The Ships of Dune

The following are fictional spaceships, vehicles, and other vessels created by Frank Herbert for Dune. Several of the ships, however, were created by David Lynch for the 1984 movie "Dune".

Ships of the Novel

Carryall

A flying wing (commonly "Wing"), the aerial workhorse of Arrakis, used to transport large spice mining, hunting, and refining equipment. In the 1984 movie of Dune, a Carryall handled four spice mining teams, and would fly two spice Harvesters at a time.

Crushers

Military space vessels composed of many smaller vessels locked together and designed to fall on an enemy position, crushing it.

Dump Boxes

The general term for any cargo container of irregular shape and equipped with ablation surfaces and suspensor damping system. They are used to dump material from space onto a planet's surface.

Frigate

Largest spaceship that can be grounded on a planet and taken off in one piece.

Harvester or Harvester Factory

A large (often 120 meters by 40 meters) spice mining machine commonly employed on rich, uncontaminated melange blows. (Often called a "Crawler" because of a buglike body on independent tracks.)

Heighliner

Major cargo container of the Spacing Guild's transportation system.

Hutment

A nine-leveled tent of interlocking metal leaves that reached out in a thousand-meter circle and could be attached to the base of a Starship Lighter. The Huntment the Emperor brought to Arrakis with him housed five legions of Sardaukar.

Monitor

A ten-section space warcraft mounting heavy armor and shield protection. It is designed to be separated into its component sections for lift-off after planet-fall.

Ornithopter (Commonly: 'Thopter)

Any aircraft capable of sustained wing-beat flight in the manner of birds and insects. In the 1984 movie, the 'Thopters were seen as jet-propelled ships while in the mini-series, the 'Thopters had moving wings, but were still not as they were envisioned.

Sandcrawler

General term for machinery designed to operate on the Arrakis surface in hunting and collecting the spice.

Spice Factory

see Sandcrawler.

Spice-Lighter

A small ship used on Arrakis to transport the spice, melange. A Lighter in general is simply a small transport ship.

Spotter Control

The lighter Ornithopter in a spice-hunting group charged with control of watch and protection, looking out for wormsign.

Starship Lighter

The royal spaceship the Emperor Shaddam IV used to lead his entourage of Sardaukar onto Arrakis.

Troop Carrier

Any Guild ship designed specifically for transport of troops between planets. A carrier could carry 300 Imperial Sardaukar.

Ships of the other novels

No-Ship

A no-chamber designed into a spaceship. It was undetectable by the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood or the Guild.

Ships of the Movie

Guild Navigator's Ship

A large, black, rectangular ship that the Third Stage Guild Navigator used to travel to Kaitain.

Guild Transport

A large blue-colored and oval-shaped ship. House Atreides used a fleet of these ships for their journey from Caladan to Arrakis.

Harkonnen Drop-Ship

A long black ship that the Harkonnens used to travel to Arrakis with the Sardaukar.

Emperor's Flagship

The golden, more triangular version of the Guild Transpot that the Emperor Shaddam IV used to travel to Arrakis. The base of the ship was lined with lasguns.