Image credit: Fractalsponge
Summary
The Imperial-class Star Destroyer (ISD) was a line of capital ships manufactured by the famous Kuat Drive Yards. These massive dagger-shaped warships were the mainstay capital ships of the Imperial navy and one of the most recognizable symbols of the Galactic Empire’s military might. There were two sub-classes within this line: The Imperial I-class and Imperial II-class of star destroyers.
The Imperial I-class star destroyer, also known as Impstar, had replaced the Venator-class as the mainstay capital ship of the Galactic Empire within 18 BBY, just a year after the empire’s birth. They represented a fundamental shift in naval strategy away from versatile carrier-cruiser hybrids, and towards battleships designed specifically for orbital bombardments and instilling terror in the populations of rebellious worlds. Distinguished individuals within the empire - such as the likes of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, imperial enforcer Darth Vader, and those who held the rank of Grand Admiral - were often awarded by Emperor Palpatine himself with an Impstar, which they could use as their personal flagships and even freely customize.
The last Imperial I-class warships were rolled out of Kuat Drive yards in the few years just before the Battle of Yavin. The new Imperial II-class star destroyer, also known as Impstar-Deuce, began its role as the new mainstay capital ship of the empire, and any Imperial I-class warships still in active service received major upgrades to keep them up-to-date. In line with the infamous Tarkin Doctrine, the Imperial II-class warships shifted even further away from versatility and towards fear plus overwhelming force. They received greater numbers of heavy weapons designed for anti-capital use and orbital bombardments while seeing a reduction in point-defence capability. Despite numerous design flaws, they were nonetheless devastatingly powerful warships which inspired fear enough to make entire planets surrender, and continued to serve as a symbol of the Galactic Empire’s might and ruthlessness.
Powers and Stats
Tier: 7-B with laser cannons. High 7-A with turbolasers. High 6-C with heavy turbolasers. At least High 7-A via ramming
Name: Imperial-class Star Destroyer (Imperial I-class Star Destroyer and Imperial II-class Star Destroyer)
Origin: Star Wars
Classification: Starship, Cruiser, Carrier
Users: Imperial Navy, Imperial Remnants and warlords, New Republic (limited numbers in Canon, but in greater numbers in Legends), First Order (Canon)
Length: 1,600 metres
Mass: 40 million tonnes
Material: Mostly neutronium impregnated durasteel and duralloy plating on the hull, weapon emplacements constructed with materials such as durasteel and quadanium steel.
Needed prerequisite for use: Ideally a trained crew of 27,850 (Imperial I-class) to 36,750 (Imperial II-class) in addition to 5,000 - 9,000 naval personnel and Imperial Navy Troopers. Can also carry additional complement of 9,700+ Stormtrooper Corps soldiers.
Terrain: Space, Atmosphere
Attack Potency: City level with laser cannons (The point defence cannons of the Imperial I-class and SB-920 laser cannons of both sub-classes should be more powerful than the models used on the likes of the Acclamator-class Assault Ship and Venator-class Star Destroyer. They should be more than capable of vaporizing skyscraper-sized asteroids as well as depleting deflector shielding or destroying craft durable enough to withstand tractor forces great enough to rip apart entire cities). Large Mountain level+ with turbolasers (Should be no less powerful than the model used on the now outdated Arquitens-class Light Cruiser. Vaporized half a mountain with a single shot). Large Island level with heavy turbolasers (The standard XX-9 heavy turbolaser is this powerful. The huge 50 metre wide main batteries on both sides of the upper deck structure are much more powerful, with yields per shot on the highest setting into the range of hundreds of Gigatons. During the Battle of Batonn shots from the main batteries of the ISD Chimaera caused an ocean to boil and unleashed dozens-of-metres-high tsunamis. During the liberation of Kashyyyk heavy trubolaser fire from the ISDs Dominion, Vitiator, Neutralizer devastated large swathes of the planet and caused violent earthquakes; causing the entire planet of Kashyyyk to “shake and rumble” and go into violent “tectonic spasms”). At least Large Mountain level+ via ramming (Can cripple or even bisect capital ships with this kind of durability by ramming them)
Speed: Subsonic+ atmospheric speeds (975+ km/hr). Can accelerate continuously to Sub-Relativistic speeds in space. Massively FTL+ travel via hyperspace (Equipped with a Class 2 hyperdrive. Capable of covering a few thousand light-years in an hour)
Durability: At least Large Mountain level+ without deflector shields (Far larger and more durable than the Venator-class Star Destroyer. During the Battle of Batonn, the ISD Judicator proved herself capable of remaining operational [albeit with combat capability lost] despite repeated blasts from orbital turbolasers which should be at least in the same league as the turbolasers of the likes of the Arquitens-class). At least Large Island level with deflector shields (This line's hypermatter reactors should be more than capable of feeding such levels of power to their deflector shield generator globes. Should be more than capable of taking one or two all batteries barrages from another Imperial-class star destroyer, which means potentially hundreds of shots as powerful as those unleashed by the XX-9 heavy turbolaser)
Range: Hundreds to thousands of kilometres with various armaments.
Weaknesses:
- Not as fast and manoeuvrable as the old Acclamator-class and Venator-class.
- Weapon emplacements across the hull do not take full advantage of the overall shape and leave several firing blind spots, especially at the rear of the vessel.
- The tall command tower and the two deflector shield generators which it sports are relatively open to attack even with deflector shields engaged. And once the deflector shields are down, the command tower is extremely vulnerable (especially to dive bombing or suicide attacks by small fighters/bombers).
- Once the command tower is taken out, the entire ship loses control and is lost. This is due to the complete centralization of control in the main tower, with no backup bridge within the main superstructure.
- Numerous other design flaws in the overall design which make them maintenance hungry and with many weak points that could be exploited by boarding parties.
Gallery
Others
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Notable Losses:
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