Nebula-class Star Destroyer

The Nebula-class Star Destroyer is the largest, most powerful warship design in the New Republic's New Class modernization program. The Nebula-class represents the peak of modern, efficient Star Destroyer design. Although it is only 1,040 meters long (65% of the length of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer), the Nebula is a match for an Imperial II. It was designed to be able to defeat any one enemy Star Destroyer, two heavy cruisers (probably 600-meter-long "heavy cruisers" such as the Dreadnaught and Vindicator), or an entire line of smaller Imperial support ships. Following the New Class' practice of using the same hull for multiple configurations, the Nebula''-class Star Destroyer was used as the basis for the [[Endurance-class fleet carriers.

Official Expanded Universe information on this ship class has a long and twisted history. Michael P. Kube-McDowell, the author of the Black Fleet Crisis novels in which this Star Destroyer first appeared, originally intended for the name to be Nebula-class. However, the RPG sourcebook Cracken's Threat Dossier (published by West End Games) mistakenly named this ship the Defender-class Star Destroyer. This mistake was made even worse by the fact that the New Class program already included a ship named the Defender-class assault carrier, and the New Republic also made use of a Defender starfighter. The sourcebook also included the only the only official images (at the time) of the Nebula and Endurance. Unlike the pictures of the other New Class ships in the book, it actually appeared that these two ship classes could have been built on the same hull. This meant that they could not be dismissed as non-Canon, even though many fans disliked their appearance, which greatly differed from standard Star Destroyer designs (similar to the way the Republic-class Star Destroyer is regarded).

Cracken's Threat Dossier listed the armament of the "Defender-class Star Destroyer" as 40 heavy turbolaser batteries, 40 heavy turbolaser cannons, 20 ion cannons, 8 tractor beam projectors, and 8 concussion missile tubes. The ships could carry a wing of starfighters (probably a New Republic wing of ships). This fighter wing was usually a mixed assault wing composed of short-range K-wings and Defender starfighters. An alternative fighter wing was composed of long-range starfighters such as E-wings, A-wings, or upgraded X-wings. Defender-class Star Destroyers were equipped with a Class 2 hyperdrive, and they carried 1,600 troops and enough consumables for 5 months.

The later RPG sourcebook, Starships of the Galaxy (published by a different company, Wizards of the Coast) attempted to rationalize the problem of having three different ship types with the same name. It claimed that the Defender-class Star Destroyer, the Defender-class assault carrier, and the Defender starfighter were all part of the same program, which was later absorbed into the New Class program. However, this attempt at fixing continuity only exacerbated other problems. The class name used in Starships of the Galaxy was Defender-class, once again contradicting the author's original intended name. In addition, new statistics were given to the ship, which differed West End Games' earlier information. The armament of the Defender-class Star Destroyer remained mostly unchanged: 40 heavy turbolaser cannons (later sources seem to all change "batteries" to "cannons," since even WEG always treated batteries as single guns, rather than groups of guns), 40 turbolaser cannons, 20 ion cannons, 8 tractor beam projectors, and 8 concussion missile tubes (it was now revealed that each tube held 30 missiles). However, the ship's consumables was increased to 6 months, and it now carried 60 starfighters and shuttles. Starships of the Galaxy also had a new picture of the Defender, which was sleek, dagger-shaped, and far more similar other Star Destroyer designs. One notable difference was that the Defender lacked the large dorsal superstructure and bridge tower common in other Star Destroyers. Many fans happily accepted this retcon in the ship's appearance, feeling that it was far more asthetically pleasing than the original picture seen in Cracken's Threat Dossier.

Adding even more confusion is the fact that the first Nebula/Defender-class Star Destroyer was named the Obi-wan. Real life naming conventions (which the Star Wars universe seems to adhere to) would have labeled the Star Destroyer Obi-wan-class, after the first ship of its class.

External Link

 * Black Fleet Crisis FAQ by Michael P. Kube-McDowell


 * Starships of the Galaxy art gallery from WOTC