Hyperion class Heavy Cruiser - Babylon 5

HYPERION CLASS HEAVY CRUISER
The development started in 2161, Earth Force began a project to field its first jump-capable cruiser.
This prove to be the source of dispute for decades to come. The rapid production of 5 designs in less than 30 years sounded alarm bells in the Earth senate.
Several senatorial factions became alarmed at what they saw as the increasing ability of Earth Force to wage wars of aggression and propose that funds should be diverted into areas more beneficial to their constituents and other backers.
The consequences for Earth Force were serious and development slowed drastically. Ironically, the delay had allowed Earth Force to make several breakthroughs in structural engineering that allow the production of a more capable design.
Finally in 2205, the go-ahead was given for a brand new class of cruiser, the Hyperion.
The first prototype was fielded in 2208 by Karma-Tech at the Neue Hanse Orbital Shipyard in Earth orbit and was a major success.
These Hyperions were a rude surprise for the Dilgar in the war of 2232.
Like most Earth Alliance ships of the period, the Hyperion lacked the capability to generate artificial gravity, either through the use of rotating sections or the later, more advanced gravitic drive systems. Though rotating sections were within Earthforce's technical capabilities of the time, they greatly reduced a ship's speed and effectiveness. As such the crew had to operate in a completely zero gravity environment, requiring the use of seat straps and handholds to work effectively.
At a length of some 1025 meters, the ships are hardy, well-armoured, and have a wide array of variants built for whatever purpose is required. The ship operate with a crew of 356 officers and was capable of transport another 200 troops. The ship was powered by 3 fusion reactors and require maintenance every 12 months.
The armament consisted of:
1 Heavy Plasma Cannon,
8 Medium Plasma Cannons,
2 Fusion missels launchers.
The ships defense consisted of:
6 to 8 meter armored hull,
10 mark 1 Defense Grid Energy Projectors.
4 mark 1 Interceptors.
This array of interceptors guns protects the vessel from incoming fire, but this defensive arrangement is nowhere near as sophisticated as that found on the more modern Omega class.
The ship was fitted with:
6 Aurora Starfuries,
2 Standart Shuttles,
2 Breaching Pods.
The troop transport variant could store:
12 Assault Shuttles,
30 Ground Vehicle.
Sadly, they had little chance against the Minbari during that war, and were destroyed in huge numbers.
The task force that made the disastrous first contact with the Minbari included several hyperion heavy cruisers.
EarthForce ships had enough firepower to destroy a Minbari ship, but the stealth systems prevented weapons from loooking on to their ships. Ships were forced to fly in dense formations to come into firing range for a manual lock.
Unfortunately, Hyperion's were crippled far before they could get into range to do any real damage.
The Earth-Minbari war saw many new ships designs, since there were no longer funding problems for earth Force to contend with. Several hyperion variants were produced including: anti-fighter, troop transport, command, missele, pulse cannon and railgun varieties.
Thousands of these ships were produced, working together with the Nova class dreadnought in the war. Large numbers of Hyperion Heavy Cruisers survived the war to see action in the final Battle of the Line.
After the war the alliance need to shore up earth defenses against opportunistic neighbours.
An upgraded variant of the ship was produced to increase earth defenses.
The armament of the most common Hyperion today, also know as the midwinter variant consisted of:
1 Heavy Plasma Cannon,
2 Heavy laser Cannons,
8 Medium Pulse Cannons,
2 Fusion missels launchers.
For several decades, the hyperion class formed a solid core to the EA fleet. Hyperion have been a part of virtually every Alliance military engagement since the turn of the century. Only within the last few years have the more advanced Omega Destroyers begun to supplant them in the naval inventory, but there seem to be no plans to completely cancel the reliable, proven hyperion design.
Instead, they continue to operate both independently and alongside the more expensive and powerful Omegas.
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[@AvroBellow]

B5 was always better than other sci-fi franchises in terms of pure realism. The Hyperion actually looks like something that we would build. It's straight-forward and to the point with form taking a massive back seat to function. The use of real Newtonian physics is also something to be lauded in B5. It was awesome to see Starfuries and Whitestars spinning around and firing at enemies behind them without even slowing down. This really was a great series, it's really a shame that so many of the cast are no longer with us. Rest in peace to all of you, for many great stories have you told us.

[@PaxDeorum]

I love the desing of this ship. Its my favorite with the warlock and the omega.

[@Hammerhead137]

​@@PaxDeorum I don't know. The rear half of the Hyperion was a bit too skeletal for the ship to be of any real use in a fight.

