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{{trope}}
[[File:640px-BSPegasus.jpg|link=Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|frame|The battlestar ''Pegasus''.]]
Interesting military trivia: [[History of Naval Warfare|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.
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* A) [[Rule of Cool|It's awesome]].
* B) The extremely thin atmosphere and the huge amount of free space means that the range of weapons are enormous. ([[Arbitrary Maximum Range|or it should, anyway]]).
* C) Lack of gravity means you don't have to waste the entire top on runways and the entire bottom on being underwater.
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 that it's significantly slower and less maneuverable than slimmer ships, and may present a larger target while being unable to move fixed guns [[Lead the Target|quickly enough]] to [[Hero-Tracking Failure|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, the Battlestar has escort craft to protect it, or they have good [[Point Defenseless|point defenses]]. When these aren't the case, expect the heroes or villain to engage in [[Standard Hollywood Strafing Procedure|strafing]] against the Battlestar.<ref>Which will get very hairy if their fighter screen is intact.</ref>
A type of [[Military Mashup Machine]]. Compare the Battlestar's "little brother", the [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier]]. This trope is named for the ''Battlestar'' class of warships from ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'', one of the [[Trope Codifier|first such depictions to reach widespread audiences.]] Has nothing to do with the elite Autobot fighters from ''[[Transformers
Often part of a [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]]. Naturally comes hand-in-hand with the [[Space Fighter]].
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{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* From 1974, the [[Ur Example]] is probably the ''[[Space Battleship Yamato]]''. In 1979 the series was dubbed and broadcast in English as ''[[Star Blazers]]'', with the ship renamed the ''[[Religious and Mythological Theme Naming|Argo]]'' as a [[Shout-Out]] to a similar story from [[Greek Mythology]].
** Also more obviously the ''Lexington''-class battleship carriers in the Comet empire series, which had two battleship turrets in front, and a carrier deck in the back.
*** The ''Lexington''-class ships are based on the IJS ''Ise'' and ''Hyuga''; see the Real Life section, below.
*** Even further borne out by the fact that the American Lexington-class of carriers from [[World War II]] were originally built to be battlecruisers.
** In the Rainbow Galaxy battle, the Gamilons had a battleship/carrier that had a runway deck that flipped over to reveal laser cannon turrets.
* Subverted in ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]''. While carrier-type ships do have cannons for ship-to-ship combat, they are not primary fighting units and use cannons mostly in self-defense and to protect fighters docking for resupplying. Ship-to-ship combat is mostly handled by dedicated battleships, of which the command ships are the most powerful (including Yang Wen-li's ''Hyperion'' and Reinhard von Lohengramm's ''Brunhild'').
* There are, many, many examples in ''[[Gundam]]'', starting with the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'' and its ''White Base''. Basically, any [[Cool Ship]] in the saga ''has'' to be a carrier to launch titular [[Humongous Mecha]] (and normal fighters) but, depending on the series, can have more or less firepower to make it a battleship. Most recent [[Cool Ship]] from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' is clearly more of a carrier since it can barely defend itself without Gundams. However, both ''Archangel'' from ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' and ''Minerva'' from ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'' pack a serious punch, complete with integrated [[Wave Motion Gun
** It should be noted, however that in most ''Gundam'' series, these types of ship are usually limited to very short production runs. The original series's Pegasus class had less than ten ships of the line. In later series, we see the carrier elements becoming more prominent in ship design. Only two ships were built of [[Gundam Seed]]'s Archangel class.
** Also notable is the fact that [[The Federation]] from the original series followed the traditional "you can only have one or the other" mentality, with older ships even being forced to carry [[Humongous Mecha]] ''strapped to their hulls'' when the latter were introduced. This was the primary reason they came so close to being trounced by Zeon early in the series.
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* The Emperor Machines from ''[[Getter Robo]]'', three ships that can combine into a giant robot and are made from Mars and ''the dinosaurs''. Really.
