《Index Astartes》节译：战列母舰
PLANETARY ASSAULT
行星突袭
After the Horus Heresy, measures were taken to contain the power of the Space Marine Legions, solemn decrees that would ensure no single individual could ever again command such might in isolation. As is well documented, the Legions, each numbering thousands of Space Marines, were divided down into smaller warhosts called Chapters; each of only a thousand warriors. What is perhaps of greater importance is that the Space Marines were divorced from the old Imperial military: the new Adeptus Astartes Chapters would no longer hold dominion over vast fleets of battleships or grand regiments of vassal soldiery. If they were to triumph among the stars and stand resolute against the darkness of the void, they would need to work within the Imperium, and as part of it. Since that time, Space Marines have been granted only such warships as are needed to patrol their system borders, and deliver them to battle. To this day, the primary function of their fleets has been to transport battle-ready forces of Space Marines into war.
在荷鲁斯叛乱之后，帝国采取了手段以控制星际战士军团的力量，严正的法令将确保没有哪个个人能再次独立指挥此等（强悍）力量。就像资料中详细记录的那样，每支军团都由数以千计的星际战士们组成，他们都被拆分成名为“战团”的更小规模战群，每支战团都仅包含一千名星际战士。但或许更为重要的一点，是星际战士们被从过去的人类帝国军队中拆分出来：新的阿斯塔特战团们不再统御着战列舰组成的庞大舰队，也失去了附庸于其的（凡人）士兵们所组成的大军。如果星际战士们要在群星中夺取胜利，并坚定对抗虚空中的黑暗，他们就需要在人类帝国（疆域）内部行动，并成为其一部分。从此之后，星际战士们仅被授予巡逻其（封地）星系边境所需，并将他们运送到战场所需的战舰。时至今日，阿斯塔特舰队的主要功能一直都是将做好战斗准备的星际战士部队送入战争。
Though formidably armed and armoured, the battle barges of the Space Marines are no exception to this rule, and were designed first and foremost to facilitate full-scale planetary assaults. Each has enough hold space to accommodate three full companies of Space Marines, along with their vehicles and support elements. Indeed, the majority of a battle barge’s interior hull-space is given over to launch bays, muster decks and transport holds. Housed there are squadrons of Thunderhawk gunships, an array of intra-system craft, and dozens of drop pods. With such resources at its command, a battle barge can deploy almost all of its forces simultaneously, putting its entire complement of Space Marines on the front lines within minutes of reaching orbit. The speed and ease with which this is accomplished has caught many a foe off guard, allowing them little time to prepare before the angels of death bring fire and vengeance to their door.
尽管有着可畏的武器与装甲，但星际战士战列母舰也并非例外，它们最首先且最重要的设计目的是便于进行全面的行星突袭行动。每艘战列母舰的船舱空间都足以容纳三个完整的星际战士连队，外加他们的载具和补给物资。事实上，战列母舰内部的绝大部分船体空间都是用作发射港、集结甲板和运输舱。其上能运载数个中队的雷鹰炮艇、大量的恒星系内运输艇与数十架空投舱。凭借这些装备，一艘战列母舰能将船上的几乎所有部队同时部署，在其抵达星球轨道的几分钟之内，船上的所有星际战士部队就都能被送往前线。战列母舰完成此种任务的速度与轻易程度让很多敌人措手不及，在死亡天使将复仇烈火烧到其大门处之前，他们几乎没时间做好准备。
Considering its size, a battle barge has little in the way of Space Marine crew. The warriors of the Adeptus Astartes are too rare and too valuable to be tasked with performing the myriad mechanical functions required to keep a warship at operational readiness. Instead, they act as officers, overseeing the ranks of servitors and Chapter serfs who carry out other, less critical duties; performing all of the menial and manual tasks unworthy of their Space Marine lords. Yet even these subordinates are too precious to be wasted in the gunnery decks. Loading and calibrating a starship’s weapons for firing is a perilous undertaking. Plasma wash, unscheduled detonations and residual radiation keep the attrition rates in these areas high. Those with enough luck and the fortitude to survive such daily toil are soon claimed by combat, beaten past their physical tolerance by a gang-master’s whip or obliterated by enemy fire targeted to rob a battle barge of its capacity to attack. With such high mortality rates, the crewing of the gun decks falls to an indentured underclass of slaves and vat-grown dregs. In this way, their worthless lives are given purpose, for even the lowliest may redeem themselves by giving their lives in service to the Emperor and the Imperium.
