The awesome Imperial-Class Star Destroyer is the perfect symbol of Imperial grandeur and might. Fully 1.6 kilometers long, the Imperial Star Destroyer is a huge juggernaut with a threatening, dagger-shaped hull that strikes fear into the hearts of enemies of the Empire. It is the backbone of the Imperial Fleet, which deploys it in fleets of six to systems or areas they wish to control completely. These great ships rarely have to enter combat, as their presence alone deters any resistance, but they are admirably armed for it. With sixty turbolasers and sixty ion cannons, the ISD is capable of reducing to slab any ship that strays within cannon range. It is protected by two powerful shield generators located atop the command tower, and its TIE squadrons provide defense against enemy starfighters.

Imperial-Class Star Destroyers are manufactured at shipyards deep within Imperial space. The ISD is based upon its predecessor, the smaller Victory-Class Star Destroyer which served the Old Republic Navy. It is designed not only to combat starships but to threaten and lay waste to planetary defenses; its turbolasers are strong enough to penetrate planets' atmospheres and reach the surface. The Empire can leave ISDs in orbit around systems and keep watch over them, forcing any contentious inhabitants (or Rebel operatives) to lay low lest their actions result in the destruction of entire cities.

It was in an Imperial Star Destroyer, the Devastator, that Darth Vader chased and captured Princess Leia's Corellian Corvette over Tatooine. Death Squadron, the Imperial task force charged with hunting down the Rebels after the Battle of Yavin, was composed of six Star Destroyers, a Super Star Destroyer, and smaller battle cruisers. At the Battle of Endor, Admiral Piett's fleet of Star Destroyers closed the Imperial trap around the Rebels, inflicting tremendous damage to the Rebel Fleet as it tried to escape the Death Star. After the main fighting of the Galactic Civil War, many Imperial Star Destroyers remained in Imperial hands, and were used with great effect against the New Republic by Grand Admiral Thrawn, Admiral Daala, and others.

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.