Tau Battleships
Sphere Vanguards

Gal'leath (Explorer)-class Starship

Size: 8 KM long, 2.6 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 1.5 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition and Gravatic shielding

Standard Main Armament:
Vash'Ya Configuration: 2 Heavy Railgun Batteries (1 prow mounted, 1 Dorsal mounted), 4 Launch Bays (2 per broadside) and 3 Gravatic Hooks (Mounted Aft Section)

Bor'kan Configuration: 2 Heavy Railgun Batteries (1 prow mounted, 1 Dorsal mounted), 4 Launch Bays (2 per broadside), 6 Gravatic Torpedo Launchers (prow mounted) and 3 Gravatic Hooks (Mounted Aft Section)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft:
Vash'Ya Configuration: 14 Orca transports, 16 Manta Missile Destroyers, 50 Barracuda supremacy fighters and 3 Kass'l (Orca)-class Gunships
Bor'kan Configuration: 8 Orca transports, 8 Manta Missile Destroyers, 25 Baracuda supremacy fighters and 3 Kass'l (Orca)-class Gunships

Lore: The Explorer is one of the very first space-worthy vessels the Tau empire ever created, also being the first ship in tau service to be given an ether drive, thus making the Tau Empire as it is known now possible. These massive ships where the first to deliver the Tau race unto worlds outside of what was accessible with sub-light engines. Their huge bulk intended to provide anything and everything the tau would need when encountering new ecosystems, or other empires, carrying vast amounts of supplies and personnel of all castes and kinds to expand the Empire's horizons. Charting new worlds, new star systems, and introducing new civilisations to the greater good.

As a warship, the Explorer was perfectly capable of defending herself against attacks from PDF forces or low and mid-level threats. Its comparatively vast number of strike craft and escorts allowing it to hold enemies at arm's length while it plumbed them to wreckage with its high-angle railgun batteries. The Bor'kan configuration later developed to trade away some of its carrier potential to further increase the firepower of the Explorer with Gravatic Torpedo Launchers, to better deal with the tough line cruisers of the Imperial Navy.

However, when faced with the true born-and-bred battleships of the Imperial Navy during the Damocles Crusade, the Explorer was woefully inadequate. Lacking the speed, firepower or protection necessary to compete with the pride of the Imperial Navy. Many Explorers being slaughtered by Emperor and Retribution Class Battleships with contemptuous ease, unable to win a fight effectively at any range and unable to escape. This has resulted in the Explorer being no longer widely produced, although the ship still sees use. Partly as an honorary reminder of the great service it provided in birthing the Tau Empire, but also as a long-range escort-support vessel.

Or'es El'leath (Custodian)-class Battleship

Size: 6.8 KM long, 6.8 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 2.9 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition, Gravatic shielding and prow deflector sheilds

Standard Main Armament: 9 Heavy Railgun Batteries (Wing and Dorsal Mounted), 2 Heavy Ion Cannon Batteries (Wing Mounted) 2 Launch Bays (Prow Mounted), 6 Gravatic Torpedo Launchers (Porw Mounted) and 3 Gravatic Hooks (Internally mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 10 Orca transports, 12 Manta Missile Destroyers, 42 Barracuda supremacy fighters and 3 Kir'la (Warden)-Class Frigates

Lore: The Custodian was the ultimate accumulation of all the Tau Navy's efforts to update and improve their fleet with radical redesigns. As it had become painfully clear that the Explorer was not capable of fulfilling the role of battleship for the Tau Navy, a vessel was needed that could challenge the Imperial Battleships, which despite the best efforts of the Tau remained the undisputed masters of the void in that region of space. Able to easily take apart any previous design for seemingly trivial damage in return, only concentrated Manta and Gravatic Torpedo strikes seemed able to drive them away, and only at great cost in vessels and personnel.

The Custodian provided a ship that was capable of withstanding the withering firepower of Imperial Battleships, and return with a brutal barrage of its own, all while retaining the strike craft and escort advantages of the old Explorer design on a much faster and more mobile warship.

The Custodian's baptism of fire came during the Taros Campaign, where 6 Custodian Battleships and defected Imperial allies engaged the Imperial liberation forces in open combat. The vessel was a horrifying surprise for Imperial admirals, who were convinced that the Tau had no true battleships, and ruthlessly chased down the Custodians at every opportunity leaving supply lines dangerously exposed to attack. Although the focus of the Imperial fleets on the Custodians did mean heavy casualties among these first Tau Battleships, it did also prove their strengths, as a couple where able to evade Imperial fleets and inflict heavy damage on opposing Imperial battleships in a withering barrage of railguns, ion cannons while striking out with Mantas and Gravatic Torpedoes at targets of opportunity.

After the Taros Campaign, the Custodian is used as a flagship vessel for Tau task forces, as well as a vessel for striking deep into enemy territory and disrupting supply chains. Custodians able to use stealth to slip behind Imperial frontiers in order to terrorise poorly defended worlds while obliterating Imperial patrol fleets and convoys.