The Devastation-class Cruiser is a fleet-support carrier used by the forces of Chaos, a rarity among Chaos warfleets. A Devastation-class vessel possesses large starboard and port launch bays that are capable of launching four squadrons of Chaos attack craft into any battle, bringing vital support to Chaos warfleets that are normally short on the fighters needed to counter the massed torpedo volleys that are part of the standard tactics employed by their Imperial Navy nemeses.
Devastation-class cruisers also bring to bear bombers and the Dreadclaw Assault Boats (Drop Pods) that are an incredibly dangerous offensive weapon when they are also filled with Chaos Space Marines for a boarding action. While the Devastation-class' weapons batteries and long-range Lances lack the firepower required to engage in short-range duels, the Devastation-class nonetheless remains an effective long-range threat for the forces of Chaos.
A Chaos Devastation-class Cruiser on patrol.
Tough and reliable carriers, the Devastation-class Cruiser is a starship highly valued by pirate bands and Renegade warlords. It possesses powerful long-ranged Lance emplacements on either broadside, racks of turbo-laser destructor batteries on its prow, and can launch a considerable array of attack craft from its flight decks. Devastations carry robust repair and re-armament facilities for their bombers and fighters, and below decks, entire cargo holds are given over to crude quarters teeming with hordes of mutants, Chaos Cultists, and madmen who fill the ship's complement of Dreadclaw Assault Boats.
Within the Koronus Expanse, the crews of the Swiftdeath fighters and Doomfire bombers exist as tightly knit clans, with sets of pilots and crews competing against each other in savage duels for supremacy.
Dimensions
- Hull: Cruiser
- Class: Devastation-class Cruiser
- Dimensions: Approximately 5 kilometres long, 0.8 kilometres
- Mass: Approximately 28.5 Megatonnes
- Crew: Approximately 80,000 crew
- Acceleration: 2.4 Gravities maximum acceleration
Notable Devastation-class Cruisers
- Crimson Reliquary - The Crimson Reliquary was long affiliated with the Khornate warband known as the Slaughterkin. It was the personal flagship of the infamous Mahaur the Harvester, the warband's Chaos Lord. Following the events of the Scourging of Kerrack, the current status and location of the Crimson Reliquary are unknown.
- Deathbane - The Deathbane fought and earned great renown from its patrons among the Ruinous Powers during the Gothic War. During an ambush on an Imperial battlegroup stationed at the Hive World of Orar, the Imperial Navy vessels were found preparing to put down a rebellion in a neighbouring star system. Fire from the Lunar-class Cruiser Iron Duke smashed the bridge of the Deathbane, but the ship's commander, Malefica Arkham, survived.
- Excrucian - The fleet of Koronus Expanse pirate warlord Karrad Vall includes many ships, but few as infamous as the Excrucian. This Devastation-class Cruiser is normally part of Vall’s honour guard, providing both offense and defense with its shoals of attack craft. The crew of the Excrucian crew are exceptionally well-trained, and the ship has survived over a dozen savage battles intact over the last 40 standard years. There are whispers on the world of Footfall that the competition for pilots on the Excrucian is ruthlessly brutal, and the best amongst them are kept in stasis chambers in between missions to preserve their murderous spirit.
- Unforgivable - The Unforgivable earned its name during the 37th Millennium during an engagement that would become known as the Mordian Incident. Known at the time as the Righteous Fury, the starship was paired with the Oberon-class Battleship Justus Dominus and six Imperial Escorts in guarding 14 Imperial Navy transports carrying 32,000 Imperial Guard troops, 1500 main battle tanks, and over 10,000 additional staff and armoured vehicles to fight the Orks on the besieged planet of Gestenbal. When the convoy was assembled, the Righteous Fury reported enemy contacts on its augurs and launched its bombers, then diverted them towards the Justus Dominus while turning its guns against its own Escorts. The surprise attack crippled the Justus Dominus and destroyed four of the Escorts, forcing the two survivors to retreat. The convoy was then helpless against the assault of the Righteous Fury, and was wiped out over the course of thirteen hours of repeated bomber attacks. Only 3,000 men managed to survive in escape pods and ether rafts, a loss that ultimately led to the fall of Gestenbal to the Ork WAAAGH! rolling over it in a green-skinned tide. The newly-renamed Unforgivable would continue to rampage against the Imperium of Man and all its servants for three millennia until it was destroyed by the Dominator-class Cruiser Hammer of Justice during the Port Maw Blockade of the Gothic War.
Sources
- Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook, pp. 94, 111, 123
- Rogue Trader: Battlefleet Koronus (RPG), pg. 106
- Imperial Armour Aeronautica, pg.83
- Battlefleet Gothic Armada II (PC Game) (Image)