren't the case, expect the heroes or villain to engage in [[StandardHollywoodStrafingProcedure strafing]] against the Battlestar[[hottip:* :(Which will get very hairy if their fighter screen is intact)]].

A type of MilitaryMashupMachine. Compare the Battlestar's "little brother", the AirborneAircraftCarrier.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The closest real-life equivalent is Russian "aviation cruiser" concept, namely the ''Admiral Kuznetsov'' and the ''Kiev''-class. Both types are carriers armed with anti-shipping missiles and more anti-air missiles than other carriers. Both, however, had [[strike:failures]] limitations in their air wings- the ''Kiev'''s Yak-38 [[ReportingNames "Forger"]] VTOL aircraft was useless and the Su-33 "Flanker-D" aircraft of the ''Admiral Kuznetsov'' are limited to air defense only (as well as in numbers), with other aircraft types bar the Su-25 "Frogfoot" carrier trainer version being canceled due to the collapse of the USSR. As was the Yak-141 "Freestyle" VTOL which would have replaced the Yak-38 (and unlike its predecessor, it wouldn't have been useless).
** Both were also (in part) attempts to lawyer around a ban by Turkey on aircraft carriers going through the Bosporus Straits. As long as they were cruisers that just happen to have planes on them...
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Furious_(1916) HMS ''Furious'']], one of the first true aircraft carriers, was ordered during WorldWarOne as a "large light cruiser" carrying two 18" guns, but was completed with a takeoff ramp at the bow instead of the forward turret, leaving her stern section with turret unaltered. (The 18" gun making HMS ''Furious'' not just a battlestar, but a battlestar with a {{BFG}}.) Several trials later it was decided to remove the rear turret and add another section of flight deck it its place. Trial and error eventually led to her being given a proper full-length flight deck.
** When the 18" was test-fired, it actually proved to be ''too much gun for the hull''. Ouch!
* Between the two World Wars several navies developed designs for hybrid cruiser-carriers or battleship-carriers, none of which were built due to design problems, as well as naval architects pointing out that the proposed hybrids would be less effective than a mixed force of pure carriers and battleships. The closest this type came to construction prewar were the two [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_class_cruiser ''Tone'' class]] heavy cruisers built by the Japanese, which had all their turrets forward and a hangar for five seaplanes aft of the bridge. The cruiser ''Mogami'' of was rebuilt during repairs to carry 4 seaplanes. In both cases the goal was to provide a base for search aircraft independent of the carriers (the IJN wanted the carriers to concentrate on attacking the enemy).
** In WorldWarTwo, after the battle of Midway, Japan converted the battleships ''Ise'' and ''Hyuga'' to hybrid battleship/carriers. Overall, it was more of a stopgap, and they weren't very successful.
** There was also the Oyodo, a hybrid cruiser-carrier based on the earlier Agano cruisers. It was originally designed to be the flagship of submarine forces (the planes were to provide scouting of the area without the submarines showing themselves) but it proved unsuccessful, and only one was built.
* The ''USS Saratoga'' and ''USS Lexington'' were built in the 1920s on incomplete battlecruiser hulls. Both launched with a complement of cruiser-class 8-inch guns in turrets. They also had significantly thicker armor than most other carriers, though the Navy failed to armor their flight decks. Very early in WWII, the guns were removed as impractical, and were replaced by much smaller 5-inch gun turrets that could be used for anti-aircraft purposes.
** The Japanese Navy was in a similar situation; in both cases a pair of incomplete battlecruisers were chosen to convert into aircraft carriers, to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty (which temporarily ended battleship and battlecruiser construction, but allowed a pair of carrier conversions). In Japan's case, the ''Amagi'' and ''Akagi'' were chosen to become carriers with 8-inch guns like the American ships, but in an even less practical configuration as the guns were mounted archaic single-gun casemate turrets. The ''Amagi'' was never completed because its hull was destroyed in a massive earthquake, so the battleship ''Kaga'' was converted instead to a near-identical configuration with the same armament.
* The ''I-400'' class submarine not only have eight torpedo tubes, but also four AA-machine guns, one deck gun, and a hangar and catapult system that can launch three dive bombers. Due to the fact that it is unlikely for these pilot to survive, in essence they act more like modern ICBM-launching submarines.
* At one point there was talk of deleting the aft turret on an ''Iowa''-class battleship and fitting it to launch and retrieve Harrier fighters. The Marine Corps would have loved it.
** No, they wouldn't. Delete three wonderfully useful, totally irreplaceable and completely unmatched 16" guns - God's gift to long range support fire - in favor of an austere capability to maintain a handful of harriers? When there are ships like the Wasps, Tarawas, and even Iwo Jimas around - ships that were designed for the job, had a considerably larger capacity, and were far greater in number? I don't think so. Any assault that required an Iowa would be big enough to have a proper harrier carrier along.
* Probably the most practical implementation of this trope, many large ships through the 20th-21st centuries have carried a few light scout aircraft, useful for dedicated over-the-horizon target spotting and such, not so much direct fighting. The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_class_battleship Iowas]], for example, carried 3 light airplanes in WWII, 3 helicopters in Korea and Vietnam, and 8 UAVs in the Gulf War.
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* The Death Star itself certainly qualifies. It has FTL propulsion, carries countless smaller fighter craft, has surface-mounted turbolasers for enemy fighters that get too close, and the superlaser itself can take out large craft, as shown in ''{{Return of the Jedi}}''. And, you know, ''[[CaptainObvious planets]]''.
** Note that the turbolasers are designed for bombarding planets and/or shooting at capital ships; they are not designed to combat fighters and perform very very poorly at that task.
*** Death Star II, however was designed to fight off that kind of attack.
*** Maybe that was because [[MemeticMutation "IT'S A TRAP!"]]
** It may not technically qualify, if because it's classified as a mobile space station.