Eclipse-class Star Destroyer

The Eclipse-class Star Dreadnought was a class of Imperial warship.

The Eclipse-class was constructed by Kuat Drive Yards, like many Imperial starships. The first of this class, the Eclipse, became the reborn Emperor's flagship. The ship had a jet black hull and was either 16 or 17.5 kilometers long. It was one of the most heavily armed ships of all time. It also had powerful shields and heavy armor, making it difficult to destroy in combat. The most important feature was a superlaser cannon located on the bow of the Eclipse. Although it was not as powerful as the superlaser on the Death Star, it was capable of cracking a planet's crust.

The power of the Eclipse's superlaser as described is self-contradictory. It was described as 2/3rds the power of the Death Star's prime weapon. Such a weapon would be more than sufficient to destroy a planet, yet it was also stated that the Eclipse's superlaser was not powerful enough to destroy a planet. There is some speculation as to whether the 2/3rds number refers to the magnitude of the energy release as opposed to the total value; this would put the main weapon below the threshold necessary to destroy a planet.

The Eclipse was destroyed along with the reborn Emperor when Luke Skywalker and his sister Princess Leia managed to disrupt the Emperor's control of a titanic Force Storm, a massive conflagration of Dark Side energy that the Emperor had summoned in order to wipe out the massed New Republic fleet. Afterwards, a second Eclipse-class ship was built, dubbed the Eclipse II. Above the planet Byss, R2-D2 override and took control of the Eclipse II's computer banks. R2 then sent the Eclipse II on a collision course with the superweapon Galaxy Gun. The explosion destroyed the Eclipse II and the Galaxy Gun. One last projectile was pulled by Byss' gravity and hit the planet, destroying it.

Trivia
The Eclipse is never actually called a "Star Dreadnought" in any canon source; this is an extrapolation based on the use of "Star Dreadnought" as a term for the similar-sized Executor-class design (in ITW: OT). The terms used in canon sources are "Star Destroyer" and "Super Star Destroyer". The most recent source calls Eclipse "the largest Star Destroyer ever built, dwarfing the Super Star Destroyers", and also describes it as "an orbital battlestation in its own right"; but this second reference can be read as a rhetorical expression of its size and capabilities, considering that there is no doubt that Eclipse is a hyperspace-capable warship, and the same article elsewhere draws a distinction between "massive battlestations such as the Galaxy Gun and vast warships like the Eclipse-class and Sovereign-class Star Destroyers".

Behind the Scenes
According to the West End Games RPG stats in the Dark Empire Sourcebook, Eclipse carried over a thousand turbolaser and heavy turbolaser cannons, along with 600 TIE Interceptors and 96 TIE Bombers, divided into 58 squadrons; for ground assault, it carried 150,000 Stormtroopers, 100 AT-ATs, and five prefabricated bases. The Eclipse was said to be crewed by over 700,000 personnel.

The Dark Empire Sourcebook also states that Eclipse was 17.5 km long; this contradicts the description given in Dark Empire, where the length is explicitly stated to be 10 miles (16 km). However, the author of the Dark Empire Sourcebook suggests that an additional mile was added to Palpatine's personal flagship, and is indicative of customization and personalization for Palpatine, and not the standard class. It also may be the result of the spasmodic construction apparent in the first example of this class.

Appearances

 * Dark Empire