User:Jclemens/List of starships in Babylon 5

The following is a list of fictional starships and starship types from the Babylon 5 science fiction television series universe and its spin-offs, Crusade, Babylon 5: In the Beginning, Babylon 5: The Gathering, Babylon 5: Thirdspace, Babylon 5: The River of Souls, Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers, Babylon 5: A Call to Arms, and Babylon 5: The Lost Tales.

Explorer-class starship

Explorer-class starship
File:Explorer class starship.jpg
First appearance	A Distant Star
General characteristics
Class	Explorer-class starship
Armaments	4 52mm Pulse Plasma Cannons 4 Twin Particle Cannons
Propulsion	Beigle-Bryant 9000A Particle Thrust Engine
Length	6,103m

The Explorer-class starship is an exploratory starship of the Earth Alliance. The Explorer is built to explore, conduct research, and build jumpgates.

Appearances

In the episode "A Distant Star", Captain Sheridan tells the crew in C&C, "Take a good look people... if you're supremely lucky, you'll see two like her in your lifetime." Sheridan's comment conveys the rare nature of Explorer-class vessels. Indeed, "A Distant Star" is the only regular episode* in which an Explorer-class vessel appears.

An identical ship to Cortez is seen for a few seconds in the background in the fourth season episode "Rising Star".

In the series Crusade, we learn that Captain Matthew Gideon was the captain of an Explorer-class ship. This was not EAS Cerberus, however. Cerberus was an Omega-class destroyer.

The episode "A Late Delivery From Avalon" contains a flashback to the Earth Alliance's first encounter with the Minbari, which allegedly comprised an Earth "Explorer Division" encountering a Minbari fleet. An Explorer ship may be visible in these brief scenes, but this has not been confirmed.

Purpose

The primary mission of all Explorer ships is research and exploration, thus they only possess moderate defenses consisting of four turreted 52 millimetres (2.0 in) pulse cannons, four twin particle beam arrays, and two squadrons of Starfuries. This makes Explorer ships large, ill-defended targets. Their massive jump engines and powerful fusion reactors, however, enable Explorer-class vessels to escape dangerous situations quickly.

Explorer ships spend a great deal of their time exploring The Rim, the uncharted and unexplored areas of space that have not been claimed by any known race. As this is the case, Explorer ships are often the first class of Earth Alliance vessel an alien race might come into contact with. This privilege and burden of first contact is not taken lightly and, as the slightest misinterpreted action can result in tragedy, the crews and commanding officers of Explorer ships are extremely well versed in first-contact procedures.

Due to Explorer-class ships dominating the exploration field, they are equipped with the latest in sensor and communications technology, allowing greater ease in contacting and communicating with different alien species. Also, several large planetary drop ships allow Explorer ships to chart and explore entire planets within a few short weeks, laying the foundation for a more detailed expedition.

Though Explorer-class ships have more than enough power to jump into hyperspace and go where they will, the bulk of an Explorer-class ship's mass consists of spare parts with which to build jumpgates. The continual construction and distribution of jumpgates makes it easier for other Earth Alliance vessels and commercial ships to jump into new areas of space. Some fans have speculated that this provides the Earth Alliance with a quick and effective way to quickly expand humanity's sphere of influence, as well as to gain valuable resources and revenue, as Earth Alliance can charge vessels transit fees for the use of jumpgates, but there is no evidence from any broadcast episodes of the show to support this claim.

Frazi-class heavy fighter

Frazi-class heavy fighter
First appearance	Midnight on the Firing Line (airdate)
Information
Affiliation	Narn Regime
General characteristics
Armaments	1 Twin Particle Array
Propulsion	Versal Fusion Engine
Length	17.53 metres (57.5 ft)

The Frazi-class heavy fighter is a vessel used by the Narn Regime.

Origin and design

The CGI model was designed and modelled by Foundation Imaging Co-Founder Ron Thornton. The mesh of the fighter's cockpit is based on altered design of the Starfury cockpit.

Depiction

The Frazi-class heavy fighter is depicted as a heavily armored type of fighter and it can fly both in space and in a planetary atmosphere. The fighter is piloted by one person located inside a spacious, under-pressurized cockpit. Several Frazi-class heavy fighters were capable enough to outmatch even Centauri Sentri fighters during the Narn-Centauri War. In the episode "Revelations", it is seen that the Frazi fighter is equipped with a computer system that responds to voice commands. It can travel in hyperspace but is limited to using jumpgates rather than forming jump points.

G'Quan-class heavy cruiser

G'Quan-class heavy cruiser
First appearance	Revelations (Airdate)
Last appearance	Sleeping in Light (Chronological)
Information
Affiliation	Narn Regime
Auxiliary vehicles	Hangar Bay
General characteristics
Armaments	2x Heavy X-Ray lasers 2x Plasma cannons 2x Energy mines launcher
Propulsion	3 Versal Fusion Engines

The G'Quan-class heavy cruiser is a fictional starship in the Babylon 5 universe. A G'Quan-class heavy cruiser is an immense ship armed with two heavy hard-mounted forward-firing laser cannons, two energy mine launchers, and pulse cannons. The G'Quan was designed to replace the older, more haphazardly designed T'Loth cruiser, which was last seen in 2258.

The G'Quan-class heavy cruiser does not have artificial gravity. The cruiser's powerful forward laser cannons can slice an opposing vessel's hull into pieces, and are strong enough to damage even the ancient warships of the Shadows. The energy mines used by the Narn explode close to enemy vessels and send out shock waves capable of damaging or destroying enemy ships.

The great majority of the G'Quan-class heavy cruisers were destroyed during the Narn-Centauri War. The greatest losses came at the Battle of Gorash 7, which was an attempt by the Narn to destroy the main Centauri supply base on a planet called Gorash 7. A fleet of Shadow vessels intercepted the Narn armada and completely annihilated it. However, a few Narn cruisers managed to survive the war, and they played a key role in the war against the Shadows. After Narn was liberated from Centauri rule in 2261, the Narns quickly began to rebuild their fleet, and within a few years many new G'Quan-class cruisers had been placed into service.

The computer generated 3D model was designed and built by the Emmy Award-winning co-founder of Foundation Imaging, Paul Bryant. It first appeared in the season 2 episode, "Revelations", and was made to replace the hurriedly-designed first season Th’Nor cruiser, designed and built by Ron Thornton, but which he was never happy with. Considered by the designers to be a vessel which more readily fitted the Narn design aesthetic, it was based on the same basic shape as Thornton’s Frazi heavy fighter.

Hyperion-class heavy cruiser

Hyperion-class heavy cruiser
First appearance	A Voice in the Wilderness
Last appearance	Sleeping in Light
Information
Affiliation	EarthForce
Combat vehicles	6 Starfuries
Auxiliary vehicles	Ironside class shuttle
General characteristics
Armaments	1 Heavy Plasma Cannon 2 Particle Beam / Laser Cannons 8 Medium Pulse Cannons 2 Missile Launchers
Defenses	6 - 8 meter armored hull 10 Mk.I Defence Interceptors
Propulsion	Ion Particle Drive
Power	3 Fusion Reactors
Mass	8.4 million metric tons
Length	1,025.39 m (3,364.1 ft)

The Hyperion-class heavy cruiser is a vessel used by the Earth Alliance.

