Chaos Battleships
Despoiler Class Battleship
Size: 8.3 KM long, 3.1 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 242,000
Max Acceleration: 1.8 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 8 battleship class Void shields.
Standard Main Armament: 40 'Hector' Heavy Plasma-macro cannons (20 per broadside), 2 Lance turrets (dorsally mounted), 2 Heavy Lance turrets (Dorsal and Dorsal/prow mounted), 3 Hanger decks (1 per broadside, 1 prow mounted)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters, 200 Swift Death fighters, 288 Hell Talons/Hell Blades, 108 Doom Fire bombers, 120 Dread Class Assault pods
Lore: This ship has a long and turbulent history within the Imperium. The Despoiler Class was the ship created by the 'Young School' Admirals (inspired by the ancient Death Guard Battleship Terminus Est's design) of Battlefleet Bakka during the 'Gareox incident', following a millennia long dispute of All-Big-Gun Battleship designs vs Attack Carriers for future Imperial ship-building revolving around battleships. During this Imperial civil war, some 14 Despoilers and their fleets faced off against 15 Emperor Class vessels and their own fleets. The Despoilers Class proved to have much superior speed, and attack range with its batteries and mix of heavy and standard lances, but only just matched the carrier capacity of the Emperor and was far more fragile. Although 2 Emperor Class vessels were destroyed, and a further 3 crippled, the Despoiler proved unable to match the Emperor as a Battleship and was no better as a Carrier: only 3 Despoilers surviving the conflict as the fearsome firepower of Heavy Macro Cannons tour the large and relatively fragile targets to pieces.
All three of these Battleships and their architects would turn to chaos.
Since then the Despoiler has become yet faster, and has a far more deadly arsenal of lances and strike craft.
The Despoiler is armed with a pair of Heavy Lances, both capable of firing directly forward or over the broadsides of the ship, and a centre mounted battery of dorsal lances for fending off escorts and finishing crippled opponents. She also has two lots of Weapon Batteries on each broadside of the ship, and a number of weapon batteries flanking and protecting the large prow mounted launch bay; a further 2 launch bays being found on the broadsides of the ship directly behind the prow section.
This fearsome array of weapons makes her a deadly opponent, especially at long range: where her lances, long range weapon batteries and strike craft swarms can overwhelm an opponent before they are even given a chance to close in and return fire. Her high speed making this range advantage all the more crushing, as she is difficult to catch with anything larger than cruiser, but anything smaller than a Battleship is quickly overwhelmed by the catastrophic damage the Despoiler can dish out.
The Despoiler would see action in Chaos service from M39 onwards, destroying entire cruiser flotillas and convoys before word of the attack could even reach a retaliation fleet, a Despoiler attack very rarely leaving any survivors to tell the tale of the savage assault.
But the next major engagement would be the Gothic War of M41. The remaining 3 original Battleships and their younger chaos-born sisters served as the spearhead to the Chaos offensive, being the head of the lethal dagger aimed at the heart of the Imperium. They proved deadly against any opponent, the Despoiler getting a re-match with its nemesis, the Emperor Class, and proving to now be a far worthier opponent of the lordly Imperial Vessel, a number of Emperor Class Battleships being reduced to drifting hulks before the advance of Chaos.
Desolator Class Battleship
Size: 8 KM long, 2.9 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 201,000
Max Acceleration: 2.2 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 8 battleship class Void shields.
Standard Main Armament: 24 'Hector' Heavy Plasma-macro cannons (12 per broadside, dorsally mounted), 6 Lance batteries (3 per broadside), 1 Lance turret (dorsal/prow mounted), 6 prow torpedo launchers
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters
Lore: The Desolator is a vessel with mysterious and long-lost origins dating back to the very earliest days of the Imperium, using technology now long-lost to the Imperium, the design believed to have been in service with the Imperium from M31-M34 before the 5 existing vessels defected to Chaos for (mostly) unknown reasons (one of them, the Torment, being captured by Chaos forces in M33). The most infamous among them being the first to defect, believed to have Defected in M33, the renamed Eternity of Pain has since destroyed seven Loyal Imperial Battleships of various classes and countless smaller vessels: continuing to elude the Imperium to this day.
