The Imperial Star Destroyer



VESSEL TYPE:                       Imperial Star Destroyer
DESIGNER/MANUFACTURER:             Kuat Drive Yards
COMBAT DESIGNATION:                Capital Ship
STARFIGHTER SQUADRONS:             72 TIE starfighters (exact composition
                                   varies)
SUPPORT CRAFT:                     8 Lambda-Class Shuttles
                                   15 stormtrooper transports
                                   5 Assault Gunboats
                                   Variable number of Skipray Blastboats
                                   and Gamma-Class Shuttles
PLANETARY ASSAULT SUPPLIES:        20 AT-AT Walkers
                                   30 AT-ST Walkers
                                   9700 ground troops
PROPULSION SYSTEMS:                Three Kuat Drive Yards Destroyer-1 Ion
                                   Engine, Four Cygnus Spaceworks
                                   Gemon-4 Ion Engines
WEAPONS (STANDARD):                60 Turbolasers
                                   60 Ion cannons

The awesome Imperial-Class Star Destroyer is the perfect symbol of Imperial grandeur and might. Fully 1.6 kilometers long, the Imperial Star Destroyer is a huge juggernaut with a threatening, dagger-shaped hull that strikes fear into the hearts of enemies of the Empire. It is the backbone of the Imperial Fleet, which deploys it in fleets of six to systems or areas they wish to control completely. These great ships rarely have to enter combat, as their presence alone deters any resistance, but they are admirably armed for it. With sixty turbolasers and sixty ion cannons, the ISD is capable of reducing to slab any ship that strays within cannon range. It is protected by two powerful shield generators located atop the command tower, and its TIE squadrons provide defense against enemy starfighters.

Imperial-Class Star Destroyers are manufactured at shipyards deep within Imperial space. The ISD is based upon its predecessor, the smaller Victory-Class Star Destroyer which served the Old Republic Navy. It is designed not only to combat starships but to threaten and lay waste to planetary defenses; its turbolasers are strong enough to penetrate planets' atmospheres and reach the surface. The Empire can leave ISDs in orbit around systems and keep watch over them, forcing any contentious inhabitants (or Rebel operatives) to lay low lest their actions result in the destruction of entire cities.

It was in an Imperial Star Destroyer, the Devastator, that Darth Vader chased and captured Princess Leia's Corellian Corvette over Tatooine. Death Squadron, the Imperial task force charged with hunting down the Rebels after the Battle of Yavin, was composed of six Star Destroyers, a Super Star Destroyer, and smaller battle cruisers. At the Battle of Endor, Admiral Piett's fleet of Star Destroyers closed the Imperial trap around the Rebels, inflicting tremendous damage to the Rebel Fleet as it tried to escape the Death Star. After the main fighting of the Galactic Civil War, many Imperial Star Destroyers remained in Imperial hands, and were used with great effect against the New Republic by Grand Admiral Thrawn, Admiral Daala, and others.