History

The Hyperion-class heavy cruiser is an older type of EarthForce warship, smaller and less heavily armed than the newer Omega-class destroyer, but still a capable design. It saw its heyday during the Dilgar and Earth–Minbari wars. In both wars, the Hyperion class was the primary ship of the line, alongside the Nova-class dreadnought. Although the majority of them were destroyed by the end of the Earth–Minbari war, they are still a common sight in Earth fleets, often deployed on long-range patrols or as escorts for the newer, more advanced destroyers. Hyperion cruisers were still in EarthForce service as late as 2281.

Design

1,025.39 metres (3,364.1 ft) in length and massing 8,400,000 metric tons, the Hyperion carries a crew of 356 and 200 troops. The design boasts a powerful armament in the form of one heavy double-mount plasma cannon (the big guns mounted forward), two particle/laser turrets (mounted on either side of the forward hull), eight medium pulse cannon turrets (the bubble-like turrets mounted all over the ship), and two heavy missile launchers. In addition to the armament, the cruiser has potent defenses in the form of a 6–8-metre-thick (20–26 ft) armored hull and a standard defense grid. The Hyperion class is capable of carrying six Starfury fighters and two shuttles. As with most ships of its size, Hyperion class ships are capable of both using jumpgates and creating their own jump points.

Unlike the later Omega class, the Hyperion class did not have rotating sections and the ships operated in zero-gravity. As such, the crew would normally be seen strapped into their seats during operations. Since the ship lacks artificial gravity technology, acceleration would be limited to levels the crew could tolerate, which would normally be below 2g's for extended periods.

Named Hyperion-class heavy cruisers

• EAS Aegean: Cruiser fighting on Sheridan's side during the civil war, shortly seen in hyperspace behind Agamemnon during the season 4 episode, "Endgame".
• EAS Clarkstown: This ship ambushed General Hague's flagship EAS Alexander at the Io transfer station after he rebelled against President Clark. Unfortunately, General Hague was killed by a shot to the midsection of Alexander during the attack. After the death of Hague, Major Ryan took command and, with some reluctance, gave the order to fire on and destroy Clarkstown, which was captained by a friend of Hague, Captain Maxwell, with whom Major Ryan was acquainted.
• EAS Excalibur: One of the EarthForce ships sent to stop General Hague's coup off the transfer point in Io. She was disabled during the firefight, allowing Hague's EAS Alexander to escape. Since this ship is unrelated to IAS Excalibur from Crusade, presumably the ship was decommissioned or otherwise destroyed shortly afterwards.
• EAS Hyperion: Commanded by Captain Pierce, he served and participated in the Earth–Minbari War previously years before and commanded the Hyperion in the resolution of the Great Machine incident at Epsilon III seen in the season 1 episode, "A Voice in the Wilderness".
• EAS Lexington: Commanded by Roger Stearns and John Sheridan, she participated in the destruction of Black Star as shown in the TV movie, In the Beginning.
• EAS Prometheus: Commanded by Captain Michael Jankowski. This ship started the Earth–Minbari War by firing on Valen'tha in July 2245 at the first contact between the two races, as shown in the TV movie, In the Beginning. This encounter took place on the rim of unexplored space in a region known as Falcon's Reach. However Prometheus was destroyed in the Earth–Minbari War.

Nial-class heavy fighter

Nial-class heavy fighter
First appearance	And the Sky Full of Stars (airdate) In the Beginning (chronological)
Information
Affiliation	Minbari Federation
General characteristics
Armaments	3 Light Neutron Fusion Cannons
Defenses	Stealth systems
Propulsion	Stalasha Gravimetric Engine
Length	22.23 metres (72.9 ft)

The Nial-class heavy fighter, or "Windstar", is the fictional fighter of the Minbari Federation. It operates as an escort and a scout.

Origin and design

The fighter was designed and modelled by Ron Thornton.

Depiction

The Nial is the most advanced and powerful fighter built by any of the younger galactic races. It has incredible firepower, speed, and maneuverability. The armament of the Windstar consists of three gravimetrically-enhanced neutron particle beam cannons, similar to those found on a Sharlin-class warcruiser. The neutron cannons can fire at a rapid rate and can annihilate any other fighter within range. The fighter is also capable of much greater acceleration than Centauri, Human, or Narn fighters, and it is also more maneuverable in battle. The Windstar is also equipped with the standard Minbari stealth technology, which prevents other vessels from achieving target lock and, in some cases, from even being able to detect the fighter on sensors. Given these overwhelming advantages, it is not surprising that the Nial is the most feared fighter among the younger races.

History

The Nial has served the Minbari faithfully for hundreds of years. It was prominent in the Second Shadow War, where it proved capable of destroying even the highly advanced fighters of the ancient Shadows. During the Earth–Minbari War, the Windstar wreaked havoc on the Earth fleet; a single Nial would often destroy ten or more Earth Starfury fighters without being damaged itself. The Nial is set to serve the Minbari and the Interstellar Alliance well into the future.

Nova-class dreadnought

Nova-class dreadnought
First appearance	Gropos (airdate) In the Beginning (chronological)
Information
Affiliation	Earth Alliance

The Nova-class dreadnought is a heavy warship in the science fiction series Babylon 5. The dreadnought is used by the military branch of the Earth Alliance called EarthForce.

This ship was the predecessor of the Omega-class destroyer. It was introduced into service sometime in the late 2220s, in time to serve with distinction in the Dilgar War. The ship is capable of generating its own jump point to enter hyperspace, but unlike equivalent vessels of some of the other races, did not originally have artificial gravity for its crew and passengers (see below). This limited long deployments, and necessitated regular crew changes to counter the effects of zero gravity conditions, other measures such as rigorous zero-g exercises only going so far.

The initial variant of the Nova was heavily armed with plasma cannons, backed up by a large number of Starfuries. It also doubled as a troop transport, able to carry up to 18,000 ground troops with equipment, although not in very comfortable conditions. Despite its heavy armament, the ship was considered by some to be ill-equipped to fight in the Earth-Minbari War due to the short range inherent in most plasma weapons. However, the Nova's Plasma cannons actually had good range, though their rate of fire was slow due to high energy requirements. In battle with the Minbari, ships of this class proved to be relatively more survivable than the Hyperion class vessels. Also, if a Nova can get close enough to an enemy, extreme damage can be dealt, even to a Minbari ship. In the war, on the few occasions in which the Novas managed to close to very short range to target the Minbari units with the manual emergency weapon controls, the plasma cannons of the Novas were able to inflict devastating damage to enemy units lighter than a Sharlin class War Cruiser (and even a Sharlin would have known it was in a fight).

After the conclusion of the war, the class was eventually replaced in front line roles by the more flexible Omega class destroyer. However, Novas were seen participating in an attack on a planet close to Babylon 5, as well as in the later Earth civil war.

Olympus-class corvette

Olympus-class corvette
Information
Affiliation	Earth Alliance

The Olympus-class corvette is a small ship class used by EarthForce. It is one of the oldest starship classes in EarthForce, and was produced in great numbers. They served during the Dilgar War and the Earth–Minbari War. Due to their small size, Olympus-class corvettes were fast and very maneuverable, and with its array of pulse cannons, rail guns, and ship-to-ship missiles they were well armed for a ship of its size.

