Broadside-class cruiser kdb-1

For other uses, see Broadside.

The Broadside-class cruiser kdb-1, also known as the Broadside-class corvette, was an Imperial capital warship.

Characteristics[]

The Broadside-class shared a common keel design with the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer.^[5] Designed for long-range engagements, ships of this class had light armor and unimpressive acceleration and maneuverability. They were armed with missile launchers and two turbolasers.^[2]

Early models were armed with expensive diamond boron missiles that could be used to deadly effect against formations of tightly-packed ships. The range of the missiles made them very useful in long-range attacks.^[2] These weapons were replaced by more economical concussion missiles in later models, though some of the cruisers still kept their lethal armament.^[1] The payload was 1,200 missiles.^[5]

History[]

The Broadside-class was first produced by Kuat Drive Yards in the early days of the Galactic Civil War. It was conceived as a long-range missile ship, and was based on the Gladiator-class.^[5] The design was stripped of passenger compartments, the hangar bays were turned into torpedo bays and the vessel lost some of its armor. Due to the lack of self-sufficiency, the Broadside-class was redesignated as a "cruiser" instead of a "Star Destroyer".^[5]

Kuat engineers also decided that great maneuverability was not necessary for the class,^[1] thus leaving the Broadside slower than the Gladiator.^[5] This was the cause of its vulnerability to other capital warships, and as a result ships of this class were in practice almost never deployed without an escort.^[1] However, its missiles proved lethal against fighter squadrons and small space stations.^[2]

Awesome thing — Another view of the Broadside cruiser

In addition to its design-problems, a number of Broadsides were stolen or otherwise acquired by the Zann Consortium during the Civil War.^[4]

Behind the scenes[]

This type of ship has many similarities to the Demolisher, a Star Destroyer that appeared in the Star Wars Droids episode "The Pirates of Tarnoonga." In The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide, the two designs were given an in-universe connection.

There is some debate in the online community as to the actual size of the Broadside-class. Concept art made available by the game designers suggested that they envisaged a size of around 50–60 meters in length, comparable to small picket cruisers like the Guardian-class light cruiser, but the StarWars.com Databank established the canonical size of the vessel to be 500 meters long, placing them within the standard cruiser category.