List of starships in Babylon 5

Explorer class

The Explorer-class starship is an exploratory starship of the Earth Alliance. The Explorer is built to explore, conduct research, and build Jumpgates. An Explorer-class starship, the EAS Cortez, appears in the episode "A Distant Star". Explorer-class ships are capable of producing jump points.

Frazi heavy fighter

The Frazi heavy fighter is a vessel used by Narn Regime. The CGI model for the ship was designed and modelled by Foundation Imaging co-founder Ron Thornton. The mesh of fighter's cockpit is based on altered design of Starfury cockpit. It is depicted as a heavily armored type of fighter and it can fly both in space and in a planetary atmosphere.

G'Quan class heavy cruiser

The G'Quan-class heavy cruiser is a vessel used by Narn Regime. It is an immense ship armed with two heavy hard-mounted forward-firing laser cannons, two energy mine launchers and Pulse cannons. The G'Quan class was designed to replace the older, more haphazardly designed T'Loth cruiser, which was last seen in 2258. The G'Quan-class cruiser does not have artificial gravity. The great majority of the G'Quan-class cruisers were destroyed during the Narn-Centauri War.

Hyperion class heavy cruiser

The Hyperion class heavy cruiser is a vessel used by the Earth Alliance. It is an older type of EarthForce warship, smaller and less heavily-armed than the newer Omega class destroyer, but still a capable design. Hyperions were still in EarthForce service as late as 2281. As with most ships of its size, Hyperion class ships are capable of creating their own jump points. Hyperion-class ships operated in zero gravity.

Nial-class heavy fighter

Also known as the Windstar, the Nial-class heavy fighter is a one-pilot ship used by the Minbari. It is the most advanced and powerful fighter built by any of the younger galactic races. It served during the Earth-Minbari War and the Second Shadow War. The ship was designed and modelled by Ron Thornton. In the series chronology, the ship is first seen in In the Beginning. By airdate, its first showing was in "And the Sky Full of Stars".

Nova-class dreadnought

The Nova class dreadnought is a heavy warship used by EarthForce. It was introduced into service sometime in the late 2220s, and is the predecessor of the Omega class destroyer. The ship is capable of generating its own jump point.

Olympus-class corvette

The Olympus class corvette is a small ship class used by EarthForce. It is one of the oldest starship classes in EarthForce, and was produced in great numbers. They served during the Dilgar War and the Earth-Minbari War. Due to their small size, Olympus class corvettes were fast and very maneuverable, and with its array of pulse cannons, rail guns, and ship-to-ship missiles they were well armed for a ship of its size.

Omega-class destroyer

The Omega-class destroyer is a large ship used by EarthForce. It appears fairly often in Babylon 5. The Agamemnon, Churchill, and Alexander are all Omega-class destroyers. This class of ship is capable of forming its own jump point. Advanced Omega destroyers appear in Season 4; they combined Shadow technology with standard Omega design.

Primus-class battlecruiser

Primus-class battlecruisers are large vessels used by the Centauri. They carry a powerful array of weapons and a standard compliment of 12 Sentri-class fighters. They have gravimetric drive, artificial gravity, and tractor beams, but very little armor.

Depiction

Designed to allow the Centauri to cause serious damage on the battlefield, the Primus was given a massive array of weapons including ion cannon turrets, battle lasers, missile launchers and others. These weapons make the Primus more than a match for most of its Narn counterparts. Besides these advanced features, the Primus also possesses a gravimetric drive system which gives ships of this class an advantage by providing artificial gravity and tractor beams. However, this capability uses between 50% and 65% of their total power output. Additional problems stem from the class's extreme age, as these warships have been in service for more than two centuries and require periodic refits and upgrades. Primus class Battlecruisers possess very thin armor, as fitting them with thicker protection would interfere with the gravitic countermeasures and leave the vessel vulnerable in combat. This weakness is partially offset, however, by the powerful ion weapons of the Centauri. On one occasion, a Primus Battlecruiser was able to shear a significant section off Babylon 5 with a single salvo of its forward ion cannons, although the Primus Battlecruiser was completely destroyed in a matter of seconds once the Earth station Babylon 5 returned fire. This partially had to do with the Centauri having weaker armor on their warships, but also EarthForce ships are known to have extremely "overkill" weapons firepower which is the reason the Primus was destroyed so quickly by Babylon 5 as Babylon 5 used EarthForce weaponry on its defense grid. Even so, the thin armor and age of the Primus does leave it vulnerable to new alien warships with thicker armor, such as the Narn G'Quan-Class cruiser and the Earth Alliance Omega-Class destroyers. Furthermore, the most recent Earth Alliance warship, the Warlock-Class destroyer is significantly more powerful than the Primus in all areas, and may have given the technological edge to the Earth Alliance over the Centauri.