* The ''Estanatreich'' from ''[[Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko]]'' not only functions as this, it has an entire colony on its back. Justified as it is the one and only de facto territory of TERRA faction. Other ships exist as well, particularly the NESS carrierships.
* The ''Exelion'' and ''Eltreum'' from ''[[
* The eponymous battleship of ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]''.
* The four (operational) [[Cool Starship|Vaia Ships]] of ''[[Infinite Ryvius]]'': the Black ''Ryvius'', Blue ''Impulse'', Crimson ''Dicastia'' and Grey ''Geshpenst''. Each comes equipped with a [[Humongous Mecha]] capable of [[You Fail Physics Forever|warping spatial reality]], multiple [[Magnetic Weapons|MAC guns]], and in the case of the ''Impulse'' [[This Is a Drill|a huge fuck-off]] {{spoiler|[[Earthshattering Kaboom|Hyperion-destroying]]}} [[This Is a Drill|drill]].
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* The ''Nirvana'' in ''[[Vandread]]'' relies mainly on the Dread fighters and the titular [[Combining Mecha]] for its offense. At least until Bart figured out how to work the guns...
* The ''Arcadia'' from ''[[Captain Harlock]]'' carries a fair-sized fighter complement. In fact, it sometimes looks like at least half of her forty-one-man crew is out there.
== Films -- Live-Action ==
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* The Star Destroyers from ''[[Star Wars]]''.
** The Prequels bring us the ''Acclamator''-class and ''Venator''-class vessels, which serve as army transports and spacecraft carriers respectively. ''Acclamators'' also end up as being used as ''floating'' carriers as well.
** In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]], it seems almost all large warships are designed this way. (See ''Babylon 5'' below.) Fighters have little effectiveness against capital ships, unless they have some specific [[Achilles' Heel|weakness]] or [[Zerg Rush|a lot of fighters]] get together and [[Macross Missile Massacre|use obscene numbers of missiles]]. Going by ''[[Star Wars: X-Wing]]'', ''Empire at War'' and ''[[X Wing Series|Rogue Squadron]]'', ''bombers'' are effective, and many fighters' primary purpose is to deal with them. Some fighters have bombing capabilities, as well.
*** Alternately, the fighters do something VERY clever. (But said cleverness, as shown, isn't really user-friendly.)
*** This was how naval aircraft worked in WWII, dedicated fighters (F-4 Wildcat, F-6 Hellcat, [A6M] Zero) escorting or shooting down dedicated bombers and torpedo planes. Modern naval aircraft are dominated by space- and cost-effective hybrid <s>"fighter-bombers"</s>"strike fighters" like the F-18.
** The Death Star also qualifies: it has FTL propulsion, carries countless smaller fighter craft, has surface-mounted turbolasers for enemy fighters that get too close (although the first DS's turbolasers are ineffective at this), and the superlaser itself can take out large craft, as shown in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''. And, you know, ''[[Captain Obvious|planets]]''.
*** Hell, take a look at this [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/File:Death_Star_Drydock.JPG concept art] for the Death Star. Yes, that is a dry-dock for ''Star Destroyers''.
== Literature ==
* A staple in the ''[[Perry Rhodan]]'' universe from the beginning, with large capital ships inevitably carrying their complement of fighters and larger small craft (often up to nominal "light cruiser" size themselves) in addition to heavy weapons of their own. Said secondary crafts' actual combat effectiveness in any area where the big ships are busy engaging each other seems to be mainly subject to the needs of the
* [[
* The various planetoid-class Ships-of-the-Line in [[David Weber]]'s ''[[Empire From the Ashes]]'' trilogy count (except for the ''Trosan''-class). [[Up to Eleven|Massive ships]] [[That's No Moon|the size of the Moon]], [[Lightning Bruiser|capable of ridiculous speed]], mounting extensive [[Beam Spam|energy]] and [[Macross Missile Massacre|missile]] batteries, and carrying a complement of parasite craft. Said parasite craft consist of separate battleships, cruisers, and two-man fighters. And the Fourth Empire had [[We Have Reserves|almost a million of them]]. {{spoiler|Just 70 of these almost completely annihilate a millions-strong [[Alien Invasion]] fleet.}}
* ''[[
* In Andrey Livadny's ''[[The History of the Galaxy]]'' series, most large human ships are
* Although it doesn't start out with them, the ''Beijing'' in ''[[
* The titular ''Merrimack'' from the ''[[Tour of the Merrimack]]''. It is armed with missile launchers, beam cannons, and projectile barrels, and carries several flights of [[Space Marine|Marine]] Swifts.