Omega-class destroyer

Main article: Omega-class destroyer

The Omega-class destroyer is a large ship used by EarthForce. It appears fairly often in Babylon 5. The ships Agamemnon, Churchill, and Alexander are all Omega-class destroyers. This class of ship is capable of forming its own jump point. Advanced Omega destroyers appear in Season 4; they combined Shadow technology with standard Omega design.

Named Omega-class destroyers

EAS Agamemnon

EAS Agamemnon
File:EAS Agamemnon.jpg The Earth Alliance Starship Agamemnon in 2259
First appearance	"Points of Departure"
Last appearance	"Rising Star"
Information
Affiliation	Earth Alliance (Sheridan's forces in Civil War)
Launched	After 2248
Combat vehicles	Starfuries
General characteristics
Class	Omega-class destroyer
Propulsion	4 main sublight engines Jump engines
Length	1714.3 m

EAS Agamemnon is a fictional starship in the science fiction series Babylon 5. Agamemnon is an Earth Alliance Omega-class destroyer. She was named after the Greek mythic figure who commanded the Greek forces during the Trojan War. Agamemnon was one of the first Omega-class starships to be built by EarthForce following the Earth–Minbari War.

She was commanded for three years by John Sheridan until 2259 when he was named to replace Jeffrey Sinclair as the commander of Babylon 5. At that point, Captain James was named as the next commander of Agamemnon. A few months after Sheridan's transfer, the ship took part in his rescue from the Streib. When the Streib ejected those they kidnapped into space, Agamemnon destroyed the Streib starship.

In 2260, Agamemnon was patrolling near Jupiter when Sheridan took White Star to destroy the Shadow cruiser being studied by Earth Alliance forces. The Shadow vessel had been activated when a human was merged with the ship to act as a CPU, but it was done incorrectly, and the ship went insane. The Shadow vessel was lured into Jupiter's atmosphere where it was crushed by the pressure and gravity of Jupiter. Agamemnon was sent to investigate, and found White Star in the atmosphere. The crew of Agamemnon did not realize that Sheridan was in command of White Star. Agamemnon tried to force Sheridan to surrender, but he was able to escape through establishing a jump point at the edge of Jupiter's atmosphere. President Morgan Clark used this incident as an excuse to declare martial law. Clark's actions later provoked Sheridan and a number of others in EarthForce to go to war against Clark.

During the Earth civil war to overthrow President Clark, Agamemnon defected to rebel forces led by Sheridan. She participated in a number of actions against loyalist forces. It was Agamemnon that retrieved an escape pod from a loyalist ship. This escape pod had a duty officer who knew Clark was planning to ambush Sheridan's forces at sector 300. Commander Ivanova was able to intercept Clark's Shadow-enhanced starships, and even though Ivanova was critically injured, she was able to destroy all the Shadow-enhanced ships.

Ivanova asked Sheridan to command the final battle from Agamemnon to give a legitimate appearance to Sheridan's forces. Sheridan and Captain James agreed to this. Sheridan arranged for telepaths altered by the Shadows for use as CPUs in their ships to be sneaked on board the loyalist ships at Mars. This disabled nearly all the forces, and the White Stars disabled the remaining ships. Even though it cost the 30 telepaths their lives, it saved the crews of these ships – nearly 30,000 men and women.

When Agamemnon and the rest of Sheridan's fleet arrived at Earth, the Senate rose up and went to arrest Clark. President Clark knew he was going to be arrested; so, in a final vindictive act, he turned Earth's planetary defense grid on the planet as a Scorched Earth policy and committed suicide. Sheridan's forces destroyed the defense grid. The last platform was destroyed by EAS Apollo, under the command of General Robert Lefcourt – the commander of the loyalist forces. During this final battle, Agamemnon was seriously damaged by the defense platforms, and its weapons were disabled. In a desperate attempt to destroy the last defense platform before it could fire on North America's eastern seaboard, Sheridan ordered Agamemnon to ram it. Lefcourt's last minute intervention saved not only the crew of Agamemnon but millions of people living on Earth.

Agamemnon's status at the end of the story has not been revealed. It's not known for sure whether she was placed into dock for repairs, or if the damage was so severe that she had to be taken out of service.

EAS Churchill

EAS Churchill
First appearance	"Severed Dreams"
Information
Affiliation	Earth Alliance
Combat vehicles	Starfuries
Auxiliary vehicles	Shuttles
General characteristics
Class	Omega-class destroyer
Armaments	Pulse cannon turrets X-Ray laser cannons
Propulsion	4 main sublight engines Jump engines
Length	1,714.3 m (5,624.3 ft)

EAS Churchill is a fictional spacecraft, an Omega-class destroyer, from the science fiction television series Babylon 5. Churchill is under the command of Captain Sandra Hiroshi. Churchill is presumably named for Winston Churchill.

After Earth Alliance President Morgan Clark declares martial law in mid-2260, several EarthForce units rally around General William Hague in open defiance of the martial law decree, calling for Clark's resignation. Hague places his flag on EAS Alexander. Several engagements follow, during which all of Alexander's attending vessels are destroyed and Hague himself is killed. Alexander then makes its way to Babylon 5.

Captain Hiroshi and her crew evidently chose to support the rebellion against President Clark; Churchill also sets a course for Babylon 5, arriving after Alexander. Captain Hiroshi informs Captain John Sheridan and his command staff that President Morgan Clark is aware of the presence of Alexander at the station and warns them that Clark has ordered a fleet to seize control of the station and put it under control of Nightwatch.

During the ensuing battle between Clark's fleet and Babylon 5, Alexander, and Churchill, Churchill is severely damaged. Seeing no other choice, Hiroshi sends her flaming destroyer on a collision course with one of Clark's destroyers, EAS Roanoke. Both ships are destroyed in the collision. Churchill 's surviving Starfury fighters dock with Alexander and are transferred to Babylon 5 in order to bring the latter's fighter squadrons back up to full strength.

Primus-class battlecruiser

Primus-class battlecruiser
First appearance	"The Coming of Shadows"
Information
Affiliation	Centauri
Auxiliary vehicles	Shuttles
General characteristics
Propulsion	Gravimetric drive

Primus-class battlecruiser is a large vessel used by the Centauri. They carry a powerful array of weapons and a standard complement of 12 Sentri-class fighters. They have gravimetric drive, artificial gravity, and tractor beams, but very little armor.

Depiction

Designed to allow the Centauri to cause serious damage on the battlefield, the Primus was given a massive array of weapons including ion cannon turrets, battle lasers, missile launchers, and others. These weapons make the Primus more than a match for most of its Narn counterparts. Besides these advanced features, the Primus also possesses a gravimetric drive system which gives ships of this class an advantage by providing artificial gravity and tractor beams. However, this capability uses between 50% and 65% of their total power output. Additional problems stem from the class's extreme age, as these warships have been in service for more than two centuries and require periodic refits and upgrades. Primus-class battlecruisers possess very thin armor, as fitting them with thicker protection would interfere with the gravitic countermeasures and leave the vessel vulnerable in combat. This weakness is partially offset, however, by the powerful ion weapons of the Centauri. On one occasion, a Primus battlecruiser was able to shear a significant section off Babylon 5 with a single salvo of its forward ion cannons. Even so, the thin armor and age of the Primus does leave it vulnerable to new alien warships with thicker armor, such as the Narn G'Quan-class cruiser and the Earth Alliance Omega-class destroyers. Furthermore, the most recent Earth Alliance warship, the Warlock-class destroyer is significantly more powerful than the Primus in all areas, and may have given the technological edge to the Earth Alliance over the Centauri.

