Imperial Star Destroyer

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Size:
  1,600 meters long

• Affiliation:
  Empire

• Type:
  Cruiser

• Manufacturer:
  Kuat Drive Yards

• 

From the Movies

The triangular silhouette of an Imperial cruiser has come a long way since its Republic-inspired design. While vessels of the Jedi order were met with feelings of pride and relief as they came soaring to solve galactic strife, the Imperial Star Destroyer's gargantuan size cleary inspires both awe and terror.

The wedge-shaped capital ship is bristling with weapons emplacements. Turbolasers and tractor beam projectors dot its surface. Its ventral bay can launch TIE fighters, boarding craft, land assault units, hyperspace probes, or be used to hold captured craft. Its bustling bridge is staffed by the finest crewers in the Imperial starfleet.

The Star Destroyer is recognized as the signature vessel of the Imperial fleet. Its presence in a system marks matters of extreme Imperial import. Though, as is typical of the Empire, not even the Star Destroyer was enough to sate the Imperial hunger for displays of power. Larger vessels, such as the Super Star Destroyer, dwarf even these giants.

From the Expanded Universe

Lira Wessex, Imperial engineer, built her work on the shoulders of giants. Her father, Walex Blissex, had developed the venerable Victory-class Star Destroyer for the Republic, as well as numerous other starcraft designs. From these, Wessex proposed the Imperial-class design, a proposal that was debated at great lengths within the Empire's elite ranks.

Wessex proved the nay-sayers wrong when the first Imperial-class Star Destroyer lumbered from the sprawling Kuat Drive Yards drydocks. The resulting ship is a marvel of technology, and testament to the Empire's might.

There are whole systems whose gross domestic product is less than the cost of a single Star Destroyer. There are entire nations that, throughout their history, do not expend as much energy as a Star Destroyer does during a hyperspace jump. Powering the 1.6 kilometer-long craft is nothing short of a miniature sun -- a solar ionization reactor bulges from the ventral spine, using its raging fires to fuel the giant warship.

The Imperial-class Star Destroyer bristles with 60 turbolaser batteries, 60 ion cannon batteries, and 10 tractor beam projectors. It carries a full stormtrooper division, 20 AT-ATs, 30 AT-STs, eight Lambda-class shuttles, 12 landing barges, and six TIE squadrons.

Since its introduction, an improved model of Star Destroyer also saw action. The Imperial-II Star Destroyer is an upgraded model with increased hull shielding, and more weapons, sporting 100 turbolaser emplacements, 20 ion cannons, and 10 tractor beam projectors.

Behind the Scenes

In the script for A New Hope, the term "Imperial Cruiser" was largely synonymous with Star Destroyer, which is never said aloud until The Empire Strikes Back. In early draft scripts, the term Stardestroyer (as a compound word) described tiny two-man fighter craft used by the Empire.

For A New Hope, ILM used a single Star Destroyer model for all the required shots in the film. Ironically, the model of the Devastator, Darth Vader's ship, was smaller than the Rebel blockade runner it was chasing. This 91-centimeter long miniature sported a distinctive X-shaped structure on its command bridge, which subsequent publications identified as an advanced tractor beam grid.

Since the Star Destroyer would be heavily featured in The Empire Strikes Back, ILM redid the model from scratch, this time bumping up its size to an impressive 259 centimeters in length. This model was much more detailed, and featured internal lights to give it a greater sense of scale.

Episode II reveals that the Imperial Star Destroyer's wedge-shaped design was born out of Republic-era vessels, such as those used by the Jedi Knights.