* Unusually ''averted'' in the granddaddy of all technoporn space operas, ''[[Lensmen]]''. With the exception of some heavy cruisers and very fast scouts, virtually everything is a capital ship. There are no 'fighters' or light bombing craft at all.
* ''[[
* Late in the ''[[Sten]]'' series, there's a newly built "battle cruiser" named ''Victory''
{{quote|
* In the ''[[Dune|Legends of Dune]]'' prequel trilogy, the ''Ballista''-class battleships are the main warships used by the League Armada. Besides formidable weaponry, they carry 20 troop transports, 15 shuttles, 50 patrol craft, and 200 ''Kindjal'' [[Space Fighter
** About 80 years after the end of the Butlerian Jihad, 200 of these are given by a weak-willed Emperor to appease Manford Torondo, the leader of the anti-technological Butlerians. About half of these are destroyed during a space battle with Venport Holdings forces, not that Torondo [[We Have Reserves|cares about casualties]]. It's noted that, being 80-year-old mothballed relics, they are inferior to latest warships used by Venhold (just 20 Venhold ships are able to inflict massive damage to the Butlerian fleet) and, likely, the Emperor.
* ''[[
* In [[Dread Empires Fall]], there's essentially one kind of ship, and the only differences are the crew (max G's they can pull) and the number of missiles they have and the number of launchers they have for them. Apparently even the largest ships only need a single missile to gut them. That said, missiles are used to counter missiles in this setting, so more launchers can be more safety. All of these ships carry a crapton of missiles (but there are notable levels of "crapton"), defense lasers of various kinds, and small crafts called "pinnaces". A pinnace is meant to travel a safe distance behind the missiles and update their trajectories - the mothership cannot make tactical decisions from a light-minute away, after all! Those pinnace pilots have a notably low survival rate in combat, though a few have absurdly high kill-counts, mostly from single engagements. There is no dogfighting of any sort, because inertia in space. In a given battle, by the time the two sides have closed with each other, usually one or both sides are left with only destroyed, irradiated husks. In one battle in a gravity well, where the two factions made very close passes at each other, it was horribly messy and casualties were staggering.
== Live-Action TV ==
* The Cylon Basestars from the remake of ''[[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' are a subversion. Although they're not dedicated missile/fighter carriers, they tend much more towards carriers than battleships, being thin-skinned and reliant on standoff missiles and Raiders to do damage. In terms of sheer firepower and survivability in a ship-to-ship engagement, Battlestars are consistently depicted as superior, with even the obsolete ''Galactica'' being able to outfight them, although this may just be a result of the [[Rule of Cool]] limiting the useful range of a Basestar's missiles.
* Most ships in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' have at least some fighter complement, and all uses beam weapons.
** However, many of these these capital ships ''are'' a nightmare to maneuver. But since you require a big fucking ship to carry engines capable of opening their own jump points
** In fact, this forms the basic battle-strategy of ''Babylon 5''. The capital ships launch fighters, with the fighters keeping each other honest, while the capital ships shoot each other. If one ship fails to launch fighters, then the fighters, while usually not having enough power to destroy a capital ship unless it's sitting there and taking it, can still damage some of the weapons and engines, or force the ship to stop paying attention to the enemy capital ships.
