Bucephalus
Historical
Built	Ursa Shipyards by Procyon Industries[1]
Comissioned	2503
Physical
Race	Terran
Type	Battlecruiser
Length	560 meters
Width	82.4 meters
Political
Affiliation	Terran Dominion Dominion Fleet Valerian Mengsk's renegades
Role	Terran Dominion flagship
Personnel
Commander(s)	Arcturus Mengsk (—2504) Valerian Mengsk
Crew	8,239[1] (2504)

The Bucephalus was a Gorgon-class battlecruiser]]^[2] serving as the Terran Dominion flagship during the Second Great War.

The ship's bridge is lavishly furnished, featuring paintings, a phonograph and a starmap. It serves as an observatory of sorts for Valerian Mengsk.^[3]

The Bucephalus is larger than the Hyperion, a Behemoth-class battlecruiser.^[2] It was developed to be an impressive flagship to replace the stolen Hyperion.^[1]

StatisticsEdit

HistoryEdit

ConstructionEdit

The Bucephalus was constructed at the Ursa Shipyards, and commissioned in 2503. It was 560 meters long and 82.4 meters wide.^[4]

By the Second Great War, it had a crew complement of 8,239 and was Emperor Mengsk's personal flagship.^[4]

Rebel RendezvousEdit

During the war, the anti-Dominion Raynor's Raiders were hired by the Möebius Foundation to recover components to a xel'naga device. Dominion Prince Valerian Mengsk, the secret owner of the Foundation, wanted to use the device to deinfest Infested Kerrigan and raise his reputation. The Foundation arranged a rendezvous with the Raiders after the recovery of the Typhon XI component. Prince Mengsk went to meet them personally aboard Bucephalus, accompanied by battlecruiser escort. The rebels were surprised to be met by the Dominion fleet.^[4]

Although the Dominion ships did not raise shields, Jim Raynor automatically assumed hostile intent; he ordered Hyperion to latch onto Bucephalus for a boarding action. The rebel leader expected to find Emperor Arcturus Mengsk aboard the Dominion flagship. Raynor personally led the charge and eventually broke into Valerian's chambers and was surprised to find him there instead. Valerian was seemingly unperturbed; he revealed his plan to deinfest Kerrigan and secured further cooperation from Raynor.^[4]

Battle of CharEdit

Main article: Battle of Char (Dangerous Game)

When the final component was recovered, Bucephalus led half the Dominion Fleet and the Raiders to Char. The prince, General Horace Warfield, and Raynor met aboard the battlecruiser to confer. Emperor Arcturus Mengsk was contacted and formally informed of the operation. Despite Arcturus' concern that his son lacked experience to lead such an offensive, and annoyance with the alliance with Raynor, the attack was allowed to proceed.^[5]

The ship was immediately caught in the zerg spoiler attack. General Warfield initially commanded from Bucephalus^[5], before transferring to Helios.^[6]

NotesEdit

Bucephalus was the horse of Alexander the Great. The Delphic oracle claimed the rider of Bucephalus would rule the world.

The bridge of the Bucephalus appears in Wings of Liberty cinematics. Its starmap model was repurposed from its counterpart on the Hyperion. The paintings featured in the cutscenes however, were done by Blizzard's art department rather than its cinematic one.^[3]

ReferencesEdit