Long Serpent Class Battlecruiser

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This article or article section is based on information from a Fanatic Press publication such as Fanatic Magazine or one of its predecessors (e.g. The Citadel Journal, Necromunda Magazine, etc.). These publications regularly featured articles submitted by hobbyists, and as such, their content may or may not be in contradiction to established background lore.

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Imperial Navy

The Long Serpent Class Battlecruiser is a class of Imperial Navy battlecruiser.^[1]

Overview

Long Serpent Class Battlecruiser^[1]

Built by the Tech Priests of Hydraphur at the direction of Admiral Knightsbridge shortly after the Gothic War, the Long Serpent was designed to act as a pirate hunter. It combines the basic Cruiser layout with an engine suite normally used for battleships, resulting in a much faster vessel able to keep up with the swiftest raider craft while delivering brutal firepower thanks to its four Weapons Batteries, single Lance battery, and Nova Cannon.^[1]

However, all this performance came at a price: its armour protection remains that of a cruiser. When hit by multiple salvos from larger vessels, Serpent-class ships are quickly destroyed and catastrophic Warp Drive failure can take surrounding escorts with it. But despite this, limited numbers of Long Serpents are finding their way into the fleets of Segmentum Obscurus and Segmentum Pacificus.^[1]

Notable Long Serpent Class Vessels

• Gorgon — Destroyed an Eldar Shadow Cruiser^[1]
• Medusa — Destroyed in a fight against Ork raiders, damaging the Lunar Class Cruiser Lord Chalfont in the process.^[1]
• Nemesis — Destroyed an Ork Terror Ship and three Ravagers single-handed^[1]
• Scylla — Destroyed by multiple Chaos ships and suffered a Warp Drive meltdown that destroyed her entire squadron of Escorts and damaged the Battleship Mailed Fist.^[1]
• Swift Striker^[1]

Trivia

The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

• The Long Serpent Class Battlecruiser was originally a fan-designed entry by Bob Henderson for Planet Killer's Battlefleet Gothic "Design a new space ship" competition^[2] and the runner up of the contest^[1].

Sources

• 1: Battlefleet Gothic Magazine Issue 2, pgs. 18-19 ^{Fanatic Press}
• 2: Planet Killer Issue 1, pgs. 28-29 ^{Fanatic Press}