Adeptus Astartes Chapter Support: The Fleet

Adeptus Astartes Chapter Support: The Fleet

When the Legiones Astartes were first formed they commanded unrivalled naval power. Legion Masters and Primarchs stood as the supreme commanders of many Expeditionary Fleets with hundreds of capitol-ships at their disposal. Finest of these were the Gloriana-class Battleships, the single most powerful vessels crafted for the Great Crusade, each an example of long-lost archaeotech salvaged from the wreckage of Old Night and rebuilt into unique and supremely formidable warships each capable of serving as the flagship of a Legion. The Iron Blood, the Vengeful Spirit, the Hrafnkel, Conquerer and Nightfall were all ships that chilled the blood of those who so much as heard their name, whose guns were capable of slaying fleets and ending worlds. Thankfully most such vessels have long been consigned to history and those few that remain are rarely seen.

Following the defeat of Horus the Primarch Roboute Guilliman set about reforming the Imperium's military and ensuring that another rebellion of the scale of Horus' treachery could never occur again. To this end Guilliman divided the various arms of the Imperium's military into autonomous agencies with their own chains of command. No longer would any single human or transhuman would be able to command vast armies, fleets, forges and titans by themselves. For the space marines this meant that the warships available to the newly reformed Adeptus Astartes would be limited to highly specialized strike craft designed to deliver battle-forces into contested warzones but were ill-suited to mass naval warfare. These ships can be broken down into three broad classes, battle-barges, strike cruisers and rapid strike vessels. Some chapters are fortunate enough to possess the formidable firepower of star fortresses while a few primogenitor chapters still maintain their ancient Gloriana-class flagships.

Battle-Barges 

The largest of the warships available to the Adeptus Astartes the battle-barge is a class that can vary significantly in size but are generally considered to be roughly equivalent to battleships in size and power but sacrifice some of the firepower of Imperial Navy ships of their size for increased speed and numerous launch bays for strike craft. Most battle-barges are capable of transporting and deploying three full companies of Adeptus Astartes and their support material, carry a sizable contingent of thunderhawk gunships and transporters, and are equipped with drop pod bays, boarding torpedoes and teleportation arrays. Battle-barges lack the considerable broadside weapons arrays of capitol-class Imperial Navy ships but feature more dorsal turrets than many other vessels of their size, allowing them to sweep aside enemy opposition to their fore and smash through blockades to deliver their payload of superhuman killing machines to a planetary warzone no matter the obstacles in their path. Although relatively ill-suited to large fleet engagements battle-barges are nevertheless powerful and well armed ships that have seen service in countless void battles over the last ten-thousand years. However where the Imperial Navy may win most of its battles by trading broadsides a battle-barge is far more likely to maneuver to deploy boarding assaults as the primary means of disabling large enemy warships. Through the use of gunships, boarding torpedoes and teleportation assaults a battle-barge may insert strike teams of supremely deadly warriors aboard enemy vessels with the aim of slaughtering the command crew, disabling the generatorium or detonating internal magazines. Depending on the chapter the objective of such assaults may be to destroy the target vessel or the chapter may seek to capture enemy warships for their own benefit. Even when substantially outgunned the speed and durability of a battle-barge ensures that it is a formidable opponent in any engagement and such vessels are often shockingly difficult to destroy, soaking up far more firepower than many other ships of similar size. Most chapters will typically include one to three battle-barges, most of which will be ancient vessels with millennia of service to their names. For fleet based chapters one or more battle-barges may serve as a pseudo-fortress monastery and act as the repository for the chapter's gene-seed and reliquary for the chapters most precious artifacts. Some notable examples of the battle-barge are even more formidable than lesser examples of their kind, such as the Eternal Crusader, the flagship of the Black Templars chapter. Exact specifications are hard to determine but it is generally believed that the Eternal Crusader is considerably larger than most other ships of its class and is one of the most powerful ships in the Imperium.

