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Star Destroyer

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This article is about the type of warship. You may be looking for the Imperial-class Star Destroyer or The Emperor's New Clothes' song "Star Destroyer".
An Imperial II-class Star Destroyer.
An Imperial II-class Star Destroyer.
"At that close range, we won't last long against those Star Destroyers!"
―Admiral Ackbar, during the Battle of Endor[src]

Star Destroyer was a term used to describe both a certain type of medium-sized[1] capital ship[2] used by the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Empire, the New Republic, the Imperial Remnant, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, the Alliance-in-exile, the Fel Empire and Darth Krayt's Sith Empire, as well as heavily armed warships in general.[3] The term originated with the idea of a warship powerful enough to destroy entire star systems, and did not necessarily indicate a destroyer type vessel.[3]

Contents

[edit] Characteristics

Venator-class Star Destroyers in the first days of the Empire.
Venator-class Star Destroyers in the first days of the Empire.

The term originated within the Old Republic and referred to ships capable of destroying entire star systems with their heavy firepower. The dagger-shape was said to facilitate the ease of this by focusing the firepower forward. Any vessel that conformed to this design, could be considered a class of Star Destroyer.[3] Even so, many models were designed with their heavy guns aimed to the sides of the vessel, obstructing each other's line-of-sight in other directions.[4]

In stricter terms, Star Destroyers were the relatively common warships that dwarfed the frigates and cruisers of one of the Galactic Empire's standard warship scales,[5][4] and were smaller than Imperial Star Cruisers.[2] Based on descriptions of the Star Dreadnought Executor, the Star Destroyer/Super Star Destroyer cut-off point lay somewhere around a length of 3,8 kilometers.[6]

During the Clone Wars, these Star Destroyers were considered medium-weight warships.[1] With the increase in warship-sizes during the time of the Empire, Star Destroyers were sometimes denoted as smaller vessels in the Imperial Navy.[7] In combat, Star Destroyers usually surpassed contemporary destroyer designs, similar to how the star frigates eclipsed most contemporary frigate classes.[1] The Star Destroyer designation was usually used for warships ranging from about 900 meters[8] to several kilometers in length,[6][9][10] but the general term encompassed smaller and much larger vessels.[11][12]

In the time of the second Galactic Empire, Star Destroyers were described as some of the largest and most powerful warships of the time, taking some design-cues from Star Dreadnoughts like the Executor-class[3] and performing the roles of large battleships despite their compact frame.[13] Many Star Destroyer classes throughout the various eras doubled as carriers.[1] In many cases, they contained one or several wings of starfighters.[4][1]

[edit] History

A Victory-class Star Destroyer.
A Victory-class Star Destroyer.

[edit] Early designs

The Interdictor-class cruiser, a distant technological predecessor of the Star Destroyer, was in the service of the old Galactic Republic and, later, the Sith Empire, 4,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. It appears the Republic abandoned the design after Malachor V, where they fell into Sith hands. An example of these ships included Leviathan.[14] However, the design of Ravager would survive until later.[15]

[edit] Clone Wars-developments

Star Destroyers that bore the distinctive wedge-shape, which came to be associated with the ship type, were in the service of the later Republic Navy, around the time of the Clone Wars. The two most famous designs at the time were the Victory I- and Venator-classes, which were considered massive during their time. The design was born from the success of the Acclamator-class assault ship.[16][1] Later Star Destroyers like the Imperial- and Tector-classes became infamous for their service in the Imperial Navy.[1] Other dagger-shaped ships, such as the Immobilizer 418 cruiser, were described as resembling small Star Destroyers.[17]

During the Clone Wars, larger destroyer and battleship designs based on the Acclamator-class were produced by Rothana Heavy Engineering, though it is unknown if they were ever called "Star Destroyers".[18] Additionally, during the early stages of the war, Grizmallt was one of several worlds researching ways to surpass Rothana's early success-story, but the ship classes resulting from this plan, if any, are unknown.[19]

[edit] Imperial and New Republic usage

A Nebula-class Star Destroyer.
A Nebula-class Star Destroyer.

