Neutron Star-class bulk cruiser/Legends

Neutron Star-class bulk cruiser The Neutron Star-class bulk cruiser was a class of capital ship used by the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance, manufactured by Rendili StarDrive. They were designed during the Clone Wars to serve as second-line ships.

Characteristics
The Neutron Star-class was 600 meters long. By the Galactic Civil War, the design had become outdated and easily challenged and outgunned by most up-to-date capital ships. It was slow in comparison with many of its counterparts, as well as prone to frequent damage. It required a crew of 2,200 and could carry up to 250 troops.

Despite their slow speed, their engines consumed high amounts of fuel, which somewhat limited the range of these vessels. The Neutron Star also required frequent and expensive maintenance to operate, making it quickly replaced by most organizations that could afford it.

Neutron Star-class bulk cruiser carrier conversion
Finding the maintenance time and resources that the Neutron Star class vessels required problematic but were unwilling to discard the vessels completely. Instead they converted some of the ships into carriers. This was done by converting Cargo storage areas into hangers for three squadrons of starfighters, but also the modifications altered the design's armaments and crew requirements while upgrading both the primary and backup hyperdrives. The unmodified models carried no fighters at all.

History
Though produced during the Clone Wars, none of these ships saw service in that conflict, as the sudden Separatist defeat made the Rendili ships obsolete. The Empire had little interest in the outdated design and bought only a few for tests and for patrolling secure sectors. The majority were sold to private concerns.

These bulk cruisers were frequently used by planetary and sectorial authorities as patrol vessels in poor systems and fringe world. Some of them were even used as armed freighters, but their poor performance and high maintenance cost put most of these ships out of commission.

Despite their flaws they were popular with forces that had limited budgets, and mercenary groups often attempted to purchase ships from planetary defense forces than upgrade them to suit their needs.

The Alliance to Restore the Republic deployed some of these vessels, but they often required escort to be effective. The class originally carried no starfighter compliment, but the Alliance converted a number of the ships into cruiser-carriers.



Behind the scenes
The standard depiction of the Neutron Star-class design is based on the profile illustration in the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook. However, a very different depiction of the bulk cruiser appears in Platt's Starport Guide, in an illustration of the Allanthia, which resembles an upscaled version of a Corellian Action series freighter. This could mean that there were several versions of the class.

Appearances

 * The Hutt Gambit
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Dark Force Rising