Sentri-class medium fighter

Sentri-class medium fighters are used by the Centauri. A highly advanced design, the Sentri is extremely fast and maneuverable, and can outfly even the best EarthForce and Narn fighters. Only the Minbari Nial-Class fighter is faster and more maneuverable. However, the Sentri's speed comes at a price: the fighter has thin armor plating. The Sentri is thus highly vulnerable to direct hits from enemy ships and even a single shot from an enemy fighter can destroy it. The Sentri is capable of flying both in space and in a planetary atmosphere. It is also equipped with a sophisticated autopilot system which can fly the fighter even when the pilot has blacked out in an extreme maneuver during battle.

Shadow Planet Killer

A Shadow Planet Killer is a fictional machine from the Babylon 5 television show and films, which was used to destroy planetary ecosystems.

At first sight, the Shadow Planet Killer appears to be a gigantic mobile cloud of dust and gas, capable of surrounding a planet (thus its other name, the Death Cloud). On closer inspection, this cloud is revealed as a cover which conceals a net-like matrix of tubes and beams. The Planet Killer expands this net around a planet, with the dust and gas cutting off any contact to the outside. The dust and gas are actually bio-nanobots.

Once this is done, various hubs around the net fire missiles at the surface of the planet. Instead of exploding on the surface, these missiles burrow down through the planet until they reach the core, where they explode. The results are increased vulcanism, massive seismic upheaval, and atmospheric contamination, which together kill off the ecosystem and render the planet uninhabitable and sterile.

Like other Shadow ships, the Planet Killer can phase in or out of hyperspace at any time, and may interfere with other ships' engines. It is also very difficult to detect.

The Shadows employed Planet Killers on several occasions during the Shadow War. The Interstellar Alliance forces were unable to damage or destroy any of the Killers at the time, and among the planets thus destroyed was the homeworld of Dureena Nafeel.

In the movie A Call to Arms, a Shadow Planet Killer left behind after the War was taken by the Drakh (an alien race, former Shadow associates) and brought to bear against Earth, but was destroyed by the lead ship of the new Victory Class destroyer which targeted and then rammed a crucial control center used to control the rest of the mechanism causing the device to be triggered early, thereby essentially firing upon itself and the Drakh within it. Prior to its use against Earth, the planet killer was tested by the Drakh against the world of Daltron 7.

Sharlin Class Warcruiser

The Sharlin Warcruiser is a fictional starship in the Babylon 5 universe.

First appearing in the season one episode, And the Sky Full of Stars, the computer generated 3D model was designed and built by the Emmy Award winning co-founder of Foundation Imaging, Ron Thornton. Taking inspiration from nature in order to portray the vessel as, “proud and impressive like a lionfish, but be more vertical like a sunfish”, as with a number of other vessels designed for other alien races which appeared on the television show, he also included visible links to the physical appearance of those races in order to create a design aesthetic which was unique to each of them. In the case of the Sharlin, he included rib like structures along the hull to mirror those which appeared on the ‘head bone’ of the Minbari.

Depiction

The Sharlin Class Warcruiser is the main starship used by the Minbari Federation in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. Also commonly known as the Minbari War Cruiser, the Sharlin class is very large but conflicting sizes have been noted by different resources. The accepted size figure of 1,600 meters in length and roughly 1,900 meters in height was first noted by fan writer Brandon Bray, who worked as a consultant for Mongoose Publishing, producers of the official Babylon 5 Roleplaying Game. This size was officially accepted by Mongoose and published in their game line.

