Battleships

Emperor Class Battleship

Battleships are huge vessels, with colossal amounts of weapons and shields, and usually serve as the flagship
for the Admiral of the Fleet, though this is not always necessarily the case. Although very powerful, battleships are
very slow to manoeuvre and cannot react quickly to enemies that rapidly change course. Imperial battleships can
have crews of anywhere between 25,000 to 3,000,000 or more depending on sources, including large numbers of
Imperial Navy armsmen to defend against enemy boarding assaults. Battleships can be up to 8 kilometres from
prow to stern and displace billions of tons. Because they represent such a vast expenditure of resources and
require a fairly advanced technical base, these are typically constructed only in the largest shipyards above the
major Adeptus Mechanicus Forge Worlds. These vessels are precious assets and are carefully husbanded,
usually employed in only larger fleet formations. 5 There are various classes of Imperial Battleship, but
the Emperor and more recent Retribution are by far the most common in the Imperial Navy

Emperor Class Battleship - carries an immense amount of attack craft in addition to its normal, incredibly
powerful weaponry.
Retribution Class Battleship - which is noted for its powerful broadside firepower and its very large amount of
torpedo tubes
Apocalypse Class Battleship
Oberon Class Battleship

Cruisers
Smaller that Battleships, Cruisers are the "Ships of the line" in Imperial Fleets. There are several different sub-
categories of Cruiser -

Grand Cruisers

Vengeance Class Grand Cruiser

Grand cruisers are significantly smaller than battleships, yet distinctly larger than regular cruisers. These vessels
are usually very old in design and do not incorporate many of the features that are typical in current Imperial Navy
vessels, like the armoured prow, and are not entirely compatible with current navy tactical doctrine. Due to this,
many are retired from active duty, but are still used by reserve fleets. There are also some modernised versions
of grand cruisers in service, but since these are much larger and more heavily-armed than their predecessors,
they are more often classed as battleships. These kinds of vessels are usually purpose-built or modified from
battlecruiser hulls and are not commonly encountered in the Imperial Navy. 5

Vengeance Class Grand Cruiser

 Avenger Class Grand Cruiser
Exorcist Class Grand Cruiser

Battle Cruisers

Armageddon Battle Cruiser

Battlecruisers are based on a hull-design that is similar to the regular Cruisers, though Battle Cruisers are
generally somewhat larger and more heavily armed, incorporating more advanced power distribution systems
capable of supporting battleship-grade weaponry in a cruiser hull.5

Armageddon Class Battle Cruiser

Mars Class Battle Cruiser
Overlord Class Battle Cruiser
Chalice Class Battle Cruiser6a

Cruisers

Dominator Class Cruiser

Cruisers make up the majority of a fleet. Though not as powerful as a Battleship, cruisers are much faster and
can still deliver a deadly blow. There are multiple classes of cruiser, most based on the same general hull design
but incorporating different combinations of broadside batteries, lance turrets and starfighter hangars. Cruisers can
carry a crew complement of anywhere between 1,000-100,0006, depending on sources. While cruisers are still
particularly complex, it is not uncommon for them to be constructed on smaller Forge Worlds or any Civilised
World that has a shipyard suitable for constructing vessels of their size.

Lunar Class Cruiser

Tyrant Class Cruiser
Dominator Class Cruiser
Gothic Class Cruiser
Dictator Class Cruiser

Light Cruiser

Endeavour Light Cruiser

A subset of the cruiser category are the Light Cruisers. These ships fall in size between cruisers and escorts,
mixing the firepower and durability of the former with the speed and manoeuvrability of the latter. Light cruisers
are a fairly common ship class, for they are relatively simple to construct for being a capital ship, and they are
 uniquely suited for reconnaissance patrols and for making a presence where their speed and manoeuvrability are
an advantage, and where having a larger number of smaller hulls allows the Navy to monitor a wider area of
space.5

Dauntless Class Light Cruiser

Endeavor Class Light Cruiser
Endurance Class Light Cruiser
Defiant Class Light Cruiser

Escorts

Escort Vessels

Escort ships are the smallest type of ship in the Imperial Navy fleets, found in two distinct sub-classes. The
larger of the two are Frigates, which are better armed and more heavily armoured.Destroyers are generally
smaller, but they are by far the fastest and most manoeuvrable interstellar warships employed by the Imperial
Navy. They are usually organised in squadrons of 2 to 6 vessels and will always operate as a group. The main
task of the escort ships is to serve as a screen for capital ships against enemy torpedoes and attack crafts so that
they can get into position more quickly and safely. They are also employed behind the gun line to finish off enemy
cruisers that have been damaged so that the larger vessels can concentrate on the most important threats in an
enemy formation. Most escort classes specialise in a certain role, such as the Cobra class torpedo boat
destroyers or the Firestorm class frigate with its armour-piercing prow-mounted Lance. Escort ships are normally
not more than 1.5 kilometres in length, with destroyers generally being only 750 metres to 2 kilometres from prow
to stern.5

Sword Class Frigate

Firestorm Class Frigate
Tempest Class Frigate4
Cobra Class Destroyer
Falchion Class Escort
Turbulent Class Heavy Frigate6b
Claymore Class Corvette6b
Defence Monitor

Older and obsolete classes

There are many older classes of Imperial ship that are no longer in production -

Ironclads - much like their contemporary counterparts, are vast 8-kilometre vessels which lack the void
shielding of their counterparts in favour of metres of adamantium plate armour. These ships, built before the
advent of void-screen technology, have since been phased out of production, for the main part, to be replaced by
more modern designs. However, those remaining in service have been recommissioned for a variety of purposes;
various pattern ironclads may be retrofitted with gargantuan, ship-, station- and even planet-killer cannon running
 the entire length of the ship's keel, linked directly to the stern fusion reactors; others may simply be braced and
reinforced for the purpose of ramming into - and through - enemy vessels. These ships are rare in the Imperial
Navy, due to their archaic design and the lack of facilities still capable of repairing, let alone producing them.

Obsolete Classes - There are many classes of vessel which were once utilised by the Imperial Navy. Many of
these older vessel's are still in service with the Traitor Fleets.

Note on variations in Classes

A note on Imperial ship classes while naval warships can be defined along a fairly limited number of classes
based on weapon configurations approved by the Adeptus Mechanicus, the form these vessels takes varies
widely throughout the Imperium. For example, a Lunar class constructed above Cypra Mundi in Segmentum
Obscurus may bear little resemblance to a Lunar class constructed above Kar Durniash in Ultima Segmentum
and even less so to a Lunar class, constructed among the vast shipyards of Mars. Nonetheless, they will all have
roughly the same operating characteristics and weapon configuration, and thus can be easily serviced by any
orbital facility throughout Imperial space.

Attack Craft

An Imperial Navy landng party

Many Imperial vessels carry onboard various smaller craft for both offense and defense.

Fury Interceptor
Starhawk Bomber
Shark Assault Boat