The yellow writing rolls up the screen and vanishes. A small ship flys past, laser fire erupting all around it. Then another ship appears it moves past and past and past. It is immense. It is an Imperial class Star destroyer. The first time I saw it I was dumbstruck with awe. I had to learn more about this mammmoth wedge shaped engine of destruction.

The standard Imperial class star destroyer is 1600 metres long. It has a class 2 hyperdrive. Its weapons include 60 Taim and Bak XX-9 Heavy Turbolasers, 60 Borstel NK-7 Ion cannons and 10 Phylon Q7 Tractor beam projectors. The turbolasers are used for ship to ship combat and for planetary bombardment. The Ion cannons are used to disable ships so they can be boarded. Once a ship has been disabled the tractor beam projectors could be used to pull it into the Star Destroyers cavernous aft docking bay which can accomodate ships up to 150 metres in length.

Each Star Destroyer carries a full wing of TIE fightercraft (Six, twelve fighter squadrons). At the time of the battle of Yavin a standard Star Destroyer carried 4 TIE Fighter squadrons, 1 TIE Bomber squadron and 1 TIE Interceptor squadron. By the time of the battle of Endor one of the TIE Fighter squadrons had been replaced by another TIE Interceptor squadron on most Star Destroyers.

An Imperial Star Destroyer also carries a large number of support craft. This normally includes 8 Lambda class suttles, 15 Stormtrooper transports, 5 Assault gunboats and a varying number of Skipray blastboats and Gamma class assault shuttles. A Star Destroyer also carries a large number of ground forces. Theses consist of landing barges, drop ships, 20 AT-AT walkers, 30 AT-ST scout walkers and 9700 troops. If long term occupation of a planet is deemed necessary. A Star Destroyer can deploy a prefabricated garrison base with 800 troops, 10 AT-ATs, 10 AT-STs and 40 TIE Fighters. Normally full planetary invasions would require 6 Star Destroyers with other smaller capital ships in support.

Shortly after the battle of Yavin an upgraded version of the Imperial Star Destroyer began appearing. Called the Imperial 2 it boasted a more heavily reinforced hull and more powerful turbo laser batteries and cannons. In addition to the Imperial 2 there are several other star Destroyer variants designed for specific missions.

With all these weapons and support craft a star Destroyer Captain could easily hold a small star system in his grip. It is rumoured that the Imperial Fleet may have numbered as many as 25,000 Star Destroyers. With this many vessels at his disposal it is no surprise Emperor Palpatine was able to maintain his control of the galaxy for so long.