** Depending on the alien race, the name they use for a Battlestar-esque ship varies, with the name typically being some variation on "Cruiser". The humans, meanwhile, use "Cruiser" for their smaller warships, and call ''their'' battlestar-esque ships "[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Destroyers]]." The name seems to be catching on, probably due to the humans' support of the Interstellar Alliance.
*** This is not entirely true, as both the ''Hyperion''-class heavy cruisers and ''Nova''-class dreadnoughts (the two main types of capital ships used during the [[Hopeless War|Earth-Minbari War]]) carry plenty of fighters and have a lot of firepower. The ''Nova'', in fact, has much heavier weapons than the ''Omega''-class destroyers, the current EarthForce workhorse, whose design is an evolution of the ''Nova''. It's just that they also have a shorter range and much higher power requirements. The ''Hyperion'', designed by a different company, was supposed to provide a quick-strike alternative to the ''Nova'', but turned out not to be very effective. The ''Omega'' is based on the ''Nova'' chassis, with the addition of the spinning sections, but is armed with ''Hyperion''-type weapons. Additional sources seem to indicate that EarthForce has many other types of warships, including dedicated carriers.
** Interestingly, the Shadows and the Vorlons mostly use [[Attack Drones]] for fighters, as they're unwilling to put so many capable pilots on the firing line. Of course, the Shadows don't even pilot their own ships, using [[Mind Rape
* The ''Saratoga'' of ''[[
* This is a staple of the [[Stargate Verse]]:
** The Goa'uld Ha'tak motherships carrying Death Gliders in [[Stargate SG-1]].
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** The Ancients' City Ships (i.e.:''Atlantis'') also qualify with their <s>Gateships</s> Puddle Jumpers.
*** Interestingly, their ''Aurora''-class battleships don't fit this trope, as they don't carry Puddle Jumpers. However, given that their primary weapons are swarms of guided drones, this makes sense.
** Replicator ships go whole hog on this as they are made entirely of Replicators, as are all weapons they
** The Ori Warships also carry small fighters.
** Of the frequently seen ships, the only ones that do not seem to follow the trope are the Asgard ships. (That's probably got something to do with the fact that the Asgard don't have the manpower for combat pilots.)
** The ''Destiny'' from ''[[
** The <s>[[Starfish Aliens|Starfish]]</s> <s>[[Starfish Aliens|"Catfish"]]</s> <s>[[Starfish Aliens|"Blueberry" Aliens]]</s> [[Word of God|Naka'i]] also from ''[[Stargate Universe
** The Berserk Drone command ships also carry (and control) a bunch of drones.
* The title ship from ''[[Andromeda]]''.
** While the slipfighters (you can guess by the name that they're FTL-capable) are designed to be piloted by living beings, there's nothing stopping them from being piloted remotely using VR goggles, as Tyr often does in the first season. Of course, when you send a single slipfighter to hold off dozens of enemy fighters, you're probably better off being inside ''Andromeda'''s thick armor than in a flimsy fighter cockpit. This has more to do with the fact that the ''Andromeda'', for most of the series, is operating with a crew that doesn't even qualify as a "skeleton crew".
* Largely avoided in ''[[Star Trek]]''. While many ships carry a small contingent of shuttlecraft which are the same size as small fighters, there are few ships that even resemble dedicated battlecarriers. Those few include the ''Scimitar'' in ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]'', the ''Akira''-Class, and the non-existent "Warship ''Voyager''". Some ships that are called fighters are more akin to corvettes.
