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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→Overview
The [[Imperial Navy]], and all Imperial forces and authorities as a whole, have standard orders to survey such objects and to report their location. The hulks consist of ships and items of technology millennia old and the recoverable technology can be of immense value to the Imperium, and especially to the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]], thus elite Imperial forces are sent aboard to clear out infestations. Depending on the strategic situation (availability of troops, proximity to vital Imperial star systems, safety margins, etc), [[Space Marines]] are sent to purge the hulk of any alien infestations.{{Fn|4}}
These supermassive accretions of wrecked void-craft are inconstant, erupting into and out of realspace without warning on misfiring warp engines. Centuries can go by between sightings of documented hulks, often appearing far from where they were last encountered. But whenever they appearedappear, the doctrine for probing a hulk was is well established. The first and most essential duty of any Mechanicus expedition was is to render all warp engines inert, locking the entire assemblage in place and putting an end to its nomadic, rampaging odyssey.{{Fn|20}}
[[File:GallowdarkArt.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Space hulk known as ''[[Gallowdark]]'' and an [[Adeptus Arbites]] vessel.]]
This doctrine typically consists of using the expedition ship's [[Imperial_Fleet_Equipment#Support_Systems|sensors]] to probe for power signatures. Then upon shipfall, releasing hundreds of [[servo-skull]]s and cyber-altered task units from a chosen staging point to probe beyond the outer edges of the macro-agglomeration, past which most the point where any ship sensors sensor can perceive only even the strongest of signalssignal. The autonomous surveyors document any and all ships constructions or organisms they come across. If a surveyor is met with violent destruction, it is identified as a zone for military forces to be sent once their primary duty was complete. That being The prime directive of the disabling of any warp engines. The scout-constructs is to identify any hint trace of active warp signatures and , armed forces are then expeditiously sent with expediency to those locations and render all warp drives inert. As Space Hulks can contain a number of hazards, a surveyor may be destroyed by hostile forces or hazardous situations during their search. That area is then identified as a zone for military forces to render any secure once they complete their primary goal of disabling all warp engines inert.{{Fn|20}}
Space hulks are inherently incredibly dangerous, as such they are have become commonly used as a means of transport by for certain unsophisticated factions. [[Ork]]s, [[Genestealer]]s, and [[Chaos]] renegades have been known to occasionally use them occasionally to invade other worlds. {{Fn|19}} As the The main advantage of riding these wild behemoths, that are often an amalgamation of multiple ships each containing independent warp drives, is that their warp jump jumps are unpredictable explosions of space hulks is essentially made energy that create trajectories in a random direction this which gives them the advantage of surprise.{{Fn|4}}
Therefore the mission of boarding space hulks is extremely dangerous and normally entrusted to [[Terminator]]s, the Chapters' most experienced elite who are heavily armed and armoured. In some cases this is an impossible task, due to too-powerful enemy resistance, too few available Imperial troops, too close to vital systems, etc. In such cases, the bombardment and total destruction of the hulk is the only viable alternative.{{Fn|4}}
