Capital Ships

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Capital ship was a general term that referred to any armed military starship that had a length greater than one hundred meters. Ships of this class ranged from small and nimble corvettes like the Corellian Engineering Corporation CR90 corvette to titanic Star Dreadnoughts, such as the Kuat Drive Yards Eclipse.

History

Ships of this class were typically designed for fleet warfare, often positioned in armadas stationed in high orbit around a strategic planet. They usually formed the primary attack groups in most fleets. There were, however, a few exceptions to the typical definition. For example, the Sienar Fleet Systems GAT-12 Skipray Blastboat was considered a capital ship because of its heavy armament, despite being a mere twenty five meters in length and operating primarily in the role of a heavy assault starfighter.

These vessels were commonly fitted with ship-to-ship and anti-fighter defensive weaponry, ranging from heavy ion cannons to turbolaser turrets. Many capital ship classes also served as carriers and were able to deploy starfighters, landing craft, and other resources as required.

Given their size, capital ships employed relatively numerous crews, employing in some instances thousands of beings. An example was the Imperial-class Star Destroyer, which was 1,600 meters long and required a crew of 37,000 to operate at full efficiency. There were also examples that utilized a much smaller number of active personnel, whether by means of advanced control systems or simply necessity, as in the cases of the Katana fleet and the Errant Venture, respectively.

Classification

Following the Anaxes War College System capital ships were divided into seven main classifications.

Corvettes: Ships of roughly 100 – 200 meters length
CR70 corvette
CR90 corvette

Frigates: Ships of roughly 200 – 400 meters length
Vigil-class corvette
EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate
Lancer-class frigate
MC40a light cruiser

Cruisers: Ships of roughly 400 – 600 meters length
Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser

Heavy cruisers: Ships of roughly 600 – 1000 meters length
Acclamator-class assault ship
Victory-class Star Destroyer

Star Destroyers: Ships of roughly 1000 – 2000 meters length
Venator-class Star Destroyer
Imperial-class Star Destroyer

Battlecruisers: Ships of roughly 2000 – 5000 meters length
Bulwark Mark III
Praetor II-class Star Battlecruiser

Dreadnaughts: All ships over 5000 meters length
Executor-class Star Dreadnought
Eclipse-class dreadnought

However ships could sometimes be moved up or down in classification, depending on their armament and intended role. As an example, the Carrack-class light cruiser would fall into Frigate classification with its length of just 350 meters, but due to its armament and role, it was sometimes moved up into the cruiser category.