Apollo
{{Title|Apollo}}
{{up|304}}
{{Infobox Spaceship
|image=250px">
250px
|imageBG=
|name=USS Apollo
|hidep=
|manufacturer=Tau'ri
|designer=
|class=304
|cost=
|hidet=
|length=150+ meters{{Ref|<ref name="Angelus">Stargate Atlantis: Angelus<br>Note: Stargate Atlantis: Angelus provides the length of the Apollo as 150+ meters. This is significantly smaller than the 200 m-225 m length values provided by Stargate SG-1: The DVD Collection 62 and Stargate Atlantis: The DVD Collection 70, respectively. It is unlikely that the Apollo would be significantly smaller than other members of the BC-304 class while appearing visually identical to other BC-304s on screen. Thus, the value of 150+ should be treated with skepticism.</ref>}}
|width=
|height=
|max accel=
|mglt=
|max speed=
|engine=The Apollo is the fourth 304 produced by the United States of America, and the third operated by the United States Air Force, assigned to the Second Tactical Wing. Like its sister ship, the Daedalus, it was deployed to the Pegasus galaxy shortly after its commissioning and provided assistance to the Atlantis expedition there. Following this, the Apollo seemed to be mainly stationed on Earth while servicing Atlantis occasionally.
Crew
Commanding officers
Known crew
History
The Ark of Truth
The Apollo was rushed into service when several Ori warships made their way towards Earth, with the ship posted to defend the planet. However, the ship never saw battle as the Ori ships stayed outside the Solar system and the Ori were already defeated by the Ark of Truth. Sometime after that, the ship was sent to serve Atlantis. {{Cite|SG1|The Ark of Truth}}First strike on Asuras
{{Quote|I'm here to inform you that in precisely twelve hours, the Apollo -- in consort with your team -- will launch a surgical strike on the Replicator planet.|Abraham Ellis|First Strike}}thumb|left|The Apollo departs [[Asuras">
thumb|left|The Apollo departs [[Asuras]]
After the discovery of the Asuran|Replicators building a fleet of ships by the Daedalus, the International Oversight Advisory decides to send the Apollo to launch a first strike on Asuras, fearing that the new ships will be used to reach Earth. The plan is for the Apollo to launch the Horizon weapons platform at Asuras to destroy the Replicator shipyards and end the threat posed by the new ships.
The Apollo arrives at Atlantis faster than expected, impressing Dr. Elizabeth Weir and Colonel Abraham Ellis explains the ship's mission to the command team. After the Horizon is prepared, the Apollo takes on board Dr. Rodney McKay and Dr. Radek Zelenka as well as Lt. Colonel John Sheppard and a Puddle Jumper. As planned, the Apollo drops out of hyperspace "uncomfortably close" to Asuras and launches Horizon at the planet. The six Mark IX nuclear warheads reach their destination successfully and bomb the planet. After leaving Sheppard and his Puddle Jumper behind to do a battle assessment, the Apollo retreats into hyperspace, returning for the Jumper an hour later. Using the Jumper's sensor data, it is determined that the Apollo's mission was a success, destroying all of the ship's primary targets and most of its secondary targets. {{Cite|ATL|First Strike}}Replicator attack on Atlantis
{{main|Battle to save Atlantis}}Shortly after the success of the Apollo's mission is confirmed, a small object drops out of hyperspace and the Apollo is sent to check it out. The crew is able to determine that it is Asuran Stargate satellite|a satellite containing a Stargate moments before the Stargate activates and fires a beam of energy at the Apollo. The Apollo backs off, suffering only slight damage and significantly drained Asgard shield|shields, but the beam then turns on its true target: Atlantis. As the beam fires on Atlantis, the Apollo attacks the satellite with missiles to no effect due to an energy shield that is drawing power from the beam. After it is determined that the Apollo can't penetrate the shield and destroy the satellite, the ship backs off. Eventually a plan is developed to move Atlantis from Lantea to M12-578 to escape the beam. To aid in the plan, the Apollo beams aboard all non-essential Atlantis personnel and the crew of the mobile drilling platform and sends a flight of F-302 fighter-interceptors led by Major Evan Lorne to move an asteroid into the path of the energy beam to temporarily block it. After the F-302s return to the ship, the Apollo departs for M12-578 to meet up with Atlantis at its new home. {{cite|SGA|First Strike|Adrift}}
Saving Atlantis
{{main|Battle to save Atlantis}}After arriving at M12-578, the Apollo discovers that Atlantis has not yet arrived despite the fact that the city should've arrived first. Worried, Colonel Ellis takes the ship to the nearest Stargate and dials the Midway Station in hopes that Atlantis has contacted it. However, Colonel Samantha Carter and Dr. Bill Lee report that they have not heard from Atlantis and it is realized that something must've happened to the city. Ellis decides to take the Apollo back to the M12-578 in hopes that Atlantis will arrive and promises to check in. {{cite|SGA|Adrift}}
After contacting Midway once more, Carter and Lee inform the Apollo of their plan to significantly increase the range of the Apollo's long range sensors to search along the path between Lantea and M12-578 for Atlantis which they believe has likely dropped out of hyperspace early. The Apollo picks the two up on Planet (Lifeline)|a planet after they have sent the plans to increase the sensor range by increasing power consumption fivefold and cannibalizing parts half a dozen other key systems, including subspace communications. Though Ellis expresses worries about this, he agrees to the plan and the Apollo's sensors are upgraded and the ship begins a series of 50 jumps between M12-578 and Lantea searching for Atlantis. After at least a dozen small hyperspace jumps, the Apollo manages to locate Atlantis and is informed that Sheppard, Ronon, McKay and Weir have gone to Asuras to steal a new ZPM from the Replicators. thumb|left|The Apollo engages an [[Asuran cruiser">
thumb|left|The Apollo engages an [[Asuran cruiser.]]
