History Main / TheMothership

* A Chitauri mothership appears at the climax of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''. [[spoiler:Iron Man steers a nuke into it.]]

** A lesser example would be Tenders. These were larger ships which served as floating bases for short-legged warships such as Destroyers and Submarines to operate from, and typically carried supplies, repair equipment, and cranes for offloading cargo to the smaller ships. More specialized versions served as the precursors to the Aircraft Carrier, carrying seaplanes aboard and using cranes to move them between the ship and the water (seaplane tenders did not feature flightdecks, and the seaplanes often required water for a landing surface anyways as they lacked wheels).

* Its quite common for rockets to feature more than one satellite in the payload.

* ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' has many on both sides. The [[TheFederation Free Planets Alliance]] mass-produces its own (five types have been observed: the phased-out ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Hard_Luck Hard Luck]]'' type, the more recent but mostly phased out ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Hyperion Hyperion]]'' type, the standard ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Ajax_class_flagship Ajax]]''-class, the experimental ship ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Airget_lamh Airget Lamh]]'' (that was supposed to be dismantled after the testing of the new technologies was completed but was pressed into fleet service due the losses at Astarte) and the prototype ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Triglav Triglav]]''), while the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]] mostly produces [[SuperPrototype single ships with state-of-the-art technology]] that are gifted by the emperor to individual admirals (the closest thing to flagship mass-production are the ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Forseti Forseti,]]'' produced in three exemplars (with the second and the third having some light differences from the class leader), and the three-ships ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Wilhelmina Wilhelmina]]''-class (with the ''Berlin'' modified with superior shielding, weaker weapons and large entertainment facilities due its owner being [[UpperClassTwit a nobleman too stupid to do anything but waste away, let alone actually fighting a war]]).

* ''VideoGame/UFOAftershock'' has the Laputa[[note]]The name is taken from ''Literature/GulliversTravels''. One wonders if the developers thought in Spanish ''Laputa'' means ''The whore''[[/note]], a flying city built by the Reticulans which has been converted into a mobile headquarters by the Commonwealth of Earth.

* ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' has many on both sides. The [[TheFederation Free Planets Alliance]] mass-produces its own (five types have been observed: the phased-out ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Hard_Luck Hard Luck]]'' type, the more recent but mostly phased out ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Hyperion Hyperion]]'' type, the standard ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Ajax_class_flagship Ajax]]''-class, the experimental ship ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Airget_lamh Airget Lamh]]'' (that was supposed to be dismantled after the testing of the new technologies was completed but was pressed into fleet service due the losses at Astarte) and the prototype ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Triglav Triglav]]''), while the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]] mostly produces [[SuperPrototype single ships with state-of-the-art technology]] that are gifted by the emperor to individual admirals (the closest thing to flagship mass-production are the ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Forseti Forseti,]]'' produced in three exemplars (with the second and the third having some light differences from the class leader), and the three-ships ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Wilhelmina Wilhelmina]]''-class (with the ''Berlin'' modified with superior shielding, weaker weapons and large entertainment facilities due its owner being [[UpperClassTwit a nobleman too stupid to do anything but waste away, let alone actually fighting a war]]).

** In ''VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier'', a the generic-named ''Xenon M0'' is a giant [[EverythingsBetterwithSpinning spinny]] thing that must be destroyed as part of the plot.

** Taken UpToEleven in the sequel where the mothership is comparable in diameter to the moon itself.

** Many planetary space probes have a lander and orbiter component. The orbiter puts the lander into an insertion vector and they detach. Quite necessary usually as only Mars (and obviously Earth) has a good enough communication network of satellites to be able to land surface probes without needing an additional built in relay. The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayabusa2 Hayabusa2]] probe, operated by UsefulNotes/{{JAXA}} and currently studying the asteroid Ryugu, takes this UpToEleven with a payload that includes four small rovers, an impactor, a small satellite with a camera to study the effects of the former, and a capsule to bring back samples of that asteroid.

* ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes'' has many on both sides. The [[TheFederation Free Planets Alliance]] mass-produces its own (five types have been observed: the phased-out ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Hard_Luck Hard Luck]]'' type, the more recent but mostly phased out ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Hyperion Hyperion]]'' type, the standard ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Ajax_class_flagship Ajax]]''-class, the experimental ship ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Airget_lamh Airget Lamh]]'' (that was supposed to be dismantled after the testing of the new technologies was completed but was pressed into fleet service due the losses at Astarte) and the prototype ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Triglav Triglav]]''), while the [[TheEmpire Galactic Empire]] mostly produces [[SuperPrototype single ships with state-of-the-art technology]] that are gifted by the emperor to individual admirals (the closest thing to flagship mass-production are the ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Forseti Forseti]]'', produced in three exemplars (with the second and the third having some light differences from the class leader), and the three-ships ''[[http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Wilhelmina Wilhelmina]]''-class (with the ''Berlin'' modified with superior shielding, weaker weapons and large entertainment facilities due its owner being [[UpperClassTwit a nobleman too stupid to do anything but waste away, let alone actually fighting a war]])).

** The Hive ships in ''Series/StargateAtlantis''.

* ''Gold in the Sky'' by Alan E. Nourse. Orbit-ships are used by {{Asteroid Miner}}s to store ore and coordinate operations while the scout ships go out and find the ore. These range from the ramshackle RetroRocket of the independent miners to the [[StarshipLuxurious thousand-man]] fortress-ship of [[RobberBaron Jupiter Equatorial]].

* ''Gold in the Sky'' by Alan E. Nourse. Orbit-ships are used by {{Asteroid Miner}}s to store ore and coordinate operations while the scout ships go out and find the ore. These range from the penny-ante RetroRockets of the independent miners to the [[StarshipLuxurious thousand-man]] fortress-ship of [[RobberBaron Jupiter Equatorial]].

