Turbolaser

DSTurbolaser — An XX-9 heavy turbolaser on the first Death Star

"Order the defense towers to fire ion cannons and turbolasers at will!"

The turbolaser was the immensely scaled-up version of the blaster and laser cannon. These weapons were generally mounted on rotating turrets, which were commonly installed in banks on capital ships, space stations and orbital facilities. Some immobile variants, like those housed within defense towers of the city of Iziz, were used on the ground. Agrocite, an extremely rare ore that was found only on Khorm and Simocadia, was known to greatly enhance a turbolaser's destructive power. Mirkanite was also used in the production of heavy turbolasers.

Description[]

"We count thirty Rebel ships, Lord Vader, but they're so small they're evading our turbolasers."

―Lieutenant Tanbris, during the Battle of Yavin^[2]

XX-9 Turbolasers SWArmada — The devastating effects of heavy turbolasers

Turbolasers were large-scale energy weapons^[3] that were installed aboard capital ships, space stations, and orbital facilities. Considerably more power than standard laser cannons,^[4] turbolasers were strong enough to defeat a warship's deflector shields, or to punch through its armor plating. Turbolasers were the most common weapon mounted on capital ships.^[3]

Turbolasers were two-stage supercharged laser cannons. The laser created an energy beam that was fed into the turbolaser actuator. Inside the actuator, the beam interacted with an energized stream of blaster gas. The interaction produced an intense blast that was then focused through the galven coils in the barrel of the turbolaser.^[3] The resulting blast was a bolt of energy triple the power of a bolt produced by a standard laser cannon.^[4]

The power requirements for a turbolaser were immense, requiring each weapon to have its own dedicated turbine, supplemented by multiple capacitor banks. Energy flow to the weapon was regulated by the power core, bleeding off excess energy and stopping power surges to protect the turbolaser from exploding. To allow the capacitors to charge enough, turbolasers fired at a rate of two seconds between shots. The tremendous amount of wast heat generated by turbolasers required them to have cryosystems; each laser barrel was wrapped in a cooling sleeve, and a cooling unit was behind the laser actuator.^[3]

Maintenance of turbolasers was an extensive and intensive procedure to reduce the chance of a burnout. At best, the weapon could be knocked offline, at worst, an explosive overload that destroyed the turbolaser and its weapons crew. Cooling sleeve components, galven tube circuits, and energization crystals were frequently replaced.^[3]

The Imperial Fist IE — A turbolaser blast impacts a planet's surface

Turbolasers were intended for ship-to-ship combat, and were not designed to target faster and more nimble craft such as starfighters. Starships were equipped with banks of turbolasers, linked together with computerized fire-control systems so that they could fire in coordinated and sustained volleys.^[3] Poorly arranged turbolaser emplacements could be a disadvantage to a starship if they created gaps in the vessel's defensive screen.^[4]

The range of a turbolaser was greater than that of a conventional laser cannon, doubling or even tripling the weapon's effective range. Turbolasers mounted on ships in orbit of a planet were capable of striking the surface.^[3] Small vessels would typically carry a few turbolasers, while larger capital ships such as the Imperial-class Star Destroyer had sixty XX-9 heavy turbolasers.^[3]

History[]

BeastWars1 — Manual, groundside turbolasers used in 4,000 BBY, during the Battle of Iziz

Thousands of years earlier, turbolaser batteries were used against the Beast Riders of Onderon by Queen Amanoa's contingent of Onderonian Wave gunners. These batteries were mounted inside the defense towers that lined the walls of Iziz, Onderon's single great city. Along with ion cannons, the turbolaser batteries were designed to combat the flying beasts used as war mounts by the Beast Riders.

The Grand Army of the Republic deployed turbolaser cannons mounted atop a heavy all-terrain drive unit during the Clone Wars. These SPHA-T walkers proved instrumental in taking down numerous Lucrehulk-class core ships during the First Battle of Geonosis, and these turbolasers were later installed inside the hangar bays of Venator-class Star Destroyers for effective ship-to-ship broadsides.

A twin turbolaser cannon on a Munificent-class star frigate was powerful enough to melt an ice moon 1,000 kilometers in diameter, or pierce the shields of a 10-kilometer-wide Grade III battle station, and four star frigates could easily outgun a Venator-class Star Destroyer.^[5]

The Confederacy of Independent Systems created an upgraded turbolaser known as the "Agrocite cannon," which used rare Agrocite to greatly enhance the cannon's power. The cannon was so powerful it could destroy a Venator-class Star Destroyer in a single shot. Three such cannons were used during the Battle of Khorm.

Under the reign of the Galactic Empire, possession of turbolasers were strictly controlled. However, turbolasers were commonly available on the black market, and were frequently purchased by pirates, mercenaries, and outlaws.^[3]

When the New Republic rose to power, it maintained similar restrictions, but waivers were granted to allied governments.^[3] The New Republic also allowed its military contractors to continue research into creating more powerful versions of turbolasers, including quick-recharge turbolasers. This variant proved effective during the Yuuzhan Vong War.^[4]

Following the war, a variety of long-range turbolasers were produced, with an even longer range than the standard type, though at the expense of greater power drain; even when mounted on an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, the drain was noticeable. This limited their deployment to a number of Hapan Battle Dragons and the Star Destroyer Anakin Solo. Darth Caedus fired the turbolasers on the latter during the Battle of Kashyyyk, causing forest fires on the planet's surface.