Strike Cruisers 

Strike cruisers make up the bulk of capitol-ships in any chapter fleet with most chapters possessing some six to eight such vessels and with some chapters possessing considerably more. Capable of transporting and deploying a full company of Adeptus Astartes warriors it is quite common for chapters to assign a specific strike cruiser to each company permanently, the same ship transporting the same company for centuries or millennia at a time. Outfitted with launch bays, boarding torpedoes, drop pods and teleporters strike cruisers make for versatile deployment platforms much prized by the space marines who serve aboard them. Like their larger battle-barge counterparts strike cruisers are relatively ill-suited to ship-to-ship naval actions and often rely on deploying boarding assaults to win naval engagements. However, despite their lack of formidable broadsides or long-range firepower strike cruisers are fast and agile, easily outrunning and outmaneuvering many vessels of similar size and power. The speed and durability of the strike cruiser is critical for the space marines who rely on their ability to rapidly redeploy from warzone to warzone far faster than any other branch of the Imperium's military. Many strike cruisers are ancient ships who have served their chapters for many centuries, some even predating the founding of their chapter and a few even dating back to the Great Crusade. Replacing such vessels is a time consuming and difficult task and as such chapters will go to great lengths to preserve their ships and recover them even if ruined nearly beyond repair. It may take centuries to restore a ship after it has suffered catastrophic damage on campaign but that will not stop many chapters from recovering and towing ruined vessels back to harbor and undertaking the task regardless of the cost. For even such lengthy and expensive repairs are nevertheless preferable to obtaining a newly crafted replacement. Often a chapter may embark on a campaign or enter into a political alliance for the sole purpose of acquiring a new strike cruiser.

Because each strike cruiser will generally serve as a long-term home for a single company of space marines and may be required to operate far from resupply for years or decades at a time such vessels are outfitted to service any and all needs of the company for extended periods of time. Every space marine strike cruiser or battle barge can be expected to maintain an armory and forge overseen by a senior Techmarine that is responsible for the maintenance and repair of all of the company's weapons, wargear and warmachines as well as possibly maintaining limited manufacture of new components and equipment. Each ship will most certainly maintain sizable apothecarion facilities for the treatment of wounded space marines and in many cases such facilities may be called upon to oversee the induction and implantation of new recruits to the chapter. Each apothecarion will maintain a small gene-seed vault to store the progenoid glands collected from fallen marines of the company and keep them stable and safe until such time as they may be returned to the chapter fortress monastery. Some chapters choose to maintain small stocks of genetic material on some of their chapter ships so that in the event of a disaster striking the chapter homeworld or fortress monastery the entire future of the chapter will not be lost at a stroke. Most space marine capitol-ships will also maintain their own libraries sanctums, miniature versions of the great libraries and training facilities of the fortress monastery where the librarians of the company may meditate, train and seek insight from the tides of the warp to guide their battle-brothers to victory. Such facilities often maintain extensive records on chapter campaigns, and detailed analysis of every foe ever faced by the company or the chapter. Every vessel will feature one or more chapels dedicated to the chapter cult and maintained by the chapter Reclusium, places where the relics and battle-honors of the company may be displayed and battle-brothers may go to seek guidance and reflect on past victories or defeats. Some chapter chapels will be dedicated to the God-Emperor should the chapter in question venerate the Emperor as a deity, while for many other chapters their chapels will be dedicated to their primogenitor Primarch and if they venerate the Emperor they will do so as the Master of Mankind, not as the god of the Imperial Church. In some cases a chapter may not venerate the God Emperor but may also not know of which Primarch their gene-seed originates and so dedicate their chapter chapels to all the Primarchs or to none in particular, as is the case with the Blood Ravens chapter.