Sharlin class ships do not use conventional engines like rockets or ion propulsion. Instead, the Minbari War Cruiser used a combination of gravitational and electromagnetic fields for propulsion, a system called a gravimetric drive system in the episode "Mediations on the Abyss". This, described by Minbari Ambassador Delenn in the episode "Matters of Honor", was used to provide propulsion and artificial gravity. No canon information exists on what powered Minbari ships, save for some vague references to fusion reactors. Material from Mongoose Publishing suggests that Minbari warships use an artificial quantum singularity for its main power, while fusion reactors provide a secondary reserve power for this type of vessel. The Sharlin class is very well armed, having gravitic and electro-magnetic cannons. The ship also makes use of stealth technology which allows it to become effectively invisible to the scanners and targeting systems used by the younger races seen in the TV series.

These ships can hold up to 8,000 people. In peacetime the Sharlin class ships only have the 190 person regular crew. In combat situations there can be 60 additional combat personnel, such as pilots, gunners, and other support officers, and about 8,000 ground troops. The low crew requirement is due to the advanced computer system in place. The Valen'tha—a specially equipped Sharlin class—is home to the Grey Council, the leaders of the Minbari government.

The Sharlin class ships have a special holographic chamber. The chamber provides a complete 360 degree 3D image of the space around the ship. Normally it is used as a command center during battle situations. This chamber allows the commander to view the battlefield. A similar chamber is used by the Grey Council.

Among the younger races of the galaxy, the Sharlin class has no equals. During the Earth-Minbari war only a few Sharlin class ships were lost, typically by ramming, while the Sharlin class inflicted heavy casualties on the humans. However, the Sharlin class was no match for the more advanced First Ones—the Shadows were able to destroy a number of Sharlin class ships during the course of the war with ease through the use of planet killer missiles and slicer beams. In Babylon 5: A Call to Arms, a Sharlin is annihilated as it intercepts a planet killer missile aimed at the IAS Excalibur.

Known Sharlin Class Ships

Sun Hawk class gunship

The Sun Hawk is a medium attack ship in the fictional universe of Babylon 5. This vessel is the primary warship used by the Drazi race, one of the main members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.

History

The Sun Hawk is the primary warship of the Drazi Freehold military. Like all Drazi vessels, this small defense ship has no independent jump capability. The Drazi's lack of jump engine technology is not due to any technological deficiency, but rather due to their proximity to the Centauri Republic. Prior to the Interstellar Alliance's war against the Centauri in 2262, the small Drazi Freehold's territorial expansion and economic growth was stifled by the larger power for many decades. In actuality, the Drazi have been a spacefaring race for far longer than humanity, and their technology is just as advanced, if not more so, than Earth Alliance and Narn technology. Through the skillful use of Jump Gates and their small but potent gunships, the Drazi have been able to defend their small network of colonies from invasion on many occasions. With the Centauri Republic in ruins after the joint Narn-Drazi attack against Centauri Prime, the Drazi are said to be developing their own new class of large, jump-capable destroyers.

Depiction

The Drazi Sun Hawk is a rugged warship and is heavily armed for its size. Its most common use is for system patrol and convoy escort, although it can also be utilized, in larger numbers, as a ship of the line against enemy assault fleets. The Sun Hawk is known for its versatility and can be easily maintained and modified, due largely to its modular fusion reactor and simple plasma drive engines. The fact that it can be easily mass-produced and has low crew requirements has made it something of a major export product for the Drazi, as many of the other, less militarily-inclined League races often purchase these ships for use as escort craft, patrol ships and transports.

Designer Ron Thornton made the Sun Hawk as an improved version of the Liberator from Terry Nation's Blake's 7.

Known Sun Hawk gunships

T'Loth class cruiser

The T'Loth cruiser is a fictional warship used by the Narn Regime in the fictional universe of the Babylon 5 television series and related franchise.

Origin and design

The T'Loth-class cruiser was designed by Ron Thornton.

