Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser

Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser The Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser, or simply the Dreadnaught, was a capital ship built for planetary occupation and space combat used by the Galactic Republic, Galactic Empire, and New Republic, and various other organizations and governments. The armed forces of Utapau also used at least one of the ships as an anti-piracy vessel.

The Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser was designed and developed by Rendili StarDrive for the Republic Judicial Department prior to the Clone Wars and was based off a Mandalorian design. The keel ran 600 meters with the bow overlapping to produce a clamshell-like appearance.

Weapon systems included twenty quad laser cannons (six bow, seven port, seven starboard), ten laser cannons (five port, five starboard), and ten turbolaser batteries (five bow, five stern). Some ships were later customized to feature a warhead launcher for anti-starfighter defense.

While technologically advanced at the time, the Dreadnaught lacked in sublight and hyperspace speeds (a Class 4 rating), suffered computer failures, and could not compete with comparable designs in terms of firepower and shielding. In addition to these technical drawbacks, the Dreadnaught also required over 16,000 crewmembers to run at optimal performance&mdash;perhaps the highest crew per keel meter ratio of any modern starship. This high crew requirement put strains on recruitment efforts and turned supplying a Dreadnaught into a logistical nightmare.

History
Dreadnaughts were in use since at least 100 BBY. After being commissioned, the Dreadnaughts saw use in ending major conflicts, but its shortcomings were quickly apparent. To counter the most glaring flaw of the Dreadnaught fleet, the Galactic Republic military developed a technology to reduce the crew requirements. By installing a full-rig slave circuitry system, the crew requirements could be reduced from 16,000 per ship to a more manageable 2,200. Two hundred of the heavy cruisers were outfitted with this new technology and dubbed the Katana fleet. The project failed when the crew were driven insane by a hive virus, slaved the fleet together, and made a random jump into hyperspace, before the virus killed off every crew member.



Six Dreadnaughts were used in Outbound Flight, an ill-fated project aimed at extragalactic exploration. During the Clone Wars, the Dreadnaughts saw heavy use in many battles including the Battle of Duro and the Second Battle of Coruscant. Dreadnaughts also composed the Rendili defense fleet.

Dreadnaughts saw extensive use in the Imperial Navy due to their abundance. Battle squadrons assigned to unimportant systems were often assigned a Dreadnaught in place of a more modern cruiser. To increase its field potential, the Imperial Starfleet upgraded the ships' hyperdrive to Class 2 and converted cargo space into a hangar. With the hangar modification, a Dreadnaught could carry a squadron of TIE Fighters. The downgraded cruisers now saw use as patrol ships, who maintained Imperial dominance over primitive worlds.

Fifty years after the Katana fleet was lost, Grand Admiral Thrawn recovered 180 of the lost Katana ships. They proved critical in his assault against the New Republic, since he had an abundance of cloned navy crewmen. Garm Bel Iblis maintained a personal fleet of six Dreadnaughts, which he used to capture 15 of the Katana ships.

The still fledgling fleet of the New Republic used donated, captured or recovered Dreadnaughts until the New Republic Navy formally decommissioned them after the New Class project. During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Dreadnaughts would continue to be used by the New Republic and its successor government the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances.

Appearances

 * Cloak of Deception
 * Outbound Flight
 * Star Wars Republic: The Dreadnaughts of Rendili
 * ''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (novel)
 * Star Wars Republic 78: Loyalties
 * Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire
 * Dark Forces: Rebel Agent
 * Dark Forces: Jedi Knight
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command
 * Survivor's Quest
 * The Unifying Force
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Star Wars: X-Wing
 * Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance