# I need to know about the Imperial Navy



## C'Tan Chimera

Well, title says it all.

I don't need a monolithic pile of details, but I'd like to know:

- What ships are the biggest, smallest.

- Which ones are capable of entering a planet's atmosphere.

- Which one might serve as a flagship, etc.

- What sort of firepower they're packing

- How much damage they could possibly sustain.

Thanks to anybody who can help!


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## Harriticus

C'Tan Chimera said:


> Well, title says it all.
> 
> I don't need a monolithic pile of details, but I'd like to know:
> 
> - What ships are the biggest, smallest.


There are 3 categories of ships: Battleships, Cruisers, and Escorts. There are multiple classes for these 3 main classes, but the Emperor/Retribution/Apocalypse Class Battleships would be the largest and the Cobra Class Destroyer the smallest if we're talking combatant ships.

These ships carry small attack craft/fighters though, the Starhawk Bomber and Fury Interceptor. They would technically be the smallest.



> - Which ones are capable of entering a planet's atmosphere.


Not too sure about this one, but I'm pretty sure nothing Destroyer-class or above can enter an atmosphere. Ship-to-planet transports and shuttles can enter atmospheres however, as well as atmospheric combat aircraft the Navy uses to support the Imperial Guard (Thunderbolts, Marauders, etc.).



> - Which one might serve as a flagship, etc.


Depends on how large the fleet is. Battleships would in a large fleet but they're are pretty rare so you don't find them outside of Sector Battlefleets usually. Cruisers usually act as flagships for anything below Sector-level operations.



> - What sort of firepower they're packing


Imperial Warships primary armament for ship-to-ship combat are Lances (big laser guns) and Weapons Batteries for shorter range engage engagements. Weapons batteries usually just is a collective term for smaller weapons like Laser cannons, missile launchers, plasma cannons, etc.. They'll also have point defense systems for shooting down incoming enemy fighters or torpedoes, such as autocannons or multi-lasers.

Their most formidable weapons for ship-to-ship combat are heavy torpedoes and Nova Cannons. Usually only ships of the Cruiser class or above carry this kind of armament though. Escort-level ships will be armed with Lances, weapons batteries, and smaller torpedo launchers.

For orbital bombardment they can employ Lances/Nova Cannons as well as things like Melta-Torpedoes. For Exterminatus missions they'll employ WMD's like the Cyclonic Torpedo, Atmospheric Incendiary Bomb, Virus bomb, etc..



> - How much damage they could possibly sustain.


Battleships have powerful void shields and can withstand tremendous damage due to powerful void shields, it'll take either a large amount of Cruisers or other battleships to take them down. Smaller escorts could probably get taken down by 1 good torpedo hit or the like.

Also here's 1 pic on all Imperial Navy ship classes, hope it helps:


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## Phoebus

I should preface this by saying that much of the Battlefleet Gothic material can be found for free on the GW website.



C'Tan Chimera said:


> Well, title says it all.
> 
> I don't need a monolithic pile of details, but I'd like to know:
> 
> - What ships are the biggest, smallest.


The largest of the Imperial vessels are battleships--Apocalypse, Emperor, Oberon, and Retribution-class vessels. Escort vessels such as the Falchion-class are the smallest.

Between those you have battlecruisers, cruisers, frigates, destroyers, etc.



> - Which ones are capable of entering a planet's atmosphere.


None, I believe.

The Imperial Navy certainly possesses landing and attack/bomber craft that serve in a trans-atmospheric capacity, but the warships themselves cannot suitably operate in atmosphere.

Note, however, that cruiser-size vessels, such as the Astartes Strike Cruiser "Covenant of the Blood" DID enter atmosphere for the express purpose of receiving Thunderhawks fleeing from the planet below. It should be noted, however, that both the entry into atmosphere and the attempt to receive said Thunderhawks was considered highly dangerous.

Given this, and the reaction the vessel's crew had at that order (which came from a HIGHLY accomplished starship commander), I would say anything larger than a Strike Cruiser would probably be unable to enter atmosphere and successfully exit in turn.



> - Which one might serve as a flagship, etc.


