Victory I-class Star Destroyer

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Victory I-class Star Destroyer

Characteristics[]

Dimensions[]

Victory I-classStar Destroyers were 900meters long, just over half the size of the laterImperial-class Star Destroyer. Like later Star Destroyer designs, the Victory possessed the ability to enter the upper levels of a planetary atmosphere. This gave the ship a decided advantage of added precision when engaging in the ground attack operations the class was designed to carry out. In addition, the Victory could also pursue other vessels hoping to escape by diving towards a planet.^[10] A set of atmospheric maneuvering surfaces were located along the ship's flanks as well.^[3] Some Victory variants dispensed with the atmospheric maneuvering surfaces altogether. Star Destroyers of this kind fought in theOperation Shadow Hand, notably in theBattle of Balmorra.^[12]

Offensive and defensive systems[]

Despite being several decades old at the time, theshields andhull armor ofVictory I-class ships were still quite heavy compared to the other vessels used during the Galactic Civil War. They were equipped with 10quad turbolaser batteries, 40 doubleturbolaser batteries, 80concussion missiles tubes, and 10tractor beam projectors.Ships of the class were clad in9095-T8511 grade durasteel.^[3]

Complement[]

A singleVictory I-class Star Destroyer required 4,798 crew members and 402gunners for optimal operation and could transport up to 2,040 troops, 8,100 metric tons of cargo, several ground vehicles like theAT-AT, and twosquadrons ofstarfighters.

Propulsion systems[]

TheVictory I-class Star Destroyer's biggest disadvantage was its underpoweredLF9 ion engines, which could not produce sufficient acceleration to pursue newer and faster ships, allowing them to escape ship-to-ship combat. This flaw was rectified in the limitedVictory II-class, produced shortly before the advent of the Empire.^[3]

Some variants of theVictory-class were designed with three main thrusters and four auxiliary thrusters, like the largerImperial-class. Others, like theHarrow and theProtector, had two main thrusters and two auxiliary thrusters wedged in-between.^[13][14]

TheVictory Star Destroyer's Class 1.0 hyperdrive was superior to that of theImperial-class Star Destroyer, allowingVictory ships to reach their destinations in half the time.^[10]

History[]

Republic-Imperial origin[]

At the start of the Clone Wars and the introduction of theAcclamator-class assault ship, theArch-Provost ofRendili ordered industrial spies and ship-designers to come up with a way to curbKuat's lead on new contracts with the Galactic Republic.^[15]

The two rival shipbuilders,Rendili StarDrive andKuat Drive Yards, later embarked on a collaborative design-project while the war was still in its early phases.^[8] This was called the "Victor Initiative Project," which resulted in theVictory-class. This design byWalex Blissex became a direct challenge to Kuat'sVenator-class.^[1]

While considered fine ships at the time, they were rushed to production after many delays and political wrangling within the Republic Navy and Kuat Drive Yards. The resulting vessels required more maintenance and drydock time than was considered acceptable, even by the bureaucratic standards of the Republic. The class became infamous for a range of issues, from malfunctioning hyperdrive couplings to faulty onboard systems that occasionally electrocuted sleeping crew members. These problems gave the Victory I-class a grim reputation as "spacegoing coffins."^[16]

An early batch ofVictory I-class Star Destroyers were deployed to defendSector 0 against theTechno Union'sfleet ofBulwark Mark Ibattlecruisers, which had escapedthe blockade ofFoerost.^[1]This resulted in the deployment of the "Victory Fleet" six months ahead of schedule. Despite this, the majority of the initial commission group was not deployed untilPalpatine had already dissolved the Galactic Republic and established his Imperial rule.^[1]

A subclass known as theVictory II was introduced later in theClone Wars.^[17] Refitted with new ion engines byHoersch-Kessel Drive to replace the underpowered LF9s, and trading the concussion missiles forion cannons and extra turbolasers; this variant was designed with an emphasis on space combat. This newer class was externally very similar to its predecessor. Very fewVictory II'swere built, as they were introduced not long before theImperial-class, which essentially supplanted it in the space combat role.

Imperial service[]

The abundant number ofImperial-class Star Destroyers, and the growing popularity of theImperial-series amongst the Imperial Starfleet, led to manyVictory-class Star Destroyers being decommissioned or sold to groups like theCorporate Sector Authority, which purchased 520.^[9] Most of theVictory-series Star Destroyers still in Imperial service near the height of the Empire were often assigned to planetary defense roles. Command of or assignment to one of the old Victory-class Star Destroyers was seen as a dead end for a Navy officer’s career.^[16]

Within theImperial Navy,Victory-class Star Destroyers were considered second only toImperial-class Star Destroyers for most operations in theOuter Rim Territories against pirates andRebels. Theorder of battle considered oneVictory-class Star Destroyer the equivalent of twoStrike-class cruisers.

Heavy squadrons often featuredVictory-class Star Destroyers; at the systems force level and above, they accompanied larger Star Destroyers,Star Cruisers, andStar Dreadnoughts in major assaults. An example of this was theBattle of Ciutric, where other Star Destroyers used their turbolasers to strip the shields and armor of enemy capital ships, allowingVictory Destroyers to deliver devastating barrages of concussion missiles against their now-unprotected hulls. The ability to pursue enemies into planetary atmospheres also madeVictorys an invaluable part of many Imperial squadrons.

