Carnage-class Cruiser

A Chaos Carnage-class Cruiser

The Carnage-class Cruiser was designed as a fleet support vessel that utilises its long range Phased Plasma weapons batteries to stand off and provide supporting fire for other warships. The Carnage was an ill-fated design of warship from the start, marred by the many technical difficulties encountered trying to power such long-range weaponry and the cause of much division within the Imperial Navy's Battlefleet Obscurus. It was further marred when the very first Carnage-class Cruiser, the Relentless, turned to Chaos during the Skalathrax Landing (a different world than the Daemon World Skalathrax), turning its guns on the six Imperial Guard transports it was supposed to be covering as they made a landing in hostile territory, thereby earning the new name Initiate of Skalathrax. Since that time, many more Carnage-class Cruisers have turned Traitor as well.

History

Designed as a fleet support vessel, the Carnage-class was meant to provide supporting fire from long range for other Imperial starships. Unfortunately, the Carnage suffered from numerous problems during its construction, including many technical difficulties with the power systems for its long-ranged Phased Plasma batteries. These issues with the Carnage-class caused raging debate in the Battlefleet Obscurus, dividing scores of influential captains into opposing camps. Although these challenges were eventually overcome, numerous Carnage-class Cruisers have turned Traitor, beginning with the very first vessel of its kind. It is rumoured that there is some bizarre, maddening twist in the ship’s design that leads its crews inevitably towards discord and mutiny. Carnage Cruisers are feared opponents, able to cripple enemy ships with punishing salvos of long-range battery fire.

Armament

The Carnage-class Cruiser was designed as a fleet support vessel that utilises its long range Phased Plasma weapons batteries to stand off and provide supporting fire for other warships. The Carnage-class is especially good at destroying Eldar spacecraft by overwhelming their deceptive Holo-Fields with a sheer volume of weapons fire, though Carnage-class vessels fare relatively poorly against the heavily-armoured prows of Ork and Imperial warships.

Notable Carnage-class Cruisers

• Initiate of Skalathrax - The first Carnage-class Cruiser ever built, the Initiate of Skalathrax was also one of the most infamous. Originally named the Relentless, when the Cruiser went into battle during the Skalathrax Landing, supporting six Imperial transports as they attempted to establish a beachhead on that contested world, as Traitor vessels from a Chaos warfleet moved in on the convoy, the Relentless turned its guns on the transports, destroying three. The remaining transports reached the surface but found that their landing site had been compromised and they were quickly overwhelmed by the Traitor forces. Renamed the Initiate of Skalathrax for its deeds, this Carnage-class Cruiser survived three millennia of blockades and convoy attacks until it was finally destroyed by Imperial agents whilst it was docked at the traitorous Darkstation space outpost in the Priam Sector during the Gothic War.
• Anarchic Vendetta - The Anarchic Vendetta became another Carnage-class Cruiser that turned to Chaos after a mass mutiny by its crew who left the butchered remains of their officers aboard Station 26/A, and then violently tore the ship out of dock. The Anarchic Vendetta then proceeded to deal heavy damage to the station until they were forced to disengage by the intervention of the Apocalypse-class Battleship Duke Helbrecht.
• Excessive - The Excessive fought and earned renown during the Gothic War.
• Mortis Ex Astra - Often sighted with Karrad Vall's command group in the Cineris Maleficum of theKoronus Expanse, the Mortis Ex Astra is a Carnage-class Cruiser with more than seven confirmed capital ship kills to its name, including the Sentinel, a Tyrant-class Cruiser. Calligos Winterscale's flagship battled the Mortis Ex Astra to a standstill in orbit over the planet of Hemelshot, but the Chaos vessel's uncanny accuracy eventually forced the Rogue Trader to withdraw. There is a substantial standing bounty for the destruction of the Mortis Ex Astra posted upon Footfall and Port Wander in the Koronus Expanse.
• Wanton Desecration - The Wanton Desecration fought and earned great fame during the Gothic War.

Dimensions

• Hull: Cruiser.
• Class: Carnage-class Cruiser.
• Dimensions: Approximately 5 kilometres long, .8 kilometres abeam.
• Mass: Approximately 28.5 Megatonnes.
• Crew: Approximately 80,000 crew.
• Acceleration: 2.4 Gravities maximum acceleration.

Sources

• Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook (Blue Book), pg. 124
• Rogue Trader: Battlefleet Koronus (RPG), pg. 108