Raider Fighter

Raider Fighter
First appearance	Midnight on the Firing Line
Information
Affiliation	Raiders
General characteristics
Armaments	Pulse cannons Missile hardpoints

The Raider Fighter is an aerospace fighter used by various outlaw groups in the fictional universe of the Babylon 5 television series.

Appearances

These ships have appeared in Babylon 5 both during the series and subsequent movies. They have been seen in episodes such as "Midnight on the Firing Line", "Believers", Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers (movie), and others. Combat between a Raider Fighter and a Starfury is depicted in the Babylon 5 season 1 opening credits.

In the episode "Midnight on the Firing Line", G'Kar, the Narn ambassador to Babylon 5 is proved to be supplying weapons to the Raiders under official orders from his government. These weapons were said to be far superior to typical Raider weaponry because of the intensity of the blast damage to a discovered cargo ship.

Depiction

The Raider fighter is a delta-winged craft with simple weapons and weak armor. The Raider ships cannot form their own jump point thus limiting their ability to attack larger ships or also to run from the more powerful escorts from the other races. Because of this, they have been known to utilize a "Battle Wagon" class of ship that can form its own jump point into hyperspace. The "Battle Wagon" is not an actual combat ship in its own right but rather a carrier for Raider Fighters. The "Battle Wagon" first appeared in the Babylon 5 episode "Signs and Portents". An alternative version of it is seen in the TV movie Babylon 5: Thirdspace.

Generally speaking, Raider fighters are inferior in weapons and capabilities to fighters from the Earth Alliance, Centauri Republic, Minbari Federation, and other alien races. Partly, this is because they are an older design; they tend to be slower and less-maneuverable than fighters from more advanced races. In several episodes of Babylon 5, Earth Alliance Starfury fighters were able to destroy or disable large numbers of Raider fighters while losing few or no ships themselves. As a result of this weakness, Raider Fighters are primarily used by pirates, raiders, and other "outlaw" groups to attack and capture or destroy unarmed civilian merchant starships; they are rarely used in combat against other fighters. Raider fighters are also capable of atmospheric flight.

Games

Raider Fighters are one of the opponents in the "Shadow Wars" game within the Babylon 5 Arcade Series Entertainment Utility: Shadow Wars DVD-ROM. In a review of the game, reviewer Roy Bassave noted that players would be "battling against beautifully three-dimensional Raiders [...] without ever dropping a quarter."

Sentri-class medium fighter

Sentri-class medium fighter
First appearance	The Coming of Shadows
Last appearance	Sleeping in Light
Information
Affiliation	Centauri Republic
General characteristics
Armaments	1 Twin Particle Array
Power	Versal Fusion Reactor
Length	22.25 meters

The Sentri-class medium fighter is the fictional fighter craft of the Centauri Republic in the fictional universe of Babylon 5.

A highly advanced design, the Sentri is extremely fast and maneuverable, and can outfly even the best EarthForce and Narn fighters. Only the Minbari Nial-class heavy fighter is faster and more maneuverable. However, the Sentri's speed comes at a price: the fighter has thin armor plating. The Sentri is thus highly vulnerable to direct hits from enemy ships and even a single shot from an enemy fighter can destroy it. The Sentri is capable of flying both in space and in a planetary atmosphere. It is also equipped with a sophisticated autopilot system which can fly the fighter even when the pilot has blacked out in an extreme maneuver during battle.

Shadow Planet Killer

A Shadow Planet Killer is a fictional machine from the Babylon 5 television show and films, which was used to destroy planetary ecosystems.

At first sight, the Shadow Planet Killer appears to be a gigantic mobile cloud of dust and gas, capable of surrounding a planet (thus its other name, the Death Cloud). On closer inspection, this cloud is revealed as a cover which conceals a net-like matrix of tubes and beams. The Planet Killer expands this net around a planet, with the dust and gas cutting off any contact to the outside. The dust and gas are actually bio-nanobots.

Once this is done, various hubs around the net fire missiles at the surface of the planet. Instead of exploding on the surface, these missiles burrow down through the planet until they reach the core, where they explode. The results are increased volcanism, massive seismic upheaval, and atmospheric contamination, which together kill off the ecosystem and render the planet uninhabitable and sterile.

Like other Shadow ships, the Planet Killer can phase in or out of hyperspace at any time, and may interfere with other ships' engines. It is also very difficult to detect.

The Shadows employed Planet Killers on several occasions during the Shadow War. The Interstellar Alliance forces were unable to damage or destroy any of the Killers at the time, and among the planets thus destroyed was the homeworld of Dureena Nafeel.

In the movie A Call to Arms, a Shadow Planet Killer left behind after the War was taken by the Drakh (an alien race, former Shadow associates) and brought to bear against Earth, but was destroyed by the lead ship of the new Victory Class destroyer which targeted and then rammed a crucial control center used to control the rest of the mechanism causing the device to be triggered early, thereby essentially firing upon itself and the Drakh within it. Prior to its use against Earth, the planet killer was tested by the Drakh against the world of Daltron 7.

Sharlin-class warcruiser

Sharlin-class warcruiser
First appearance	In the Beginning (chronological)
Information
Affiliation	Minbari Federation
Combat vehicles	15 Nial-class heavy fighters
Auxiliary vehicles	Flyers
General characteristics
Armaments	6 Neutron Cannons 1 Electromagnetic Pulse cannon
Defenses	Tractor beams Minbari stealth device
Propulsion	Stalasha gravimetric drive
Power	Fusion Reactors

The Sharlin-class warcruiser is a fictional starship in the Babylon 5 universe.

First appearing in the season one episode, And the Sky Full of Stars, the computer generated 3D model was designed and built by the Emmy Award winning co-founder of Foundation Imaging, Ron Thornton. Taking inspiration from nature in order to portray the vessel as, “proud and impressive like a lionfish, but be more vertical like a sunfish”, as with a number of other vessels designed for other alien races which appeared on the television show, he also included visible links to the physical appearance of those races in order to create a design aesthetic which was unique to each of them. In the case of the Sharlin, he included rib like structures along the hull to mirror those which appeared on the ‘head bone’ of the Minbari.

Depiction

The Sharlin-class warcruiser is the main starship used by the Minbari Federation in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. Also commonly known as the Minbari War Cruiser, the Sharlin class is very large but conflicting sizes have been noted by different resources. The accepted size figure of 1,600 meters in length and roughly 1,900 meters in height was first noted by fan writer Brandon Bray, who worked as a consultant for Mongoose Publishing, producers of the official Babylon 5 Roleplaying Game. This size was officially accepted by Mongoose and published in their game line.

