Valkyrie

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Valkyrie
Race	Colonial
Type	Military
FTL	Yes
Propulsion
Crew
Capacity
CO	Commander William Adama
XO	Colonel Saul Tigh
Role	carrier / battleship hybrid
Weapons	Kinetic Energy Weapons, ship-to-ship missiles
Armaments	{{{arm}}}
Status	Presumed destroyed
Other Images	More images...
Dimensions
Length	{{{length}}}
Width	{{{width}}}
Height	{{{height}}}
Weight	{{{weight}}}
Wingspan	{{{wingspan}}}
Other	{{{otherdi}}}

Valkyrie was a Colonial battlestar, belonging to Battlestar Group 41, under the command of William Adama before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. The ship's class is not known.

Approximately six years^[1] before the Cylon attack, Valkyrie had been ordered by Admiral Corman to deploy a stealth recon ship over the Armistice Line to test Cylon resolve and gather intelligence on Cylon activities. During the mission, an unidentified DRADIS contact (presumed to have been a spacecraft) entered the area of the stealth ship piloted by Lieutenant Daniel Novacek and damaged the Stealthstar's engines before jumping away.

Two further (presumed Cylon) contacts were detected on an intercept course with the stealth ship. Rather than attempt a rescue of the disabled craft, Commander Adama ordered the stealth ship to be destroyed to prevent its discovery and capture.

In the days and years following the incident at the Armistice Line, and in particular after the Cylon attack on the Colonies, Adama came to believe that his actions had provoked the Cylon assault, having "proved" to them that humanity was aggressive and not to be trusted (Hero).

The eventual fate of Valkyrie is not known, but she is presumed to have been destroyed along with the rest of the Colonial Fleet (except Galactica and Pegasus) during the Cylon assault on the Twelve Colonies.

Valkyrie type battlestar

One theory holds that the Valkyrie type battlestar is an intermediate model to Galactica and Pegasus. However, it is also possible that it is just as new a design as the Mercury class, but was designed for an entirely different purpose. The overall design shares more commonalities with the Mercury class, such as the non-retracting flight pods and the shape of the bow. In addition, the CIC is nearly identical to that of Pegasus ^[2], as are the electronics and instrumentation.

The Valkyrie type is roughly half the size of the Mercury class ^[3]. This may indicate that it was designed as a support vessel for larger battlestars. Another possibility is that the Valkyrie type battlestars were designed more for covert operations and stealth whereas the Mercury class was designed more as an all-out assault platform, given its size, armament and fighter strength.

Valkyrie is seen firing a ship-to-ship missile from what appears to be one of its gun turrets. It is not clear whether Valkyrie carries missile batteries resembling gun turrets or if her guns are able to fire some type of rocket-boosted, homing munition. Regardless, her turrets are of a different design than those seen on Galactica or Pegasus. In addition to the design of the turrets, there are a few other features that are dramatic departures from the other two established battlestar classes. First, the launch tubes are located in a rectangular section beneath the flight pods facing forward rather than on the side of the flight pods facing outward as they do in "Galactica" type and "Mercury" class battlestars. Second, Valkyrie has batteries mounted on the side of her flight pods where the launch tubes are located on a Galactica type or a Mercury class battlestar.

At least two unnamed battlestars matching Valkyrie's design are docked at the Scorpion Fleet Shipyards when it is destroyed (Razor).

Notes

• The ship's hull number can't be seen. It is thus not known if it is identical to its Battlestar Group.
• The Valkyrie CIC insignia adorns David Eick's production office wall. ^[4]
• In mythology, a Valkyrie is a minor female deity who chose the most heroic fallen warriors to ascend to Valhalla where they would await Ragnarok. Valkyrie is the third (second onscreen) instance of Norse mythology being used, the first being Ragnar Station, which is a reference to Ragnarok, the Norse "twilight of the gods" (Miniseries).
  • Interestingly, the story of Ragnarok parallels with the career of William Adama, the former commander of Valkyrie. Adama, considered a fallen hero by the admiralty, is transferred from the advanced Valkyrie to command the aging Galactica about a year before the Cylon attack. Later, with the fall of the Colonies, he finds himself in the Battle of Ragnar Anchorage, the last battle within Colonial space.

Related Imagery

Valkyrie firing a ship-to-ship missile	One of the ship's flight pods.	Valkyrie-type battlestar bow (Razor).	A Valkyrie-type battlestar destroyed over Scorpia (Razor).
The ship's batteries.	The CIC.	Valkyrie insignia	Valkyrie armpatch

References