** The lack of "space fighters" in Star Trek is mainly due to production costs and the laws of physics. In TOS, it was hard enough to afford the SFX for phasers, photon torpedoes, and a single shuttlecraft. In the movies, the reason was science advisor (and NASA engineer) Jesco von Puttkamer, who pointed out that physics doesn't allow fighters to maneuver in vacuum the way they do in atmosphere, never mind That Other Sci-Fi Movie Franchise over at 20th Century-Fox. To put it simply, anything a "space fighter" can do in an actual space battle, a guided missile can probably do better- not to mention cheaper. (It doesn't need a pilot, it can be stored in a magazine, and you don't have to worry about recovering it after you've used it.) Starships in ST, TV or movies, are basically the space-going equivalent of modern guided-missile cruisers, like the U.S. Ticonderoga class or the Russian Kirov class. Their job is to use long-range, precision-guided missiles (the photon torpedoes) to achieve "stand-off kills". Their phaser banks are technically secondary weapons, roughly equivalent to the cruisers' 5" (or in the Kirov's case, 100mm) turret guns, or their rapid-fire Close-In Weapon Systems for defense against the other side's anti-ship missiles. (It's interesting that only the Star Fleet Battles game ever picked up on this point.) The fact that they tend to end up in point-blank phaser duels more often than not is mainly due to Rule of Cool plus, frankly, writers who Did Not Read The Manual. (Yes, the Writer's Guide for The Original Series explains all this.)
* Especially since in the series the larger ships actually went faster than the smaller ones. The Enterprise D/E was a fine example, having almost no real top speed besides the semi-unreachable Warp 10.0 Voyager, only a little smaller, had a top speed of Warp 9.975.
* ''[[Ultraman|Ultraman Tiga]]'' has the ''Artdessei'', a [[Carrier Battleship]] capable of carrying three GUTS Wing fighters and packing a [[Wave Motion Gun]]. It's a relatively small example of the trope, but since it's [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]...
* The Alliance "city-cruisers" in ''[[
* In ''[[
** The mini-series ''Peacekeeper Wars'' starts with a [[Space Battle]] showing two [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet|Standard Sci Fi Fleets]] clash, sparking off the Peacekeeper-Scarran conflict, which has been brewing for years.
== Puppet Shows ==▼
* The Supermarionation show ''[[Star Fleet]]'' gives a two-step variant: the huge alien mothership launches smaller carriers (looking like skeletal beasts) which then carry [[Mookmobile|imperial fighters]] under their "ribcage" for deployment in battle.▼
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Traveller]]'' had several "carrier" starships with [[Wave Motion Gun|spinal mount weapons]] and fighters. This was also true of the ''Tigress''-class dreadnought, and indeed most Imperial cruisers and battleships.
* ''[[Warhammer
** Then there is of course the Eldar Craftworlds which are planetoid sized Battlestars capable of launching fleets of "ordinary" Battlestars.
** Since fighter-sized vessels (not frigates) in WH40K are often not FTL-capable, they are usually launched from a nearby carrier, some of which are quite heavily armed. Also, "stand alone" battlegroups such as Space Marine Battle Barges carry their own squadrons of fighters.
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** It should also be noted that many WH40K races are extremely keen on boarding actions and battleships can carry varying number of boarding pods to launch at enemies.
** Also worth noting: vessels that in most other sci-fi universes are referred to as massive, huge, behemoth and such? At a 'mere' kilometer or two in length, they're roughly equivalent to 40K's tiny, single hit point frigates and destroyers. Anything truly deserving of the battlestar title in 40K (cruisers, heavy cruisers, battlecruisers, grand cruisers and battleships) is typically at least a good 10+ kilometers long and much more massive relative to its length than almost anything else in space.
* ''[[
* One of the sample ships in [[GURPS]]: Spaceships is a massive dreadnought that carry 100000 tons of other ships inside, the idea being that it can carry its own escort fleet from place to place.
* ''[[Jovian Chronicles]]'': The Jovian Godsfire class super carrier and the CEGA Poseidon class Battleship. Somewhat justified that both were originally designed as battleships, but had exo and fighter bays added later on. The Valiant carrier qualifies due to its Wave Motion Gun described below.