Sharlin class ships do not use conventional engines like rockets or ion propulsion. Instead, the Minbari War Cruiser used a combination of gravitational and electromagnetic fields for propulsion, a system called a gravimetric drive system in the episode "Mediations on the Abyss". This, described by Minbari Ambassador Delenn in the episode "Matters of Honor", was used to provide propulsion and artificial gravity. No canon information exists on what powered Minbari ships, save for some vague references to fusion reactors. Material from Mongoose Publishing suggests that Minbari warships use an artificial quantum singularity for its main power, while fusion reactors provide a secondary reserve power for this type of vessel. The Sharlin class is very well armed, having gravitic and electro-magnetic cannons. The ship also makes use of stealth technology which allows it to become effectively invisible to the scanners and targeting systems used by the younger races seen in the TV series.

These ships can hold up to 8,000 people. In peacetime the Sharlin class ships only have the 190 person regular crew. In combat situations there can be 60 additional combat personnel, such as pilots, gunners, and other support officers, and about 8,000 ground troops. The low crew requirement is due to the advanced computer system in place. The Valen'tha—a specially equipped Sharlin class—is home to the Grey Council, the leaders of the Minbari government.

The Sharlin class ships have a special holographic chamber. The chamber provides a complete 360 degree 3D image of the space around the ship. Normally it is used as a command center during battle situations. This chamber allows the commander to view the battlefield. A similar chamber is used by the Grey Council.

Among the younger races of the galaxy, the Sharlin class has no equals. During the Earth-Minbari war only a few Sharlin class ships were lost, typically by ramming, while the Sharlin class inflicted heavy casualties on the humans. However, the Sharlin class was no match for the more advanced First Ones—the Shadows were able to destroy a number of Sharlin class ships during the course of the war with ease through the use of planet killer missiles and slicer beams. In Babylon 5: A Call to Arms, a Sharlin is annihilated as it intercepts a planet killer missile aimed at the IAS Excalibur.

Named Sharlin-class warcruisers

Drala Fi

Drala Fi, also known as the Black Star was a Sharlin Class Warcruiser in the fictional science fiction universe of Babylon 5. The Black Star served as one of the flagships of the Minbari Federation fleet, until its destruction in the year 2245.

As told in the episode "Points of Departure", during the course of the Earth-Minbari war, on September 30, 2245 the Black Star entered the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. There the Earth Alliance warship Lexington was escorting a number of warships and supply vessels. The far more advanced and powerful Black Star proceeded to quickly destroy and disperse most of the Earth fleet. The Lexington was heavily damaged and crippled in the attack. The ship's commanding officer, Captain Roger Stearns, was killed in the attack when a large metal beam was ripped off the bridge's ceiling and hit him. Commander John Sheridan, the ship's first officer, survived the attack and took command of the Lexington. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before the Black Star found the Lexington, Sheridan devised a strategy that would use the asteroid belt to his advantage. He ordered the belt mined with nuclear weapons, and then transmitted a fake distress signal to lure the ship toward the Lexington. Sheridan knew that it was standard Minbari doctrine to ignore all surrender pleas and destroy all Earth vessels without mercy, regardless of any damage the Earth vessels may have sustained. As the Black Star approached his ship for the kill, Sheridan detonated the nuclear mines attached to nearby asteroids, catching the Minbari ship in the explosions and destroying it.

The Black Star was the most important Minbari cruiser destroyed in the war, and it was the only clear-cut human victory of the war. The Minbari also lost three heavy cruisers in this attack, in addition to the Black Star. It did little to halt the Minbari advance, but it did raise morale in the Earth Alliance and encouraged the humans to keep fighting.

In the decade following the Black Star's destruction, many Minbari, especially within the warrior caste, harbored a strong animus toward Sheridan, and called him the "Starkiller" because he destroyed the Black Star in a sneak attack (which they considered a dishonorable act). Sheridan, on the other hand, never felt any remorse over what he had done; as the ranking officer aboard a warship in a time of war, his duty was to protect his crew and defeat the enemy, and fulfilling that duty meant resorting to asymmetric warfare. The fact that the Minbari had a "no quarter" policy and destroyed any human ship regardless of combat ability/status (something most humans considered dishonorable) was also a strong motivational factor.

When Sheridan took command of the Babylon 5 space station, many Minbari were at first angered by the choice. However, when the Shadow War began, the Minbari put aside their contempt for Sheridan and joined with him to drive the Shadows from the galaxy. Near the end of the Shadow War, Sheridan would once again use the same tactics that he used against the Black Star. He seeded a number of asteroids in the Corianna solar system with nuclear weapons, and used these weapons to attack a number of Vorlon and Shadow vessels.

Trigati

Trigati
Information
Affiliation	Minbari Federation (Renegade from the Battle of the Line to destruction)
Combat vehicles	Nial-class heavy fighter
General characteristics
Class	Sharlin-class warcruiser
Defenses	Minbari stealth device
Propulsion	Sub-light engines Jump engines

The Trigati appears in the Babylon 5 episode "Points of Departure". It was a Sharlin-class Minbari war cruiser. The Trigati was at the Battle of the Line.

The Trigati was at the Battle of the Line. When the religious caste decided to surrender, Sineval - the war leader in command of the Trigati - committed suicide rather than surrender. Kalain, the executive officer of the ship, took command; the ship and crew disappeared into hyperspace in a self-imposed exile.

Over the next decade, the ship was occasionally seen in hyperspace. Captain John Sheridan of Babylon 5 said that he had heard of rumors of a Minbari ship being where it was not supposed to be. Otherwise, the ship and crew had not been seen or heard from since the war.

All that changed shortly after Captain Sheridan took command of Babylon 5. Soon after Sheridan arrived, Kalain appeared on the station. He accosted Hedronn, a member of the Grey Council who was visiting Babylon 5. After his encounter with Kalain, Hedronn informed Captain Sheridan of the situation. Security located Kalain in Delenn's quarters, and took him into custody.

Then the Trigati appeared at Babylon 5. Kalain committed suicide in his cell by swallowing a blue liquid he was carrying with him. The commander of the Trigati contacted Babylon 5, and demanded that Kalain be released. When Sheridan refused, she launched her fighters even though Earth would consider this attack an act of war.

Sheridan realized at the last minute that the Trigati was trying to provoke them into an attack when he saw that the Earth Alliance equipment could lock on to the Minbari fighters (during the war, the Minbari had always jammed Earth Alliance scanners). He ordered that no offensive action be taken, and sent a signal into hyperspace.

The Trigati and fighters did not engage Babylon 5 or its defending squadron of Starfuries, but instead began to withdraw from the area. However, another Minbari war cruiser came through the jump gate, and demanded the Trigati surrender. When the Trigati tried to leave the area, the other cruiser fired upon it, disabled her. At that point the cruiser ordered the Trigati to prepare for boarding. However the Trigati's crew decided that death was the only honorable course open to them, and activated a self-destruct device. The Trigati's fighters flew in close to their mother ship, and were incinerated when she exploded.

The effect of the Trigati's destruction on Human-Minbari relations was limited. Many in the warrior caste considered the Trigati and her crew to be heroes and martyrs. The situation did lead to some tense moments in relations between Babylon 5 and the Minbari. However relations between the Minbari and Babylon 5 continued to improve on the whole over the next year, especially since the Shadow War caused the two races to largely put their differences behind them in the upcoming conflict.

