I feel like the Battleaxe is better than the Warhammer. The only gotcha is its mount points but that's only an issue on some missions. The other ships are definitely worse but the Mace should get an honourable mention. It's good for Lezter training or quickly taking out light ships.

Thoughts?

Yes, the Battleaxe is the equivalent of the Archangel. In some ways it is even better, with its tougher hull and ridiculous energy generation.

The Warhammer and Claymore best used with many rockets. Plasma rockets can devastate ships; with the Battleaxe, you will rarely run out of energy so Pulsar laser + Railguns is fine.