Super-class Star Destroyer
VESSEL TYPE: Super Star Destroyer
DESIGNER/MANUFACTURER: Kuat Drive Yards
COMBAT DESIGNATION: Command Capital Ship
STARFIGHTER SQUADRONS: 144 TIE starfighters (exact composition
varies)
200 combat and support craft
The Super Star Destroyer is one of the largest, most powerful Imperial vessels ever created. It follows the same basic dagger-shaped design of the Imperial-class Star Destroyers, but magnified to much larger scale. A smooth hull presents an arrowhead shaped profiled when viewed from above. Resting in the center of this hull is an "island" of habitable volume. Weapons emplacements bristle on the layered city-like surface. The trapezoidal command tower stands near the aft end of this island, capped with two geodesic communication and deflection domes. The underside is a busy network of engineering and superstructure. Thirteen colossal engine thrusters glow blood red as they push the immense craft through space.
Though there are several command ships, the most distinguished of the Super Star Destroyers is Lord Vader's flagship, the Executor. This vessel led the Imperial Death Squadron after the Battle of Yavin. It also served as the command ship at the Battle of Endor.
At that critical engagement, its officer, Admiral Piett, was tasked with preventing Alliance warships from escaping the battle. He did not expect the unorthodox Alliance strategy of engaging the Imperial Fleet at point-blank range. The Executor was a prime target for repeated barrages from Alliance vessels. Eventually, the Rebel ships were able to penetrate its powerful bridge shields. A wayward A-wing starfighter, crippled and out of control, spun directly into the Executor's bridge. Its control systems destroyed, the Executor was embraced by the second Death Star's gravity well, and the two collided in a colossal explosion that destroyed the flagship.
The Executor was the first of a new generation of immense warships, a Super-class Star Destroyer. Constructed in secret at the starship yards of Fondor, the Executor was a crowning achievement for both the Imperial Navy and Kuat Drive Yards. During the construction phase of its existence, the whole operation was under the command of Admiral Griff.
The Executor's maiden voyage was both a military mission and a political one. It was a demonstration to the Rebellion and the galaxy that the Alliance's success over the Death Star was pure chance. This new weapon, of which there would be many, would be unstoppable. Once leaving dry-dock at Fondor, the Executor destroyed the Rebel outpost at Laakteen Depot.
The warship then set forth to Yavin 4, where the Rebels were in the midst of a rushed evacuation. The use of rare power gems allowed several Rebel ships to penetrate the Executor's shields and momentarily cripple the craft. During the mass exodus of Yavin to Hoth, Admiral Griff miscalculated his task force's hyperspace jump, bringing the three Destroyers out on top of the Executor. The angle and shielding was sufficient to protect the Super Star Destroyer, but the other three vessels were annihilated.
The surface of the Executor was dotted with all sorts of weaponry. Its front arc was covered by 200 heavy and light turbolaser batteries, 50 concussion missile launchers, 100 ion cannons, and 20 tractor beam projectors. Its side arcs each boasted coverage by 75 light turbolaser batteries and 50 heavy turbolaser batteries, as well as 75 missile tubes, 50 ion cannons and 10 tractor beam projectors. The rear arc, traditionally the least defended area of a vessel, had an impressive weapons array of 50 heavy turbolaser batteries, 50 missile tubes, and 50 ion cannons.