考虑到其尺寸，战列母舰上的星际战士船员少之又少。阿斯塔特修会的战士们极其罕见且珍贵，不能让他们去运行船上的无数机械功能——后者让战舰处于战备状态。相反，他们是作为军官，监督机仆和战团仆役去执行其他次级职责——后者们从事那些不值得其星际战士主子们去执行的卑微体力工作。但哪怕这些凡人下属也是极其珍贵的，不能被浪费在火炮甲板上。为星舰的武器开火进行装填和校准，是一项危险的劳作，电浆溅射、意外爆炸和残余辐射令这些区域中的人员损耗率居高不下。就算是那些足够幸运且坚毅，能在日常辛劳中存活下来的人们，也很快就会被战火吞噬；他们要么是在劳工主管的鞭打下病累而亡，要么就是在敌人夺走战列母舰进攻能力的攻势中，死于对方的炮火。由于火炮甲板上的死亡率奇高，这些区域中船员都是沦为契约奴隶的底层群体，以及用培养管生产出的劣等奴工。他们毫无意义的生命也由此被给予了目标，因为即便是最低贱的人群，也能通过献身于帝皇和帝国来赎罪。
Like the smaller strike cruisers, although they are each cast from the same STC templates, battle barges are not finished to a singular design. Their outer hulls and internal layout vary from Chapter to Chapter and even from one to another within a given Chapter. The Raven’s Claw, the oldest of the Raven Guard’s surviving battle barges, has none of the sensor towers or ostentatious sanctums that protrude from the spines of most battle barges, and its profile is kept as small as possible. By contrast, the Ultramarines battle barge Macragge’s Honour is studded with towering edifices to the Emperor’s glory, and the prow of the Executioners’ battle barge Death’s Shroud is fashioned into a grim-set skull.
就像更小型的打击巡洋舰那样，尽管战列母舰们都是依据相同的STC模板铸成，但其设计型号并不单一。战列母舰的外侧船体和内部布局因战团而异，甚至单个战团内部的舰船们也各不相同。在暗鸦守卫现存最古老的战列母舰“鸦爪”号上，便不存在传感器高塔和浮夸的圣所——这些设施会突出于大部分战列母舰的船脊上，而且它的轮廓也被建造得尽可能小。极限战士的战列母舰“马库拉格之耀”号则相反，其船身各处都布满了彰显帝皇荣光的高耸广厦；至于处刑者战团的“死亡寿衣”号战列母舰，更是将其舰首设计为了造型阴森的骷髅头。
ARMOUR AND SHIELDS
装甲与护盾
The magos-architects and master artificers who built the first battle barges knew full well the terrible storm of violence such a vessel would have to suffer. In order to deliver its payload of Space Marines and attack craft, a battle barge needs to enter a planet’s orbit, leaving itself open to attack from nearby ships and ground-based orbital defences. Depending on atmospheric and gravitational conditions, successful deployment may require the battle barge to enter a synchronous or low orbital hold, making it even more vulnerable to attack. To compound the problem, the sheer size of the vessel makes it easy to target, and its low engine power-to-mass ratio makes it unable to execute dynamic evades. With deployment complete, a battle barge is then expected to remain defiant in orbit, an immovable object acting as guardian over the Space Marine units below. In short, a battle barge will absorb more fire and weather more damage in a single mission than most warships are capable of withstanding over the course of their service. Fortunately, a battle barge is almost indestructible.
