10. Nadesico
Number 10 on any list is usually the least serious, the one that only made the cut because the writer couldn't think of anything else to put here. This is true for the Nadesico, a ship that in one way or another parodies all of the others on this list. Nadesico takes the features from many famous capital ships like the big main gun, the unique form of travel (which is explained throughout the plot of the show and believe it or not doesn't involve going faster than light) and like most anime battleships a platoon of robots to do its fighting.What makes Nadesico truly unique is its crew of misfits from the plucky and ditzy female captain who somehow manages to be a tactical genius to the robot pilot who just wants to be a chef. Let's not forget the fan favorite emotionless 12 year old girl who controls the ship's computer either. All of the complex relationships and off-the-wall comedy of the show was bound together by the common thread that was this ship which became a symbol for everyone living on it while in their own special way trying to bring peace while being a civilian built and operated vessel, stuck in the middle of the hopeless military and mysterious invaders.
9. Millennium Falcon
Why so low for the famous Millennium Falcon? Well I wrestled over whether to include it or not, as a freighter it's not technically a capital ship. Size doesn't always matter however, it's importance that gives the ship its nature as a capital vessel and with the "modifications" made by Han Solo this baby isn't just a simple freighter anymore. Also after serving as a command ship in battle I think it's safe to list the Millennium Falcon here in its rightful place alongside other capital ships of note.
The Millennium Falcon is an excellent design. There's just no way you can look at a top-down silhouette of this ship and not instantly recognize it. The designers managed to construct a vessel that looks both slapped together and totally bad-ass at the same time. And bad-ass it is, this little ship had a bigger effect on the Star Wars universe than an entire fleet of Star Destroyers and is partially responsible for the destruction of both Death Stars. Of course, it's the captain that ultimately determines the success of a ship and the Falcon practically is Han Solo personified in machine form. Simply put this ship is the ultimate underdog, the good-hearted pirate you can't help but root for, the stuff that starship legend is made of.
8. Space Battleship Yamato
Probably the silliest ship on this list, in my opinion at least. Basically in a future where the Earth is destroyed by aliens, you take the ruins of the Japanese World War II battleship Yamato and slap a faster-than-light engine onto it and a really, really big gun.
This classic anime is not one of my favorites and honestly I haven't seen a whole lot of it, but it's important to list here because it opened the door and set the standard for future star-faring capital ships. It's titular "wave motion gun" would be copied by nearly every anime with giant space ships as a means of giving the title ship a big trump card weapon. Though the ship itself is a little corny it never the less marked an important turning point in anime which was changing from simple children's programming to hard science fiction, starting with Yamato's inspiration.
7. Klingon Bird of Prey
Well this ship has worked its way into so many episodes and movies of Star Trek that it would be a shame not to include it here. Fans argue about its size and its specifications mainly because nobody really cared about keeping the scale consistent in all of its appearances but we won't be getting into that here. The bird of prey combines the best of Klingon and Romulan designs from classic Star Trek to create one of the coolest bad guy ships in science fiction. Oh, and did I mention the sucker can cloak?
Despite its original purpose, to serve as cannon fodder for the Enterprise's photon torpedoes, the bird of prey is a ship class that has accomplished a lot of important things in Star Trek history. One forced the original Enterprise to self destruct, that same ship was used to get the crew back to Earth and travel in time to save the whales (if you don't know don't ask). The "to be or not to be" cloaked ship duel in Star Trek VI was one of the greatest moments in franchise history, and another bird of prey, still in service after all this time, managed to destroy the Enterprise-D. The Klingon Empire will probably never stop using these little ships which have the honor of probably being the most successful and longest running line of vessels in the Star Trek universe.
6. White Base
If Mobile Suit Gundam is the Star Trek of Japan, the White Base is the Enterprise. Called the "Trojan Horse" by its space colony inhabiting Zeon rivals due to its strange silhouette the White Base is indeed a unique ship that might not be terribly pretty but it gets the job done. Though heavily armed and armored White Base's true trump card was the cargo it was specifically designed to carry, large mecha called mobile suits, and in particular the Earth Federation's fearsome prototype, the Gundam.
Along with Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, Gundam's White Base was one of the earlier takes on the aircraft carrier in space concept with a catapult system to launch its combat units. Full of rookies and refugees the White Base and its prototype weapons still proved to be an important factor in winning the One Year War, mainly because Zeon tended to be so obsessed with the vessel and its cargo that they forgot they should be trying to win the war instead of chasing after White Base which indeed lived up to its "Trojan Horse" name as it served as a distraction for the Federation's main forces. In the end however White Base did serve bravely in the final conflicts of the war and helped bring an end to the Zeon uprising, at least temporarily.
5. TCS Tiger's Claw
Speaking of aircraft carriers in space, that's what the main vessels of Wing Commander literally are. Bare with me here, I'm talking about the games not that god awful 1999 movie. I mulled over which ship deserved to be on the list and I came to the conclusion that by virtue of being the first and the most often referenced that the Tiger's Claw deserved the spot. The original inspiration was to have a World War II esque naval war in space and the Tiger's Claw certainly does capture that feeling a bit. You get a real sense of pride for your mothership as you attack and defend your way through the Vega sector in a bold campaign to block the cat-like alien Kilrathis' clearest path to Earth.