Worried about the success of Sheppard's mission, the Apollo returns to Asuras to help, arriving in time to engage an Asuran cruiser about to destroy Sheppard's Puddle Jumper. Ellis contacts Sheppard to inform him that the Apollo's 302 Bay is open for the Jumper to land and encourages him to hurry. Sheppard requests that the Apollo scan for Weir's subcutaneous locator beacon and beam her aboard, but the ship is unable to detect the locator beacon. Unable to do anything further to help Weir, the Apollo lays down covering fire for Sheppard's Puddle Jumper to land in the portside hanger bay. Once the Puddle Jumper is on board, the Apollo disengages from its fight with the Asuran cruiser and immediately jumps back into hyperspace, carrying Sheppard's team back to Atlantis.
After Atlantis lands on New Lantea, the Apollo remains in orbit for a time in case the city needs assistance. {{cite|SGA|Lifeline}}Battle with the Hybrid
During an attempt to set up survey satellites to monitor the current Wraith/Asuran war, Apollo recovered a ship containing Angelus, who claimed to be an Ancient and the sole survivor of the planet Eraavis after it was destroyed by the Asurans. However, it was later revealed that he was actually an unwitting 'Trojan Horse' created by the Hybrid (Asuran)|Hybrid, an Asuran experiment to combine Replicator nanites and living flesh that had developed out of control. While Angelus unwittingly infected Atlantis, fragments of his ship hi-jacked Apollo, forcing it out of hyperspace near a Wraith fleet and forcing it to hide around a gas giant with most of its systems offline. Fortunately, the crew were able to drive the Hybrid out through the airlock into the gas giant, buying them time to repair the engines and escape attacking Wraith cruisers. With most of their systems repaired, Apollo formed a temporary alliance with an Asuran ship to destroy the planet where the Hybrid had been created, ending its threat once and for all. {{Cite|ATL|Angelus}}Defeating the Replicators
{{main|Battle of Asuras}}thumb|right|The Apollo and Daedalus arrive in Pegasus to combat the Asurans">
thumb|right|The Apollo and Daedalus arrive in Pegasus to combat the Asurans
After the Asuran|Replicators start destroying human worlds as a new tactic in Asuran-Tau'ri-Wraith war|their war with the Wraith and Atlantis gains core drive|the means to track the Replicator ships, the Daedalus and the Apollo are both sent to Atlantis to launch a strike on the Replicator ships with their newly installed Asgard plasma beam weapons. After Dr. Rodney McKay is unable to come up with a solution in the time he is allotted, the two ships ambush a Replicator Aurora-class battleship|Aurora-class battleship with Lt. Colonel John Sheppard manning one of the Apollo's control consoles. The Daedalus and the Apollo catch the Replicator ship completely off-guard and destroy it before it can even react to the threat. Working together, the two 304s destroy another Replicator ship before it can destroy a human world and then split up to cover more ground. Working on its own, the Apollo is able to destroy two more Replicator ships over the next week before the Replicator fleet pulls back to defend Asuras|their homeworld, ending the Daedalus and Apollo's campaign against them.
Unable to find a way to shut down the Replicators, McKay eventually comes up with a plan to Replicator Godzilla|fuse them all together using a Replicator he creates called FRAN. As part of McKay's plan, the Apollo and the Daedalus join with a combined fleet made up of the two 304s, the Traveler Aurora-class battleship|Traveler Aurora-class battleship seven Wraith hive ships and six Traveler Traveler generational ship|generational ships to Battle of Asuras|attack Asuras and hold off the Replicators long enough for McKay to implement his plan. The Apollo carries McKay, Ronon Dex|Ronon, a team of Marines and FRAN to Asuras and beams them to their separate locations within the city. Upon arrival, either the Daedalus or the Apollo severely damages and possibly destroys a Replicator ship with its railguns before it can raise its shields and both ships launch their F-302 fighter-interceptors to work with the Wraith Darts to take out the Replicator ships hyperdrives to prevent them from escaping. The Apollo fares well, but its shields start to give out under the strain of the battle. As the crew prepares to transfer power from the beam weapons to the shields, the Replicator nanites are pulled from their orbiting ships, amazing the Apollo's crew. As Asuras is about to explode the Apollo flees into hyperspace with the surviving ships of the allied fleet. Moments after the fleet makes it into hyperspace, Asuras explodes, destroying the Replicators.
