Who Says Length Doesn't Matter?

By: Assem Masri

No, this article is not about what your perverted mind may have gathered from the title. Lying within this document is the revamped Super Star Destroyer in all its glory. Revamped? You may ask, but revamped from what? Well if you've seen the trilogy and watched closely you may have figured out that the Super Star Destroyer Executor appears much larger than West End Games measurement of 8 kilometers (only 5 times the length of an ISD). If you're still not convinced upon reviewing the trilogy then I suggest you read Curtis Saxton's article upon the subject. He provides an in depth discussion about the SSD's controversial length. Just follow this URL http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~saxton/starwars/ssd.html. If you're still not convinced than read no further, merely continue using West End Games version of the SSD. Otherwise continue on.

From Curtis Saxton's article the best estimate of the SSD's length appears to be 11 times length of an ISD which was stated in From Star Wars to Indiana Jones. This brings the SSD's length to 17,600 meters. This is the length I use in rewriting the SSD. Well it seems easy now just double the listings WEG gives for the 8 km SSD and you have a pretty good estimate for the "new" SSD. I wish it were that easy, but an increase in length doesn't increase surface area and volume by an equivalent amount.. In fact surface area and volume increase exponentially with length.

Using images of the ISD and using its 1,600 meter length to measure its other dimensions then using these dimensions the surface area was calculated. Invoking a bit of calculus was necessary to determine the ISD's volume. Using identical techniques the SSD's volume and surface area were calculated for both WEG's version and the "new" version using the length of 17.6 km. This was done to give some references to the relative (and relevant) characteristics of the three ships.

Using these measurements the volume of the "new" SSD is 10.64 times greater than WEG's SSD and the surface area is 9.68 times greater.

According to Saxton's article a problem with the SSD is its low guns to surface area ratio which, although giving its weapons greater arcs of fire, bestowed upon it the disadvantage that starfighters could elude weapon fire when close to the ship's hull. Using, WEG's SSD the calculated ratio of surface are to weapons is 24,673 m²/weaopon; for the ISD it is 10,307 m²/weapon. The WEG SSD's weapons are about 2.5 times more sparsely positioned than the ISD. This seems a bit low considering the SSD's vulnerability in this area (exemplified by the destruction of the Executor in RotJ). I believe a decrease by a factor of 10 or 11 in the surface area to weapon number ratio to be significant enough to confer upon the SSD the above vulnerability. This would give the "new" SSD about 2190 individual weapons. Noting that the WEG SSD has 1040 weapons I believe doubling this number sufficient to satisfy the requirement (go figure could of done this to start with).

That should be it, except for the number of troops, crew, cargo capacity, hull, and shields. Well to tackle these problems I referred to the Eclipse-class Star Destroyer whose length of 17.5 km is about equivalent to the "new" SSD as given by WEG. I know this isn't a very accurate method, but I hope most of you will forgive me until find a method to obtain a good estimate of these measurements. So without further ado what follows is what I like to call the correct SSD.

Super Star Destroyer

Craft: Kuat Drive Yard's Executor
Type: Super-class Star Destroyer
Scale: Capital Ship
Length: 17,600 meters
Skill: Capital Ship Piloting
Crew: 758,360; gunners: 3,180, skeleton: 90,000/ +10
Crew Skill: Astrogation 5D, capital ship gunnery 5D, capital ship piloting 6D, capital ship shields 4D+2, sensors 4D+2
Passengers: 150,000 (troops)
Cargo Capacity: 600,000 metric tons; 150,000 cubic meters
Consumables: 6 Years
Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2
Hyperdrive Backup: x10
Nav Computer: Yes
Maneuverability: 0D
Space: 4
Hull: 15D
Shields: 8D
Sensors:
Passive: 75 / 1D+2
Scan: 150 / 3D+2
Search: 300 / 5D
Focus: 8 / 6D+2
Weapons:
500 Turbolaser Batteries
Fire Arc: 200 front, 150 left, 150 right
Crew: 1 (200), 2 (300)
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 1D
Space Range: 5-15/ 35/ 70
Damage: 7D
500 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries
Fire Arc: 200 front, 100 left, 100 right, 100 back
Crew: 1 (200), 2 (300)
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 0D
Space Range: 5-20/ 40/ 60
Damage: 10D
500 Ion Cannons
Fire Arc: 200 front, 100 left, 100 right, 100 back
Crew: 2
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 4D
Space Range: 1-10/ 25/ 50
Damage: 4D
500 Concussion Missile Tubes
Fire Arc: 200 front, 100 left, 100 right, 100 back
Crew: 1
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 2D
Space Range: 5-12/ 30/ 60
Damage: 9D
80 Tractor Beam Emplacements
Fire Arc: 20 front, 20 left, 20 right, 20 back
Crew: 2
Skill: Capital ship gunnery
Fire Control: 4D
Space Range: 1-5/ 15/ 30
Damage: 9D

Except for the Death Star battle station, the Super-class Star Destroyer is the largest warship ever constructed. Eleven times the length of an Imperial Star Destroyer, each carries almost a million troops and crew. Over 2,000 turbolaser batteries, ion cannons, and tractor beam emplacements dot the 17.6 kilometer length. These vessels are like a fleet unto themselves. 60 squadrons of TIE fighters await within the huge confines of the massive ship, including 10 squadrons made up of the new TIE Interceptor model. Other carried vessels bring the total aboard the Super Star Destroyer to over 500 ships.

Even more weapons of destruction are within the Super Star Destroyer, including 3 full corps of stormtroopers and other soldiers, 100 AT-AT walkers, 200 AT-STs, and various other ground assault vehicles. In addition, the ship carries five pre-fabricated garrison bases for immediate deployment.

The Super-class Star Destroyer is the dream of the Emperor and the epitome of his new navy. It represents the best and newest vessel available in the Imperial inventory. It is a command ship, a space going headquarters from which to guide planetary invasions, space battles, and the like. Four of these massive vessels are now in service (as of the time between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back). The first, Executor, was presented to Lord Darth Vader by the Emperor to serve as his personal flagship from which to lead the fleet charged with the eradication of the Rebel Alliance.

Copyright © 1996 Assem Masri


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