Rapid Strike Vessels 

The smallest vessels in any chapter fleet are typically classified as rapid strike vessels. In some cases these are dedicated classes unique to the Adeptus Astartes such as the Gladius and Nova-class frigates and the Hunter-class destroyers. These classes of ships often appear in shape and function similar to the larger strike cruiser and battle-barge vessels of the space marine fleets though on a much smaller scale. However the casualty rate of escort-class vessels is considerably higher than the capitol-ships of the space marine fleets and it is quite common for chapters of the Adeptus Astartes to supplement their specialized rapid strike vessels with more common escort-class ships more typical of Imperial Navy fleets. Sword and Cobra-class vessels are quite common sights in the colors of the space marines. Typically rapid strike vessels serve either as escorts to larger capitol-class vessels of the fleet or are used to transport and deploy smaller strike forces to warzones that do not require the attention of a full company or even a demi-company of Adeptus Astartes. Depending on the size and configuration of a rapid strike vessel it may transport anything from a single squad to a demi-company size formation of space marines. Though commonly used to transport small detachments rapid strike vessels lack the formidable launch bays and other deployment capabilities of capitol-ships, for instance it would be the rare rapid strike vessel indeed that possessed a teleportation array, not even every strike cruiser possesses such rare and valuable technology and few would be the chapters that could risk deploying such a relic system on vessels as small and vulnerable as escort-class ships. When not being used to deploy small strike forces rapid strike vessels may serve as escorts to strike cruisers or battle barges, screening their larger counterparts from enemy fighters and bombers or intercepting torpedoes. Other duties will include patrols of chapter territories including the home system of a chapter as well as extended domains and spheres of influence and potentially the transportation of dignitaries, aspirants and honor guards to and from chapter domains. 

Void Fortresses 

Although not exactly vessels per-se many chapters maintain examples of void fortresses, the most common being the Ramilies-class Star Fort. For some chapters star fortresses are defensive installations that serve to protect various chapter domains, serve as resupply points or repair facilities. For other chapters a void fortress may serve as the Fortress Monastery of the chapter, either because the chapter is void based and does not possess a single chapter homeworld or because the chapter does not maintain a permanent presence on their homeworld but prefer to maintain a home in the void above their recruiting world or worlds. The Ultramarines for instance maintain several Ramilies-class Star Forts throughout Ultramar. Two chapters in particular maintain Void Fortresses of enormous size, unique provenance and unrivalled power, the Dark Angels and Imperial Fists. The Dark Angels Fortress Monastery, the Rock, is a chunk of Caliban, the lost homeworld of the chapter. Hollowed out, fitted with weapons, launch bays and engines the Dark Angels transformed the Rock over many centuries into a void fortress of enormous size and power, a fortress that is likely the largest warp-capable military asset in the Imperium. The Imperial Fists Fortress Monastery known as the Phalanx is a star fortress whose construction predates the foundation of the Imperium. Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists Legion, discovered the Phalanx before he was reunited with the Emperor and upon first meeting the Master of Mankind he offered the star fortress as a gift. The Emperor however chose to leave the Phalanx in the hands of his son and it became the flagship of the Imperial Fists Legion and continues to serve the primogenitor chapter to this day. Capable of traveling through the warp the Phalanx is easily one of the most fearsome void-craft in the galaxy. 

Gloriana-class Battleships 

Forged by the Mechanicum in the glory days of the Great Crusade each and every Gloriana-class battleship was a unique construction forged using many priceless and irreplaceable archaeotech weapons and systems recovered during the early days of the Great Crusade. Each Gloriana-class ship possessed distinct capabilities, no two being exactly alike or entirely comparable in their shape, size, speed or firepower. The Conquerer, Vengeful Spirit and Hrafnkel were considered among the largest and most formidable of their class while the Swordstorm was by far the fastest and most agile. Only twenty such vessels were ever built and during the Horus Heresy many were destroyed. Of those Gloriana-class vessels that belonged to loyalist Legions the Fist of Iron, Shadow of the Emperor and Flamewrought, the flagships of the Iron Hands, Raven Guard and Salamanders respectively, were all destroyed in orbit over Istvaan V. The Swordstorm, flagship of the White Scars was lost during the legions efforts to reach Terra. The Red Tear and Hrafnkel, the flagships of the Blood Angels and Space Wolves are missing, their ultimate fates unknown. The Imperial Fists may never have had a Gloriana-class battleship though some records indicate the battle-barge the Eternal Crusader may actually have been born of the Gloriana-class and if so it serves still in the hands of the Black Templars. Of the known loyalist Gloriana ships only the Macragge's Honour and the Invincible Reason, the flagships of the Ultramarines and Dark Angels respectively, are known to still exist and still serve with their chapters to this day. Even alone and completely unsupported a Gloriana-class ship is a monster of the void. Averaging roughly double the size of an Imperial Navy battleship and sporting twice the guns, twice the launch bays, torpedo tubes and shields a single Gloriana is more than capable of obliterating an entire fleet on its own and laying waste to even the most powerful of warships in a single broadside volley of archaeotech weaponry. 

