Capital Ships Course Notes {CS}

Course Introduction
The Imperial Directorate's battle fleet is made up of dozen's of ships ranging from cruisers to destroyers, which are used to safe guard the systems that make up the Imperial Directorate. The primary defense for the Imperial Directorate comes from the Home Guard Fleet, which serve to augment the system and sector fleets, in addition to the smaller planetary defense fleets.

In the following notes we'll break down each ship used by the Imperial Directorate and also some brief notes on the type of ship and its strengths and weakness.
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Cruisers: a warship of high speed and medium armament
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Name: Loronar Strike-class Medium Cruiser
Type: Cruiser
Manufacturer: Loronar
Length: 450 m
Cargo Capacity: 3,500 metric ton's
Crew: 1,972; 140 gunners; 800 skeletons
Fighters: 1 Squadron
Troops: 1 Regiment, 1 Company, 3 Squads, and 1 Trooper
Weaponry:
20 Turbo lasers
10 Ion Cannons
10 Tractor Beam Projectors
10 Turbolaser Batteries
Role in the Fleet: Support Ship

Synopsis:
Loronar has designed a vessel that can be mass-produced in a limited amount of time, due to the prefabricated nature of its component sections. Not only does this procedure reduce construction time, it also dramatically lowers the cost of each vessel. Each Strike Cruiser can carry a company of troops, two AT-STs, and one AT-AT walker for ground assault missions. Its small but functional hangar bay houses one squadron of TIE-class starfighters. Because of its modular design, a Strike Cruiser can be easily modified for specific missions. Those specialized vessels currently in service include prefab garrison developers, troop transports, TIE launch platforms, heavy vehicle recovery, and planet assault vessels that can carry up to five walkers. While the benefits of its design are obvious, the Strike Cruiser has one glaring weakness. The modular design means that entire systems or weapons batteries can be knocked out by a single, well placed hit.

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Name: Damorian Manufacturing's Carrack Light Cruiser
Type: Cruiser
Manufacturer: Damorian Manufacturing
Length: 350m
Crew: 1,007; 85 Gunners; 500 Skeleton Crew
Cargo: 3,500 Metric tons
Fighters: 4 Fighters
Troops: 1 Battalion, 2 Squads, 3 troopers
Weaponry:
20 Laser Cannons
10 Heavy Turbolasers
5 Tractor Beam Emplacements
Role in the Fleet: Support Ship

Synopsis:
An old yet reliable ship in the Imperial Fleet is the Damrian Manufacturing Corporation's Carrack-class Light Cruiser. This vessel's ten turbolaser batteries allow the Carrack to engage larger opponents with a reasonable chance of success. Backing up the heavy guns are a number of smaller laser cannons for point defense against star fighters and missiles. Refitted vessels have also been equipped with tractor beam projectors. Layered Bulkheads and compartmentalization, combined with a unique modular life support system, assures maximum crew survival in case of hull breechings. On numerous occasions, Imperial salvage craft have retrieved Carrack debris and found live crew members on board. These bulkheads also lend strength to the hull, allowing a Carrack to survive an attack that would destroy a similarly sized vessel. Compartmentalization does have one major drawback, though. Such a defense system takes up an inordinate amount of space. As a result, the Carrack-class is one of the largest light cruisers not equipped with internal hangar bays. Instead, each Carrack carries four TIE recon star fighters docked on an external rack. These small ships are used for courier missions and scouting duty. To compensate for the lack of star fighter support, Carrack cruisers are equipped with powerful engines that make them among the fastest of the Empire's capital ships. Current doctrine teams these cruisers with smaller vessels and assigns them to patrol duty in pacified or semi-pacified sectors. They also serve as personal transports for important planetary governors and Moffs.

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Name: Rendili Star Drive's Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser
Type: Cruiser
Manufacturer: Rendili Star Drive
Length: 600m
Crew: 16,113; 97 gunners; 9,000 Skeleton
Cargo: 9,000 Metric tons
Fighters: 1 Squadron
Troops: 11 Regiments; 1 Battalion; 2 Squads; 1 Trooper
Weaponry:
20 Quad Laser Cannons
10 Laser Cannons
10 Turbolaser Cannons
Role in Fleet: Heavy Support

Synopsis:
Introduced to the Galaxy before the Clone Wars, the Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruiser was the largest vessel of its time. In fact, these are among the oldest ships still seeing active service in some parts of the Empire. Originally, the Navy had planned to phase out the Dreadnaught. Critics pointed out such flaws as slow speeds, weak shielding, inefficient power generators, low firepower, and high crew needs. Economics has won out though, so far, as the Navy has found it more cost-effective to refit these ships than to build totally new vessels. Because of their slower speeds, these ships were originally equipped with an enormous amount of cargo space for food and supplies during long missions. As technology improved, faster hyperdrive engines made most of this space unnecessary. Now these areas have been converted into TIE hangar bays. Dreadnaughts typically carry a full squadron of TIE starfighters. Dreadnaughts perform a number of duties within the Empire. They are used to maintain an Imperial presence in the Outer Rim Territories, as convoy escort vessels, and in the pacification of low technology worlds. The biggest drawback for this class of Heavy Cruiser is its reliance on manual technology. While the newer vessels have minimal crews supported by a heavy concentration of Droid technology, even the refitted Dreadnaughts need more actual crewmen than any other vessel currently in Imperial service.