Depiction

The T'Loth cruiser appeared several times during the first season of Babylon 5. In the episode Midnight on the Firing Line, the Narn Regime used T'Loth cruisers accompanied by Frazi heavy fighters for a surprise attack on a Centauri agricultural colony near Ragesh III. In the episode Chrysalis several T'Loth-class cruisers are destroyed by Shadow warships. The T'Loth-class cruiser is an older design, and the vessel's lack of artificial gravity makes it slower and less-maneuverable than the warships of the Minbari, Centauri, or Earth Alliance. The ship's two huge wings provide maximum protection for the crew-and-command section which connects the two wings. The T'Loth was eventually succeeded by the more advanced G'Quan-class cruiser, which became the primary warship of the Narn military. By the end of 2258, the last active T'Loths were given back-of-the-line duty guarding unimportant outposts such as Quadrant 37.

Valen class cruiser

The Valen class cruiser is a class of starship in the fictional universe of the TV series Babylon 5. The class is used by the Interstellar Alliance, a confederation-type affiliation of races including humanity and the Minbari, among others. There is some ambiguity concerning the use of this name in the series, as there have been two distinct types of ship of this same name. However the two types are visually very different.

Valen Mk. I

The first Valen class cruiser is seen in the movie Legend of the Rangers which reveals that it is a joint project between the Minbari and the Earth Alliance to create a ship for the Interstellar Alliance. This ship was apparently the only one of the type ever constructed. The discontinuation of the model line had several reasons. First, this was the first ever ship constructed as a blend of Earth and Minbari technology, and as such had many design flaws, not the last of which was its being rather ugly. One of the characters in the movie described the first Valen as an "ugly flying brick". Also, constant problems integrating the technology were mentioned.

Where design is concerned, the prototype certainly took more after its Earthforce heritage than the Minbari one. The ship consists of a main bulk with massive, short wings, and a long, straight, thick protrusion at the head of which the bridge is placed. The ship is approximately 1300 meters long (by comparison to the 160-meter Liandra), doesn't possess much in the way of maneuvering capabilities, complementing its lumbering appearance. Weapon systems are not known, but presumably included both Earth and Minbari weapons. It may be of interest that the Valen, despite its considerable size and bulk, was capable of landing on planetary surface. (However, be it noted that very little information is available as to which ships of which races had or had not this capability.) Although this vessel wasn't superior to the Minbari Sharlin class war cruiser, it held one primate in the Alliance: speed. Thanks to a combination of Earth advancements in ion propulsion and some of the Minbari magnetogravitic propulsion principles, it was, according to one of the movie's protagonists, "the fastest ship in the Alliance". It is not known whether this included the Whitestars as well, because the Rangers (to whom all of the Whitestar fleet was reassigned after the Shadow war) operate in at least partial autonomy, answerable only to the Entil´zha.

The first Valen class vessel was destroyed on its maiden voyage when ferrying diplomats from applicant worlds to an IAS expansion summit. Under the command of the Ranger Sindell, it was ambushed by warships belonging to the thralls of a mysterious, old and powerful alien race known as The Hand. They had been tipped off by a traitor, Minister Kafta from one of the applicant worlds, and so had succeeded in critically damaging the Valen before it ever had the chance to return fire.

Valen Mk. II

The new Valen class cruiser is apparently also serving with the Interstellar Alliance. Being first seen several years after its predecessor had been destroyed, this vessel is a more mature product of cooperation between the Minbari and humans (both races having learned from the Victory project). Very little is known about the vessel, as it was only seen onscreen once, briefly. It incorporates technology that was left behind by the Vorlons, following their departure from known space, namely, the ability to enter the quantumspace. This appears to be some kind of alternative to hyperspace and enables the ship to travel twice as fast, compared to the conventional hyperspace.

The Valen Mk. II's design strongly reflects the traditional Minbari approach to shipbuilding, as opposed to the Valen Mk. I. The Valen Mk. II is the craft pictured at the head of this article.

Origin of the name

In the Babylon 5 universe, Valen is a historical figure of great importance to the Minbari people. He is considered "the greatest Minbari who ever lived", according to Delenn. He is mainly credited by unifying the Minbari society and leading them to victory in the last great war with the Shadows one thousand years ago. Valen himself was actually Commander Sinclair, the commander of Babylon 5 before Captain Sheridan.

