Orbital bombardment

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"Orbital bombardment. Annihilation from the stars. Or rather, from the Star Destroyers. I sent the code. Nothing is to survive."

―Grand Moff Lozen Tolruck, during the Liberation of Kashyyyk^[src]

CIS bombardment SoD part2 — The Separatists bombard the Shadow Collective on Ord Mantell.

Orbital bombardment, also known as an orbital strike, was a military strategy, where huge star cruisers (such as Star Destroyers) would fire their main cannons to the surface of a planet, causing heavy damage to the enemy. This strategy was used mostly to wipe targets that were in close proximity, like regular ground troops, or was used to easily deal with large heavy targets. However, the tactic was imprecise, especially if the target was moving.^[1]

While orbital bombardment could be used to devastate a planet, like Base Delta Zero,^[2] it was more commonly used for military strikes to decimate a target area, and not an entire planet.^[3]

History

General Grievous used this tactic against Darth Maul and the Shadow Collective by bombarding the Black Sun base of Ord Mantell before landing his troops on the planet. However, the Shadow Collective managed to capture both Grievous and Count Dooku.^[4]

Galactic Civil War

"What is it, General?"
"My Lord, the fleet has moved out of lightspeed. Com-Scan has detected an energy field protecting an area of the sixth planet of the Hoth system. The field is strong enough to deflect any bombardment."
"The Rebels are alerted to our presence. Admiral Ozzel came out of lightspeed too close to the system."

―Darth Vader and General Maximillian Veers prior to the Battle of Hoth^[src]

Eclipse Executor-class SWA — The *Eclipse* implementing an orbital strike.

Orbital bombardment was a common tactic among the Galactic Empire. During the Galactic Civil War, when Agent Kallus found the Ghost crew on the planet Seelos, Admiral Kassius Konstantine proposed to kill all the rebels with an orbital strike. Agent Kallus however preferred to operate a ground attack, using All Terrain Armored Transports.^[5] During the Battle of Atollon, Grand Admiral Thrawn deployed an orbital strike against Chopper Base.^[6]

Later during the war both Rebels and Imperials ordered orbital strikes against each other forces on planets like Hoth, Tatooine, Sullust, Endor^[1] and Jakku.^[7]

This tactic was to be used during the Battle of Hoth by the Imperial Navy. Lord Vader had planned to surprise attack the Rebel Alliance by jumping in to the Hoth system from hyperspace secretly and destroying the base via orbital bombardment, but failed to do so when Admiral Kendal Ozzel jumped too close to the system. This alerted the Rebels, who in return activated their shield generator, causing the anger of Vader, who blamed Ozzel for stupidity and Force choked him upon General Maximillian Veers reporting the blunder. Afterwards he promoted Firmus Piett to the rank of Admiral. Due to the failed attempt of bombing the rebel base, Veers landed AT-ATs, AT-STs and other ground troops to take care of the shield generator from inside it.^[8]

During the Liberation of Kashyyyk, Grand Moff Lozen Tolruck ordered three Imperial-class Star Destroyers to bombard the surface of the planet once he realized the planet's Wookiee rebellion had gotten out of hand.^[3]