The original design of the Desolator is rumoured to have served as the basis for the Apocalypse Class, her large armament of long-range lances mirroring her loyal counterpart, and the small numbers of the ship being constructed possibly being prototypes for the technology used on the Apocalypse. However, none of this is known for certain, as neither warship are understood well by the Mechanicus and records have been long-lost.
The Desolator is armed with full broadsides of long-range lances, a large number of Dorsal Weapon batteries and prow mounted torpedo launchers. This, together with her high speed, allows her to hold opponents at long range where she can tear into them with long range weapon batteries and lances; using her prow torpedoes to disperse any enemies attempting to close with her.
This lethal long range armament and speeds has made the Desolator a true menace for any Imperial fleet, being deadly to a ship of any size, kiting her Battleship rivals with her speed as her lances rip through their thick hides and tearing apart anything smaller in mere seconds under a barrage of Torpedoes, Lance bolts and Plasma projectiles.
The Desolator has been seen in service with chaos in raids and offensives across the Imperium, most notable being the prior-mentioned Eternity of Pain which continues to reap a bloody toll on the Imperial Navy's Battleships, and a number took part in the Gothic War. The Desolators proved instrumental to Chaos forces during this Black Crusade, able to cause crippling damage to the imposing and deadly Imperial Battleships as well as provide an excellent platform for orbital bombardment of key Imperial Worlds. The large number of lances capable of accurate surgical strikes to annihilate Imperial cities or destroy planets outright with a full-power broadside.
The class served as Heavy Fire support throughout the war, destroying hard targets and stitching Imperial formations with a barrage of Lance strikes to allow the cruisers chance to unleash their own lethal firepower without fear of retaliation.
Desecrator Class Battleship
Size: 8 KM long, 2.9 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 224,000
Max Acceleration: 2 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 8 battleship class Void shields.
Standard Main Armament: 6 Lance batteries (3 per broadside), 3 Lance turrets (dorsal and dorsal/prow mounted), 2 hanger bays (1 per broadside), 6 prow torpedo launchers
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters, 100 Swift Death fighters, 144 Hell Talons/Hell Blades, 54 Doom Fire bombers, 66 Dread Class Assault pods
Lore: The Desecrator Class is a recent Chaos modification of the Desolator Class Battleship made at the request of Abaddon the Despoiler in preparation for the Gothic War. The Purpose of the design was to increase the, already large number, of Attack Carriers in the Chaos Armada and expand the Chaos Battleship fleet; to allow for more spearhead vessels meaning a greater number of avenues of attack. The idea being to swamp Imperial forces under an assault from multiple fronts across an area of space covering hundreds of planets each, stretching any Imperial reinforcements thin and wide, to allow for the Battlefleet to be easily overwhelmed in small chunks at a time.
The Desecrator Class bares many similarities to the Desolator she is based off of in both appearance and armament.
Retaining the frontal torpedo launchers and most of the lance batteries; however some changes have been made to the armaments of the vessel. For one the Desecrator has a dorsal lance mounted overlooking the prow of the Battleship, as well as along the spine of the ship, and a pair of launch bays replacing the two forward-most lance batteries.
Although her carrier capacity isn't very impressive by Battleship standards, It's sufficient for systematically taking apart enemy Cruisers and escorts as well as provide an extra defence against torpedo and strike craft assaults. The frontal lance, in combination with these strike craft and the torpedo launchers, giving her impressive frontal firepower at long range; able to cripple enemy vessels and disperse enemy formations as leads assaults into enemy battle lines. Her carrier capacity and lances also making her very well suited to the fire support role also, able to stay behind the main advance and escort them in with fighters while providing covering fire from her large number of long range lances.
The Desecrator performed well during the Gothic War.
She proved to be an excellent break-through warship, able to apply large amounts of firepower very quickly to key areas in Imperial Battle lines and create openings for the deadly Chaos Cruisers to follow and tear the tight formations open, the battleship then providing fire support in taking out harder targets among the disorganised melee.
Although these tactics where deadly, and dedicated Desecrator-lead assault was rarely unsuccessful in breaking up formations, her armour was not sufficient to allow for the survival of the Battleship following the initial push: Rival Imperial Battleships like the mighty Retribution even able to blunt such assaults with their awesome broadside firepower.
But the Desecrator is still a true menace in any offensive operation, and the bane of any cruiser unlucky enough to be faced with this aggressive terror.