A key disadvantage of theVictory I was its low speed, which made its deployment difficult and allowed quicker foes to escape pursuit. During theBattle of Denab, the Rebel commander was able to defeat each Imperial squadron separately before they could come to each others' aid, preventing the Imperials from combining their forces and use the greater firepower of theVictory ships to devastate the Rebels. After these deficiencies became apparent, Imperial tacticians necessitated assigning support ships, such asInterdictors,Strike cruisers, andCarrack cruisers, to make up for the shortcomings.^[18]

WhileThrawn was a Vice Admiral, he had flown his flag onVictory ships such as theStalwart and theSceltor, as did AdmiralHarkov with theProtector. Most notably, theBombard and theCrusader all but wiped out the notoriousEyttyrmin Batiiv pirates during theBattle of Khuiumin; the pirates were aware of the impending Imperial attack but were overconfident in their ability to defeat a pair of "antiquated"Victory Star Destroyers.

WhenGrand AdmiralThrawn took control of theEmpire, this saw a return of theVictory-class to frontline duties, because of a lack of larger and more powerful ships such as theImperial-class.

Galactic Alliance service[]

Following theYuuzhan Vong War, theGalactic Federation of Free Alliances commissioned an updated version of theVictory for use as pirate hunters across its territories. Some of these new vessels were fitted with large turrets on the upper hull, each housing a huge asteroid-tugtractor beam sold to theGalactic Alliance Defense Force byLando Calrissian.

Prior to theSwarm War, theKilliks hijacked a Galactic AllianceVictory-class Star Destroyer called theAdmiral Ackbar, which had been used by the Alliance for the blockade of theUtegetu Nebula, for the Killiks' invasion of theChiss Ascendancy.

Behind the scenes[]

TheVictory I-class Star Destroyer was developed from a prototype Star Destroyer model created byColin Cantwell forStar Wars: Episode IVA New Hope.^[19]

TheVictory-class Star Destroyer was first mentioned by name inBrian Daley's novelHan Solo's Revenge used by theCorporate Sector Authority Territorial ManagerOdumin.

TheNew Essential Chronology mentioned that theVictory-class was the product of a "Victor Initiative Project". This tied theVictory-class into the naming scheme used by other large Republic ship classes of the era, all of which had Latin-based names ending in-tor, such as theVenator-class, theMandator-class, and theImperator-class."Victor" comes from the Latin verbvincere, meaning "to conquer", via the supine form victum.

Roleplaying game statistics published byWest End Games originally gave theVictory I-class eighty concussion missile tubes, with an unknown number of missiles. This was later adjusted to twenty tubes with four missiles each by the bookStarships of the Galaxy, published byWizards of the Coast. However, inX-Wing: Isard's Revenge, the "eighty-concussion missile launch tubes" of theVictory-class Star DestroyerEmperor's Wisdom and the comparable missile batteries of her sister shipsSelonian Fire andCorusca Fire, play an important role in the storyline.

Star Wars: Empire at War is the first source to depict details on theVictory-class which appear to represent large cannons flanking the bridge superstructure, similar to theImperial-class andVenator-class Star Destroyers. A comparison using the game's map editing program (which uses the game's own 3-D rendering engine and depicts all three ships in proper proportion to each other) shows these cannons to be roughly half the size of the corresponding units on the larger destroyers. Therefore, the presence of the cannons on theVictory-class in-game model is likely an unforeseen side-effect of it simply being a scaled down and modified version of theImperial I-class model.

Appearances[]

Explore all of Wookieepedia'simages for this article subject. "CIS Shadowfeed Dispatch 15:2:29 Edition" —Star Wars Insider 74 Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader(andunabridged audiobook) "Mist Encounter" —Star Wars Adventure Journal 7(reprinted inHyperspace: The OfficialStar Wars Fan Club) Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight "The Traitor's Gambit" – Dawn of Defiancecampaign The Paradise Snare(Mentioned only) Han Solo's Revenge(First appearance) Star Wars: Empire at War Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption Star Wars: Rebellion Star Wars Missions 9: Revolt of the Battle Droids Star Wars Missions 10: Showdown in Mos Eisley Star Wars Missions 11: Bounty Hunters vs. Battle Droids Star Wars Missions 12: The Vactooine Disaster Starfall(reprinted inClassic Adventures: Volume Five) Star Wars: TIE Fighter Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance "Den of Spies" —Twin Stars of Kira X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble(andunabridged audiobook) X-Wing: Solo Command(andunabridged audiobook) The Courtship of Princess Leia(andunabridged audiobook) "Mission to Zila" —Star Wars Adventure Journal 3(reprinted inHyperspace: The OfficialStar Wars Fan Club)(Mentioned only) Heir to the Empire(andunabridged audiobook) Dark Force Rising(andunabridged audiobook) The Last Command(andunabridged audiobook) X-Wing: Isard's Revenge Champions of the Force Darksaber The New Rebellion The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen Legacy of the Force: Tempest Legacy of the Force: Inferno Legacy of the Force: Fury Legacy of the Force: Revelation

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