Republic-class Star Destroyer

Republic-class Star Destroyer

The Republic-class Star Destroyer was Walex Blissex's follow-up design to his Victory-class Star Destroyer.

Characteristics
The Republic-class Star Destroyer was manufactured by Rendili StarDrive for the New Republic. It was smaller than Lira Blissex's Imperial-class Star Destroyer, but was a much more efficient design.

Although the Republic-class was only half the cost of an Imperial-class, and required a mere one-fifth the crew size, it boasted 20 percent more firepower than an Imperial I-class model. However, it was still outmatched by the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer and the various Super Star Destroyers.

Armament consisted of 40 heavy turbolaser batteries, 40 heavy turbolaser cannons, 20 ion cannons, and 10 tractor beam projectors. The Republic-class was also equipped with a Class 2 hyperdrive, the same as was found on the Imperial-class.

The Republic-class was only 1,250 meters long, significantly smaller than the 1,600-meter-long Imperial-class. Because the smaller ship retained a similar level of weaponry, it had to sacrifice cargo space and endurance. The Republic-class only held enough consumables to operate without resupply for 2 years, one-third the running time of the Imperial-class.

Only a single regiment of 3,200 ground troops could be carried aboard, as well as a single standard New Republic wing of 36 fighters (half the size of an Imperial wing). Republic-class ships usually carried long-range starfighters, rather than short-range fighters such as Defender and K-wing starfighters.

History
The Republic-class was one of the early warship models developed for the New Republic's standardization programs. Hampered by a resurgence in fighting due to the Thrawn campaign in 9 ABY and the return of Emperor Palpatine the following year, production on the Republic-class and other vessels was eventually restarted at a smaller level and the new ships were dispersed throughout the fleet.

The Republic-class Star Destroyer was not incorporated into the New Class Modernization Program, which chose instead to develop its largest ships from Republic Engineering Corporation's Nebula-class Star Destroyer hull-design. Despite this, by the time of the Black Fleet Crisis, the New Republic had managed to build a considerable number of Republics.

Behind the scenes
The first official image of the Republic-class Star Destroyer is found in Cracken's Threat Dossier, a source which has provided grossly inaccurate drawings and statistics for other ships. Assuming the image above is correct, the ship has many round features, a striking deviation from standard Star Destroyer designs. A subsequent depiction in Star Wars: Invasion 14: Revelations, Part 3 confirmed this design. Some fans believe that the ship's features indicate a Mon Calamari influence in its design, and some have speculated that the New Republic did not want its namesake ship class to resemble other Star Destroyers, long-standing symbols of Imperial power, for political reasons.

In Part 12 of Jason Fry's endnotes for The Essential Guide to Warfare, Paul Urquhart considered mentioning in the book that the Republic-class Star Destroyer and the MC80B Star Cruiser were intended to be the same ship under different names, but it was ultimately cut from the final version.

Appearances

 * Shield of Lies
 * ''Star Wars: Invasion 14: Revelations, Part 3