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Name: Sienar Fleet Systems Immobilizer 418 Interdictor Heavy Cruiser
Type: Cruiser
Manufacturer: Sienar Fleet Systems
Length: 600 m
Crew: 2,783; 24 gunners; 1,500 skeleton
Fighters: 1 Squadron
Troops: 1 Company, 3 Squads, and 1 Trooper
Weaponry:
20 Quad Laser's
4 Gravity well projector's

Synopsis:
When the Empire developed a working gravity well projector, it was determined that a special vessel would need to be constructed to provide the necessary power output the device required. So Sienar Fleet Systems designed the Interdictor-class Heavy Cruiser. The gravity well generator works on a simple principle. When focused, it sends out waves of energy that disrupt mass lines in space, thereby simulating the presence of a large stellar body such as an asteroid or planetoid. The presence of so much mass prevents ships in the area from engaging their hyperdrives, and it also drops ships already in hyperspace back into real space. The Interdictor Cruiser serves as an escape cut-off, strategically stationed out of direct combat but in a position that provides maximum fire arc. It projects fields of gravity throughout a battle zone, rendering all hyperdrives inoperable. This greatly reduces the chance of Rebel ships, which normally survive by using quick hit and run tactics and then escape into lightspeed. These Heavy Cruisers also perform as ambush vessels, hiding along a known hyperspace lane and projecting gravity fields that produce mass shadows. Any ships traveling along the hyper route must slip back into realspace when confronted with gravity projections. Once in realspace, other Imperial vessels can engage them in direct combat or board them for customs inspection.
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Frigates: a naval escort vessel between a corvette and a destroyer in size
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Name: Kuat Drive Yard's Nebulon B Escort Frigate
Type: Frigate
Manufacturer: Kuat Drive Yard
Length: 300m
Crew: 920
Cargo: 6,000 Metric tons
Fighters: 2 Squadrons
Troops: 1 Company, 2 Squads, 1 Trooper
Weaponry:
12 Laser Cannons
12 TurboLaser Batteries
2 Tractor Beam Emplacements
Role in Fleet: Medium Support

Synopsis:
During the early days of the Rebellion, the Alliance had significant success attacking Imperial supply convoys. The Imperial Navy was loath to relegate its expensive Star Destroyers to escort duty, and TIE fighters were unable to jump through hyperspace with the convoys, leaving them vulnerable to attack at their destination until joined by new escort TIEs. For a while the Empire employed Corvettes as escorts, but they were easily outmatched by the more maneuverable X-wings. What was needed was a vehicle cheaper than a Star Destroyer, but similarly equipped with heavy firepower to deal with large attackers and capable of carrying TIE fighters to defeat smaller, faster enemies. The Empire found the perfect solution in the Kuat Drive Yards' Nebulon-B Frigate. The Nebulon-B Frigate is well armed with turbolasers and laser batteries, has good shields and tractor beam generators, has very good long-range sensors, and can carry two TIE fighter squadrons (24 starfighters). The Frigate is slow and unwieldy - as are most vessels of its size - but its TIEs can handle anything too quick (or small) for the Frigate. Since the Imperial Navy has begun regularly assigning Nebulon-B Frigates to escort duty, Rebel X-wing pilots have found that attacking Imperial convoys is no longer the joy ride it once was. Unable to stand up to prolonged dogfights with TIEs supported by a Frigate's heavy guns, the Rebels have had to resort to lightning-fast hit-and-run raids against enemy transports - and even then, the Rebellion is losing more pilots and ships than it can afford.
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Support Vessels: These ships make up for what the other capital ships lack, such as Fighters, Troops, or just plain Weapon's power. With the help of these ships a mission can be made or broken.
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Name: Venator-class II Star Destroyer
Type: Fleet Carrier
Manufacturer: Rothana Heavy Engineering
Length: 1,137m
Crew: 7,400
Fighters: 100 Starfighters, 24 Walkers w/landing barges
Troops: 4 Regiments; 8 Squads
Weaponry:
8 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries (4 Barrels)
2 Medium Dual Turbolaser Cannons
52 Point Defense Laser Cannons
4 Proton Torpedo Tubes
6 Tractor Beam Projectors
Role in Fleet: Fighter Support