A-Typical Chapter Vessels 

Although rarer there are chapters who maintain vessels and fleet assets that do not fall into the typical categories listed above. The most obvious example are the Space Wolves chapter who have been known to capture enemy vessels and reclaim them for the chapter fleet regardless of provenance or classification. Several battleships and cruisers of various classes serve alongside the more typical space marine battle barges and strike cruisers within the fleet of the Space Wolves. Though the Imperial Navy and the Inquisition are not entirely pleased with the predilection of the Space Wolves to claim restricted classes of warship for themselves in battle the power and reputation of the chapter generally prevents any punitive action against it. The Space Wolves are not the only chapter to maintain unusual vessels. The Daedelos Krata, flagship of the Minotaurs chapter is a monstrous assault carrier of enormous size and power and unusual configuration. Where the ship comes from or how it found its way into the hands of the Minotaurs is a complete mystery, one of many surrounding this unusual and infamous chapter. The Eternal Crusader itself is something of an unusual craft, though often classed as a battle-barge many of its capabilities do not fit with other examples of that class. Likely many more examples of rare, unusual or ancient vessels can be found within the fleets of the Adeptus Astartes, especially older and more powerful chapters who may still possess vessels dating back to the Great Crusade or even earlier.

The Crew 

No matter how large or small no vessel of the chapter fleet can go anywhere without a substantial human crew to help get it there. Each chapter deals with the issue of their crew in their own way. The Ultramarines recruit their crews from among the military academies of Ultramar who are to a one highly trained and cool-headed professional soldiers, while the Space Wolves crews are largely descendants of Fenrisian tribesmen taken into the chapter to serve as serfs and who go about their duties armed to the teeth and ready to repel boarders at any time. Other chapters may maintain bonded servants who are little better than chattel and treated as such and others yet much prefer the lobotomized reliability of servitors over crew with more independence of thought and action. Regardless of the nature of the crew one can be sure that space marine ships lack much of the decrepitude and abandonment internally that is a hallmark of many Imperial Navy vessels. Rare will be the space marine ship that has abandoned subdecks populated by mutant ratings, rather most space marine vessels will be clean, well-lit and well maintained, their crews professional and competent. From the Ultramarines to the Space Wolves, the Blood Angels and Imperial Fists any boarder suicidal enough to attempt to directly assault a space marine vessel should expect the crews on board to fight to the last in defense of their home, from the lowest gunnery deck serf to the bridge crew every servant of a chapter will be a disciplined and determined opponent willing to sell their lives in defense of their ship and their masters, many will be highly trained and heavily armed, given far greater trust and respect than the deck-hands of Imperial Navy ships and have access to far deadlier wargear as a result. Some chapters place so much trust in their serfs that they are willing to leave defense of their ships entirely to their mortal crews, freeing them up to launch their own boarding assaults no matter what foe attempts to invade their own vessel.

Many chapters allow their ships to be captained by mortal veteran crew members while some chapters prefer to assign seasoned battle-brothers of the chapter to command some or all of the chapter's ships. Sometimes battle-brothers given such assignments have been too badly wounded in battle to ever return to combat service, perhaps crippled by some terrible weapon or injury or whose bodies have rejected bionic augmentation. Other space marine captains are simply chosen for their skill and patience and see command of a chapter vessel as a glorious and honorable assignment though in other chapters such a role would be considered a veritable exile from the thrill and glory of honest battle. Every ship across every chapter will require the services of a Navigator, each obtained through complex and ancient alliance with one or more of the ancient Navigator Houses of Terra. The Navigators assigned to the Space Wolves are all drawn from House Bellisarius, their service obtained through ancient treaty dictating an exchange of personnel, in return for a selection of Navigators to crew the chapter ships the Sons of Russ provide House Bellisarius with a group of space marine bodyguards and military advisers known as the Wolfblade. Such a considerable price is more than worth it to acquire the services of elite Navigators capable of guiding the chapter's ships through the dangerous tides of the warp safely and quickly. Likely many other chapters make similarly cutting sacrifices in return for their own cadres of Navigators though such details are few and far between.