[@oldtimefarmboy617]

6 to 8 meter thick hulls? That is almost 20 foot to 26 foot thick hulls. That is an incredible amount of mass to move and maneuver.

[@Akm72]

If it was solid metal then sure, but for all we know it could be thin layers of metal sandwiching some form of energy absorbing foam or some form of spaced armour made up of thin layers with voids in between.

[@oldtimefarmboy617]

@@Akm72 Good point.

[@michaelmcdonnell3905]

Nice seeing a starship with no artificial gravity, the crew using handhelds and seat straps, I'm amazed we don't often see it's like.

[@sparrowlt]

the fact that at the B5 decomisioning ceremony there was a Hyperion class pressent , and that the lead ship of the class was still active at the end of the Civil war shows how good theese ships were.. too bad they got cutted out lot of screen action in favour of the Omegas from season 3 onwards.buy they were allways there

[@philidox]

I can watch these types of videos a million times and not get tired of it. The language you use is eloquent, sexy, and most importantly informative. Can you start doing videos on the fighters of each race? Starfury, Thunderbolt, etc...

[@PaxDeorum]

Sure :)

[@stephenbyrne2170]

This is my favourite class of Earth starship in Babylon 5.

[@vegaobscurax23]

Great vid. Can’t wait for more

[@PaxDeorum]

New video available...give a look...

[@jaymikevillanueva1212]

I call for a vid about the Sabre class frigate!

[@moppypuppy781]

*4:00* That's such a cool image, is that from the show? A scene I missed?

[@james8449100]

Forward interceptors on the clarkstown are down. Aft batteries

[@briananthony4044]

So what are the 4 guns on the upper bow? There seems to more turreted cannon than described, etc.

[@hyperionclassheavycruiser]

Particle cannon

[@StaK_1980]

@4:03 - where did you get that picture? I've never seen like that before!

[@Booyaka9000]

It's a rendered screencap from the Freespace 2 Babylon 5 project. Hence why they're all sporting the same number.

[@MasterJediDude]

I used to play the Mongoose Publishing game “A Call to Arms” and had an Earth Alliance fleet. For the time, it wasn’t too bad, but the miniatures are pretty dated now.

[@james8449100]

Did you evey play the b5 mod of amda 2 that gor the sounds just right

[@otiscarter1356]

Excellent

[@PaxDeorum]

Thanks...give a look in the new videos...

[@Hammerhead137]

​​@@PaxDeorum Personally I've never been a fan of the Hyperion. The design is far too skeletal to be of any real use in a fight. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. Still, Love the breakdowns. I'm already subscribed.

[@StaK_1980]

Also: I have to laugh at the absolute criss-cross of the ship categories. The Cruiser being smaller than the destroyer but the same size a nova dreadnought ...heh

[@hyperionclassheavycruiser]

Not same size Hyperion 1065 mts Nova 1504 mts Omega 1714 mts Warlock 1918 mts

[@franciscoguzman1034]

Not crew 300 plus Officers but NCOS and in Navy personnel are called Sailors sines Babylon 5 series had Earth force under a combine Navy, Air Force and Army Command. You always have more Indians than Chiefs.

[@PaxDeorum]

Yes, but there isn't much information about ships crew only numbers. We can't discard the possibility of those ships being manned by some new officer class. Considering what would be required of someone to be able to operate on a ship like that.

[@franciscoguzman1034]

I am an Ex Army Sargent and you always have more enlisted personnel than Officers. In a company you have one Captain and each Platoon has one Lt the rest are NCOS follow by the largest number the enlisted. Same in the Marines Navy and Air Force from caveman days to the future. If you have 300 to 800 Officers then your ship would have thousand of enlisted doing their jobs. That means super lage ships,small in number due to cost taking half the citizens pay cheek to support it. Not cost effective to the welfare of the economy.

[@PaxDeorum]

Yes, you're correct. The number of officers may be 300, but the staff required to maintain this ship must be enormous.

[@90lancaster]

