Category:Columbia-class

Technical Data
The Columbia-class was the first Colonial capital ship that combined the functions of fighter-craft carrier and a battleship, becoming the basis for their entire capital ship battle doctrine.

The first twelve battlestars were laid down in the early days of the Cylon War. Each of these twelve battlestars represented one of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. The original battlestars were space-going leviathans of more than 4700 feet (1400 meters) in length, housing at least four squadrons of 20 Viper space superiority fighters apiece and nuclear warheads. A fully-armed battlestar is capable of a wide range of offensive actions, while her defensive armaments ensure she is fully capable of both protecting herself from attack and engaging an enemy at close quarters. Following the end of the war, the original battlestars remained in service and many newer battlestars were built.

Speed
Despite their massive size, battlestars were extremely maneuverable and can dock with be nimble enough to make course corrections that for other capital ship sizes could be considered dangerous. Battlestars were not designed for atmospheric flight, although their hulls can manage a tenuous upper atmospheric levels and can survive a jump and subsequent freefall into the atmosphere of a habitable planet. A battlestar's FTL-systems were capable of accurate jumps, able to place them in synchronous orbit above a relatively close planet and of placing them safely in the midst of an asteroid field, a dense fleet of ships, or a planetary atmosphere. However, they were grossly inferior to Cylon-systems in terms of safe range.

Physical Arrangement
The design common to Columbia-class can be broken down into two main sections: the main hull, and the twin flight pods.

Main H​ull
This comprises the bulk of a battlestar and can itself be divided into three sections: The "alligator head" contains water storage tanks and the CIC. The midships area contains the pod retraction mechanisms and crossways linking the hangar decks for the transfer of equipment and personnel. The stern section contains sublight engines, FTL drives, etc. Four of the sublight engines were in engine pods, and two more were nestled in between the pods.

Flight P​ods
The flight pods were mounted on either side of the hull and contain a battlestar's Vipers and Raptors. During normal operations, they were extended away from the main hull. During FTL jumps, the pods were retracted against the hull, concealing their open ends and making launches and landings impossible, not including Viper launching; however, this would prevent the return of those Vipers. Later battlestar classes had fixed flight pods that did not retract, suggesting the design proved to be tactically disadvantageous and improvements in FTL rendered retraction unnecessary. Each flight pod comprises two main decks for flight operations: the upper landing bay, which extends the full length of the pod, and the lower launch bays, which provide some 40 launch tubes per pod. Landing approaches were made from the stern. The preferred approach is a slow run into the landing bay, prior to making a vertical landing on a defined landing area. However, in emergencies, combat landings can be made, in which a craft approaches and lands at high speed on its landing skids. The hangar deck is used for maintenance, repair, refueling, rearming, and launch operations and runs the length of the flight pod underneath the landing bay.

Endurance
Battlestars were capable of continuing combat operations despite suffering massive damage and were intended to operate for long periods without re-supplying. Their water purification capabilities alone were so efficient that, barring an emergency or unforeseen event, a battlestar can operate for several years before replenishing. They were also capable of undertaking large-scale repairs following battle damage and were capable of ammunition assembly capabilities in the armory and have small general fabrication facilities.

Crew
Columbia-class crew complements were approximately five-thousand. This figure is almost certainly higher when the class is also tasked with transporting combat personnel and troops.

Armaments
The Columbia-class carries 24 NAC-20 anti-ship gun turrets (mounting 2 guns apiece) and these were mounted on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the main hull and the ventral surface of the bow. During the Height of the Cylon War Galactica and the other members of the Columbia Class were armed with as many as 40-50 NAC-20 heavy anti-ship gun turrets along the entire dorsal and ventral surfaces including the "alligator head." The two guns on each turret fire in tandem. They can be quite effective against targets like basestars. These large guns were able to use both flak ammunition and high-explosive anti-capital ship shells.

Additionally, the guns were able to engage in coordinated barrage strategies, such as salvo (and presumably, volley) fire. The Columbia-class is also loaded with 514 smaller point-defense turrets (mounting 2 guns apiece) and these were mounted on the flight pods and other surfaces. Each barrel fires explosive rounds in bursts. During the Cylon War the Columbia class sported over 600 CIWS Stragetic weapons include multiple nuclear warheads the can be deployed from 12 launch tubes mounted in the main hull.

For long-range defense, the Columbia-class also carries at least 4 squadrons of 20 Viper space superiority fighters.