Norad II

The Norad II is a Behemoth-class battlecruiser in the fictional StarCraft universe, commanded by General Edmund Duke. It had enhanced weapons systems compared to most other battlecruisers. It was the flagship of the Terran Confederacy elite Alpha Squadron. It has been hypothesized that the name Norad was a palindrome to Durane Ruth, the man who originally sent the criminals and psionicists of Earth into the supercarriers that eventually reached the Korprulu Sector a quarter of a million light-years away. More likely, the name is 'borrowed' from NORAD, much like the Yamato Gun shares its name with the largest battleship ever built.

Template:Spoiler These weapons systems could not save it from a Zerg assault over Antiga Prime, however. It crashed on Antiga Prime and had to be taken by Duke's enemy, the Sons of Korhal.

After Duke joined the Sons of Korhal, it was repaired and used in Duke's attack on the Confederates over Tarsonis.

As an in-game unit, the Norad II is incredibly powerful. It has 700 HP, flies slowly, has access to the Yamato Gun, which uses 150 of the Norad II's 250 energy reserves, but does 260 damage. Its Laser Batteries do 50 damage, allowing the Norad II to destroy most Terran infantry units in one shot.

Norad III

The Norad III makes appearances after StarCraft Episode I. It makes an appearance in StarCraft: Queen of Blades and StarCraft Episode V. In its final mission, it has 1500 HP, an armor rating of 5, and laser batteries that inflict 50 damage per shot. This battlecruiser was destroyed by Kerrigan's forces on Korhal shortly after the Zerg attacked the Terran Dominion.

Descrepancy

It is clear from the events of StarCraft Episode I: Rebel Yell, that the Norad II took fire from a swarm of Zerg mutalisks and crashed on the planet of Antiga Prime. Arcturus Mengsk promptly commanded Jimmy Raynor to rescue the General, and try to convince him to join the growing rebel organization of the Sons of Korhal. The Sons of Korhal somehow managed to repair the wrecked battleship under intense Zerg attack, and Edmund Duke took off and retreated with the rest of the rebel fleet. However, in StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade, it is clearly stated that after both Jimmy Raynor and Mike Liberty rescued Duke from the wreck of the Norad II, the former Terran Confederacy general set the self-destruct on the battleship, and twenty minutes after they left, the proud flagship of Alpha Squadron ignited into a thermonuclear fireball, presumably taking out many nearby Zerg.

References

• StarCraft homepage at Blizzard Entertainment
• Battle.net StarCraft Compendium