Editing Dark Angels (section)

=== The Dark Angels Fleet ===
Both Forge World and the Black Library books have hinted quite a bit at the Dark Angels Legion having had a very prominent void presence. They are noted to specialize in extended independent void operations and the 1st Legion's artificers were known to create the distinctive 'Paravane' sub-type armour: ''"an idiosyncratic variant of the widely issued Mark II which was renowned for its enhanced void endurance and systems."'' Though this never really gets mentioned in later 40k, but there's no stopping you using the conversion kits to represent "Void Hardened" Armour in Zone Mortalis games, if you ever play those. This would also explain why they would have a crap ton of [[Terminator]] Armor.

Although they didn’t have the largest fleet nor have the largest number of capital ships (those honours belonged to legions like the [[Imperial Fists]] and the [[Iron Warriors]] respectively), the First may still have owned one of the most powerful fleets among the legions at that time. Chalk it up to the fact that they used a whole bunch of weapon designs that were left over from the Dark Age of Technology and had a large number of void fortresses that nobody else knew about. Which, by the way, means there may be hundreds or even thousands of Dark Angels Chapters in the void no one knows about as the legion creates its own (it did so publicly at least once that we know of and we know they can build their own everything). During the Thramas campaign, Sevatar’s reaction to seeing the full force of the First Legion's fleet bearing down upon the Night Lord's legion can be summed up as “well we're fucked, time to run away” (place obligatory Monty Python joke here). Even when the Lion headed towards Macragge, leaving the largest part of his fleet in the hands of Corswain, the fleet assets he took with him were still described as being enough to casually wipe out the defenses surrounding Guilliman's home and then split the world in two.
*Some of the fleet were armed with something similar to the Rift Cannons on the Dark Angels 40k Dark Talons but on a massive scale; such weapons would be devastating in a void combat environment.
*The Dark Angels legions fleet was almost never to be found in one place, instead it would be spread out into a large number of smaller fleets; however don't underestimate these fleets as each will contain some very old and powerful ships, dating all the way back to humanities golden age, and each fleet will be centred around a bloody [[Gloriana-class Battleship]] (that's right they had multiples of these things).
*The Lion would lead a fleet no larger then any other of the legion, as he wanted each fleet to be just as capable as his own. The fleet he is seen using during the Heresy numbered enough ships to sustain 20,000 marines; this combined with the current Dark Angels chapter fleet numbers, sustaining the supposed "1000" marines, we can get a rough bench mark for the size of Dark Angels legion fleets during the Crusade, however the Imperial Fists are said to have the largest fleet at over 15,000 warships. Due to the numbers that are traveling with the Lion, we can reasonably conclude that the Dark Angels had at least 10 main fleets operating at any given time during the Crusade.

It makes sense that the Dark Angels fleet was on the larger end given that the majority of their successor chapters are Fleet based ''(the fact that being fleet based means that they are harder to keep track of and monitor is of course completely accidental and in no ways intended. After all, what could they possibly have to hide right?)'' However, by the time of 40k and their diminished status as a "Chapter", even when excluding [[The Rock]] itself their fleet capabilities are certainly above average when you compare raw numbers with other chapters. ''With 8 battle barges, 16 strike cruisers and 21 rapid strike vessels they are twice the size of the Ultramarines fleet and almost three times the size of the Blood Angels'.'' However the [[Space Wolves]] have a larger overall fleet and there has been little to no mention of their continued use of archeotech warships and weapons even amongst their successors. However, given that unlike everyone else the Dark Angels never forgot how to maintain and build stuff, it is likely that they and their successor Chapters' technologies never weakened anyway, including their ships. Aside from that, every other instance of degrading technology in 40k is pointed out to our faces, but this is never brought up regarding Dark Angels technology. In the ''Lion 'el Johnson, Lord of the First'' Primarch book, it's revealed that though the Dark Angels maintain good relations with the Mechanicus, they also make a point of familiarizing themselves with the workings of technology on their own, which allows them to be self-sufficient if nessessary, and develop technological insights not limited by the dogma of Sons of Mars. In addition to that, the Dark Angels, alone of probably all other Imperial forces (save for the [[Custodes|Talons]] [[Sisters of Silence|of The Emperor]]) are trusted with untold stores of archeotech so rare and powerful they're unknown to even the Mechanicus. A few notable examples being small arms that ''permakill'' daemons or corporeal beings with equal ease and even [[Grimdark|sear them from memory]], DAoT planet-destroying capitol weaponry capable of [[Exterminatus]]-ing daemon worlds in the middle of a warp storm and yet '''STAY''' dead (something only previously seen from the [[Necrons]]), and [[awesome|functional Men of Iron]]. All of which could only be brought to bare by the express order of The Lion himself, and perhaps by the Dreadwing in the time since his absence. This could go a long way to explaining what separates the Dark Angels and their successors from the rest of the Imperium, technologically speaking.

It is important to note the Dark Angels are one of the very few chapters to still have a Gloriana-class ship, the ''Invincible Reason''. Additionally they do make almost exclusive use of the '''Hunter-Class Destroyer'''. Other chapters have access to the template, but the Dark Angels prefer it because they don't like getting their new fleet assets from the same sources as the Imperial Navy. So the Hunter is like a naval Cobra Destroyer; it acts like a small torpedo boat but is a bit more maneuverable and armoured.

Despite this, unless you believe that the Unforgiven are purposefully concealing the fact that they have a whole bunch of leftover cool shit (which is exactly the sort of thing they love doing), it seems like those glorious days of "Legion" are long past. Although, the Unforgiven having access to all of this tech and being unable to use it because it requires the Lion's express orders to break it out, is exactly the sort of stupidity that the current situation of the Imperium of the 42nd Millenium was built on.

*In most Chapters all their aircraft from the sleek [[Stormhawk]] Interceptors to the hulking [[Stormraven]] Gunships are piloted by the Techmarines of their Chapter's armoury. While most Chapters can have anything from 20 to 40 Techmarines at any one time (the Blood Angels have 35),the Dark Angels only have around 22 Techmarines. The low numbers of Techmarines within the Dark Angels can be put down to their distrust of their [[Adeptus Mechanicus|dual loyalties]], so they might simply not need TechMarines in the first place beyond fulfilling the Emperor’s treaty with Mars. While this lack of specialists would normally be a problem for most Chapters, the Dark Angels are somewhat unusual amongst the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes in that their unique aircraft the [[Nephilim Jetfighter]] and the [[Dark Talon]] are not piloted by the Techmarines of their armoury. Instead, these agile hunting craft are flown into battle by the expert operatives of the Dark Angels 2nd Company, the [[Ravenwing]] - which gives them a whole (oversized) company that is capable of taking to the skies if they are needed. From “Death from the Skies” we learn that most chapters can field at least two “divisions” (24 to around 48 aircraft) but they are dependent on the number of Techmarines the chapter can afford to deploy. By contrast, the Dark Angels have their 22 Techmarines and the entire Ravenwing which can field at least two “Companies” or six “divisions” (72 to around 144 aircraft depending on the size of the Ravenwing at the time); the Penitent blades (one of the newest chapters), due to the nature of their chosen home base, have twice this number. Keep in mind that the Ravenwing's normal ground and speeder vehicles could be piloted by Scouts in a pinch, which means that when deployed as a whole Chapter, the Dark Angels can field nearly one and a half hundred of among the best Astartes fighters along with around a hundred attack bikes and land speeders plus a hundred Terminators and the rest of their battle-brothers. This is without even considering their previously listed examples of technology exclusive to the First Legion. So...[[anal circumference|what did you roll?]]