The Trigati is an important example as it highlighted a fundamental weakness of the Sharlin design. The other Sharlin disabled the Trigati by slicing off its aft fin, part of the gravimetic drive system. As the Sharlin design has no other propulsion system, the Trigati was completely disabled.

Other ships

• Ingata - This war cruiser came to Babylon 5 in 2258 while carrying home the body of the deceased war leader Branmer.
• Valen'tha - a specialized advanced war cruiser that serves as home to the Grey Council. It was this vessel that was severely damaged and basically destroyed by EarthForce (the humans) at the disastrous first contact between the humans and Minbari. The EarthForce Hyperion opened fire on the Minbari war cruiser, completely ripping through and destroying the Minbari armor in only one volley, and it ripped apart the Minbari warships hull. The damage done to the Minbari warship by the EarthForce Hyperion was so severe it had rendered the Minbari warship completely disabled and useless, and resulted in the death of the Minbari leader Dukhat along with the majority of the Minbari crew on board. This started the war between Minbar and Earth.
• Dogato - John Sheridan and Delenn commanded the first major battle of the Army of Light against the Shadows in sector 83 from this ship.
• Enfili - This vessel also participated in the first major battle against the Shadows in Sector 83.

Starfury-class fighter

Main article: Starfury

Sun-Hawk-class gunship

Sun-Hawk-class gunship
First appearance	Deathwalker
Information
Affiliation	Drazi Freehold
Launched	2229
Combat vehicles	1 Sky serpent heavy fighter (back mounted)
General characteristics
Armaments	1 Heavy Plasma cannon 3 Particle Beam cannons Pulse cannons 2 Heavy fusion missile launchers
Defenses	62 centimeter re-enforced armored hull, electromagnetic defenses
Propulsion	Fusion engines
Power	Fusion reactor
Mass	280 thousand metric tons
Length	350m

The Sun-Hawk-class gunship is a medium attack ship in the fictional universe of Babylon 5. This vessel is the primary warship used by the Drazi race, one of the main members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.

History

The Sun-Hawk is the primary warship of the Drazi Freehold military. Like all Drazi vessels, this small defense ship has no independent jump capability. The Drazi's lack of jump engine technology is not due to any technological deficiency, but rather due to their proximity to the Centauri Republic. Prior to the Interstellar Alliance's war against the Centauri in 2262, the small Drazi Freehold's territorial expansion and economic growth was stifled by the larger power for many decades. In actuality, the Drazi have been a spacefaring race for far longer than humanity, and their technology is just as advanced, if not more so, than Earth Alliance and Narn technology. Through the skillful use of Jump Gates and their small but potent gunships, the Drazi have been able to defend their small network of colonies from invasion on many occasions. With the Centauri Republic in ruins after the joint Narn-Drazi attack against Centauri Prime, the Drazi are said to be developing their own new class of large, jump-capable destroyers.

Depiction

The Drazi Sun Hawk is a rugged warship and is heavily armed for its size. Its most common use is for system patrol and convoy escort, although it can also be utilized, in larger numbers, as a ship of the line against enemy assault fleets. The Sun Hawk is known for its versatility and can be easily maintained and modified, due largely to its modular fusion reactor and simple plasma drive engines. The fact that it can be easily mass-produced and has low crew requirements has made it something of a major export product for the Drazi, as many of the other, less militarily-inclined League races often purchase these ships for use as escort craft, patrol ships and transports.

Designer Ron Thornton made the Sun Hawk as an improved version of the Liberator from Terry Nation's Blake's 7.

Named Sun-Hawk-class gunships

• Stra'kaf - Participates in the battle at Coriana VI against the Vorlons and Shadows. Near the end of the battle it sacrifices itself protecting Sheridan's and Delenn's White Star from a missile from the Shadow planet killer.

T'Loth-class cruiser

T'Loth-class cruiser
First appearance	Midnight on the Firing Line
Last appearance	Chrysalis
Information
Affiliation	Narn Regime

The T'Loth-class cruiser is a fictional warship used by the Narn Regime in the fictional universe of the Babylon 5 television series and related franchise.

Origin and design

The T'Loth-class cruiser was designed by Ron Thornton.

Depiction

The T'Loth cruiser appeared several times during the first season of Babylon 5. In the episode Midnight on the Firing Line, the Narn Regime used T'Loth cruisers accompanied by Frazi heavy fighters for a surprise attack on a Centauri agricultural colony near Ragesh III. In the episode Chrysalis several T'Loth-class cruisers are destroyed by Shadow warships. The T'Loth-class cruiser is an older design, and the vessel's lack of artificial gravity makes it slower and less-maneuverable than the warships of the Minbari, Centauri, or Earth Alliance. The ship's two huge wings provide maximum protection for the crew-and-command section which connects the two wings. The T'Loth was eventually succeeded by the more advanced G'Quan-class cruiser, which became the primary warship of the Narn military. By the end of 2258, the last active T'Loths were given back-of-the-line duty guarding unimportant outposts such as Quadrant 37.

Valen-class cruiser

Valen-class cruiser, Mk. II
First appearance	Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers (Valen Mk. I) Voices in the Dark (Valen Mk. II)
Information
Affiliation	Interstellar Alliance

The Valen-class cruiser is a class of starship in the fictional universe of the TV series Babylon 5. The class is used by the Interstellar Alliance, a confederation-type affiliation of races including humanity and the Minbari, among others. There is some ambiguity concerning the use of this name in the series, as there have been two distinct types of ship of this same name. However the two types are visually very different.

Valen Mk. I

The first Valen-class cruiser is seen in the movie Legend of the Rangers which reveals that it is a joint project between the Minbari and the Earth Alliance to create a ship for the Interstellar Alliance. This ship was apparently the only one of the type ever constructed. The discontinuation of the model line had several reasons. First, this was the first ever ship constructed as a blend of Earth and Minbari technology, and as such had many design flaws, not the last of which was its being rather ugly. One of the characters in the movie described the first Valen as an "ugly flying brick". Also, constant problems integrating the technology were mentioned.

Where design is concerned, the prototype certainly took more after its Earthforce heritage than the Minbari one. The ship consists of a main bulk with massive, short wings, and a long, straight, thick protrusion at the head of which the bridge is placed. The ship is approximately 1300 meters long (by comparison to the 160-meter Liandra), doesn't possess much in the way of maneuvering capabilities, complementing its lumbering appearance. Weapon systems are not known, but presumably included both Earth and Minbari weapons. It may be of interest that the Valen, despite its considerable size and bulk, was capable of landing on planetary surface (however, be it noted that very little information is available as to which ships of which races had or had not this capability). Although this vessel wasn't superior to the Minbari Sharlin-class war cruiser, it held one primate in the Alliance: speed. Thanks to a combination of Earth advancements in ion propulsion and some of the Minbari magnetogravitic propulsion principles, it was, according to one of the movie's protagonists, "the fastest ship in the Alliance". It is not known whether this included the Whitestars as well, because the Rangers (to whom all of the Whitestar fleet was reassigned after the Shadow war) operate in at least partial autonomy, answerable only to the Entil´zha.