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* ''Star Fleet Battles'' had their Space Control Ships, with their battleship level firepower and the ability to launch both fighters and "Fast Patrol Ships" ([[Space Is an Ocean|basically PT boats]]). One even includes a sensor scout in the mashup to be a SUPER Space Control Ship.
** ''Star Trek: Starfleet Command'' maintains these for one race, as well.
▲== Puppet Shows ==
▲* The Supermarionation show ''[[Star Fleet]]'' gives a two-step variant: the huge alien mothership launches smaller carriers (looking like skeletal beasts) which then carry [[Mookmobile|imperial fighters]] under their "ribcage" for deployment in battle.
== Video Games ==
* All M1 carrier class ships in [[X (
* At least a few types of ships in the ''[[Halo]]'' universe are like this. Most notably, the Covenant Assault Carrier, a 5+ kilometer behemoth, as well as the 27
* Averted in ''[[
** There's also the Bentusi Tradeships, whose primary weapons easily outclass those of the Kadeshi Needles. The player faction doesn't see them launch fighters fighters until the semi-sequel, ''Homeworld: Cataclysm'', however.
** ''Homeworld: Cataclysm'' also features this for the player faction's mothership; it gets a [[Wave Motion Gun]], in fact.
** In ''Homeworld 2'' battlecruisers can't ''manufacture'' fighters like Carriers or the Mothership, but they do have facilities where fighters can dock and repair.
* ''[[Wing Commander (
** Many warships of destroyer size and larger also have integral fighter wings, albeit with rather fewer fighters than dedicated carriers.
** ''[[Wing Commander (
** ''[[Wing Commander (
** Although it doesn't start off as such by design, after the ''TCS Midway'' acquires the [[Wave Motion Gun|fleet-killing plasma cannon]] [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum|from an alien ship]] in ''Prophecy'', it fits this trope.
* Pretty much anything ''Destroyer''-class or bigger in the ''[[Free Space]]'' series comes with a bunch of fighters (it's never specified exactly how many, but pretty much "lots"; probably hundreds) plus beam cannons to take on other enemy warships.
** ''Hecate''-class destroyers are canonically stated to carry 150 fighters, a wing is usually four fighters, and a squadron is generally accepted as 12, so a ''Typhon''-class destroyer carries 120, and the [[Meaningful Name|aptly-named]] GTVA ''Colossus'' carries 240.
** May be less ridiculous than it seems : Freespace ships tend to scale towards the gigantic. A ''Destroyer'' is between one to two kilometers long, the ''Colossus'' is
** It's also typically implied that the Destroyers in Freespace are absurdly expensive, as losing a friendly one usually results in someone saying "Oh God"
*** Also, probably because of the sheer manpower required to staff a miles-long ship being massacred (3,000+ crew on the 2-km ''Orion''-class, more than 30,000 for the ''Colossus'').
* All ships with fighter complements in the ''[[Escape Velocity]]'' series have more firepower than other ships their faction has access to. This is probably because fighter bays can be installed on any ship with enough room, and anything big enough to carry much heavy firepower tends to be enormous anyways.
** The be-all and end-all of the ''EV Nova'' battlestars is the [[Game Breaker|Polaris Raven]], a 1.2
* The ''Great Fox'' from the ''[[Star Fox (
* Every ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' game, virtually every mission, has you launching from some battleship or other. They both join in the fray as lumbering, slow (but rather durable) ships of the line, and provide a place for weakened mechs to dock and repair/refuel. The above examples from ''[[Gundam]]'' and ''[[Macross]]'' are common, as well as originals such as the ''Hagane'' and ''Shirogane''. The ''Kurogane'' even has a giant ''[[This Is a Drill|drill]]'' on the front to ''[[Ramming Always Works|ram things]]''.
** W's Valstork goes the extra mile by attaching one of its robot contingent, the Valhawk, to its [[Wave Motion Gun]] to amplify its power, and later actually combining with the Valhawk to form the giant ship-robot Valguard.