Following the battle, the Apollo beams Sheppard from the Traveler Aurora-class battleship to Atlantis' Control Room. {{Cite|ATL|Be All My Sins Remember'd}}Battling Poole's Replicator
After learning of Poole's Replicator|a Replicator on Earth, the Apollo is employed by Lt. Colonel John Sheppard to act as a base of operations for hunting it down. After arresting Richard Poole, Sheppard has the Apollo beam himself, Ronon Dex, Poole and Ava Dixon (Replicator)|Ava Dixon on board and beam Dr. Bill Lee from his vacation to aid them in their search. With help from Ava, Lee is able to tune the Apollo's sensors to detect an energy signature given off by the Replicator's nanites as a way to track him. During the operation to take down the Replicator, Lee uses the Apollo's sensors to monitor him before the Replicator manages to mask his energy signature and Sheppard has the Apollo beam out Agent Bates after he's knocked unconscious. Following the failure of the first attempt, Lee attempts without success to retune the Apollo's sensors to track the Replicator and uses the Apollo's systems to help hack Poole's data files. The Apollo continues to act as a base for the operation with Sheppard eventually coming up with a plan to destroy the Replicator by having the Apollo Asgard transporter|beam him into low Earth orbit. After Sheppard stabs the Replicator with a knife equipped with a locator beacon, he signals the Apollo which beams the Replicator into orbit. As planned, the Replicator burns up on reentry and is destroyed. The Apollo then beams Sheppard, Ronon and Ava aboard until they decide to trap Ava, a Replicator herself, inside of a virtual reality at the SGC. {{Cite|ATL|Outcast}}Encounter with the Sekkari
Later in 2008, Dr. Vanessa Conrad, in reality the Sekkari seed carrier Sekkari artificial intelligence|AI, claims to have arrived recently on the Apollo. During this period, the Apollo transports International Oversight Advisory representative Shen Xiaoyi to Atlantis for Richard Woolsey's command review. After Woolsey decides to help the Sekkari begin again on a new world, he has the Apollo transport the seed carrier to its target planet. {{Cite|SGA|Remnants}}Super-hive
{{main|Battle of the Super-hive}}thumb|right|[[Abraham Ellis|Colonel Ellis">
thumb|right|[[Abraham Ellis|Colonel Ellis contacts Atlantis to report their failure to destroy the Hive Ship]]
In 2009, Todd contacted Atlantis and revealed that his Wraith underling|underling had mutinied and managed to use several Zero Point Modules to power a super-hive. In the Pegasus galaxy, the Daedalus rushed to engage the new Hive ship. However, the ZPM powered vessel crippled the Daedalus before making a sudden jump into hyperspace.
However, the team picked up a weak subspace signal in Wraith code sent, through subspace, from another reality. The Wraith message contained the coordinates to Earth, and the hive ship was on its way. However, Dr. Rodney McKay was able to calculate where the Hive ship would drop out of hyperspace before reaching Earth. They then notified Stargate Command via Atlantis once the communications array was repaired.
As part of the plan to stop the super-hive, the Apollo and the Sun Tzu (spaceship)|Sun Tzu, Earth's only two available ships, engaged the super-hive once it dropped out of hyperspace. The two 304s did very little damage and suffered heavy damage themselves before the super-hive resumed its course for Earth. The Apollo lost engines and would take a month to reach the nearest Stargate while the Sun Tzu was crippled and venting atmosphere. The Apollo took on the Sun Tzu's crew and broadcast a message detailing their failure to stop the hive ship. {{cite|SGA|Enemy at the Gate}}Unlike the Sun Tzu, the Apollo proved to be more immediately repairable as Colonel Samantha Carter stated that they still had to recover the Sun Tzu if it was possible to repair it, indicating that that ship was possibly beyond repair. However, the Apollo was back in service by that point or soon would be as Carter stated that the George Hammond would bring the active number of Earth ships up to four, meaning the Daedalus, Odyssey, Hammond and Apollo. {{cite|SGA|Legacy: Homecoming}}
Major campaigns
Behind the scenes
{{Source images2}}References and notes
<references />External links
Gallery
<gallery hideaddbutton="true">
The Apollo deploys Horizon over Asuras
The Apollo and Daedalus fire their beam weapons
The Apollo battles an Asuran cruiser
The Apollo enters hyperspace
The back of the Apollo
Apollo orbiting Earth.
Apollo orbiting Earth.
The Apollo in Battle of Asuras|battle.
</gallery>
{{Battlecruisers}}{{Featured article}}
Category:Tau'ri fleet>Category:Tau'ri fleet Category:Asgard technology>Category:Asgard technology Category:Spaceships>Category:Spaceships Category:Daedalus Class>Category:Daedalus Class