对于这样一艘飞船要遭受何等恶劣艰难的环境，那些建造第一批战列母舰的建筑贤者和工匠大师们一清二楚。为了投放船上承载的星际战士和突击艇，战列母舰需要进入星球的轨道，将自身直接暴露在附近舰船和地面轨道防御设施的进攻面前。考虑到（星球的）大气和重力条件，为了进行成功的部署，战列母舰可能要进入同步或低空轨道，这也令其更容易受到攻击。雪上加霜的是，战列母舰的庞大体积更令其易于被瞄准，而且引擎较低的单位重量功率也使其无法进行机动规避。在完成部署任务后，战列母舰会被要求留在轨道上待命，作为固定炮台护卫下方（地表上）的星际战士部队。简言之，战列母舰在单次任务中会经受的炮火与承受的伤害，便多于大部分战舰在其全部服役过程中所遭受的。但幸运的是，战列母舰几乎是坚不可摧的。
Constructed with its unique role in mind, the battle barges’ skeletons were forged from a an ultra-dense alloy. The rare base mineral can only be mined from the sites of recent volcanic eruptions, and is further hardened by ballast compression tanks situated on high-gravity moons. The pressurised environment hardens the alloy, ensuring the superstructure is as solid as the doors protecting the Emperor’s throne room itself. These inner frameworks were then girded in kilometres of hardened plasteel and adamantium, and edged with thick ferrocrete buttresses that surround the main hull like a reinforced rib-cage. Finally, a second and ablative layer of armour was added to each vessel’s prow, forging an impenetrable figurehead for the indomitable fury of a battle barge.
考虑到其独一无二的职能，战列母舰的结构框架由极度致密的合金铸造而成。所需的稀有基本原料只能从最近经历过火山喷发的矿坑中开采，并被送到位于高重力卫星上的压载紧缩罐中进一步硬化加工。这种加压环境会提升合金硬度，确保飞船上层建筑结构的坚固程度，能与保护帝皇王座室的房门相同。之后，这具内部框架会被硬化的塑钢和精金包裹住，而且人们还要在主船体周围的边缘处修建厚重的铁凝土护垛，形成一种宛如加固的胸部骨腔的结构。最终，每艘战列母舰的舰首还要添加第二层抗烧蚀装甲，为这些战舰的顽强狂怒铸造一个不可穿透的舰首饰像。
Like all Warp-capable vessels, battle barges are protected by Geller fields, arcane devices that create a bubble of realspace around a ship as it passes through the tides of the Immaterium. Unlike Imperial Navy warships that are required to spend large portions of their deployment guarding a single system, and who are called upon to travel in the warp infrequently, battle barges are in constant motion, traveling from one war zone to the next without respite. Such frequent Warp travel puts these prized vessels at great risk, and as such they are frequently outfitted with two inter-connecting Geller fields. Should one fail, the other will continue to protect the battle barge from the Warp’s hostile environment and the foul entities that dwell there. Yet this extra precaution has not always proven enough. The denizens of that twisted realm are relentless and on at least one occasion have conspired to breach both fields simultaneously.
就像所有能够穿越亚空间的飞船那样，战列母舰也受到盖勒力场的保护——当飞船穿越非物质宇宙的波潮时，这件玄奥的装置能在舰体周围生成现实宇宙泡层。不同于帝国海军飞船——它们大部分时候都在保护单个星系的，而且很少被命令进行亚空间旅行，战列母舰会不断航行，毫无停歇地在战区间穿越。频繁的亚空间旅行让这些飞船处于巨大的风险中，因此船上经常被安装着两个相互连接的盖勒力场。假如其中某具力场崩溃失灵，另一具就会继续保护战列母舰，令其免受亚空间敌意环境和寄居其中的丑恶实体的伤害。然而，这种额外的预防措施也被证明并非总是足够的。扭曲领域的居民们冷酷无情，它们密谋同时破坏两台装置的情况，发生过至少一次。
The Novamarines battle barge Liberator, for example, was found drifting near its last recorded entry point. A stricken hulk, the initial salvage crew found no signs of life aboard. A Grey Knights kill-team was dispatched to cleanse the ship, plunging into the madness that had enveloped it. Reports of the incident are sealed, but even though their helm-logs reported a mission time of seven hours, it was more than a hundred days before they emerged from the craft.
