Class-D nuclear warhead

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Class-D nuclear warheads are a type of nuclear weapon used by battlestars and their Viper squadrons.

After news of the Cylon attack on the Twelve Colonies and the Colonial Fleet, Commander Adama orders a desperate search through Fleet database records for munitions depots to rearm the battlestar (whose own weapons were destroyed as part of her scheduled decommissioning).

Little else is noted about the weapons, except that Colonel Tigh's records indicate that 50 pallets of these warheads are kept at Ragnar Anchorage along with missiles and small arms ammunition (Miniseries, Night 1).

Use of Colonial nuclear weapons

Insufficient information exists as to whether the other nuclear warheads seen through the series are also Class-D or of some other type. It is probable, but not verifiable, that Pegasus gave some of these weapons to Galactica, when the two battlestars pooled their resources.

• One warhead is given to Gaius Baltar for his Cylon detector (Bastille Day), which he later hands over to Gina Inviere and the Demand Peace movement. In her depression, Inviere detonates the warhead, destroying Cloud Nine and several other civilian ships (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II).
• Galactica herself deploys and arms (but never fires) several nuclear missiles in a standoff against a Cylon expedition to the algae planet and the Temple of Five (The Eye of Jupiter).
• A strike team from Pegasus takes a nuclear warhead to the Guardian basestar and subsequently destroys it (Razor).

Notes

• In the United States military, Class-D is the designation of a relatively light-weight thermonuclear weapon. The W-28 warhead in the B-28 TN bomb is an example of this type.