** In ''XBeyondTheFrontier'', a the generic-named ''Xenon M0'' is a giant [[EverythingsBetterwithSpinning spinny]] thing that must be destroyed as part of the plot.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': The Ytirflirks were an alien race that enslaved the aliens known as gremlins for their mechanics and went about making war on other planets until the gremlins revolted and stole their mothership, crashing it on earth and killing/wreaking their enslaver's chain of command.

* In ''Series/EarthFinalConflict'' the race known as the Taelons came to Earth in a glowing purple mothership made of [[OrganicTechnology living tissue]], and ship remains in orbit for duration of the series. Unlike many examples on this page, the Taelons came in peace.

** The Xenon/Terraformer CPU-ship #deca in ''X3: Terran Conflict''. The CPU ships are [[SapientShip sentient]] and control nearby Xenon fighter craft. They can [[TheBattleStar dock up to 50 fighters internally]], are ''[[MileLongShip massive]]'', and have a [[http://i.imgur.com/fFoMj.jpg very menacing appearance]].

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': Ships that carry fleets are quite common; [[TheMattlestar Battleplates]] in particular are for all intents and purposes extremely well-armed mobile cities. At one point, the Toughs meet people with a ship literally named ''Mothership''.

* The Franchise/StarTrek novel ''Final Frontier'' showcases the Romulan "swarm," a military unit of six ships, each carrying a full crew. Eventually, after the as-yet-unnamed Enterprise manages to defeat these, a much larger ship comes, bearing hundreds of these little ships.
** Fortunately for the ship and crew, including [[spoiler:Robert April, Sarah Poole (later April), and George Samuel Kirk (father of everyone's favorite LargeHam Captain and family)]], the Romulans [[spoiler:have never heard of Transporter technology. 1 bomb + 1 power core = OhCrap moment for the Romulans]].

* In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''[[Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark Invasion]]'', the [[HumanAlien Faata]] starship definitely fits the trope. It is massive in size and, while not possessing powerful (or any really) weapons itself, is able to launch numerous "battle modules" armed with {{antimatter}} weapons (hundreds of larger modules triple the size of a human cruiser and thousands of fighter-sized modules). The ship's DeflectorShield can easily shrug off a nuclear barrage with a combined strength in the gigaton range. It also carries a huge army of {{Super Soldier}}s ready to invade. The second novel ''Retaliation'' shows that it is just one of many Faata ships. In fact, three more are being constructed not to far from Earth. The second novel also reveals that these ships are a part of the Faata "unlimited expansion" doctrine. When a ship arrives to a colonizable system, it settles one or more planets, then moves on with a new command crew (the old command crew typically takes up leader positions in the colony). The colony is then expected to build and send out at least one ship of its own. The main disadvantage of the Faata is their low birth rate, which means that all their colonies are pretty small by human standards.

** As well as Sovereign, each race in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has dreadnoughts that are extremely few in number compared to other ships in the various fleets. They're similar in size to a human carrier, but otherwise are much bigger than the ships around them. They also carry kinetic weapons capable of impacting in the multiple-dozen-kiloton range, which is what makes them so special. The stand out example is the asari super-dreadnought ''Destiny Ascension'', a unique ship that is also the single largest and most powerful warship in the galaxy (Reapers excluded). Human carriers are the straghtest example, trading the heavy gun for a higher fighter capacity; this allows them to bypass arms treaties limiting heavy cruiser numbers. According to background information this is a big part of why humans (a newly spacefaring race with only a few undeveloped colonies) punch so far above their weight.

** As well as Sovereign, each race in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has dreadnoughts that are extremely few in number compared to other ships in the various fleets. They're similar in size to a human carrier, but otherwise are much bigger than the ships around them. They also carry kinetic weapons capable of impacting in the multiple-dozen-kiloton range, which is what makes them so special. The stand out example is the asari super-dreadnought ''Destiny Ascension'', a unique ship that is also the single largest and most powerful warship in the galaxy (Reapers excluded).

* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE''

* In the later ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' books, the [=CLACs=][[note]]Carrier, Light Attack Craft[[/note]] were developed, allowing a hyper-capable fleet to carry hundreds of the small ships to serve as a screening force (or to harass enemy formations, or to intercept enemy [=LACs=] when they attempted to do the same...). While the [=CLAC=] is a direct analogue to the "[[SpaceIsAnOcean Wet Navy]]" aircraft carrier, the [=LACs=] themselves are more akin to Torpedo Boats.

* Music/ParliamentFunkadelic, especially in the seminal 1975 album ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothership_Connection Mothership Connection]],'' as well as subsequently throughout the Parliament/Funkadelic/George Clinton milieu; it is the spaceship of Dr. Funkenstein who comes to Earth to cure all man's ills with the P-Funk.

** Many planetary space probes have a lander and orbiter component. The orbiter puts the lander into an insertion vector and they detach. Quite necessary usually as only Mars (and obviously Earth) has a good enough communication network of satellites to be able to land surface probes without needing an additional built in relay. The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayabusa2 Hayabusa2]] probe, operated by UsefulNotes/JAXA and currently studying the asteroid Ryugu, takes this UpToEleven with a payload that includes four small rovers, an impactor, a small satellite with a camera to study the effects of the former, and a capsule to bring back samples of that asteroid.

** Many planetary space probes have a lander and orbiter component. The orbiter puts the lander into an insertion vector and they detach. Quite necessary usually as only Mars (and obviously Earth) has a good enough communication network of satellites to be able to land surface probes without needing an additional built in relay.