例如新星战士的战列母舰“解放者”号，该船被发现漂浮在其有记录的最后一个（现实宇宙）入口附近。在登上了这艘受损的废船后，最初的打捞救援队并未发现生命迹象。一支灰骑士杀戮队被派来净化这艘飞船，他们直接冲入了笼罩着全舰的疯狂中。关于这次事件的报告都被封存，不过，尽管灰骑士的头盔日志表明任务时间为七小时，但当他们离开飞船现身时，（现实中）已经过去了一百多天。
In realspace, battle barges are protected by a group of layered void shields, wavering bands of energy that spark around the vessel to create a teardrop of invisible force. These energy barriers are capable of absorbing or deflecting the worst excesses of stellar radiation and meteor showers, and can sustain a succession of weapon hits and explosive impacts before overloading. Once overloaded, the shield generators must be power-cycled in order to let them vent off the excess energy. This is not a simple process – many slaves and Chapter serfs lose their lives in the resulting plasma fires and sparking energy discharge.
在现实宇宙中，战列母舰由一组分层的虚空盾保护着，颤抖着的能量如火花般环绕在飞船周围，产生一道不可见的泪珠状力场。这种能量屏障能够吸收或偏转最严重的恒星辐射和流星雨，而且能在过载前承受连续的武器命中和爆炸冲击。而一经过载，护盾生成器就必须进行能量循环，以释放多余的能量。这并非是个简单的过程——由此产生的电浆火焰和能量放电，导致了很多奴隶和战团仆役的死亡。
The shields protecting a battle barge are, however, among the most sophisticated that the Emperor’s armies have at their disposal. Segmented into a series of zones, it is possible for an area of shield to fail without leaving the ship entirely exposed. Further to this, energy can be siphoned from one zone to another, and redirected to where there is the most need of protection. In dire circumstances the shields’ energy can be driven up past their normal maximum. This temporarily provides the battle barge with greater protection but soon burns out the generators, and renders the shields inert. Long is the list of bold Space Marine captains who, when faced with overwhelming odds, have used this tactic to close to attack distance, and claim victory from certain defeat.
不过，用于保护战列母舰的虚空盾，是帝皇大军手中最复杂的设备之一。护盾被分割为多个区域，有可能一个区域中的护盾失效，整艘船也不会完全失去防护。此外，能量可以从一个区域被虹吸到另一个，并重新传输到最需要保护的地方。在危急时刻，护盾的能量值也能被过充到正常情况的最大值。这能暂时为战斗母舰提供了更强的防护，但也很快就会烧毁生成器，并使护盾失效。面对压倒性的劣势时，很多大胆的星际战士舰长都使用过这种战术，以缩短进攻距离，在付出一定的失败后取胜。
Though often severely damaged, some beyond repair, there are scant recorded reports of battle barges being destroyed outright. Perhaps this is just as well, for each Space Marine Chapter typically has only two or three of them under its command. They are as much prized relics as warships, icons of strength and endurance that echo the might of the Space Marines, and the resources required to build them anew are difficult to come by. The loss of even a single one of these vessels would not only be a great blow to the military capabilities of a Chapter, but would also damage its morale, robbing it of part of its proud warrior history.