** And then there's the Iron Gear from ''[[Xabungle]]'', which in addition to packing an eight-inch gun, can just turn into a hundred-meter-tall robot and ''step on you''.
* Averted in ''[[
** Then there's the Mothership and the even bigger Titan. They can carry ''players.''
* In the ''[[Naval Ops]]'' series, there is a class of ship called the Battlecarrier. It can mount a moderate number of battleship-class guns and has a flight deck to allow a likewise moderate amount of planes (or [[Lethal Joke Character|ducks]]) to be deployed in battle.
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* Averted by default in ''[[O-Game]]''. Small fighters do exist but they are implied to fly alongside all the others ships in an attack fleet rather than in carriers which raises serious logistical questions.
* In the ''[[Star Control]]'' series, the Ur-Quan Dreadnought can launch swarms of fighters to pick apart any ships its main gun can't obliterate. It's obviously meant to ''look'' almost exactly like the original [[Battlestar Galactica]] ... well, if it were green, and crewed by [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] who are the antagonists rather than the heroes.
** To a lesser extent, the Orz Nemesis (with its [[Space Marine
* In ''[[Sins of a Solar Empire]]'', as capital ships level up, they gain the ability to house squadrons of fighters or bombers. Even the capital ships labeled as "carriers" still have enough firepower to, at least, fight off frigates and cruisers, although another capital ship will outgun it. The [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Advent]] ''Halcyon''-class carriers are armed with powerful beam weapons, allowing them to [[Beam Spam]] on par with the other Advent ships.
** Averted with the cruiser-type escort carriers, which have no weapons beyond their ability to construct and launch 1-3 wings of fighters or bombers.
** It should be pointed out, though, that the Advent use [[Attack Drones]] instead of actual [[Space Fighter
* ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' plays with this extensively:
** There are no true fighters or bombers, only assault shuttles, planetary bombers, and unmanned [[Attack Drone
** Destroyer or cruiser carriers lack the firepower to be true line combatants. The closest are dreadnought carriers. The Morrigi (who else) flagship exemplifies this trope.
** One twist comes from the Morrigi, who mount drones on more ship types than other races that need special drone carrier sections.
** Another comes from the Tarka, whose [[Awesome but Impractical|admittedly late-game]] Hunter Battle Riders are ''cruiser-sized'' - normal riders are dwarfed by destroyers - with the attendant firepower that implies, though [[Sequel Escalation]] is in effect as the races have gone up to ''dreadnought'' riders on Leviathans by the second game.
* Military starships are divided into four main types in ''[[Mass Effect]]'':
** Dreadnoughts, kilometer-long behemoths with an 800 meter long [[Magnetic Weapons|mass accelerator]] capable of taking down the shields (it spams nukes more or less) of any ship in Citadel space.
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** 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 [[Humans Are Special]]. Because Carrier construction is not limited by the Treaty of Farixen (see the [[wikipedia:Washington Naval Treaty|Washington Naval Treaty]]), the human [[The Federation|Systems Alliance]] [[Loophole Abuse|builds as many of them as it can]].
*** In this case it's more of "only humans are crazy enough to [[Zerg Rush]] a ship with anti-fighter lasers to a point were they overheat allowing heavy bombers to come in".
** Cruisers, mid-size ships that also carry a small number of fighters. They lack a dedicated hangar and therefore fit them into the spaces between layers of armor. This is the closest the Mass Effect has to
** Frigates, which carry no fighters and instead operate in "wolf-pack" flotillas.
* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' game ''Empire at War'', this is [[The Empire]]'s [[Planet of Hats|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 ''[[
** Protoss carriers are also shown to have formidable weapons in [[Expanded Universe]] and the intro of the original game. Not so much in the game. A fan-made video shows the ''Ganthritor'' (Tassadar's flagship) [[One-Hit Kill]] several ''Behemoth''-class battlecruisers withotu even launching its interceptors.
