# Battleship/Battle Barge size?



## TomB360

How big are Imperial Navy Battleships and Space Marine Battle Barges supposed to be? I know they are crewed by millions, but what is their actual size.

I've just read a line in Dan Abnett's _Legion_ where two characters are looking out over the fleet and it describes them viewing the Alpha Legion's Battle Barge seven hundred kilometres away.

If it can be seen from that far away, it must be huge, i.e. hundreds of kilometres in length.


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## Vaz

About 3-4km for Capital Ships. Battlebarges could be 6-8km.


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## Khorne's Fist

I think hundreds of kilometres is a bit much. They could easily be a few miles long though, which, when seen through the enhanced eyes of a SM in space, which is a lot clearer than in an atmosphere, I think they'd easily be visible.

I think someone in possession of the Battle Fleet Gothic rule book might be your best source though. It might have the fluff on them.


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## Baron Spikey

Starship Dimensions

A Retribution-class Battleship is 7.5km (4.6 miles) in length and I imagine a Battlebarge would be a similar size or smaller.


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## cragnes417

wait what about the dawn war 2 game in the ending they describe them pretty big like this


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## Giant Fossil Penguin

I don't think even these ships being so long would get across their sheer huge-ality. Can you imagine how wide each ship would be, how deep? How many decks would there be, how many compartments? It would be like uprooting a major city down hundreds of feet below the surface, strapping volcano-esque engines to the back and mounting tunnel sized guns? Then illuminate it all and you might see something like a mobile constellation; one that can kill worlds.

GFP


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## darkreever

Giant Fossil Penguin said:


> I don't think even these ships being so long would get across their sheer huge-ality. Can you imagine how wide each ship would be, how deep? How many decks would there be, how many compartments? It would be like uprooting a major city down hundreds of feet below the surface, strapping volcano-esque engines to the back and mounting tunnel sized guns? Then illuminate it all and you might see something like a mobile constellation; one that can kill worlds.


Yeah well, that is how they have been described. Giant cities/cathedrals with engines on the back hurtling through space.


Last I remember, escort class vessels ranged in size from .5 kilometers to 2 kilometers. Cruisers ranged from 3 to 5 kilometers, and battleships are 7 kilometers or greater. 


Space marine ships are slightly smaller in size, requiring less crew and space in order to be able to move faster and strike harder. I wouldn't be surprised if strike cruisers were on the low end of the 3-5, and battle barges were 6-7 kilometers in length.


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## SHASUI

"Below them, the vast hull of the flagship gleams in the sunlight as it extends away. Macragge’s Honour. Twenty-six kilometres of polished ceramite and steel armour." - Know No Fear, Pg. 42 “Imperial starships hung in the blackness between it and him: some vast, grey and vaulted like cathedrals twenty kilometres long, some bloated like oceanic titans; others long, lean and angular like his own frigate.” - Ghostmaker, Pg. 78 "The battleship Spirit of Konor, seventeen kilometres long..." - Know No Fear, Pg. 144 "The grand cruiser Antrodamicus, twelve kilometres from bow to stern..." - Know No Fear, Pg. 131


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## hailene

Battlebarges are generally heavy cruiser sized. So I'd imagine somewhere in the realm of 4-5 kilometers long. At least modern, post Codex Astartes. God knows how large they were back in the Great Crusade.


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## Brother Emund

Figure this; the biggest warship around today is the aircraft carrier the USS Nimitz at 400m (.4KM)!!


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## SHASUI

hailene said:


> Battlebarges are generally heavy cruiser sized. So I'd imagine somewhere in the realm of 4-5 kilometers long. At least modern, post Codex Astartes. God knows how large they were back in the Great Crusade.


Khm,what?
A Battlebarge is much larger than cruisers,heawy cruisers and line ships.
Just read some lore books/web pages.


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## Moriouce

Take two Burj Khalifa and put them along each other, mount St. Peters Basilica on it. Add as many Saturn Vs at the rear end/bottom of the burj, and in the front and sides pack as many Topol-M launchtubes you could fit. 

See! There we have an Escort class ship :biggrin:


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## hailene

SHASUI said:


> Khm,what?
> A Battlebarge is much larger than cruisers,heawy cruisers and line ships.
> Just read some lore books/web pages.


Uhh...what?

Are you talking about pre-heresy battle-barges? Because, sometimes, Astartes capital ships were simply called battle barges (regardless if they'd be better be designated as battleships) pre-heresy. You can read that on page 15 of forge world book _Extermination_.

The Ultramarine battle barges (post-heresy) were outclassed by "vast degrees" by the Night Lord Legion's primary capital ships. 

One of the Night Lords dispargingly insults the Codex Astartes. From the book _Voidstalker_:

"‘The Codex Astartes in action,’ Ruven smirked. ‘Surrendering their largest and finest warships to the
newborn Imperial Navy. I pray that today the Thirteenth learn a lesson in whoring away their most
potent firepower to lesser men.’

Also the fact the Codex Astartes established a clear break between Space Marine space superiority and the Imperial Navy. Sorta silly to have that and allow Space Marines to maintain massive vessels as a rule of thumb. Some of the Chapters have gotten their hands on battleship-class vessels, but this is the exception and not the rule.

It's the same reason why Imperial Admirals have their panties in a bunch about the _Nova_ class frigates the Astartes run around with.

But if you are talking about post-heresy battle barges, I'd love to see them described as larger other line ships.


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