Helmsman (battlecruiser)

This Super Star Destroyer was an enormous battleship commanded by Admiral Mils Giel that served as his flagship sometime in the year preceding the Battle of Endor.

Characteristics
The only hangar-opening visible on the ship was a triangular indentation located at the front of its ventral side and looked only slightly bigger than the main hangar-opening on an Imperial-class Star Destroyer.



Unlike the Executor-class, with its network of hangar-facilities, Giel's ship did not appear to be used as a super-carrier.

Three massive engines propelled the craft forward, with two secondary engines situated above the main structure, and an additional two auxiliary engines on the command-section's superstructure. Several smaller openings dotted the rear of the ship, but it's unknown whether they too served a purpose of propulsion.

The ship had no apparent reactor bulb underneath, instead, the main reactor was hidden behind layers of armor as on the Executor-class.



The ship's bridge was located at the front end of an elevated superstructure that ran like a spine towards the rear of the vessel and ended in two auxiliary engines. The bridge occupied a lot more space than the standardized bridge modules on other Star Destroyers and the Admiral could hold big meetings with other officers on it.

Behind the main bridge, at the rear of the vessel, was a giant transport cage used to carry the bizarre Teezl creature. Judging by the setup of its massive docking ring, this class (as well as that of an accompanying carrier) followed the Corellian standard.

History


It was used to transport the Teezl to Coruscant, where it would be installed and used to coordinate the entire Imperial Navy.

One of the largest fleets ever assembled by the Empire accompanied the flagship on its long journey, but failed to prevent an attack by the Rebel Alliance, which resulted in the partial destruction of Giel's ship and the death of the Teezl.

After being hit by a super-powered shot from a Rebel TIE/ln starfighter, the bridge-section of the vessel was relatively unscathed, and Giel could still communicate with the vessel's gun crew. They opened fire on the attacker, but it was small and quick enough to avoid being hit.

It is unknown what later became of the vessel and if there were more ships of this class, but an accompanying carrier did appear to share its design-roots.

Behind the scenes

 * Early concept art for Executor was used as inspiration for Giel's ship, including copying at least one picture to use as a frame in the comic.




 * Due to the hammerhead-docking ring, there is some speculation that the Corellian Engineering Corporation was behind the vessel's construction, as well as a similar-looking carrier class. Although this standard was also used for non-Corellian vessels, like the Lucrehulk-class core ships. Additionally, as a fun tie-in with the films, this kind of ship may have been what Han Solo referenced when he uttered "I can outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk cruisers, mind ya, I'm talking about the big, Corellian ships." No official source has confirmed these possibilities.


 * If the battleship and carrier turn out to be sister-designs, their situation could be similar to some historical warships. For instance, the Japanese Yamato-class battleships were meant to have 5 vessels built (only 3 were ever completed). After the first two ships were made, the third hull was converted into an aircraft carrier instead.


 * With its large hull and powerful engines, Giel's ship is well within the Super Star Destroyer-range of warships. Its extensive network of turbolasers and its massive armored hull outranks similar warships like the Vengeance and smaller battlecruisers like the ones used by General Tagge and Captain Wermis, making it a good candidate for an Imperial battleship. Indeed, Imperial battleships larger than the Imperial-class Star Destroyer have been noted in canon sources. This article uses that term as a provisional name, until an official classname manifests itself.


 * On his fansite, the Star Wars Technical Commentaries, author Curtis Saxton speculates that the vessel is a "Star Battleship", apparently a different distinction from Star Battlecruisers and Star Dreadnoughts. Neither this term, nor its use for Giel's ship, have been corroborated by official sources.


 * In its only canonical appearance, Giel's ship was referred to as a "flagship".

Appearances

 * Marvel Star Wars 60: Shira's Story
 * Marvel Star Wars 61: Screams in the Void