From Lexicanum

Cruisers are a type of ship used by the Imperial Navy. There are many variants in service, all being weaker than their counterparts the Grand Cruiser and the Battle Cruiser.

Contents 1 Dictator Class 2 Dominator Class 3 Gothic Class 4 Lunar Class 5 Tyrant Class 6 Obsolete Classes 7 Sources

Dictator Class

The Dictator class cruiser is a rebuilt Lunar Class Cruiser, with the lance decks rebuilt into flight decks for attack craft. The Dictator retains the Lunar's weapons batteries and torpedo capabilities, as well as the armoured prow. The shield, turret, and engines also remain unchanged. It was originally designed as a stop-gap method to deliver the huge numbers of atmospheric craft that an opposed planetary landing needs. In these situations it is unusual to have an airfield under the control of the invaders, and therefore the Dictator fills the role of the airfield for the bombers and fighters supporting the landings.¹

Successive upgrades to the early Dictators meant that their role expanded from simply providing a low orbit "airfield", into being an attack craft carrier in its own right. The class found extensive use as convoy escorts during the Gothic War, and when the demand for attack craft in fleet actions outstripped the supply, the badly damaged Lunar class cruisers were stripped of their lance decks, and flight decks added instead, creating a new generation of Dictator class ships.¹

Notable Dictator Class ships include:

Archon Kort

Seen and lost during the Gothic War.¹

Fortitude

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Lord Solar Macharius

Seen during the Gothic War under Captain Leoten Semper.²

Rhadamanthine

Seen during the Gothic War successfully fighting against pirates in the Orar Subsector before being destroyed by Abaddon's fleet.¹

Dominator Class

De	Dominator-Klasse

The Dominator Class Cruiser was originally designed as a long range support vessel, using its massive Nova Cannon from behind fleet battle lines. In this function, however, it never really excelled and only gained a handful of victories to its name. It was never truly appreciated by its crew(s) until the start of the Gothic War. In a particular battle, a single Dominator, the Hammer of Justice, found itself between two Chaos cruisers. The Dominator's true role was found that day when the Hammer of Justice gave both of its rivals a full broadside assault, crippling them in a matter of seconds.¹

The Dominator's flanking weapon batteries are as powerful as those on a Retribution Class Battleship, but they do not however, share the range of the larger ships guns. The ship still retains the Nova Cannon, and uses it to devastating effect whilst closing on the enemy fleet. Once amongst enemy ships, having caused destruction and confusion from afar, the Dominator's weapons batteries roar into life, ripping the enemy apart at brutally close range. Almost all Dominator's have teleporter attack groups to finish off any enemy ships not yet destroyed by the plasma batteries.¹

Notable Dominator Class ships include

Hammer of Justice

Seen during the Gothic War under Captain Grenfield. When it was outfitted, weapons batteries of greater range but lesser strength were added by mistake causing the Hammer of Justice to under perform during trials however during the Port Maw blockade and raid on Alios, the use of the Nova Cannon caused many other captains to replace their prow armaments with a Nova Cannon due to its improved effectiveness.¹

Gothic Class

The Gothic Class Cruiser is a common sight amongst the battlefleets of the Imperium, second only to the Lunar Class Cruiser. Its usage is similar to that of the Apocalypse Class Battleship in that it is designed to use its lances to directly damage a ship, rather than to cut through shields. Due to this, it is often paired with a Lunar Class or Dominator Class Cruiser. The second cruiser blasts down the shields, leaving the hull unguarded against the Gothic's lance decks. However, if caught alone, without support, the Gothic is more vulnerable than any of the other cruisers in the Imperial Navy. This is because, whilst lances are devastatingly powerful, they are also slow, and a lone Gothic cannot deal the damage fast enough to force an attacker to withdraw.¹

As a lance ship, the Gothic has lances down the port and starboard sides of the ship. These lances are effective at short to medium range, and most captains will use the weapons at standoff ranges to avoid the possibility of being boarded. The ship has the distinctive armoured prow of the Imperial Navy and the standard six torpedo tubes of an Imperial cruiser. The class is as fast and manoeuvrable as any other Imperial cruiser type, with equally good shield and turret coverage.¹

Notable Gothic Class ships include:

Invincible

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Emperor's Wrath

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Righteous Fury

Seen during the Gothic War. Known to have fought against the Chaos Grand Cruiser Bloodied Sword¹

