Chaos Battleship

The Warmaster's Spearpoint.

The heaviest class of warship available to the forces of the Ruinous Powers, Battleships are often the armored fist of the Warmaster. Many are millennia old, and with their hulls still bearing the scars of the the conflict that forced their exile to the Eye of Terror.

Chaos Battleships are big, mean, and heavily-armed and armored. They feature a wider, flatter, and sleeker profile (if you ignore the spikes that is) when compared to their Loyalist counterparts. Being based on older designs, they also lack the Armored Prow that characterize contemporary Imperial Ships.

A lot of them have been... changed by their time in the Immaterium, and depending on their Commanders, may come in varying flavors of spiky, angry, disgusting, perverted, or nerdy.

Battleship Classes

Desolator

A design dating to the dawn of the Imperium, and constructed using technology long lost to the Imperium, the Desolator was a warship that emphasized destruction from afar. And it was fully capable of doing so, with Lance turrets, long-ranged macro cannons, and Torpedo tubes as standard. There are no more Desolators left in Imperial service, all having turned to Chaos long millennia before.

Despoiler

And you thought you could avoid Carrier-spam?

A Carrier-type, the Despoiler was based on a blueprint found by the Adeptus Mechanicus on Barbarus, the home world of Mortarion. Similar in design to the infamous Terminus Est commanded by Typhus, it was discovered too late that it had severe flaws in its Geller Field generators. Not surprisingly, many went Traitor, which led to the Imperium abandoning construction of the class.

Gloriana

Very rare, and very very dangerous, the Glorianas were designed to be the personal flagships of the Primarchs. When half of them went traitor, they took their ships with them. In the wake of the death of Horus, many followed their masters into exile into the Eye of Terror.

A lot of them are still around. The Vengeful Spirit is used by Abaddon as the flagship of his Black Fleet, while the Endurance was spotted recently under the command of Mortarion. Any of these are the equal to entire Imperial fleets, and woe to the Admiral who has to face one of them in battle.

In Battlefleet Gothic

With their long weapon ranges and high speeds, Battleships lean toward the long-ranged keep-away playstyle that Chaos favors. Due to their high armor and shields, they can also do well during short-ranged brawls, though with their weaponry there's no real reason to do so.

That said, if one wants to come close and personal, Chaos can make Boarding Actions more effective for a cost by taking Chaos Space Marines as crew. Taking those will then give a player the option to field Chaos Space Marine Terminators.

In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 1 & 2

Comparatively cheaper than the Battleships of the Imperial Navy, Chaos Battleships are also faster, with speeds matching Cruiser-class warships (only the Retribution-class has the same speed). Without Armored Prows, they're less protected up front, and are less effective in Ramming maneuvers, but due to the extremely long ranges of their weaponry, have no reason to get into brawling range.

Unlike in the tabletop game, there's no option to upgrade to a Chaos Space Marine crew, so Chaos Battleships are less effective in Boarding actions.