Vorchan

The Vorchan-class medium warship is a class of Centauri warship in the fictional universe of Babylon 5.

Depiction

The most recent warship designed by the Centauri Republic, the Vorchan is extremely fast and maneuverable, although it's not very well armed and armoured for its class. The Vorchan is capable of creating its own hyperspace jump points, and it is capable of flying in a planetary atmosphere. Its primary weapons are two twin plasma accelerators, which are capable of destroying larger warships of other races (such as the Narn G'Quan-Class cruiser) in just a few hits. Even the extremely advanced White Star vessels are vulnerable to the Vorchan's plasma cannon fire.

White Star

The White Star is a fictional starship in the science fiction television series Babylon 5.

First appearing in the season three episode, Matters of Honor, the computer generated 3D model was designed and built by the Emmy Award winning co-founder of Foundation Imaging, Ron Thornton. As with a number of other ships he designed for the television show, Thornton took inspiration from nature when creating the White Star, explaining that “The animal I based it on was the pelican. I am still amazed to this day as to what masters of the air these seemingly clumsy birds are. Beautiful fliers.”

Originally intended by Thornton to be a small and cramped vessel much like the Millennium Falcon, with the small bridge being the only habitable area, when he was asked to create “something that was a Minbari ship only more predatory and with Vorlon influences”. He quickly realised it would have to be a larger vessel after seeing the original sets that were designed for it.

As the series progressed, further sets were included to show additional areas of the ship, such as hallways and sleeping quarters as more stories took place on the vessel. After a previously unseen and un-referenced docking bay was added in the season 5 episode, Meditations on the Abyss, this resulted in Tim Earls (the Art Director for visual effects who joined in season 4) to size the design at 475 metres long as part of a set of size charts he drew up towards the end of season 5, in order to accommodate all the internal areas which had been added by the writers since the designs original conception two years earlier.

Depiction

The White Star class was designed and built through a collaborative effort between the Minbari religious caste and the Vorlon Empire. With the reorganization and revitalization of the Rangers as a force with which to fight the Shadows, it was imperative that they be provided with a warship that would not be inherently recognized as either Vorlon or Minbari. As such, the ship was designed and built in secret and in large numbers by the Minbari worker caste. These vessels proved devastating during the Shadow War and the subsequent Earth Alliance Civil War. After the dust had settled, they served as a vital part of the Interstellar Alliance's military assets.

The White Star commanded by John Sheridan was thought to be unique until near the end of the third season (in "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place"), where it was revealed that the first wave of 40-50 White Stars had entered service. White Stars continued to be built and they were used extensively thereafter. The original White Star was vaporized as Sheridan crashed it into the largest city on Z'ha'dum while detonating two 500-megaton nuclear warheads.

While they are powerful ships featuring Vorlon and Minbari technology, Earth Alliance Omega class destroyers proved they could lock onto a White Star and destroy it, breaking the Minbari "stealth" advantage they had had previously (in the episode "No Surrender, No Retreat" Captain John Sheridan and Marcus Cole confirmed weapons lock on the White Stars). The advanced Omega class destroyers from the EarthForce proved to be a match for the White Star task force during the Battle of Sector 300, although the whole fleet of Omega class destroyers was obliterated.

Unlike most other large ships in the series, White Stars were numbered rather than being given unique names—Enrique Montoya's Maria (White Star 27) in Season 5 is the only known exception. At least 90 White Stars had been constructed by the end of the series.

The White Star was amongst the smallest ships in the Babylon 5 universe that still possessed the capability of opening its own hyperspace portals (known as "jump points") rather than relying on stationary jump gates or upon jump points created by larger allied craft.

The heavy losses suffered in the conflicts of the Shadow War and subsequent liberation of Earth led to the design of the larger and more powerful Victory class destroyer, an Earth-Minbar joint project based on Vorlon designs. The first results were two prototypes completed five years after the events of the television series. The White Stars were the best ship class of that size of cruiser, but the Interstellar Alliance had been forcing them to face heavy destroyers which highly outclassed them in one-to-one combat. The White Stars were no match for any heavy destroyer of any of the major races in a one-on-one combat (such as an Earth-Alliance Omega class destroyer that completely out-gunned a White Star one-on-one). The only way the White Stars could win would be in groups, as by themselves they were too weak to succeed against a destroyer. The Victory class was an attempt to create a new backbone of dedicated heavy destroyer class vessels for the Interstellar Alliance fleet.

