A newer class of Battlestar and the current "big-guns" of the fleet, the plan was that they would be replaced with the newer and larger Nova class. The Mercury class is equipped with eight sublight engine pods and is "boxy" in appearance. Each flight pod consists of two landing alcoves, one above and one below the vessel's mid-line. Combined with computer assisted landing, this gives the class a faster rate of Viper recovery than previous battlestars. They normally carry a 200 Viper Mark VII fighters (eight squadrons plus two reserve) as well as 50 Raptors. The guns of the Mercury class are found all over the ship. The greatest concentration of large turrets are found along the side of the ship, within the valley created by the upper and lower halves of the hull, including the flight pods. Four are mounted on the underside of the upper hull on the ship's bow, below which sits four non-turreted large guns; these form the main forward batteries. Two more turrets are mounted on the front and back of each flight pod. The standard crew complement of a Mercury class battlestar is in excess of 2,500. The Mercury class battlestar has production facilities to build new Viper Mark VIIs from basic resources. Being a newer class the Mercury class' flight pods are fixed in place and do not retract during a jump.
Ships of this class
- Battlestar Pegasus
- Battlestar Eternal
- Battlestar Mercury for which it is assumed to class is named.