While Star Destroyers were the heaviest combatants in many fleets composed of down-scaled cruisers and frigates, they performed an escort role when in the presence of larger warships such as the Empire's Executor-class[20] or the battleships found in the Republic Navy.[1]

Larger ship types like Star Cruisers, Star Battlecruisers, and Star Dreadnoughts were referred to in military colloquialism as "Super Star Destroyers" (sometimes omitting the "Super" prefix),[2] based on their similar dagger-shape and the popularity of the name "Super-class Star Destroyer", which was a front used to cover for the construction of the Executor-class Star Dreadnought.[21] The New Republic also adopted the dagger-shape in their later Star Destroyer designs. However, it should be noted that not all vessels known as Star Destroyers adhered to the dagger aesthetic.[22] During and after the Clone Wars, the Republic victories of the war would be attributed to these starships, rather than the Jedi.[1]

Three Pellaeon-class Star Destroyers.
Three Pellaeon-class Star Destroyers.

The Venator-, Imperial-, Tector-,[1] Executor-,[2] Eclipse-, and Sovereign-class ships were produced by Kuat Drive Yards,[23] mostly at Kuat, but also at countless other facilities around the Galaxy. The Victory- and Republic-classes were produced by Rendili StarDrive,[8][22] and the Nebula-class was produced by the Republic Engineering Corporation.[22]

[edit] Later iterations

Even though the Galactic Alliance continued to use and produce Star Destroyers, they later decided to name their new ships "battle carriers" in order to avoid reminding people of the old Imperial terror symbols.[24] By the time of the Sith-Imperial War, the resurgent Empire utilized the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer, which was described as one of the largest and most powerful warships of its time,[3] with unparallelled weapons-systems.[13] The Sith Empire led by Darth Krayt later constructed the much bigger and heavily armed Advanced Star Destroyer, the Imperious, which was stolen by the Galactic Alliance Remnant led by Gar Stazi when it became operational.[25]

[edit] Star Destroyer classes

Imperial-class Star Destroyer schematics.
Imperial-class Star Destroyer schematics.

In rough chronological order, the following designs of Star Destroyers were produced:

[edit] Related warship classes

Star Destroyers and a Super Star Destroyer inside a Death Star drydock.
Star Destroyers and a Super Star Destroyer inside a Death Star drydock.

In rough chronological order, the following designs of Star Destroyer-like warships were produced:

[edit] Behind the scenes

Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer bridge.
Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer bridge.

On the commentary track of the Revenge of the Sith DVD, George Lucas referred to General Grievous's ship, a Providence-class carrier/destroyer, as a "Star Destroyer." This might mean that the term "Star Destroyer" is not supposed to be restricted to dagger-shaped warships, which fits with the existence of the Bakura-class. However, this was likely just a generalization.

Interestingly enough, the term "Star Destroyer" is used both for different classes of destroyers and as a general term for most dagger-shaped warships in use by the Empire, from smaller frigates like Demolisher to giant dreadnoughts like Executor and Eclipse. This has created some confusion, as many sources often do not specify what kind of warship they are talking about, other than writing "Star Destroyer" or "Imperial Star Destroyer". Since many stories have historically focused on the mile-long Imperial-class, it is used as a default reference unless stated otherwise.

In the subtitles for the movies of the original trilogy, "Star Destroyer" is commonly mistyped as "stardestroyer."

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Sources

Wookieepedia has a collection of images and media related to Star Destroyer.
Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie of Star Destoyers over Hoth.
Concept art by Ralph McQuarrie of Star Destoyers over Hoth.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Revenge of the Sith: Incredible Cross-Sections
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Star Wars: Complete Locations, p. 171
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Starships of the Galaxy (2007)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections
  5. ↑ Imperial Sourcebook
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 A Guide to the Star Wars Universe (First Edition), the size of the Executor was described as "five times larger than any Star Destroyer in the Imperial fleet", and length is often used as the dimension that determines ship-size in SW books.
  7. ↑ Star Wars: Complete Locations, p. 143
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Imperial Sourcebook, p. 60
  9. ↑ Attack of the Clones: Incredible Cross-Sections, p. 11
  10. ↑ Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire, p. 12
  11. ↑ Star Wars: Droids
  12. ↑ Imperial Sourcebook, p. 63
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Star Wars: Legacy 0
  14. ↑ Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  15. ↑ Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
  16. ↑ The New Essential Chronology
  17. ↑ The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
  18. ↑ Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook
  19. ↑ Attack of the Clones: Incredible Cross-Sections, p. 23
  20. ↑ Star Wars: Complete Locations, p. 142
  21. ↑ Starship Battles Preview 1
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Cracken's Threat Dossier
  23. ↑ Dark Empire Sourcebook
  24. ↑ Betrayal
  25. ↑ Star Wars Legacy: Indomitable
Retrieved from "http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Destroyer"
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