Though the regal powerhouse that is Concordia is my favorite Wing Commander cap ship it's the Tiger's Claw that kicked off this epic space opera and the trailblazing cinematic video game series that followed. It embodied the idea of what a space navy is and made you feel like a part of a greater whole. On the Claw you were part of a family of other pilots, risking your lives day after day and sticking your necks out for one another only to come home and schmooze with them over a drink and take a nap in the pilot's barracks with its mysteriously leaky ceiling. The Tiger's Claw kicked the Kilrathi out of the Vega sector, hunted and destroyed a prototype Kilrathi dreadnaught, and ended a genocidal holy war making certain that nobody would ever forget its contributions to the Terran Confederation. Her doom at the hands of top secret Kilrathi stealth fighters would also lead to the twisting and turning plot of Wing Commander 2, full of heartbreak, betrayal and revenge making it one of the greatest PC games of all time.
4. SDF-1 Macross
Macross is perhaps the most important or at least noteworthy ship in the history of Japanese animation. It’s the main attraction of what’s probably the single greatest space opera in all of anime. This powerful vessel has a main gun that would make the Yamato blush and a giant robot battle mode. Its compliment of normal and transformable mecha adds to its firepower along with a (nearly) impenetrable barrier system. Yet none of that really matters. The Macross is but one ship rebuilt from alien wreckage and pitted against a fleet of hostile giant aliens called the Zentradi who only live to wage war. Deep inside the ship, which is massive for humans but just a tiny gunboat to the Zentradi, is a rebuilt city of refugees making a futile attempt to survive.
Still, the Macross does survive battle after battle through luck and the will to protect the refugees of Macross City, and the effect that human culture has the Zentradi starts to become apparent. The city itself, especially its famous singer Lynn Minmei, becomes the secret weapon against the Zentradi as human culture infects their ranks and teaches them that there’s more to life than war. Macross survives spectacular battles while exploring the human condition. It’s powerless to prevent the bombarding of the Earth against superior Zentradi forces, but in the end it becomes the saving grace of all humanity.
3. Battlestar Galactica 
So they may have just been knocking off the Star Destroyer when they designed this one, that’s okay. Probably the biggest influence for future aircraft carriers in space, Galactica is a fearsome battleship with a compliment of state of the art fighters called Vipers. It’s the last of its kind, the fleet of twelve now dwindled down to one and the home colonies of its people laid waste in a genocidal attack by the mechanical alien Cylons. The Galactica is now the flagship of a rag-tag civilian fleet, searching for the mythical 13th colony called "Earth."
Despite being the obvious inspiration of the new Battlestar Galactica series, this at first glance Star Wars rip off is an interesting, if not campy, show in its own right. I’d go as far as to say that the Galactica itself served as the inspiration for a lot of space operas that came after it, especially those that focus on interstellar combat with fighters and carriers. No matter what George Lucas says, it’s undeniable that Galactica has been an important influence in science fiction. It had the single ship weekly adventure feel of Star Trek with the grandiose war going on like Star Wars. If you can handle the space disco and guys with pretty perms from the late 70’s there’s a lot to like about this big and tough battle cruiser that could.
2. Imperial Star Destroyer 
One of the most imposing ships of all time, the Imperial Star Destroyer needed to be near the top of this list. Nothing makes rebel scum shit their pants like a fleet of these massive vessels, armed to the teeth with giant blaster cannons and hundreds of TIE fighters and Storm Troopers. Their design is so simple, basically just a triangle with a bridge attached, yet something is so cold and brutal about them that they’re the perfect ship to symbolize the iron fist of the Galactic Empire.
Regretfully we didn’t get to see these ships do a whole lot in the movies but sit around and look angry though it was heavily implied that they outclassed the rebel’s fleet in every way imaginable. Games like TIE Fighter expanded upon their combat usage and roles as carriers as well as battleships. In any case I don’t care what science fiction universe you reside in, an ISD paying you a visit will ensure that you’re not going to be having a good day.
1. USS Enterprise
There was never any doubt what number one would be on this list. The USS Enterprise in all its many incarnations as it’s difficult to pick just one and they all share the same design lineage anyway. No matter what angle you view its silhouette the Enterprise is easily recognizable. The genius design by Matt Jefferies made certain that it would be unique and memorable and after all these years that hasn’t changed a bit. The Enterprise introduced us all to the idea of large capital ships in science fiction and to many except for people reading novels and short stories it introduced the idea of a space navy as well even though the Enterprise was on a peaceful exploration mission it was still a warship as well when it needed to be.
The interesting design comes from the ideas that Matt Jefferies had about the ship being smooth since it was so high-tech that visible machinery wouldn’t make any sense. He separated the engines from the main saucer section under the pretense that they would be so powerful it would be dangerous to have them connected to the living quarters. Along with her crew of adventurers the Enterprise would be thrown up against alien warships, false gods, doomsday weapons, hijackings, and just about anything else you could imagine and always come out on top. It’s become probably the most recognized space ship in the world and the Star Trek franchise shows no sign of dying off or even slowing down as we head towards the next movie. Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Mobile Suit Gundam, just about every work of space science fiction owes its existence to the Big E.
Well, I guess I have to say which Enterprise is my favorite now don’t I? Trust me the answer isn’t hard. Andrew Probert’s redesign for the movie is without a doubt the most beautiful starship ever created. Taking Matt Jefferies’s ingenious but woefully dated original design and turning it into the majestic, timeless creature that is the Constitution Class Refit is nothing less than a work of true artistry. Too bad they don't make physical models anymore.
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