The Black Star was a Sharlin Class Warcruiser

Sharlin Class Warcruiser

The Sharlin Class Warcruiser is the main starship used by the Minbari Federation in the fictional Babylon 5 universe. Also commonly known as the Minbari War Cruiser, the Sharlin class is very large but conflicting sizes have been noted by different resources...

 in the fictional science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 universe of Babylon 5

Babylon 5

Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...

. The Black Star served as one of the flagships of the Minbari

Minbari

The Minbari are a fictional alien race featured in the television show Babylon 5. The Minbari characters of Delenn and Lennier figure prominently throughout the series; Neroon, Draal, and Dukhat are less prominent Minbari characters....

 Federation fleet, until its destruction in the year 2245. (Some non-canon sources give a different class name for the Black Star, referring to it as a "Shargotti" class. This is chiefly because the Black Star was shown to be larger than other Sharlins which it traveled with, and thus may have been a different class. The class of the Black Star has never been stated on screen, however, canon sources have never mentioned the Minbari having a warship class larger than the Sharlin. Since the show has been known to exhibit starship scaling goofs rather frequently, the predominant opinion continues to be that the Black Star was Sharlin class.)

As told in the episode “Points of Departure

Points of Departure (Babylon 5)

"Points of Departure" is the first episode of the second season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Synopsis:Earth Alliance Destroyer EAS Agamemnon is seen orbiting an unspecified planet. Captain John Sheridan is heard informing an unspecified party that if they have any further...

,” during the course of the Earth-Minbari war

Earth-Minbari War

The Earth–Minbari War is a fictional war that formed a major part of the back story of the science fiction television series, Babylon 5. The war was fought between the Earth Alliance and the Minbari, an older alien race that overwhelmingly outmatched Earth in terms of technology and weapons...

, on September 30, 2245 the Black Star entered the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. There the Earth Alliance

Earth Alliance (Babylon 5)

The Earth Alliance is the name of a fictional alliance of the nations of Earth and off-world colonies in the television series Babylon 5. The transition of Earth government from a democratic, elected government to an authoritarian, militaristic one and back to a democracy again is a major theme of...

 warship Lexington was escorting a number of warships and supply vessels. The far more advanced and powerful Black Star proceeded to quickly destroy and disperse most of the Earth fleet. The Lexington was heavily damaged and crippled in the attack. The ship's commanding officer, Captain Roger Stearns, was killed in the attack when a large metal beam was ripped off the bridge's ceiling and hit him. Commander John Sheridan

John Sheridan (Babylon 5)

John J. Sheridan is a lead character in the fictional universe of the science-fiction television series Babylon 5, played by Bruce Boxleitner. For most of the series, he is the commander of the Babylon 5 station; during the series' final season he is the President of the Interstellar...

, the ship's first officer, survived the attack and took command of the Lexington. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before the Black Star found the Lexington, Sheridan devised a strategy that would use the asteroid belt to his advantage. He ordered the belt mined with nuclear weapons, and then transmitted a fake distress signal to lure the ship toward the Lexington. Sheridan knew that it was standard Minbari doctrine to ignore all surrender pleas and destroy all Earth vessels without mercy, regardless of any damage the Earth vessels may have sustained. As the Black Star approached his ship for the kill, Sheridan detonated the nuclear mines attached to nearby asteroids, catching the Minbari ship in the explosions and destroying it.

The Black Star was the first Minbari cruiser destroyed in the war, and it was the only clear-cut human victory of the war. It did little to halt the Minbari advance, but it did raise morale in the Earth Alliance and encouraged the humans to keep fighting.

In the decade following the Black Stars destruction, many Minbari - especially within the warrior caste - harbored a strong dislike of Sheridan, and called him the "Starkiller" because he destroyed the Black Star in a sneak attack (which they considered a dishonorable act). Sheridan, on the other hand, never felt any remorse over what he had done; as the ranking officer aboard a warship in a time of war, his duty was to protect his crew and defeat the enemy, and fulfilling that duty meant resorting to asymmetric warfare

Asymmetric warfare

Asymmetric warfare is war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly....

. The fact that the Minbari had a "No Quarter

No Quarter

No quarter is when a victor shows no clemency or mercy and refuses to spare the life in return for the unconditional surrender of a vanquished opponent.No quarter may also refer to:*"No Quarter" , a Led Zeppelin song...

" policy and destroyed any human ship regardless of combat ability/status (something most humans considered dishonorable) was also a strong motivational factor.

When Sheridan took command of the Babylon 5 space station, many Minbari were at first angered by the choice. However, when the Shadow War

Shadow War

The Shadow Wars are a fictional series of wars involving the Shadows in the television science fiction series Babylon 5. There have actually been many Shadow Wars since ancient times in the galaxy. Roughly every thousand years, the Shadows begin a new Shadow War to promote chaos in the universe in...

 began, the Minbari put aside their contempt for Sheridan and joined with him to drive the Shadows

Shadow (Babylon 5)

The Shadows are a fictional alien species in the science fiction television series Babylon 5. Their homeworld is Z'ha'dum. In contrast to the Vorlons, whose philosophy is represented by the question "Who are you?", that of the Shadows is represented by the question "What do you want?", centering...

 from the galaxy. Near the end of the Shadow War, Sheridan would once again use the same tactics that he used against the Black Star. He seeded a number of asteroids in the Corianna solar system with nuclear weapons, and used these weapons to destroy a number of Vorlon

Vorlon

A Vorlon is a member of a fictional alien species in the Babylon 5 television series and fictional universe. The Vorlon species is a member of the First Ones, a group made up of the earliest species to gain sentience in the galaxy...

and Shadow vessels.