虽然战列母舰经常严重受损，某些甚至无法再被修复，但其遭到彻底摧毁的记录却很稀少。或许这也无妨，因为每个星际战士战团也都只掌握着两三艘战列母舰。这些战舰也是珍贵的圣物，作为实力与耐力的象征，与星际战士的力量相呼应；重建它们所需的资源也很难获取。对一个战团而言，哪怕只损失一艘战列母舰，也不仅会重创其军事能力，而且会将其引以为傲的战争历史夺去一部分，损伤士气。
BRINGERS OF DESTRUCTION
降下毁灭者
The primary weapons of any battle barge are their dorsal-mounted bombardment cannons. Each cannon comprises a series of heavyweight batteries, huge turret-mounted linear accelerators that launch salvos of heavy magma bomb warheads. As the name suggests, bombardment cannons were primarily developed to bombard planets from high orbit, a task at which they excel. A battle barge will begin firing as soon as it reaches orbit and will continue to rain destruction down on a planet even as its complement of Space Marines is hurled downwards in their assault craft, clearing a path for their deployment on the ground. Capable of obliterating almost any manner of planetary defences, bombardment cannons will first be directed against missile silos and laser towers, ensuring that the Space Marine attack force can proceed unmolested, before being used to take out command bunkers and shield generators, aiding their swift domination of the planet. On more than one occasion, a single salvo fired into a dense population centre has ended the conflict before it has gathered any real momentum, shocking a world’s leaders into seeing the error of their ways and quickly swearing fealty to the Emperor once more.
战列母舰的主武器是安装于背部的轰击炮。每门火炮都是由一系列的重型炮台组成，这些安装在炮塔上的巨大线性加速器能齐射重型岩浆炸弹。就像其名称所表述的那样，轰击炮主要被用于从高空轨道轰炸星球（地表），而此种武器也擅长于这项任务。一经抵达星球轨道，战列母舰就会开始射击开炮，哪怕当星际战士们搭乘着突击艇冲向地面上，它也仍会向（目标）星球泼洒毁灭，为地面上的部署行动清理出一条道路。由于其能够摧毁近乎各种行星防御手段，轰击炮会优先攻击导弹发射井和激光炮塔，确保星际战士进攻部队能够不受干扰地继续行动；之后轰击炮将摧毁指挥部掩体和护盾发生器，帮助地面部队快速攻占星球。不止一次，只消轰击炮对于人口密集中心的一次齐射，冲突就会在聚集起任何真正的势头之前便被结束，目标世界上的领导人们会惊恐地意识到自己的错误，并迅速地再次宣誓效忠于帝皇。
Thanks to their gene-modified constitution and advanced armour, Space Marines can wade through a blast zone untroubled by the radiation and toxic residue left behind by a bombardment cannon strike. When operating as a self-contained force, this allows them to receive close fire support from an orbiting battle barge. Using tight-focus marker beacons they are able to direct surgical bombardments to clear their advance or protect their flanks and rear from counterattack. When working as part of a combined Imperial Guard action, such measures are usually avoided – however, Captain Barras Varlock of the Iron Hands Chapter infamously ordered a close proximity strike at the battle of Yoyung Prime. He sought to expedite victory, allowing his forces to continue on to Secundus, and gave no thought to the disastrous consequences for the Gadan Ninth Regiment that fought in support of his warriors. In the aftermath of the conflict, the surviving Imperial Guardsmen quickly succumbed to radiation sickness and died within a matter of weeks.
得益于其接受过基因调整改造的体魄与先进的动力甲，星际战士能够不受轰击炮炮击后留下的辐射和有毒残留物的妨害，从爆炸区中跋涉而过。当星际战士们作为一支独立自给的部队行动时，轨道上的战列母舰也能为其提供近距离火力支援。利用紧聚焦型标记信标，星际战士能引导一次外科手术式的轰炸，以此清出前进的道路，或者保护自己的侧翼与后方，令其免遭敌人反攻。但当他们与帝国卫队联合行动时，这些作战手段通常会被禁止使用。然而在Yoyung主星之战中，钢铁之手战团的连长——巴拉斯 瓦尔洛克便臭名昭著地下令发动近距离炮击；他意图加速取胜，让自己的部队继续向Yoyung次星挺进，但却并未考虑此举对Gadan第九陆军团的灾难性后果——后者们正在为支援钢铁之手们而奋战。幸存下来的帝国卫军们也很快便患上了辐射病，并在几周之内死去。
In extreme circumstances, or when the enemy force is so well entrenched on a world that even a sustained assault will not break their hold on it, bombardment cannons can be used to sunder entire continents, smashing them from the face of a planet in a cacophony of violent explosions. Indeed, a concentrated, prolonged bombardment can crack tectonic plates, sending massive earthquakes and tsunamis of destruction rippling out across a globe.