The first Valen-class cruiser was destroyed on its maiden voyage when ferrying diplomats from applicant worlds to an IAS expansion summit. Under the command of the Ranger Sindell, it was ambushed by warships belonging to the thralls of a mysterious, old and powerful alien race known as The Hand. They had been tipped off by a traitor, Minister Kafta from one of the applicant worlds, and so had succeeded in critically damaging the Valen before it ever had the chance to return fire.

Valen Mk. II

The new Valen-class cruiser is apparently also serving with the Interstellar Alliance. Being first seen several years after its predecessor had been destroyed, this vessel is a more mature product of cooperation between the Minbari and humans (both races having learned from the Victory project). Very little is known about the vessel, as it was only seen onscreen once, briefly. It incorporates technology that was left behind by the Vorlons, following their departure from known space, namely, the ability to enter the quantumspace. This appears to be some kind of alternative to hyperspace and enables the ship to travel twice as fast, compared to the conventional hyperspace.

The Valen Mk. II's design strongly reflects the traditional Minbari approach to shipbuilding, as opposed to the Valen Mk. I.

Origin of the name

In the Babylon 5 universe, Valen is a historical figure of great importance to the Minbari people. He is considered "the greatest Minbari who ever lived", according to Delenn. He is mainly credited by unifying the Minbari society and leading them to victory in the last great war with the Shadows one thousand years ago. Valen himself was actually Commander Sinclair, the commander of Babylon 5 before Captain Sheridan.

Victory-class heavy destroyer

The Victory-class heavy destroyer is enormous in size (a mile and a quarter long (6,600 feet), 2012 meters (stated in the first episode of the Crusade)) (2990) in length and are one of the first ships built by humans to use artificial gravity technology provided by the Minbari. The gravity field provides workable gravity just under that found on Earth. A human would weigh slightly less on the ship than they would on Earth.

These ships feature energy and particle beam weapons. The main guns operate at two main power levels. "Level One" provides beams with little more firepower than a White Star. "Level Two" is much more powerful weapon, reverse engineered from Vorlon lightning cannon technology. The discharge is a pulse which originates from three emitters mounted on large "fin" structures at the ship's stern; the beams converge just forward of the bow into a single ravening blast that can destroy nearly anything in its path. The weapon is capable of destroying ground installations through the atmosphere of a planet. Firing this titanic weapon drains all the ship's power and the ship is unable to maneuver, fire weapons or use long-range scanners for approximately one minute afterward.

Only two prototypes of the Victory class were built by Edgar Industries for the Interstellar Alliance: the Excalibur and the Victory. The two ships were intended to be the first in a fleet of Victory class heavy destroyer vessels.

IAS Excalibur

Excalibur
First appearance	Babylon 5: A Call to Arms
Last appearance	Each Night I Dream of Home
Information
Combat vehicles	Starfurys
General characteristics
Class	Victory-class heavy destroyer
Armaments	Quantum discharge cannons Heavy neutron cannons Fusion beam cannons Anti-Fighter pulse cannons Missiles
Defenses	Reinforced hull Minbari stealth device
Propulsion	Hyperspace
Power	Quantum Gravimetric reactor

The IAS Excalibur is a starship in the fictional Babylon 5 and Crusade universe. First seen in the Babylon 5 movie A Call to Arms, the ship is a Victory-class destroyer. The ship combines human, Minbari, and Vorlon technology. Despite being built for the Interstellar Alliance the ship is crewed by Earth Force personnel and not rangers during A Call to Arms and Crusade.

The first commander of the Excalibur was President John Sheridan. Along with Captain Leonard Anderson, who commanded the Victory, the two ships were instrumental in discovering Drakh plans to destroy Earth with the Shadow Planet Killer left behind by the Shadows when they left the galaxy. Captain Elizabeth Lochley of Babylon 5 was able to convince Earth's government to mobilize a large fleet to protect Earth, Excalibur and Victory were able to join this fleet. Sheridan and Anderson were able to destroy the planet killer, however Victory was destroyed in the process. Destroying the planet killer distracted the fleet, and the Drakh were able to get close enough to seed Earth's atmosphere with a plague. On their withdrawal, the Drakh destroyed the construction dock - which prevented any further Victory type ships from being built in the near future.

The Interstellar Alliance turned the Excalibur into a research ship, loaning it to Earthforce in the process. Captain Matthew Gideon took command of the ship, and with his crew set out to find a cure to the plague before the plague activated five years later. The beginning of this quest to discover a cure was shown on the Crusade television series.

It is known from other Babylon 5 episodes set further along the time-line than Crusade, that Excalibur succeeds after around 18 months (halfway through what would have been the second season) in finding a cure to the plague. This discovery would lead to the grand revelation of a deeper story line in classic Babylon 5 style: the attack on Earth is just a single battle in a larger war. The ship's future has not been documented.

Only 13 episodes of Crusade were shown - creative differences between the series creator and TNT led to the show being canceled. The Sci Fi Channel had expressed interest in continuing the show, but did not have the budget to do so.

Vorchan-class medium warship

Vorchan-class medium warship
First appearance	The Coming of Shadows
Information
Affiliation	Centauri Republic
General characteristics
Armaments	2 Twin plasma accelerators Mine launcher Missile launchers
Defenses	Tractor beams
Propulsion	Gravimetric drive

The Vorchan-class medium warship is a class of Centauri warship in the fictional universe of Babylon 5.

The most recent warship designed by the Centauri Republic, the Vorchan is extremely fast and maneuverable, although it's not very well armed and armoured for its class. The Vorchan is capable of creating its own hyperspace jump points, and it is capable of flying in a planetary atmosphere. Its primary weapons are two twin plasma accelerators, which are capable of destroying larger warships of other races (such as the Narn G'Quan-Class cruiser) in just a few hits. Even the extremely advanced White Star vessels are vulnerable to the Vorchan's plasma cannon fire.

White Star-class medium cruiser

White Star-class medium cruiser
First appearance	Matters of Honor
Information
Affiliation	Interstellar Alliance
Launched	2260
Combat vehicles	4 Nial-class heavy fighters
General characteristics
Class	Medium Cruiser
Armaments	1 Neutron Cannon 4 Twin Fusion Cannon
Defenses	Vorlon Bio-armoured hull Gravitic Tractor beams Minbari stealth device
Propulsion	Stalasha Gravimetric Engine
Length	475.6 meters

The White Star-class medium cruiser is a fictional starship in the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

First appearing in the season three episode, Matters of Honor, the computer generated 3D model was designed and built by the Emmy Award winning co-founder of Foundation Imaging, Ron Thornton. As with a number of other ships he designed for the television show, Thornton took inspiration from nature when creating the White Star, explaining that "The animal I based it on was the pelican. I am still amazed to this day as to what masters of the air these seemingly clumsy birds are. Beautiful fliers."

Originally intended by Thornton to be a small and cramped vessel much like the Millennium Falcon, with the small bridge being the only habitable area, when he was asked to create “something that was a Minbari ship only more predatory and with Vorlon influences”. He quickly realised it would have to be a larger vessel after seeing the original sets that were designed for it.

