Abyss-class Super Battleship
Short of mobile battle stations, Battleships are often considered the largest and most powerful bog-standard ship that any faction could produce as a standard model. Some, like the Gloriana-class Battleship is the largest vessels still classified as a 'battleship'. However, to quote Qui-Gon Jinn, there is always a bigger fish. Overshadowing even a Gloriana, this is where the term, Super Battleship is used. To put this further into perspective, the only known human vessel to out-size these monsters is The Phalanx (and maybe the late Imperator Somnium), which dwarves even them, though to be fair, Phalanx has the advantage of being built with Dark Age archeotech.
Super Battleships are incredibly rare due to the sheer size, high construction cost and the mother of all maintenance cost overruns. It is telling that even in the Great Crusade, the Imperium of Man with all its might and vast resources only managed to build three of these damned things (To be fair, it was more like a side project for Lorgar when he got his Heresy on). Dubbed the Abyss-class Super Battleships, these monsters were named after the construction of the first ship, Furious Abyss, and was the flagship of whiny bitch#2 Primarch Lorgar of the Word Bearers. Without telling anyone, Lorgar actually revealed he constructed two sister ships on the onset of the Horus Heresy. How in the everloving fuck that bible-fucker hid not one, but TWO of these stupid ships from Daddy, we have no idea. Though he couldn't have hidden such a herculean project THAT well, since it was at least known by the higher members of the Martian Mechanicum, before the schism.
Due to the fact that all three of these Super Battleships were in command of the Word Bearers, only Chaos got a hold of these bad boys.
- Length: 27-30km; approx
- Mass: 280-340 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 320,000-420,000 crew, including 100,000 pilots and support personnel; approx
- Acceleration: 0.7 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Overview
The Abyss-class Super Battleship was a unique configuration within the Imperium at the time and were quite large with even Emperor and Gloriana Battleships being dwarfed by these massive vessels. It was roughly shaped like a sword with three points sticking out from the vessel like a trident. These ships were more akin to floating cities then battleships and a noted appearance was a large open golden book present on its hull. Lorgar was never the one who was known for being subtle. The command throne was on a raised dais with numerous screens present allowing its commander to control the entire vessel.
The nature of the ship meant that many did not think it was capable of carrying fighters but these individuals were often surprisingly mistaken when the ship launched its complement of fighters from its hangar bay.
The Abyss contained the first prototype plasma lance, which was capable of destroying other ships in close combat. It was also capable of being equipped with psionic charges which were able to be deployed in the Warp and disrupt the senses of a Navigator.
Known Ships
"You built two."
"Oh, no. I built three."
Furious Abyss
The one and only.
The Furious Abyss was created secretly by a branch of the Mechanicum who held loyalties to Warmaster Horus during the early start of the Horus Heresy. It was made at the shipyard moon of Thule and given as a gift to the Word Bearers, who were serving their Primarch in their plan to assault the loyalist Legions that would serve the Emperor. After the commemoration ceremony, the shipyard was destroyed, killing all the workers and allowing the ship's existence to remain a secret as its design was unknown to everyone outside its construction. As you know, this was kind of counterproductive, since Golden Daddy should realistically notice that something was off with the massive redistribution of resources in his own empire. And if they could keep the secret that well, keeping them around for more secret projects would be a great idea.
The detachment of Word Bearers in command of the vessel was led by Fleet-Captain Zadkiel, who was given the task by Kor Phaeron to take the ship to Macragge and destroy the planet in order to create havoc among the Ultramarines. During its flight through space to its destination, it was detected by the Fist of Macragge and the Ultramarine vessel was used as target practice and destroyed by the Furious Abyss as it continued its journey. However, the distress signal from the ship's Astropaths was sent to an Imperial outpost and received by Captain Lysimachus Cestus, who led a group of Ultramarines, World Eaters (Of all people), Space Wolves and Thousand Sons to investigate the message.
The fleet made its way and caught up with the Furious Abyss and learnt it was commanded by the Word Bearers. Confused, the loyalists contacted the ship but did not receive a response. Zadkiel instead contacted the commander of the Waning Moon, Mhotep, in order to secure his allegiance to Horus's side. However, Mhotep decided to warn his comrades leading to a fight between the squadron and the Furious Abyss which was no contest for the large vessel. It destroyed numerous escorts and the Waning Moon before entering the Warp in order to reach Macragge. As it did so, it deployed a Psionic mine into the Empyrean in order to disrupt any following ships' Navigators and their ability to travel through the warp. After the bible thumpers got their asses kicked by Grandpa Smurf's boys in blue, it was cleared from Macragge's orbital lanes and demolished, its destruction being used as a funeral pyre for Ultramarine Fleet Commander, Lysimachus Cestus.
Trisagion and Blessed Lady
The Trisagion and the Blessed Lady were two sister ships whose design was based upon the Furious Abyss. They were built in secret, and were unleashed during the later days of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.
Like the Furious Abyss, they were both built by Dark Mechanicus Hereteks for use by the Word Bearers, who themselves had secretly fallen to Chaos. Following the destruction of their previous flagship, the Trisagion ultimately became the personal flagship of Lorgar. Both ships later took part in the assault on Armatura, a world vitally important to the Ultramarines, while the Trisagion was a part of the purging of Nuceria alongside the World Eaters, where they engaged a large Ultramarines fleet.
Towards the end of the Heresy, the Trisagion became the flagship of Zardu Layak. It was the base from which the Dark Apostle and Lorgar himself attempted to find Fulgrim in order to bring him to the muster at Ullanor before the Siege of Terra. The ultimate fate of both ships is unknown.
| Vessels of the Traitor Legions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spaceships | ||
| Space Station | Blackstone Fortress | |
| Super Battleships | Abyss | |
| Battleships | Battleship (Gloriana - Planet Killer) - Ark of Omen | |
| Cruisers | Light Cruiser - Cruiser Heavy Cruiser - Grand Cruiser | |
| Escorts | Escort | |
| Others | Silver Tower of Tzeentch | |
| Combat Spacecraft | Doomfire Bomber - Swiftdeath Fighter | |
| Landships | ||
| Siege Carriers | Siege Carrier | |
| War Machines | Chaos Harvester - Nurgle Plague Tower - Woe Machine | |
| Titans | Questor Scout Titan - Slaanesh Subjugator Feral Scout Titan - Ravager Battle Titan Chaos Warlord Titan - Chaos Emperor Titan Skull Reaper | |
| Troop Transports | Mastodon | |
| Superheavy Tanks | Baneblade - Fellblade - Plaguereaper Tower of Skulls | |
| Airships | ||
| Flying Fortress | Harbinger | |
| Aerospace Vessels | Stormbird | |
| Seaships | ||
| Oceanic Battleships | Oceanic Battleship | |