Mars-class Battlecruiser
The Mars-class Battlecruiser is a powerful starship of the Imperial Navy and a very common and respected sight across Imperial space. It is the apex of human engineering in space combat and it is a truly multi-role vessel capable of engaging and defeating a large variety of threats to Imperial dominance in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The Mars-class is a very common vessel in the Imperial Navy of the 41st Millennium and hundreds of these ships can operate in a just a handful of fleets in a single Segmentum. The Mars-class is regularly used as a flagships for small wings of starships on patrol or as the bulky lead vanguards of a full battlefleet. The Mars-class fulfills many tactical criteria for the Imperial Navy that is normally impossible for Imperial military starships that are rarely designed with the flexibility required to be considered multi-role spacecraft. The Mars-class excels at orbital bombardment, close ship-to-ship warfare, and carrier roles. Only the Dictator-class is as multi-role a starship since it can serve the carrier function but lacks the ability to hit targets from a distance. The Mars-class is well armed and equipped for its multiple roles and it mounts a Nova Cannon, a lance battery, fighter/bomber launch bays and multiple other point defence weapons batteries.
The Mars-class' name is a hallowed one; a name that echoes the great Forge World of Mars because it was unique to the orbital shipyards of the Red Planet prior to the Gothic War. While many Imperial capitals reckon the class is undergunned for its size in comparison to a similar vessel, it is still sought after in many battlefleets and the vessel still comprises a major part of the Imperial Navy's order of battle.
Design
The Mars-Class was first built in the orbital shipyards above the massive construction facilities of Mars, this class was also exclusive to the Martian shipyards. However due to the combined criticisms of many Imperial captains about how effective the Mars-class is in combat, eight centuries prior to the Gothic War, the production of the class was discontinued indefinitely until that conflict proved the class' enormous utility and it began to be mass-produced by Adeptus Mechanicus orbital shipyards across the Imperium of Man.
However there are many aspects of the vessel that have to be admired. the Mars-class was designed to fill a gap in humanities lack of multirole cruisers. While adopting the traditional bulky hull with the adamantium armoured wedged shaped prow with the 'wings' at about three quarters of the way down the ship, the Mars-class is a ship that is very recognisable. Its key features include the distinctive nova cannon and a dorsal armament bristling with lances, but more distinctive than that are the launch bays positioned half way down the ship- home to four squadrons of Fury fighters and/or Starhawk bombers depending on mission requirements.