Battlestar Columbia
the last loss of the Cylon War
The Columbia was a Jupiter-class battlestar and sister ship to Galactica, one of the most decorated warships of the First Cylon War. She was the last known Colonial ship lost in that conflict, destroyed shortly before the armistice.
The Columbia was a Colonial warship and one of the original twelve Jupiter-class battlestars built during the First Cylon War. After her sister ship Galactica, she was among the most decorated warships of the conflict, serving in virtually every Colonial campaign. She was the last known Colonial ship lost during the war, destroyed in its final year only shortly before the Cylons signed the peace accord.
Operation Raptor Talon#
During the twelfth and final year of the Cylon War, the Columbia was assigned to Operation Raptor Talon alongside Galactica and one other unnamed Jupiter-class battlestar. The three warships pressed an assault against Cylon forces in orbit over an unnamed ice planet.
In the course of the battle, the Columbia's mid-ship defenses failed, and the Cylons turned their fire on her. Despite the efforts of Colonial Vipers, including those launched from her sister ship Galactica, to drive off the Raiders, the Columbia caught fire and was heavily damaged across her upper mid-section. A warning was given for the pilots to clear her airspace before a final explosion tore through her hull, sending the battlestar into the atmosphere of the planet below.
The Columbia was the last known ship lost during the Cylon War, the Cylons signing the peace accord shortly after her destruction.
The Jupiter-class#
The Columbia belonged to the same class of battlestar as Galactica, a heavily armed and heavily armored design. Jupiter-class ships carried kinetic energy weapons scattered across their dorsal and ventral hulls, with two groups of four batteries on each side, twenty-four batteries in all, making them among the heaviest hitters in the Colonial Fleet. Twelve missile tubes carried both conventional and nuclear-tipped ordnance, mounted atop the middle section beneath the armor plating rather than fired through the main batteries as on the Valkyrie-type.
For defense the class mounted some five hundred and fourteen point-defense weapons against incoming ordnance and fighters, backed by two layers of armor plating effective against both conventional and nuclear attack. Large flight decks supported a sizable complement of Vipers, Raptors, and shuttles, launched through tubes in the retractable port and starboard flight pods.
To guard against Cylon intrusion, Jupiter-class computers were built without networking and were deliberately less advanced than those of older ships, a choice that limited their faster-than-light jump calculations but protected them from infiltration. The class carried four sublight engines on its outer hull and housed two synchronized FTL drives internally, a layout that spared it the vulnerability of the externally mounted drives found on smaller designs.
Frequently asked questions
- What was the Battlestar Columbia?
- The Columbia was a Colonial warship and one of the original twelve Jupiter-class battlestars built during the First Cylon War. She was the sister ship of Galactica and, after Galactica, among the most decorated warships of the conflict.
- How was the Columbia destroyed?
- During Operation Raptor Talon in the final year of the Cylon War, the Columbia's mid-ship defenses failed and the Cylons concentrated their fire on her. Despite Viper support she caught fire and was heavily damaged, and a final explosion tore through her hull, sending the battlestar into the atmosphere of the planet below.
- What was Operation Raptor Talon?
- Operation Raptor Talon was an assault during the twelfth and final year of the Cylon War in which the Columbia, Galactica, and one other unnamed Jupiter-class battlestar pressed an attack against Cylon forces in orbit over an ice planet.
- Why is the Columbia significant in the Cylon War?
- The Columbia was the last known Colonial ship lost during the First Cylon War, destroyed shortly before the Cylons signed the peace accord.
- What were the Jupiter-class battlestars armed with?
- Jupiter-class ships such as the Columbia carried twenty-four kinetic energy weapon batteries across their dorsal and ventral hulls and twelve missile tubes with conventional and nuclear-tipped ordnance. For defense they mounted some five hundred and fourteen point-defense weapons backed by two layers of armor plating.
Sources
- WikiBattlestar Columbia — Battlestar Wiki entry
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Related entries
Galactica
Galactica was a Jupiter-class battlestar that served the Colonial Fleet from the Cylon War until the discovery of Earth. Never networked, it survived the Fall of the Twelve Colonies and shepherded the last fifty thousand humans across uncharted space before being scuttled into the sun.
Jupiter-class
The Jupiter-class was a line of battlestar that served the Colonial Fleet for nearly its entire history. Uniquely built around un-networked computers, the class was largely immune to Cylon infiltration, and one of its number, Galactica, was the last to survive the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.
Colonial Fleet
The Colonial Fleet was the naval arm of the military of the United Colonies of Kobol, founded during the Cylon War to unite the forces of the Twelve Worlds. At its height it numbered some 120 battlestars, yet a single Cylon exploit reduced it to two ships in the opening minutes of the Fall.
Colonial Viper
The Viper was the primary space superiority fighter of the Colonial Fleet, developed on Caprica before the Cylon War and fielded through seven major marks. The Mark II and Mark VII bookended its service from the first war to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies.
Columbia
In the Original Series continuity, the Columbia was a Colonial battlestar that fought in the Thousand Yahren War against the Cylon Alliance. It was destroyed in the surprise Cylon strike at the Cimtar armistice talks.
Cylon Raider
The Raider was the Cylons' space superiority fighter, a living organism fused to a metallic exoskeleton. Sentient, capable of resurrection, and eventually capable of refusing orders, the Raider was the counterpart to the Colonial Viper across both Cylon wars.
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Battlestar
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Battlestar Columbia (Second)
The second Battlestar Columbia was one of the most modern warships in the Colonial Fleet at the time of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. Named for the original Columbia lost in the First Cylon War, she served as a Viper testbed before being destroyed over Virgon in Admiral Nagala's task force.
Battlestar Prometheus
Prometheus was one of the first twelve Jupiter-class battlestars built to counter the Cylon threat. Over her career she served alongside Battlestar Galactica and Battlestar Columbia in at least one joint operation.
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