* [[Space Police|Star Patrol]] in ''[[Tachyon the Fringe|Tachyon: The Fringe]]'' have cruisers which appear to combine the characteristics of several different classes: speed/maneuverability of a frigate, firepower of a cruiser, and fighter-carrying capability of a carrier. Unfortunately, their capabilities are never shown in the game, which is focused on fighter combat.
* The ''Durandal'' of the ''[[
* ''[[Star Trek Online]]'' has two carriers for the Klingon side - the Vo'Quv and the Kar'fi; both are battle-stars as the Vo'Quv carries 6 guns, and the Kar'fi 7. The main 'battleship' types in the game carry 8, so they aren't far behind at all, and the Vo'Quv is exceptionally tough.
* ''[[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.
* All battleships in ''[[Freelancer]]'' are implied to be Battlestars (at the very least, you can land on them, and I think other fighters do as well). However, fighters are so independent in the game (capable of their own hyperjumps, and often seen prowling on their own all over the Sirius sector) that it's more likely that a battleship is supposed to be ''escorted into battle by fighters'', rather than launch fighters upon entering battle, therefore staying on the very edge of this trope.
** The fighters also tend to be incredibly overpowered compared to capital ships. During the campaign, there are plenty of missions where you have to take out cruisers and battleships almost all by yourself. Better hope you packed your torpedo launcher this morning.
* The largest ships in the ''[[Space Empires]]'' games are baseships, quite literally moving starbases. Being so spacious, they can accommodate lots of fighters as well as standard ship weaponry.
* If you've researched or otherwise acquired fighters in ''[[
* In ''[[
* Averted for the players in ''[[
== Web Comics ==
*
** Tausennigan Thunderhead Superfortress - carries 16 warships, has everything from point-defence to bombardment weaponry, crew of 200, plus up to 10,000 soldiers. The second ship of the protagonists was a decommissioned Thunderhead they named the "[[Fluffy the Terrible|Post-Dated Check Loan]]" (formerly "Sword of Inevitable Justice"). Smaller than a battleplate, but already fits («[//www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-04-29 as much firepower and carriage as any two of our carrier groups put together]»).
** The (probable) crowning example would be the so-far only seen Tausennigan "plate-class" ships, which includes the species (apparent) flagship "Cloak of Untrammelled Dignity". At little over one thousand kilometres in length and a total size of five hundred thousand cubic kilometres, it is roughly about five ''thousand'' times larger than the "Morokweng" (assuming the "Morokweng" was about twice the size of the "Tunguska", one of the oldest and smallest battleplates at a 'mere' 32 cubic kilometres in size).▼
** Later we get introduced to the UNS Battleplates, which are equally fitting. They started as a way to protect planets from impacts (whether stray asteroids or projectiles moving at relativistic velocities), which is why they are named after impact craters. But they end up as more mobile bases than ships. A battleplate can hold and launch not just one-man fighters, but a "small" fleet of starships. It can carry [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2015-05-03 well over 100,000] people total, from fleet command staff to civilian contractors and dependents. The [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2015-03-18 "usual"]<sup>spoilers!</sup> choice for headquarters of military forces, intelligence agencies etc — including [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-03-16 Sol System customs service]. After introduction of teraport the possible uses of battleplates drifted even more from system defence vessels, and now internal modules with non-essential crew and facilities, commercial sector, etc can be ejected before moving into a battle zone - and the given rounded numbers of remaining combat personnel for different battleplates were 30,000 and 50,000.
* The eponymously named "Moonhawk" in [http://www.starshipmoonhawk.com/ Starship Moonhawk] is a prime example of both a Battlestar and a [[Wave Motion Gun]]. However, the latter has (thus far) only appeared in bonus art.▼
▲** The (probable) crowning example would be the so-far only seen
▲* The
== Western Animation ==
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[[Category:Spacecraft]]
[[Category:The Battlestar]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battlestar, The}}
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