在极端情况中，或者当敌人在目标世界上构筑了严密的战壕体系，哪怕持续进攻也无法将其攻破时，轰击炮也会被用于切开整块大陆——在猛烈的爆炸声中，陆块将从行星表面被炸碎。事实上，长时间且密集的轰炸会令构造板块断裂，引发席卷全球的大规模地震与破坏性海啸。
Battle barges are one of only a few Imperial warships capable of carrying Exterminatus-class weapons. So terrible are these devices, so irrevocable are their consequences, that their use must be sanctioned at the highest levels. Even a Chapter Master must be prepared to answer for his actions should he authorise the use of such extreme force.
战列母舰也是极少数能携带灭绝令武器的帝国舰船之一。这些装置极其恐怖，其造成的后果也极其不可更改，以至于使用此类武器必须得到来自（帝国政府）最高层的批准。哪怕是一位星际战士战团长，倘若他授权动用了此种极端力量，也必须做好为自己行为负责的准备。
When a world is deemed beyond saving, when its populace has fallen too far from the Imperial fold, a battle barge will descend into low orbit and begin the task of Exterminatus. Spreads of virus bombs turn the planet’s landmass and organic matter into corrupted slurry which can be burned away by firestorm or lance beams. Yet sometimes, such a solution is not enough. Should a planet’s skies echo to the resounding laughter of Daemons, should it fall so far as to become a terrible temple for the Dark Gods, the Space Marines will bring about its complete destruction, ending the world once and for all. Retreating to the maximum range of its weapons, a battle barge will launch cyclonic warheads which burn to the planet’s core, blasting it apart from within and removing its imperfection from the Emperor’s blessed sight.
当一个世界被认定无法拯救，他的住民极为远离帝国的掌控时，战列母舰就会下降到低空轨道，开始执行灭绝令任务。病毒炸弹会将星球陆地和有机物一并化为腐烂的泥浆池，之后风暴性烈火或光矛束便能将其点燃。但在某些情况中，这种解决手段都尚不足够。倘若一颗星球的天空中回荡起了恶魔的大笑声，堕落成了黑暗诸神的恐怖神殿，星际战士们便会将其完全摧毁，彻底终结那个世界。战列母舰会撤退到武器的最远射程处，发射出能够烧穿地表进入星球地核的旋风导弹；星球从内部被炸开，其瑕疵会从帝皇的神圣双目前被移除。
SHIP-TO-SHIP
舰对舰作战
The Adeptus Astartes only engage enemy warships on favourable terms, if indeed at all. As has already been noted, battle barges were not built for naval engagements – they lack the long-ranged firepower of larger capital ships and the maneuverability of light cruisers. In void combat a battle barge will rely on its heavier armour to close with enemy ships and launch devastating boarding actions. As it closes, a battle barge can use the weapons batteries that stud much of its hull to rake the enemy with fire. Rank upon rank of plasma projectors, macro-laser cannons, missile racks and fusion beamers fire in diffuse salvos, a co-ordinated pattern of shots designed to strip a target’s shields and overwhelm its close-range defences. With its shields down, an enemy vessel is left open to a teleport assault. Few ships can survive such an attack, the swift wrath of a squad of Space Marines stalking their corridors and attacking critical systems. It is because of this that an enemy captain will do everything in his power to try and prevent a battle barge from drawing too near to his vessel.
