It is the most feared weapon in the galaxy today and comprises some of the largest ships seen plying the space lanes. It carries enough firepower to devastate large areas of a planet's surface or wipe out an opposing fleet. It holds within its armored haul enough troops to assault an enemy outpost and enough fighters to fill the sky with death. Come aboard the fearsome Star Destroyer tonight on Galactic Marvels.

The Star Destroyer, the mere mention of its name can invoke fear in the hearts of rebels and can causes some worlds to instantly surrender. These huge behemoths have been the workhorse of the Imperial fleet for nearly two decades. The current class, the Imperator or Imperial class, has a length of 1600 meters making the Star Destroyer one of the largest warships in the galaxy. But they are about to get larger. Currently at the Kuat Drive Yards facilities in the Fondor system a new "Super" Star Destroyer is being built. Its length is currently classified but estimates say the Star Destroyer will be anywhere from 12 kilometers to 19kilometers and have roughly 500 Turbolaser batteries. If the current Star Destroyers in the fleet are the daggers of the Empire this new ship will be a sword.

But what classifies a Star Destroyer? Usually a Star Destroyer is a ship that can fulfill three major naval roles: That of space superiority, being able to match or out match battle cruisers. A troop transport and assault platform, being able to carry large amounts of troops from planet to planet and be able to deploy them for battle. And that of a star fighters carrier able to carry an entire wing or more of star fighters. This calls for a well rounded ship and it is not surprising that the grand-daddy of today's Star Destroyer is by far the most well rounded ships in history, The Lucrehulks.

Years before the Clone Wars the Trade Federation used the huge Hoersch-Kessel Drive Class LH-3210 "Lucrehulk" cargo haulers. Its 25million metric ton capacity and 3000m diameter made it quite suitable for the Trade Federation's commerce interests. But it wasn't long before these lumbering ships became prized targets among pirates particularly in the outer rim. To counter the threat the Trade Federation began to upgrade some of the Lucrehulks with heavy shields and armor. They armed their ships with the best weapons their vast treasury could buy. Not only that but the sacrificed much of the precious cargo space to hold massive amounts of droid star fighters and droid ground forces. These New Trade Federation battleships would protect the Federations interests up to and into the Clone Wars.

Though the Lucrehulks performed the three functions of a Star Destroyer it cannot truly be called the first as it was not designed as a warship. Despite its large size and its adaptation with large weapons and shields it still lacked the sophistication of a purpose built warship.

The LH-3210's had a detachable center core ship that could land on the planet. This was useful to the Trade Federation as a portable warehouse and showroom on primitive worlds or colonies with little or no infrastructure.

The title of first Star Destroyer would go to much smaller ship, a ship that some may say accidentally eared that title. When the Grand Army of the Republic was ordered on Kamino orders were placed for a vessel to transport that army around the galaxy. That order fell to Rothana Heavy Engineering a subsidiary of Kuat DriveYards, the future manufacturer of all of the Empire's Star Destroyers. The design started out as a simple wedge shaped assault transport that could carry troops from planet to planet a land directly on a planet's surface. But Rothana engineers planned ahead. They realized that the Republic lacked enough escorts for the transport.
So they incorporated heavy armor, shields, and guns into the design in order for the ship to "escort itself". What the Republic got was the Acclamator class troopship. In its troopship roll it could carry 16,000 clone troopers 80 gunships, 48 walkers, and 36 SPHA-Ts. It only needed a crew of 700 and was armed with 12 quad turbolasers and 24 laser cannons along with 4 torpedo launchers. After the Acclamator's fine performance at the battle of Geonosis the Republic use the vessel more and more as a cruiser. The Republic simply did not have enough proper cruiser in service. The Acclamators performed well early on in the space superiority roll especially after being given a compliment of V-19 Torrent star fighters. The lessons learn from the Acclamator would go far in designing new Star Destroyers.

Unlike the Venator class that would overshadow the Acclamator in the latter half of the Clone Wars. The Acclamator survives to this day in a variety of roles. They are still in use as slave ships or have been upgrade to the class II frigates.

About mid-war the Republic called for larger heavily armed ships to counter the ever increasing firepower of the Confederacy's ships. Kuat Drive Yards answered with the Venator Class Star Destroyer. At 1117m in length it was one and half times as big as the Acclamator but with a crew of 7400 it had ten times the crew. KDY designed the Venator with two bridges. Commanders would use one to direct ship operations while the other was reserved for star fighter operations. Star fighter operations became on of the main roles for the Venator class. Increased use of star fighter in combat could also be seen as the entire dorsal plate that ran along the flight deck could be open to launch star fighters in mass at once. The ship could hold up to 420 fighters. The Ventors would go on to help win the Clone Wars for the Republic and help to secure the peace as the glorious Empire was ushered in. But it would not survive long pass that as new more versatile Star Destroyers were built. Unlike its Clone War brethren the Venators would be decommissioned and find there hauls recycled into newer Star Destroyers.

One of those brethren would be the Victory class Star Destroyer. Design by Walex Blissex of Rendili Star Drive during the middle of the Clone Wars. The Victory like the Venator was an answer to the Republic need for a heavier warship. The Victory's length was shorter then the Venators at 900 meters. But it had heavier armaments with 10 quad turbo lasers and 40 double turbolasers. But the increased weaponry came at a cost to troop and fighter compliment which were only a fraction of both the Venator and the Acclamator classes. The Victories played an important part in the Clone Wars during the Bulwark crisis. The Victory class starships were launched 6 months ahead of schedule to try and stop the rampaging Techno Union fleet. The untested Victories proved themselves by defeating the Bulwark fleet at the battle of Anaxes. The Victory class would survive the Clone Wars to serve in the Imperial Navy to the present. Although it has taken a back seat to newer Star Destroyers it still can be seen in support of major Fleet action.

The Victory class has an unusual feature on it conning tower. A small forward observation station sticks out from the starboard side of the con. It is often mistaken for an antenna.

With the End of the Clone War and the expansion of the Empire new Star Destroyer designs halted as the Empire relied on the current designs at the time. But as the chaos settled down and new credits became available sometime between the end of the Clone Wars and the declaration of Rebellion a new ship was asked for. What the Empire received was the 1600m long Imperator or Imperial class Star Destroyer. Since it inception it has been the pinnacle of Star Destroyer design. It latest versions can tear apart an enemy fleet or planet with a hundred heavy turbolaser and 20 Ion cannons. It can carry a wing of 72 star fighters and land 9700 storm troopers, just shy of a legion. The Imperial class have been know to single handedly subdue entire rebellious worlds. It can either move on to take part in another assault or remain in orbit as a deterrent.

Today's Imperial class Star Destroyer is the ultimate expression of the Emperor's might. But with designs like the Super Star Destroyer already under construction and those that are on the drawling board one said to have a superlaser like that of the Death Star the Empires vessels will only get bigger and bigger to meet the Emperor's threats. But one thing is for certain that no matter how large these vessels get they will always have the name Star Destroyer.