Centauri Medium Cruiser
| This vessel mounts very large missiles that are apparently used for ground bombardment, as seen in In the Beginning. John Sheridan, G'Kar, Dr. Franklin, and a Minbari Ranger were attempting to have peace talks when a Centauri cruiser jumped out of hyperspace. The Centauri vessel destroyed G'Kar's Narn heavy cruiser with a single volley from its forward/dorsal turret, then launched several missiles at the planet. Sheridan heard the approach of the missiles seconds before impact, and dove for cover. The missiles destroyed the building, but only killed one inhabitant - the Minbari Ranger. |
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It seems inconsistent that this vessel can destroy a capital warship with a single volley of beam weapon fire, but did not kill a handful of men with a volley of missiles. Missiles are expensive and consumable, so they must present some advantage over the beam weapons for planetary bombardment or they would not be used. It should be noted that the Centauri also used mass drivers in lieu of beam weapons to bomb the Narn homeworld. The possibility exists that Centauri beam weapons are short-ranged, or not well-suited to planetary bombardent for some reason.
One possibility as to why the inhabitants of the building were not killed is that more than one building was in the area. The Centauri may have targeted every building on the deserted planet in hopes that one missile would end the meeting. There was no way of knowing which shelter housed the target. In fact, the correct building was quite small, and may not have been directly targeted at all. In this case, the building was destroyed by shockwaves from a distant missile detonation.
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The dorsal turret mentioned above has a high rate of fire along with a wide field of view. It is apparently the vessel's primary weapon, as it is the most often used in the series. A single volley from this weapon can destroy large capital warships, as the Narn vessel mentioned above, and even vessels with electronic defense shields, like Delenn's whitestar. There is also a weapon in the nose of the ship that is used on occasion. This was the weapon of choice against a Narn heavy cruiser in Acts of Sacrifice. |
Centauri cruisers trash Delenn's Whitestar
| They also mount some form of torpedo, shaped as a sphere, and slow-traveling. These were used to make quick work of a Drazi task force. These torpedoes were launched from an opening under the nose of the ship. They easily tracked their targets, and packed sufficient firepower to disable them. One cruiser in particular launched 5 of these torpedoes in a single volley. They appear to be very maneuverable, as one torpedo made a very rapid turn to hit an evading Drazi ship. |
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Centauri cruisers destroy a Drazi task force in Movements
of Fire and Shadow.
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Centauri medium cruisers can be scaled by direct
contact with a Minbari fighter.
In this image, a Minbari fighter is attatched to the underside of the starboard wing of a Centauri medium cruiser. In this broadside view (before it was resized), the fighter is 87 pixels long. The fighter is attatched to the wing close to the center portion of the vessel. The "wing" is about 400 pixels long. The lower limit on the length of a Minbari fighter is 11 meters, and the upper limit is 24 meters. This gives the wing of the Centauri warship a lower limit of 50 meters long, and an upper limit of 184 meters.
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If we assume that all of the wings of this vessel
are the same length (as appears so), a reasonable estimate of the size
of this warship can be reached. In this image (before resizing),
the superior wing is 75 pixels long at the base. The entire vessel
is 237 pixels long. Given the lower and upper limits on the length
of the wing, the entire vessel is between 160 and 580 meters long.
Since this is all based on the scaling of a Minbari fighter; whose lower
limit is more reliable than it's upper limit; it is likely that this Centauri
vessel is closer to 160 meters than 580 meters long.
The ship is approximately 110% as long as it is tall, so it has a lower limit of 145 meters tall; and an upper limit of 640 meters tall. While the wings are approximately the same length, the vessel is wider than it is tall. The horizontal wings are also thicker than the vertical wings. |
| In the image on the top, you can see that the Centauri
fleet is several hundred meters off the port side of the station.
Each ship is a fraction of the width of the station, at any point.
In the image on the bottom, I have labeled the diameter of the face of the station, and the height of a Centauri cruiser. The face of the station has a diameter of approximately 333 meters. Since the warship is closer to the camera than the station (as evidenced in the above image), it has an upper limit of 220 meters tall. This is consistent with the limits established above. Since an image above suggests that the vessel is 110% as long as it is tall, a generous estimate of 242 meters for the length of this vessel can be stated. This is also consistent with limits established above, further reinforcing them. It is also closer to 160 meters than to 580, despite being a generous estimate in itself. |
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The limits presented above can be solidified by images of starfuries in close combat with one of these vessels. Incidentally, this cruiser was destroyed in a few seconds of concentrated fire from Alpha Squadron. |