As the series progressed, further sets were included to show additional areas of the ship, such as hallways and sleeping quarters as more stories took place on the vessel. After a previously unseen and un-referenced docking bay was added in the season 5 episode, Meditations on the Abyss, this resulted in Tim Earls (the Art Director for visual effects who joined in season 4) to size the design at 475 metres long as part of a set of size charts he drew up towards the end of season 5, in order to accommodate all the internal areas which had been added by the writers since the designs original conception two years earlier.

Depiction

The White Star-class medium cruiser was designed and built through a collaborative effort between the Minbari religious caste and the Vorlon Empire. With the reorganization and revitalization of the Rangers as a force with which to fight the Shadows, it was imperative that they be provided with a warship that would not be inherently recognized as either Vorlon or Minbari. As such, the ship was designed and built in secret and in large numbers by the Minbari worker caste. These vessels proved devastating during the Shadow War and the subsequent Earth Alliance Civil War. After the dust had settled, they served as a vital part of the Interstellar Alliance's military assets.

The White Star commanded by John Sheridan was thought to be unique until near the end of the third season (in "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place"), where it was revealed that the first wave of 40-50 White Stars had entered service. White Stars continued to be built and they were used extensively thereafter. The original White Star was vaporized as Sheridan crashed it into the largest city on Z'ha'dum while detonating two 500-megaton nuclear warheads.

While they are powerful ships featuring Vorlon and Minbari technology, Earth Alliance Omega class destroyers proved they could lock onto a White Star and destroy it, breaking the Minbari "stealth" advantage they had had previously (in the episode "No Surrender, No Retreat" Captain John Sheridan and Marcus Cole confirmed weapons lock on the White Stars). The advanced Omega class destroyers from the EarthForce proved to be a match for the White Star task force during the Battle of Sector 300, although the whole fleet of Omega class destroyers was obliterated.

Unlike most other large ships in the series, White Stars were numbered rather than being given unique names—Enrique Montoya's Maria (White Star 27) in Season 5 is the only known exception. At least 90 White Stars had been constructed by the end of the series.

The White Star was amongst the smallest ships in the Babylon 5 universe that still possessed the capability of opening its own hyperspace portals (known as "jump points") rather than relying on stationary jump gates or upon jump points created by larger allied craft.

The heavy losses suffered in the conflicts of the Shadow War and subsequent liberation of Earth led to the design of the larger and more powerful Victory class destroyer, an Earth-Minbar joint project based on Vorlon designs. The first results were two prototypes completed five years after the events of the television series. The White Stars were the best ship class of that size of cruiser, but the Interstellar Alliance had been forcing them to face heavy destroyers which highly outclassed them in one-to-one combat. The White Stars were no match for any heavy destroyer of any of the major races in a one-on-one combat (such as an Earth-Alliance Omega class destroyer that completely out-gunned a White Star one-on-one). The only way the White Stars could win would be in groups, as by themselves they were too weak to succeed against a destroyer. The Victory class was an attempt to create a new backbone of dedicated heavy destroyer class vessels for the Interstellar Alliance fleet.

Vorlon spacecrafts

Vorlon spaceships are organic in nature and at least partially sentient. Vorlon transports at least have a skin that can change color and an external shape that is pliable enough to allow passengers in and out. It was mentioned that Vorlon transports "sing", and can have an unnerving effect on non-Vorlons around them. Vorlon ships use jumpgates similar to those of the younger species. Vorlon technology was also used along with Minbari technology to help create the White Star spacecraft.

Vorlon ships differ greatly from their Shadow counterparts. While smaller ships are equally maneuverable to Shadow vessels, Vorlon capital ships are large carriers that are less agile. While Shadow vessels utilize a powerful pinpoint directed energy beam as their primary weapon, Vorlon ships have elongated structures resembling tentacles at the face of their ships that channel massive amounts of energy into capacitance, which are then fired as powerful beams of energy. This method of power generation and offensive capability was later adopted by the Interstellar Alliance into the creation of their prototype destroyer vessels several years after the Shadow War.

The most frequently seen Vorlon ship is the Vorlon transport. According to the Babylon 5 video game, Into the Fire, Vorlon transports are 131 metres (430 ft) long and heavily armed There is a strong bond between a Vorlon and its transport. When its pilot is in danger, the transport becomes extremely agitated and will try to help its Vorlon escape.

Should its pilot die, Vorlon transports are said to grieve. When Kosh died, his ship cremated itself and Kosh's remains in a nearby star. Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski put it thus: It was made for Kosh, as Delenn points out, was almost a part of him; it wouldn't function as well, if at all, for anyone else. There was nothing else to be done.

One Man Fighters

Little is known about Vorlon fighters. According to the Babylon 5 video game they are about 25.5 metres (84 ft) long. Externally, they lack exhaust ports of any kind, suggesting that they use some type of gravimetric drive similar to that used by the Minbari. In groups they perform well, causing severe damage to a Shadow vessel.

Unlike other small fighters in the Babylon 5 universe, Vorlon fighters appear to have independent jump capability, where large numbers come out of hyperspace without the apparent need for a capital ship's support. Vorlon fighters have a much weaker bond between themselves and their pilots than Vorlon transports. Indeed, it is not at all certain that they are manned.

Capital ships

These large ships, called Star Dreadnoughts, are said to be over 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) long. They likely carry a large number of Vorlon fighters, and, according to J. Michael Straczynski, carry a full crew of Vorlons.

Planet killers

The biggest ships in the Vorlon fleet appear to be the Eclipse Planet Killers, huge starships capable of destroying entire worlds. They are said to be 3–4 miles (4,800–6,400 m) long. The first planet to be hit by a planet killer was called Arcata 7. It was reduced to rubble, slag, dust and asteroids, killing the 4 million people on it.

Specific ships

Earthforce One

Main article: EarthForce

EarthForce One is used to transport the Earth Alliance president to other planets. EarthForce One plays a significant role in the plot arc of the series, beginning with the first-season finale episode, "Chrysalis". In that episode, Earth Alliance President Luis Santiago is killed in an explosion of EarthForce One. Santiago's Vice-President, William Morgan Clark, assumes the presidency after being sworn in aboard EarthForce Two. Clark is later implicated in a plot to purposely destroy EarthForce One and thereby assume the presidency.

Liandra

Liandra
First appearance	The Legend of the Rangers
Information
Affiliation	Rangers
General characteristics
Armaments	Neutron cannons Fusion bolt batteries
Defenses	Crystalline armored hull

The Liandra is a fictional starship in the Babylon 5 television movie Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers.

History

The Liandra is of Minbari origin, and although only around 20 years old it is considered an obsolete design standard by Minbari. The Liandra was given to Ranger Capt. David Martell after G'kar interfered with a Grey Council session that was about to decide Martell's fate for him retreating from a battle.

Technology

Like all Minbari designed ships the Liandra utilises gravimetric propulsion, she also possesses a virtual reality room in which uses holograms to allow a gunner can fight ship to ship in real time.

Although small, it is a jump-capable ship, despite the fact that in the movie "The Legend of the Rangers: To live and die in starlight" its jump drive was damaged during the attack perpetrated by vessels belonging to a race allied to "the Hand" and it had to coast on normal space to reach a jump gate. This has led to some confusion between some fans on the subject.