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

Although the Republic was only half the cost of an Imperial and required a mere one-fifth the crew, it boasted 20 percent more firepower than an Imperial I model. However, it was still outmatched by the Imperial II 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 was also equipped with a Class 2 hyperdrive, the same as was found on the Imperial.

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 only held enough consumables to operate without resupply for 2 years, one-third the running time of the Imperial.

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 short-range fighters such as Defenders and K-wings.

History
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. Production (at least for the New Republic Defense Force) may accordingly have ceased around 10 ABY, or at least have been reduced.

However, at the outbreak of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Republic-class ships may still have outnumbered the 20 or so Nebula-class ships that had by then entered service.

Behind the scenes

 * The only official image of the Republic-class Star Destroyer is found Cracken's Threat Dossier. The ship has many round features, a striking deviation from standard Star Destroyer designs. 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.


 * Although many fans dislike the appearance of the Republic-class, the picture found in Cracken's Threat Dossier cannot be said to contradict any other official sources (unlike the pictures of the New Class ships). Because of this, it must be accepted as canon. However, unofficial reworkings of the design can be found on the internet, closer in appearance to the traditional Star Destroyer dagger and regarded by some fans as more attractive.


 * It should be noted that the odd appearance of the ship may be due to the angle at which it is presented in the above image, judging by how it curves at certain points, when placed flat and perpendicular to the viewer it may appear to be a more gently rounded and inflated dagger shape with it curving inwards towards hangar bays and supply ports instead of just cutting in towards them like on the Venator-class Star Destroyer.