Warlock class destroyer

Infobox Fictional Spacecraft
name = "Warlock" class


caption = A "Warlock"-class destroyer after leaving hyperspace.
first =
last =
affiliation = Earth Alliance
launched =
decommissioned =
class = Warlock Class Destroyer
fighters = 42 Starfuries
troop = 20 000
armaments = 12 Large Missile Silos
16 Small Missile Silos
2 Heavy Particle Beam Cannons
9 Heavy Pulse Cannon Turrets
3 Heavy Railgun Turrets
4 Medium Pulse Cannon Turrets
9 Light Pulse Cannon Turrents
16 Short Range PP Turrets
Numerous small calibre AA emplacements
defense = 3 to 5 meter armored hull
22 Mk.III Defence Interceptors
propulsion = Gravitic Enhanced Ion Particle Drive
power = 6 Fusion Reactors
4 Standard & 2 Gravitic Enhanced
mass = 2.8 million metric tons
length = 1,992.4 m
width = 398.5 meter
height = 351.5 meter
primeref =The Warlock class destroyer is a heavy destroyer - and a space battleship - in the fictional universe of Babylon 5. The Warlock is the most powerful warship in EarthForce (the military branch of the Earth Alliance).

History

The Warlock class Destroyer is the most powerful ship ever built by the Earth Alliance. EarthForce realized that the Nova class dreadnought was ill-equipped to handle major planetary offensives after the military fiasco of the Akdoran invasion in the Shi'lassen Triumvirate. The Hyperion Class Cruiser also failed to provide fire support for the outdated Nova Dreadnoughts in the Earth-Minbari War. These issues, combined with EarthForce's desire for a new kind of warship that could go toe-to-toe with Minbari warships and conduct major planetary assaults with few casualties, pushed for the creation of the Omega class destroyer. The Omegas were a definite upgrade from the Novas and Hyperions, but they were still slow and cumbersome on the battlefield. Plans for the Warlocks began in the interwar period between the Minbari and Civil War timeframe. During the Earth Alliance Civil War (2260-2261), President Morgan Clark ordered EarthForce to apply shadow-armor to a few existing Omega class destroyers. This modified class of warship borrowed heavily from Shadow technology. During the war, all of the modifed Omega-X class vessels were destroyed. However, some of their technologies were added to a new class of warship known as the Warlock-class destroyers. EAS "Warlock", the first prototype, was built in 2261. By the year 2268, a handful of Warlocks were in service with more being constructed. Susan Ivanova captained one of the first Warlock class destroyers.Fact|date=June 2008

The Warlock-class destroyer was intended to replace the Omega-class destroyer, which many in EarthForce felt was beginning to become aged. The Warlock's original design was on the drawing boards since before the Earth-Minbari War, originally as a high-endurance cruiser. However, EarthForce quickly realised that a Warlock, while a formidable ship, should lead squadrons of Omega destroyers into battle (mainly because of the sheer amount of Omegas still in EarthForce service).

Design

Implementing the most advanced technology at Earth's disposal, which included Narn, Centauri, Dilgar, Minbari, and even Shadow technology, the Warlock class destroyer is the most powerful production warship in human history. The destroyer is powered by 6 fusion reactors which produced a combined power output of 300,000 terawatts. It is propelled by Titan Engines LTD. Z-105 Ion/Particle thrust engines, which adopted some gravitic principles from Minbari technology. Because of this, the "Warlock" class was the first class of ship produced by Earth to feature artificial gravity. Armed with the Fusion Beam canons developed on the experimental Omega-X platform, EarthForce hopes to finally have a ship capable of going toe-to-toe with a Minbari warship.

The ship was primarily intended as a battleship or ship-of-the-line, spearheading Earthforce assault groups in large-scale deep space combat, but the design was still kept versatile (possibly in the knowledge that such an ambitious project would tie up too much resources for any other new type of capital ship to be put into production anytime soon). The Warlock class has, due to considerable internal volume, tremendous troop carrier capabilities - an entire marines division can be transported by, and deployed from, this vessel, maikng it also the new first choice for planetary assault (due to its unparallelled firepower the Warlock can take good care of herself without much need for escort ships while offloading the troops). When not transporting its full capacity´s worth of soldiers, the Warlock can carry as much as 42 Starfury class fighters, more than any other Earth ship, giving it the added value of an aircraft carrier.

On Screen Appearances

Warlock-class destroyers have only appeared a few times on Babylon 5 and its spin offs. The first appearance was in where at least one fought against the Drakh. Another appeared in the Crusade episode Each Night I Dream of Home.

During the made for DVD episodes several Warlock-class ships can be seen taking part in a battle against the Centauri during a vision of a possible future shown to President Sheridan by the technomage Galen. Another Warlock can be seen close to the Babylon 5 station itself in several establishing shots throughout the episodes.

Known Warlock Destroyers

* EAS "Foxfire": Seen in the beginning of the Crusade episode Each Night I Dream of Home. Transporting senator Redway and David Williams to a meeting with the Excalibur. (The name is never seen, but can be heard in the background when Gideon grants Foxfire's request to send over a shuttle.)
* EAS "Titans": The prototype commanded by Susan Ivanova. She took command of the ship right after the ending of the Earth Civil War
* EAS "Hercules": Commanded by Xena Ryan from c. 2265 to c. 2275 in the uberxena fanfic series "Babylon 5: The Xena Ryan Chronicles".
* EAS "Enchantress": One of the first three mass-production ships, along with "Sorcerer" and "Necromancer", never seen on-screen
* EAS "Necromancer": One of the first three mass-production ships, along with "Sorcerer" and "Enchantress", never seen on-screen
* EAS "Sorcerer": One of the first three mass-production ships, along with "Necromancer" and "Enchantress", never seen on-screen

External links

* [http://www.b5tech.com/earthalliance/earthallianceshipsandvessels/earthcapships/warlock/warlock.html B5Tech.com]
* [http://www.isnnews.net/hyperspace/ea/index.html#warlock Hyperspace]