Gloriana Class Battleship

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The Gloriana Class Battleship was an ancient and powerful Battleship design used by the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy.

Overview

The Gloriana Class Battleship Iron Blood

The Gloriana Class Battleship was an ancient Terran design which alongside similar vessels like the Promethean Class Cruiser and Tiamat Class Destroyer were forgotten technological relics, even by the time of the Great Crusade. They far surpassed the contemporary Imperial designs in capability.^[10b] During the Great Crusade, as the fleets of the nascent Imperium reached the core worlds of the Segmentum Solar and supply lines became stretched, the independently operating Gloriana and Victory patterns replaced the support-intensive designs of the Goliath and Legatus Class Battleships.^[19]

These massive ships were frequently used as flagships for Imperial fleets and even Primarchs. The Gloriana Class vessels are the largest known Imperial warships after the Phalanx and Furious Abyss-class vessels.^[1] Some of the largest known Gloriana-class vessels were the Vengeful Spirit, Conqueror, Hrafnkel, and Iron Blood.^[4] Due to their size, the construction of a Gloriana class battleship was a costly procedure, close to five per cent of the entire output of the Forge World of Mars was used to complete a single ship.^[15]

The Dark Angels had perhaps the greatest fleet of the Space Marine Legions during the time of the Horus Heresy, including many advanced relic ships which had been granted to them by the Emperor - among these were a fleet of Gloriana class vessels.^[10c] These vessels, or other first-rate warships, formed the core of many of the Dark Angels' support flotillas.^[10c] At the Battle of Advex-Mors during the First Rangdan Xenocide, the leading squadron of the Dark Angels' fleet fielded no fewer than three Gloriana class vessels, the Invincible Reason (the Legion’s flagship), Truth's Razor, and the Paradigm of Hate, which would later sacrifice itself to destroy a xenos war-moon.^[10e] Later two unnamed Dark Angels Gloriana battleships were seen during the Thramas Crusade,^[10a] and another unnamed First Legion Gloriana battleship was present during the Sealing of the Black Gate.^[10d]

At the start of the Shadow Crusade the Word Bearers Legion had 9 Glorianna Class Battleships among their fleet, several of which had once borne the colours of other Legions, indicating that some of these vessels might have been captured from the loyalist legions during the Dropsite Massacre.^[14]

As of M41, the design appears to have fallen out of use. However, a few still serve as flagships, such as the Invincible Reason (in service with the Dark Angels) and Macragge's Honour (belonging to the Ultramarines). The latter of these currently serves as the Lord Regent Roboute Guilliman's personal flagship.^{[1][2][3][9][11]}

Exact technical specifications, such as dimensions or crew sizes of individual Glorianas are not always available and have varied, possibly reflecting the individual customized nature of each ship. Below are included where applicable descriptions of the size of individual Glorianas:

Named Gloriana Class Battleships

Vessel	Fleet	Description	Status
Invincible Reason	Dark Angels	Contained a 28 km grand processional and strongpoint named '1025/lamba' along its dorsoventral spine. Has a mortal crew of "a million men and women".[9]	In active service as the flagship of the Dark Angels fleet.[9]
Paradigm of Hate	Dark Angels		Destroyed during the Battle of Advex-Mors[10e]
Truth's Razor	Dark Angels		Unknown
Pride of the Emperor	Emperor's Children		Crippled during the Battle of Thessala
Iron Blood	Iron Warriors	Described as 15 kilometres of cold iron and battle-blackened adamantium.[18]	Unknown
Swordstorm	White Scars		Destroyed during the Battle of Catallus during the Horus Heresy
Hrafnkel	Space Wolves	Described as "one of the first to be given to the legions" and "one of the largest"[4]	Unknown
Burden of Duty	Imperial Fists		Possibly destroyed in the Siege of Cthonia.[12]
Eternal Crusader	Imperial Fists		In active service as flagship of the Black Templars
Nightfall	Night Lords		Unknown
Red Tear	Blood Angels		Unknown
Fist of Iron	Iron Hands		Unknown
Conqueror	World Eaters		In active service in Kossolax's fleet during the 13th Black Crusade
Macragge's Honour	Ultramarines	Described as 26 kilometers of polished ceramite and steel armour.[17]	In active service as the flagship of Roboute Guilliman in M42
Endurance	Death Guard		In active service as the flagship of Mortarion[7]
Photep	Thousand Sons		Unknown
Vengeful Spirit	Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus		In active service as the flagship of Abaddon the Despoiler during the 13th Black Crusade
Magna Tyrannis	Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus		Renamed Harbinger of Doom. In active service with the Black Legion.
Fidelitas Lex	Word Bearers		Destroyed over Nuceria during the Horus Heresy
Chronicle of Ashes	Word Bearers		Captured by the Ultramarines and given to the Nemesis Chapter (renamed as the Lex Talonis)[5]
Flamewrought	Salamanders		Unknown
Shadow of the Emperor	Raven Guard		Destroyed in the Drop Site Massacre[21]
Alpha	Alpha Legion		Unknown
Beta	Alpha Legion		Unknown
Amphion	Imperial Armada		Unknown

Known Patterns

• Scylla pattern^[20]

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.

Conflicting sources

• The End and the Death: Volume III states that only 20 Gloriana class ships were ever made.^[13] There are however at least 25 named Gloriana class ships known (see list above, as of 30 September 2024).

Sources

• 1: The Horus Heresy Book One - Betrayal, pg. 96
• 2: Collected Visions, pg. 38
• 3: Betrayer (Novel), Chapter 21
• 4: Wolf King (Novella)
• 5: The Horus Heresy Book Five - Tempest, pg. 20
• 6: Fear to Tread (Novel), Chapter 20
• 7: Dark Imperium (Novel), Chapter 19
• 8: Ruinstorm (Novel) ^[Help]
• 9: Legacy of Russ (Novel) - Part 8 - Fate Unbound
• 10: The Horus Heresy Book Nine - Crusade:
  • 10a: pg. 42
  • 10b: pg. 86
  • 10c: pgs. 111-112
  • 10d: pg.118
  • 10e: pgs. 120-122
• 11: Dark Imperium (Novel), Chapter Four
• 12: Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Siege of Cthonia, pgs. 34-43 — The Beginning of the End
• 13: The End and the Death: Volume III (Novel), Chapter I
• 14: The Horus Heresy Book Five - Tempest, pg. 18
• 15: Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris (Novel), Chapter 2
• 16: Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First (Novel), (e-version) Chapter 3 Part II
• 17: Know No Fear (Novel), (e-version) Chapter 3 mark: -61.20.31
• 18: The Crimson Fist (Novella), (e-version) The day of the Battle of Phall
• 19: The Horus Heresy Book Four - Conquest, pg. 47
• 20: Talon of Horus (Novel), Chapter ^[Help]
• 21: Deliverance Lost (Novel), Chapter 1