Korolev

"It's been rushed into service."

- Paul Emerson

The Korolev (Russian: ВМФ Королев) was the third in the 304 series of intergalactic battlecruisers built by the Tau'ri. Like its sister ships, the Korolev was constructed by the United States of America. It was delivered to the Russian Federation in exchange for permanent American ownership of the Stargate.

History
Having been rushed into service, the Korolev was given to Russia to allow the USAF to maintain control of the Alpha Gate, where the ship acquired its name. Commanded by Colonel Chekov, the Korolev recovered Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Doctor Daniel Jackson from Camelot en route to a recently discovered Ori Supergate at P3Y-229, where it joined the USS Odyssey and a fleet of Asgard, Free Jaffa and Lucian Alliance vessels in defending the Milky Way galaxy from an invading force of Ori motherships.

Arriving at the location mere moments before the Supergate activated and four Ori ships emerged through it, the crew of the Korolev prepared for combat. The Ori ships sent a text only message to the fleet, which was intercepted by several ships, including ''Korolev". In response, Daniel Jackson used the ship's communication system to orally responded to the message using a quote from the Book of Origin. Despite all actions to avoid a confrontation, the battle commenced.

The four Ori motherships opened fired using powerful energy beam weapons, which were able to destroy all non-Asgard-shielded ships withing only one shot. Korolev and Odyssey were among the first vessels to be hit by Ori weapons fire; but due to their Asgard shields, they were able to survive several such hits. During the battle, one of the Korolev's officers discovered a slight modulation in the Ori ships' shields that coincided with the firing of their main weapons. To exploit this weakness, Colonel Chekov ordered that nuclear weapons be beamed onboard the Ori ships - an action that, when executed, was unsuccessful. Daniel Jackson then suggested the use of Korolev's transportation rings to transport a nuke onboard. To complete the plan, Jackson went to the rings room to calibrate the nuke for transport whilst Colonel Chekov ordered the Korolev closer to the Ori ships so as to be in range to enact the plan. However, before the plan could be enacted, two Ori motherships targeted Korolev at the same time. The sucessive blasts were too much for the ship to bear, resulting in it's immediate, and fiery, destruction.

Six crew members managed to escape the ship using the Korolev's Asgard transporter to aboard the Odyssey. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, after already being in Korolev's F-302 bay in an attempt to lead a squadron against the invading Ori ships, was able to take off in an F-302 just as the ship exploded. Doctor Jackson, who was already in the ship's ring room as to transport a nuke aboard an Ori ship, used the rings to escape - albeit aboard an Ori vessel.

Major campaigns

 * Battle of P3Y-229

Behind the scenes
Sergey Korolyov (Сергей Королёв; often transliterated as Sergei Korolev) was the head Soviet rocket engineer and designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s.