Warhammer 40k Wiki
Advertisement
Warhammer 40k Wiki
Victory Class Battleship

Imperial Victory-class Battleship

The Victory-class Battleship is a powerful battleship of the Navis Imperialis that is suspected to be a class that had its origins in a heavily modified variant of the Retribution-class Battleship. In its internal layout, the Victory-class greatly resembles the Retribution-class. It is possible that this design is the product of grafting lance weapons systems onto a Retribution template in an attempt to replicate the successful Apocalypse-class Battleship by replacing its broadside Macrobatteries and prow torpedo tubes with lance batteries and a Nova Cannon.

The Tech-priests of Mars refuse all requests for access to their records by historitors of the Navis Imperialis, so the origin of this class remains unclear, though one vessel, the Conqueror, is known to have particularly distinguished itself as part of the Imperial Army's Armada Imperialis during the Great Crusade in the late 30th Millennium to bring the Emperor's light to the galaxy after the end of the Age of Strife.

When Hive Fleet Behemoth, the first major Tyranid hive fleet, encountered the Imperium of Man in 745.M41, four Victory-class Battleships met the threat of the Great Devourer -- the Victory, Argus, Conqueror, and Hammer of Scaro.

Notable Victory-class Battleships[]

  • Argus - A notable Victory-class vessel, the Argus was one of four such vessels that met the Tyranid threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth head-on during the First Tyrannic War in 745.M41.
  • Blade of Judgement - The Blade of Judgement was a Victory-class Battleship that served in the Indomitus Crusade Fleet Quartus. During the Indomitus Crusade, it served in Task Force Tempus Indomitus Quartus-Cerastus 116 which took part in the Battle of Karseyn Strait. However, the Blade of Judgement was declared lost after it disappeared while attempting to exit the Warp and take part in the battle. Despite this, the Blade of Judgement would later appear several times to aid Fleet Quartus' forces and help propel them to victory. This included aiding Task Force III in battle with xenos warships near Tragya, saving the remnants of Task Force II from destruction at the hands of Vordori Flayers and aiding Task Force VI against Heretics near Bauhax, where it destroyed the capital warship Colossus Nox. It also aided the Black Templars of Castellan Grastmund in the Vordex Incident. In each case the Blade of Judgement mysteriously appeared and then vanished after Fleet Quartus' foes were defeated. It never responds to any vox transmissions sent to it, but Fleet Quartus psykers have reported hearing strains of Imperial hymnals, as well as wails and screams coming from the Blade of Judgement. In one case, the survivors of Task Force II even reported that ghostly apparitions of guardsmen descended from the Blade of Juedgement and came to their aid. All of the battleship's appearances since being declared lost have been compiled into reports, but the Inquisition has ordered that several parts be left heavily redacted.
  • Conqueror - A notable Victory-class vessel, the Conqueror was one of four such vessels that met the Tyranid threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth head-on during the First Tyrannic War in 745.M41. The Conqueror had a long, proud pedigree that stretched back over ten millennia, having particularly distinguished itself during the Great Crusade to bring the Emperor's light to the galaxy after the end of the Age of Strife. The Conqueror led the Imperial Expeditionary Fleet that cleansed the Stabulo System of the deviants that polluted the Segmentum Tempestus at that time.
  • Divine Right - The Divine Right is under the command of the Navis Imperialis Lord Admiral Janzig Danathios. It serves as his flagship among the Imperial forces that are defending the besieged Pankallis Sub-sector.
TribuneSchematic

Schematic of the Imperial Fists Legion Victory-class Battleship Tribune as it was at the Battle of Phall during the Horus Heresy.

  • Hammer of Scaro - A notable Victory-class vessel, the Hammer of Scaro was one of four such vessels that met the Tyranid threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth head-on during the First Tyrannic War in 745.M41. The Hammer of Scaro was rebuilt with prow torpedoes instead of its Nova Cannon after receiving severe damage ramming the Ork Space Hulk Gungedrinka at the Battle of Lexus.
The Tribune

The Imperial Fists Legion vessel Tribune as it was at the time of the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium; a Cobra-class Destroyer is presented at right as a size comparison to scale.

  • Tribune - The Tribune was born in the orbital yards of Inwit in the years after the coming of the Emperor when the Inwit Tech-wrights built ten battle barges as tribute to the Emperor and in honour of Rogal Dorn's command of the VIIth Legion. The Tribune and its nine sisters were variants of the Victory-class and all displayed the hand of Inwit's weapon-craft and mentality woven into their fabric. Heavily armed and armoured, it was a ship made to give and take damage in the thick of a battle line, its design and precise configuration honed by decades of the Legion's experience in void combat, and communication and command systems woven into its structure that showed the intent that the Tribune and its sisters would lead the Imperial Fists in their later conquests. The Tribune served as the flagship of Fleetmaster Alexis Polux at the Battle of Phall. She was destroyed in action against the Iron Warriors' battle barge the Contrador at the very climax of that devastating fleet confrontation. The Tribune is listed as participating in over three hundred major fleet engagements and countless smaller clashes throughout more than a century of war. The Tribune's long and glorious service came to a fiery end when Fleetmaster Polux was forced into the desperate measure of sacrificing her to escape the Iron Warriors' attack at Phall with as many of his Imperial Fists and crew as possible. Drawing the mighty Contrador into a boarding action that saw the Tribune overwhelmed by the vengeful sons of Perturabo, Polux led his own sally, hundreds of his warriors crossing over to the Contrador to take her intact even as the Tribune floundered. Even before the Contrador was taken, the Mechanicum Enginseers left on board the Tribune enacted the Fleetmaster's final command, overloading her plasma reactors and destroying herself, the bold defenders who remained to draw the enemy, and hundreds of Iron Warriors. Though a terrible loss, the Tribune's sacrifice allowed thousands to escape that they might serve their Primarch and the Emperor another day, adding crucial numbers to the defence of Terra.
  • Victory - A notable Victory-class vessel and the first of the class, the Victory was one of four such vessels that met the Tyranid threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth head-on during the First Tyrannic War in 745.M41.
  • Vigorous - The Vigorous served in Battlegroup Phaedra of Fleet Quintus during the Indomitus Crusade. It served as the flagship of the battlegroup after the destruction of the Emperor-class Battleship Pax Imperialis. After successfully crossing through the Great Rift, the battleship was transferred for service to the Order of Our Martyred Lady when the contingent of those Sisters of Battle accompanying the fleet lost their own voidship Daughter of the Emperor while reclaiming the Shrine World of Cion from the forces of Chaos.

Sources[]

  • Battlefleet Gothic Magazine 2, "D'aynes Fighting Ships of Segmentum Tempestus - Battlefleet Bakka," pg. 37
  • Pilgrims of Fire (Novel) by Justin D. Hill, Part Three, Ch. 7; Epilogue
  • The Horus Heresy Book Three: Extermination (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 52, 54-55, 62
  • The Will of the Legion (Short Story) by Andy Clark
  • White Dwarf 453, pp. 66-67
  • War Zone Octarius Book 1: Rising Tide (9th Edition), pg. 31
Advertisement