Battleship Orion

Battleship Orion in Earth orbit

Battleship Orion under fire in cis-lunar space

This large Orion vehicle was a General Atomic proposal to the USAF for a 4000 ton spacecraft, armed to the teeth with 5-inch naval guns, nuclear missiles, multiple 20mm point defence weapons and 'Casaba Howitzer', a kind of atomic-bomb powered particle beam weapon. It fits the description of a space-battleship pretty well, and was intended to hang out between the moon and the Earth, performing ABM duties and providing a completely unassailable nuclear launch platform. Of course it was never built for a multitude of reasons, not the least being unnecessary due to the Soviets' lack of anything remotely comparable as a space based weapons system.

Acknowledgements to Scott Lowther for doing all the hard work in piecing together the scarce information on the Orion battleship.