The Black Star

The Black Star (Drala Fi' in Minbari) was a Sharlin Class Warcruiser. The Black Star served as one of the flagships of the Minbari Federation fleet, until its destruction in the year 2245. As told in the episode "Points of Departure", John Sheridan was responsible for the destruction of the Black Star. It was the first Minbari cruiser destroyed in during the Earth–Minbari War, and it was the only clear-cut human victory of the war.

Earthforce One

EarthForce One is used to transport the Earth Alliance president to other planets. EarthForce One plays a significant role in the plot arc of the series, beginning with the first-season finale episode, "Chrysalis". In that episode, Earth Alliance President Luis Santiago is killed in an explosion of EarthForce One. Santiago's Vice-President, William Morgan Clark, assumes the presidency after being sworn in aboard EarthForce Two. Clark is later implicated in a plot to purposely destroy EarthForce One and thereby assume the presidency.

Liandra

The Liandra appears in the television movie Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers. It is of Minbari origin and uses gravimetric propulsion. Though small, it is capable of creating its own jump point.

The Trigati

The Trigati appears in the Babylon 5 episode "Points of Departure". It was a Sharlin-class Minbari war cruiser. The Trigati was at the Battle of the Line.

The Trigati was at the Battle of the Line. When the religious caste decided to surrender, Sineval - the war leader in command of the Trigati - committed suicide rather than surrender. Kalain, the executive officer of the ship, took command; the ship and crew disappeared into hyperspace in a self-imposed exile.

Over the next decade, the ship was occasionally seen in hyperspace. Captain John Sheridan of Babylon 5 said that he had heard of rumors of a Minbari ship being where it was not supposed to be. Otherwise, the ship and crew had not been seen or heard from since the war.

All that changed shortly after Captain Sheridan took command of Babylon 5. Soon after Sheridan arrived, Kalain appeared on the station. He accosted Hedronn, a member of the Grey Council who was visiting Babylon 5. After his encounter with Kalain, Hedronn informed Captain Sheridan of the situation. Security located Kalain in Delenn's quarters, and took him into custody.

Then the Trigati appeared at Babylon 5. Kalain committed suicide in his cell by swallowing a blue liquid he was carrying with him. The commander of the Trigati contacted Babylon 5, and demanded that Kalain be released. When Sheridan refused, she launched her fighters even though Earth would consider this attack an act of war.

Sheridan realized at the last minute that the Trigati was trying to provoke them into an attack when he saw that the Earth Alliance equipment could lock on to the Minbari fighters (during the war, the Minbari had always jammed Earth Alliance scanners). He ordered that no offensive action be taken, and sent a signal into hyperspace.

The Trigati and fighters did not engage Babylon 5 or its defending squadron of Starfuries, but instead began to withdraw from the area. However, another Minbari war cruiser came through the jump gate, and demanded the Trigati surrender. When the Trigati tried to leave the area, the other cruiser fired upon it, disabled her. At that point the cruiser ordered the Trigati to prepare for boarding. However the Trigati's crew decided that death was the only honorable course open to them, and activated a self-destruct device. The Trigati's fighters flew in close to their mother ship, and were incinerated when she exploded.

The effect of the Trigati's destruction on Human-Minbari relations was limited. Many in the warrior caste considered the Trigati and her crew to be heroes and martyrs. The situation did lead to some tense moments in relations between Babylon 5 and the Minbari. However relations between the Minbari and Babylon 5 continued to improve on the whole over the next year, especially since the Shadow War caused the two races to largely put their differences behind them in the upcoming conflict.

The Trigati is an important example as it highlighted a fundamental weakness of the Sharlin design. The other Sharlin disabled the Trigati by slicing off its aft fin, part of the gravimetic drive system. As the Sharlin design has no other propulsion system, the Trigati was completely disabled.