Wraith cruiser

Wraith cruisers are vessels that are used by the Wraith that function as escorts for Hive ships.

Overview
Wraith cruisers are typically seen to escort Hive ships during assaults or when feeding on a Human world. When their Hive ships are destroyed, the escorting cruisers typically abandon the battlefield by escaping into hyperspace. Beyond this role, they are also seen in the role of patrol ships that are sent to investigate disturbances near Wraith territory. They are also sent alone against Human worlds in order to cull its inhabitants that are incapable of mounting a defense against the vessel. Similar to other Wraith vessels, they apparently do not possess shields and instead rely on their organic hull to protect them from damage.

When among the company of a Hive ship, cruisers typically are carried into hyperspace even though they are capable of entering it by themselves. They are known to carry Wraith Darts on them which are deployed in combat engagements, though the exact number of Darts remains unknown.

Command & Control
Similar to the great Hive ships of the Wraith, the cruisers contained a bridge with numerous consoles that were controlled by the crewmen. The commander of the vessel&mdash;which can be a Hive queen&mdash;was capable of activating the ships self-destruct sequence which can be set on a timer. A set sequence on the ship's command console allowed for deactivation of the ship's detonation command.

Bridge
A cruiser contains a similar bridge structure as that of the Hive ships with numerous consoles being present where the crew stand with no seating apparent. Various information from these terminals are used to operate the ship allowing the crew to fire weapons, enter hyperspace and control repair operations. Computer consoles are present which present new information to the crew on the situation outside the ship. They furthermore note on the deployment of darts.

Dart bay
Cruisers were capable of carrying a compliment of Wraith Darts, which they released for culling and combat engagements. Lt. Colonel John Sheppard used a cloaked Puddle Jumper to enter the Dart bay of Michael Kenmore's cruiser in order to rescue Teyla Emmagan.

Whenever a cruiser would face destruction, Darts from the bay are launched in an attempt to board an enemy ship.


 * Presumably, the dart bay contained many of the same features as those on a Hive ship.

Hyperdrive
The Wraith hyperdrive aboard cruisers is unique in that it appears to be suspended from the ceiling of the vessel. Several terminals lay on the ground where crewmen tended to the controls. Typically, three crewmen were all that was required to maintain the hyperdrive.

The hyperdrive of Michael Kenmore's cruiser was disabled by the plasma beam weapons of the Daedalus. However, the repairs were completed quickly until Lt. Colonel John Sheppard used explosives to permanently destroy the hyperdrive. A Wraith cruiser is no match for a Daedalus-class ship, since their energy weapons are much inferior to the Asgard shields, and since Wraith vessels rely on their regenerative hull, a cruiser can be destroyed by Railguns and missiles. A direct hit from an Asgard plasma beam can tear the cruiser apart, and if critical systems are damages secondary explosions will destroy it completely.


 * Presumably, a Hive ship contains an exact but larger version of these hyperdrives within their ships.

History

 * Two cruisers and hundreds of Wraith Darts attacked Proculus while Chaya Sar was away. Detecting the threat, Chaya raced back followed by Major John Sheppard and destroyed the fleet&mdash;including the cruisers&mdash;with her powers.
 * Three hive ships and nine cruisers culled Orin's homeworld.
 * During the Battle of Atlantis, numerous cruisers survived the conflict when the Daedalus arrived but instead of fighting to the death, they retreated into hyperspace. Given the massive Wraith fleet that showed up later, it is believed they called for reinforcements.
 * A cruiser was present on Olesia where it attempted to kill Lt. Colonel John Sheppard's team but was damaged by a Drone weapon from a Puddle Jumper. Two more took the place of it when it retreated and chased the team through the Stargate then turned to cull the mainland.
 * Two cruisers discovered the Ancient warship Aurora and attempted to board it but were destroyed when the ship activated its self-destruct.
 * When Lt. Aiden Ford was culled by a Wraith Dart, he was deposited on a cruiser where he woke up fast due to the immunity to stunning the Wraith enzyme gave him, killed a few Wraith, stole some more enzyme and escaped, something he said was easy to do as the Wraith don't expect anyone to board their ships.
 * One cruiser was damaged during the first siege of Atlantis when the Lanteans were in control of the city and was shot down whereupon it crashed into the bottom of the ocean where it remained intact after 10,000 years. Dr. Rodney McKay believed that its main engines were damaged and shut down and that it was repairable.
 * A cruiser discovered and attacked an Aurora-class vessel used by the Travelers, damaging it. The cruiser was destroyed by a retaliatory Drone weapon barrage.
 * Michael Kenmore possessed a cruiser which he used as his mobile base of operations which he used to capture Teyla Emmagan, but it was eventually destroyed by the Daedalus' Asgard plasma beam weapons during the Battle of M2S-445.
 * Todd had two cruisers present with his Hive ship when he had negotiations concerning the gene therapy to eliminate the need to feed on humans. Both were called away to help defend one of their alliance's facilities and were subsequently destroyed by the Attero device, when they entered hyperspace.

Known cruisers

 * Michael's cruiser

Behind the scenes
The Wraith cruiser's length of 2,500 meters and width of 1,500 meters is given by the canonical Stargate Atlantis: The DVD Collection 76, but in the show it appears similar in length to a Daedalus-class ship, which is at most 225 meters long and 95 meters wide according to The DVD Collection 70. Furthermore, Stargate Atlantis: The DVD Collection 73 and 76 give the length of the Aurora-class battleship to be upward of 3,000 meters. On screen, Wraith cruisers, and 304s, are notably smaller in size than Aurora-class ships.