Bulwark Mark III

Bulwark-class battle cruiser This later model Bulwark-class battlecruiser was one of the largest warships ever used by the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War.

Characteristics
The Bulwark-class used by the Rebel Alliance had extensive shield systems, a large complement of guns and relatively spacious hangar-facilities. Its downside were possibly its electronics equipment as well as sensor systems, which were reported to be unreliable. Despite its size, the class was capable of landing on planetary surfaces and disembarking troops.

History


Designed by TransGalMeg Industries, it was a successor-design to the Bulwark Mark I that was fielded during the Clone Wars. This model was typically used as a command ship in smaller Rebel fleets and was referred to as a "mobile fortress".

When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the planet Rychel, at least four such ships were used to evacuate Rychel's civilians.

Behind the scenes
On TheForce.net's Literature discussion boards, The New Essential Chronology author Dan Wallace took some questions regarding the book and explained his entry on the Bulwark-class:

Bulwark Q&A

''Good catch on the Bulwark battlecruiser from the game Rebellion. Note that this is actually the "Bulwark Mark I," however. It's still definitely a Rebellion tie-in, but I wanted to make sure I depowered the ship enough for it to fit into the Clone Wars timeframe.''

On the next page he posted his personal opinion of the Rebellion ships:

''I'll allow that they could be Mark IIIs or IVs, depending on whether anyone ever goes back to create new ship classes. I've always thought that the New Republic got their hands on Bulwarks at some point post-ROTJ, but that the Rebel Alliance never did.''

Note that this view contradicts the game Rebellion, where the Rebel Alliance have a few of these vessels as their "most powerful" (it's more than a match for nearly any of the Imperial ships, save the Super Star Destroyer) and "rare" warships. Whether anything will be written about the Civil War-era vessels is unknown as of this writing.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Star Wars: Invasion 3: Refugees, Part 3