10 Most Notorious Battlestar Galactica Urban Legends
9. Just How Many Battlestars Are There?
It is easy to assume that, given that there are Twelve Colonies of Kobol, that there are only twelve of the flagship battlestars as well - one for each colony. This is something backed up by Encyclopaedia Galactica, a non-canonical companion to the original series that was published in 1979. It is also mentioned that twelve battlestars were constructed in the beginning of the 2003 miniseries. However, to say that there have only been twelve is not true.
In both the original and reimagined series, there was no definitive decision taken over how many battlestars actually exist. Given the sheer length of the conflict with the Cylons, far more would have to be built. In the years before and during the war with the Cylons, up to 120 battlestars are constructed. However, the majority are destroyed following an elaborate Cylon attack which involves remotely disabling each ship's Command Navigation Programme (a strategy that fails to affect Galactica, given how it restricts itself to intra-ship systems only).
At least thirty battlestars, including the Atlantia, Triton, Solaria, and Columbia, are lost in the first Cylon attack. This loss is what prompts Commander Adama and Galactica to take charge of the colonial fleet.