I think it's a lazy Use of "Officers" instead of crew - but since B5 partly takes some cues from Starfleet (and judging by some thing Ivanova & Sheridan said a time or two) I suspect that 300 is the entire crew complement and that by Officer - they just mean they have 260 odd ensigns. I don't think it's unreasonable to say "Lets send every person who crews on a ship to an academy" as they have a lot to learn in space safety alone. That said there is also some reason to think that Security personnel on stations may be just Non-Coms in part. So Yeah Logically I'd say it makes some sense to either admit that all the grunts are the equivalent of Privates/Corporals/Ensigns (or similar) but are counted as all "officers" for statistical purposes. They are simply not large enough to have several hundred other non-coms on board - and with automation they'd not to be hugely staffed like an American Aircraft carrier is. They'd need people to : Do basic maintenance to things like any auxiliary craft they have & to the weapons, engine or some for hull repairs and such after a fight, But judging by the show it seems they just patch up any leaks and immediately jump to a repair facility in many cases rather than do their own repairs to extensively. I wonder if they put a small centrifuge chamber in the non-gravity ships so some people could sleep in Gravity and so they don't get bone problems. I don't think there is space though. - But if you did want to put such a thing in them there is perhaps space for a revolver like one somewhere in the neck area as an alternative design (especially if fighter bays are not stuck on the end). I also like the idea of mounting sequential medium beam weapons on the out ring of such a rotating section and then each until it can come to bare in rotation allowing the others to cool - or it can hedgehog all around itself a big ol' collar of death,.. or tilt them forward and have a slow moving gattling gun effect of medium lasers. It would make the defences much harder to target in a starfighter too.

[@PaxDeorum]

These ships do not have centrifuge chambers, the crew serves in shifts to mitigate the effect of zero gravity...but...I always thought this ship should have a centrifuge section betwen the midle and the hangar...its a good spot for it.

[@sparrowlt]

@@PaxDeorum the TOTAL crew of the Hyperion was arround 300-350 .. thats heads .. The bigger Omega class for example had a complement from 250 to 1000 (EAS Cerberus crew was 300 as told by Gideon, EAS Roanoke had a crew of 547 and the Omegas present at Mars in Endgame had crews of 1000)

[@sparrowlt]

@@PaxDeorum Yes.. i think i readed somewhere long ago that some EA Ships had smaller wheels inside the hulls for crews to exercice and espent some time in gravity.. even the small Olympus class corvette is huge at nearly 500m long.. there is plenty of space for a few 20-30m diameter wheels (like the Discovery from 2001, wich has a 12m wheel) with gym and facilities to exercice or pass time.. Not just that.. in theory a Hyperion should be much more faster and maneovrable than an Omega..because while the omega has simulated gravity.. both are still subjected at the laws of physics when the ships acelerate or change direction.. in a Hyperion thats not problem since everyone is straped to their seats ..but in an Omega i see people standing up in the consoles.. if the ship acelerates even at 0.3G everyone would be thrown to the aft bulhead (unless of course the crew compartments inside the rotating sections can also lean backwards under aceleration)

[@Booyaka9000]

No human voice, no upvote.

[@Brian-rs4xg]

That B & H cmmerical made me really hungry for a pizza.

[@p12psicop]

The narrator for this video seems to get a lot of work.

[@Bronzedraken]

They look a little bit like a Submarine

[@mastermonarch]

It look like a submarine

[@PaxDeorum]

The Hyperion follows the modern submarine design.

[@SpockBorg5]

This should be typed as a frigate not cruiser since this ship would be more appropriately used in that role

[@weldonwin]

This seems to be a case of sci-fi writers not being particularly familiar with naval ship classification, a quirk thats not in any way unique to B5, Star Wars or the like, writers just go with classifications for their ships that sound good.

[@PaxDeorum]

I i agree with you, but as was said, sci-fi writers usually don't give much thought to naval ship classification.

[@newhoped3864]

No not really a Frigate to big and Heavily armed, in our terms I'd probably classify it as a light cruiser by the time of the B5 TV series took place.

[@SpockBorg5]

Newhoped omega class destroyer would be a better example of a cruiser. The Hyperion would be better used as an auxiliary or escort like a frigate. Although it has an impressive weapons suite , this ship would not last long in a head on one on one fight with a ship from one of the more advanced races, even if they both the same size never a heavier warship. In other words a cruiser should be able to act on it's own, the Hyperion doesn't have that capability.

[@PaxDeorum]

They came to occupy this role when the Warlock Advance Destroyer was released.

[@warrenpeden3198]

The computer voiceover makes the video watchable

[@MrRoverpilot]

Kewl name , Peace of the Gods

[@gtc9966]

1000m long...? Really?!

[@richardmartin3243]

it seems more like table some crappy ass ships you figured it would have done a better job of it

[@dantruong2582]

Great content but voice is TERRIBLE

[@PaxDeorum]

I know, next video will be narrated. Let's see if my cheap microphone and my brazilian accent will not get in the way. Lol

[@90lancaster]

If he used a Girl Robot voice it would sound like B5's Computer voice.

[@PaxDeorum]

I dont like the girl voice...it sound like the google translator...

[@Brvnkaerv]

Robot voice makes for automatic down vote. The same for disabled comments.