Synopsis:
Following the Battle of Geonosis, the Separatist movement created a fleet of dreadnaughts to achieve naval supremacy against the Republic. The previously so successful Acclamator-class Military Transport was considered insufficient to handle the new opponent, and the Venator-class was born. They fought the decisive Battle of Coruscant and proved more than able to handle the dreadnaughts. Not long after, the advent of the even more massive Imperator-class Star Destroyer relegated the Venator to a secondary place, but the design lineage did not die out as it inspired the Class II cruiser, which in itself was a followup concept on the overpowered Class I Light Cruiser. Building on the Acclamator's design, the Venator is capable of going into even the lowest reaches of an atmosphere.
The Venator is special in that it features a massive, single flight deck with a bow launch door which can hold an impressive amount of starfighers, but this is a structural weakness that was later abandoned. The ship also has several other problems, such as the broadside guns having too small firing arcs. To improve the point defences, modifications were sometimes made to include separated SHPA turbolaser mounts on the ventral side. It is a multi-role ship but with an emphasize on the carrier role.
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Destroyers: a fast warship with guns and torpedoes used to protect other ships.
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Name: Rendili Star Drive's Victory Class Star Destroyer
Type: Destroyer
Manufacturer: Rendili Star Drive
Length: 900m
Crew: 4,798; 402 Gunners; 1,785 Skeleton
Cargo: 8,100 Metric tons
Fighters: 2 squadrons
Troops: 8 Regiments
Weaponry:
80 Concussion Missile Tube Launchers
40 Double Turbolaser Batteries
10 Quad Turbolaser Batteries
10 Tractor beam projectors
Role in Fleet: Command Ship/Heavy Support

Synopsis:
Technological advancement is a byproduct of war. The battle-marred era marked by the Clone Wars saw the creation of bigger, faster, more heavily armed and armored combat vessels. The best of this bumper crop was the Victory-class Star Destroyer. Designed by Republic engineer Walex Blissex, the Victory was commissioned into service as the wars were drawing to a close. Consequently, though these ships saw little action during the wars, they formed the bulk of the Republic Navy for years following. For a time it seemed these vessels would be replaced by the larger, newer Imperial-class Destroyers, but since the Rebellion moved into full swing the Victory has served in the defense of the Empire. The Victory Star Destroyer carries out three standard mission types: planetary defense, planetary assault and troop support, and ship-to-ship combat. It is much better at the first two than the latter. One of these vessel's most powerful advantages is the ability to enter the upper levels of a planet's atmosphere -- something the newer Star Destroyers cannot do. This permits precision ground attacks and the pursuit of smaller craft hoping to escape by diving toward a planet. The Victory-class vessel's main deficiency is its slow sublight speed. However, it does have rapid hyperspace capabilities and can make jumps quickly. To augment its slow speed, the Victory carries two TIE Fighter Squadrons.
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Name: Kuat Drive Yard's Imperial Class II-Star Destroyer
Type: Destroyer
Manufacturer: Kuat Drive Yard
Length: 1.6 km
Crew: 36,755; 330 gunners; 5,000 Skeleton
Cargo: 36,000 Metric Tons
Fighters: 1 Wing
Troops: 37 Regiments
Weaponry:
50 Heavy Turbolaser Cannons
50 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries
20 Ion Cannons
10 Tractor Beam Projectors
Role in Fleet: Command Ship

Synopsis:
Designed by Lira Blissex, daughter of the man who designed the Victory-class Star Destroyer, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer was an engineering and budget-planning nightmare. But the Navy pushed for it and the Emperor demanded it, so the standard Star Destroyer was built. The Imperial Star Destroyer has enough firepower to reduce a civilized world to slag or take on a fleet of lesser enemy vessels. Each carries a full stormtrooper division, complete with assault craft and ablative heat shields for orbital drops, 20 AT-AT and 30 AT-ST walkers for ground assault and six TIE fighter squadrons for escort and patrol. There are whole star systems whose gross domestic product is less than the cost of a single Imperial Star Destroyer. To carry out the Emperor's mandate of rule through fear and the swift destruction of opposition, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer is the weapon of choice. By deploying a Star Destroyer and support ships to a system, the Empire can virtually destroy any foe.
It is impossible to garrison every world in every system in the Empire, but the Imperial Star Destroyers give the Emperor the ability to project his power anywhere he wishes in a short period of time. These vessels are more than weapon platforms. They also act as space stations, repair docks, and heavy transports for smaller craft. An Imperial-class vessel usually carries combat craft, shuttles, repair and recovery vehicles, landing barges, drop ships, ground assault vehicles, and pre-fabricated garrison bases for immediate deployment. Since its introduction, an improved version of the Star Destroyer has begun to see action. The Imperial-II is an upgraded model featuring increased shielding and heavier firepower.