如果确实有必要的话，阿斯塔特战士也只会在最有利的情况下与敌方交战。就像人们已经注意到的那样，战列母舰并非为海战而建造——它们缺少大型主力舰的远程火力，也没有轻型巡洋舰的机动灵活性。在虚空战斗中，战列母舰会凭借自己厚重的装甲（抵挡住炮火）来接近敌舰，发起毁灭性的跳帮行动。在接近的同时，战列母舰能利用遍布于船体各处的炮塔扫射敌人。一排又一排的电浆投射炮、巨型激光炮、导弹架和融合光束炮四处齐射，这种协调的射击模式旨在剥去目标的护盾，并击溃其近距离防御手段。随着虚空盾被击落，敌舰便抵御不了传送突袭。一支星际战士小队发起迅速猛攻，从其走廊中潜行而过，进攻船上关键系统，只有极少数舰船能在此类攻势中幸存。因此，敌舰船长们会用尽一切手段，阻止战列母舰过于接近己方舰船。
If this form of close-range attack is untenable or proves ineffective, a battle barge can always fall back on its bombardment cannons. While their primary purpose is as orbital support weapons, they can be used to great effect against enemy warships. Though they lack the range of lance batteries and the fast reload times of standard ship-to-ship weapons, they more than make up for it in raw killing power. When magma shells impact upon another ship, they do not crash down through their hulls as they might with a planet’s surface. Instead, they break upon contact, erupting outwards, broiling over the surface of a vessel to strip away its plating and shred its battlements. The immense heat and shrapnel from the resultant explosion confuses automated defence turrets and sensors, allowing the Thunderhawk gunships and boarding torpedoes launched from the battle barge to close unharmed. A series of concurrent blasts is enough to knock an enemy ship off course, and a sustained assault from a bombardment cannon can cripple and blast apart even the largest of capital ships.
如果近距离进攻无法被维持，或者被证明是无效的，战列母舰也总是能够依靠自己的轰击炮。尽管此类武器主要被用作轨道支援武器，但也能用于重创敌军战舰。虽然缺少光矛的射程与标准型舰对舰武器的快速装填（性能），但轰击炮能依靠凶悍的杀伤力来补足。当熔岩蛋弹撞击到其他飞船时，它们不会像砸中行星地表那样撞穿舰体；相反，弹体一经碰撞便会破裂，内部装药会向外喷射而出，炙烤舰船表面以剥去（装甲）板层，并炸碎船身上的城垛。爆炸产生的巨大热量和破片将令扰乱自动防御炮塔和传感器，让战列母舰发射出的雷鹰炮艇和跳帮鱼雷得以无伤接近敌舰。一连串同时发生的爆炸足以令一艘敌舰偏离航线，而轰击炮的持续攻击甚至能够瘫痪并炸裂最大型的主力舰。
SPACE-BORNE HOME
太空中的家园
Although most Space Marine Chapters have a fortress monastery housed on a moon or world, many do not. These Chapters have been forced into the void by war or cruel circumstance as space faring fleets. To these Chapters, battle barges play an even more important role, forming bastions that carry the Chapter’s legacy and a haven when pressed. Several Chapters are rumoured to possess even larger vessels adapted from the battle barge, or built by some other means.
尽管大多数星际战士战团都拥有坐落于卫星或行星上的要塞修道院，但有也很多战团并非如此。由于战争或悲惨的境遇，这些战团被迫进入虚空，成为远航星海的舰队。对这些战团而言，战列母舰还扮演着更为重要的角色——承载战团遗产的堡垒，并在形势所迫时成为避难所。据传，一些战团拥有更大型的船只——这些飞船是由从战列母舰改造，或以其他手段建造的。
As of 999.M41, the following Chapters are known to be almost entirely fleet-based, though this record is doubtless incomplete: Imperial Fists, Black Templars, Executioners, Black Dragons, Invaders, Charnel Guard, Minotaurs, Fire Hawks, Lamenters, Mantis Warriors, Relictors, Scythes of the Emperor, Knights of Gryphonne.
等到999.M41, 已知下列战团为几乎完全舰基，但毫无疑问，这份名单并不完整：帝国之拳、黑色圣堂、处刑者、黑龙、入侵者、墓葬守卫、米诺陶、火鹰、恸哭者、螳螂勇士、遗物者、帝皇之镰、狮鹫骑士。