Sword of Orion

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Lunar Class

The Lunar class cruiser is the mainstay of the Imperial Navy. It is a good all-around ship, having reasonable lance and weapon battery armament, and a fair torpedo capability. This versatility is the factor that has won the ship its position as the Imperial war ship of choice. Whilst the Lunar doesn't have the range of larger ships, it can hold its own at medium to short ranges. It also possesses enough shielding and armour to enable it to get to the range of its weapons relatively unscathed.¹

Usually cruisers operate in pairs, and the Lunar is no exception, as it allows twice the firepower to be brought against the enemy, whilst forcing them to halve their reply. The standard tactic with the Lunar class is to fire the torpedos whilst closing with the enemy. This will cause some disruption as the enemy attempts to manoeuvre away from the torpedoes. This distruption will hamper attempts to fire upon the pair of cruisers, and they will get within range, and turn their broadsides to face the enemy. From here, they will fire volley after volley into the enemy while circling at full speed.¹

The Lunar class is represented in almost any Imperial Fleet that one will see, as it is uncomplicated to produce. Even a Hive World with no ship building expertise can build a Lunar class in short periods of time. The ship "Lord Daros" was built in orbit of the Feral World of Unloth. For eleven years its inhabitants mined and smelted ores to be presented to the 'sky temples'. Their perseverance was rewarded with the birth of a new star in the heavens, which left to join its brothers in the cosmos. This 'new star' was the ship Lord Daros's plasma wake, as it left the system to join its fleet.¹

Notable Lunar Class ships include

Lord Daros

Seen during the Gothic War and constructed on the Feral World Unloth. Replaced prow torpedos with a Nova Cannon.¹

Retribution

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Agrippa

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Minotaur

Seen during the Gothic War and has the torpedo launchers replaced by a Nova Cannon.¹

Iron Duke

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Justicar (Ship)

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Relentless

Seen in the novel Relentless.

Tyrant Class

At the end of the 38th Millenium, a new technique was found for extending the range of plasma based weaponry. The superfired plasma weapons developed by Adeptus Mechanicus Artisan-Magos Hyus N'dai were built into the Tyrant class cruiser. In the 39th Millenium the Tyrant class was popular, due to its superior range over other cruiser classes. It was theorised that the Tyrant would be able to deliver both long range fire, and short range fire, of the same power. However, it soon was realised that the long range fire was not much of a threat to anything bigger than a escort, and the class fell out of favour.¹

The Tyrant is as well protected as any Imperial cruiser, with reasonable shield and turret protection, as well as the classic armoured prow. It has no lances, but both long and shorter range weapons batterys. It also boasts enough torpedos to cripple a cruiser if a full strength volley were to hit.¹

Notable Tyrant Class ships include:

Zealous

Seen during the Gothic War. Had its main weapons batteries replaced by those salvaged from a Chaos ship which negated the power drop-off at longer ranges, making it the equivalent power levels of an Imperial Battle Cruiser. It also had its forward torpedo tubes replaced by a Nova Cannon.¹

Dominion

Seen during the Gothic War. Had its main weapons batteries replaced by those salvaged from a Chaos ship which negated the power drop-off at longer ranges, making it the equivalent power levels of an Imperial Battle Cruiser.¹

Incendrius

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Lord Sylvanus

Seen during the Gothic War.¹

Obsolete Classes

• Carnage Class Cruiser
• Devastation Class Cruiser
• Murder Class Cruiser
• Slaughter Class Cruiser

Sources

• ¹:Ships of the Gothic Sector
• ²:Warp Storm

Vessels of the Imperial Navy
Type	Design	Class	Obsolete Classes
Capital Ships	Battleships	Apocalypse • Emperor • Oberon • Retribution	Despoiler • Desolator
	Grand Cruisers	Avenger • Exorcist • Governor • Vengeance	Executor • Repulsive • Retaliator
	Battle Cruisers	Armageddon • Mars • Overlord	Acheron • Hades • Styx
	Cruisers	Dictator • Dominator • Gothic • Lunar • Tyrant	Carnage • Devastation • Murder • Slaughter
	Light Cruisers	Dauntless • Defiant • Endeavor • Endurance
Escorts	Frigates	Sword • Firestorm
	Destroyers	Cobra - Destroyer • Falchion - Escort
	Freighters	Armed Freighter • Defense Monitor • Escort Carriers • Fuel Transport • Q-Ship • Troop Transport
Small Craft	Space	Fury interceptor • Starhawk
	Planetary	Lightning • Marauder Bomber • Marauder Destroyer • Thunderbolt • Vulture Gunship
	Transport	Aquila Lander • Arvus Lighter • Valkyrie