It all depends on the nature of the fleet, flotilla, etc. An older Grand Cruiser was the flagship of a "second-rate" fleet in "Soul Hunter". Traditionally, battleships serve as flagships for front-line fleets, but there are exceptions. Solar Macharius, for instance, favored a Mars-class battlecruiser (he preferred speed and agility to brute strength) for much of his career.



> - What sort of firepower they're packing


Varies per vessel... and it would be pretty exhaustive to list all the different options. Like I said, you can have the gaming supplements for free from the GW website.

In short, though, weapons are broken down between weapon batteries (huge cannon, each capable of leveling a city-block), lances (beam weapons capable of even more damage), torpedoes (basically what they sound like, but on a colossal scale), nova guns (a cannon of an obscene scale), and fighter and bomber craft.

Most vessels possess weapon batteries, lances, torpedoes, or a combination of the above (typically 1-2 such weapons). The heavier classes of vessels--cruisers and battlecruisers--is when you start seeing 2-3 of the above, and perhaps even a nova cannon or attack craft. Battleships bristle with multitudes of weapons. 



> - How much damage they could possibly sustain.


Fairly ridiculous amounts of damage, though honestly this varies by author and situation.

I've read stories where two battleships would have been unable to break a stalemate against one another (many authors tend to assume individual commanders don't possess that much tactical acumen, favoring instead brute strength and trusting in the fortitude of hull and shields) until even just one other vessel arrives to make the difference. I've also read stories where titanic vessels hold off against superior odds (smaller ships, that is), but are betrayed by an "Achilles Heel"--something like an attack craft launch bay being targeted and exploding munitions within crippling the ship. Finally, a ship whose engines are crippled is, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water and prey for the enemy.

Cheers,
P.


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## Akatsuki13

C'Tan Chimera said:


> - What ships are the biggest, smallest.


The largest are the Grand Cruiser-class vessels which tend to be around seven kilometers long and carry over a hundred thousand men. The smallest are the Destroyers and Transports, but both classes varying in size and crew compliment. In the newest Rogue Trader book there's a Transport-class that's beyond the size of a Grand Cruiser.



> - Which ones are capable of entering a planet's atmosphere.


None of the Warp-capable ships would normally enter the atmosphere of normal worlds. They have smaller craft for setting foot on a planet. However in _Battlefleet Koronus_, some non-Grand Cruiser-class vessels can be equipped with plasma scoops, allowing to gather fuel from the atmosphere gas giants.



> - Which one might serve as a flagship, etc.


Depends entirely on the battle group in question. In a full, proper military fleet it would be typically led by a Grand Cruiser or Battlecruiser. Smaller fleets it would be a Cruiser. In escort squadrons, Light Cruisers or Frigates.



> - What sort of firepower they're packing


Again, it depends on the ship. There are tons and tons of Naval weapons. Macrocannons, Broadsides, Torpedoes, Lances, Missile Batteries, even Atomics.



> - How much damage they could possibly sustain.


Once more, depends on the ship, its size and age.

If you really want to get some great knowledge of Imperial warships, go to the GW site and read the Battlefleet Gothic PDFs, or get your hands on the Rogue Trader RPG books. Both contain a great amount of knowledge on Imperial vessels, especially the new RT book, _Battlefleet Koronus_.


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## C'Tan Chimera

Okay, awesome. Thanks guys- + rep to all of you for digging all that info up!


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## Giant Fossil Penguin

You can get all this for free by going to the GW site downloading all of the BFG material. There's a lot, but it's really interesting. I haven't downloaded the actual rules, just the fluff so far, but I imagine they will give a flavour of what the authors think 40k void-combat is like.
You will have to register to get this stuff, but all of the stuff for Epic, Necromunda, Inquisitor and lots of other juicy stuff. I'd really reccommend checking it out!

GFP


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## Hellados

Most hate the idea of these vessels entering orbit of a planet at about 3km long they would not be designed for entering orbit in anyway at all, gravity is a different thing to defend against compared to weapons. Furthermore the nova cannons and lance batteries would set the atmosphere on fire imho!

The Imperial Guard land differently to SMs they land in MASSIVE egg shapped ships. they land titans, baneblades, even the valkeryies and vendettas on them. . . lots of them ofc but still. they do also do a drop pod for the titans but i have never seen a description for them


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