Axial superlasers were powerful weapons featured aboard some of the Imperial Starfleet's Super Star Destroyers, including those of the Sovereign-class and Eclipse-class.

Description[]

The Super Star Destroyers of the Imperial Navy's Sovereign-class and Eclipse-class each possessed a powerful axial superlaser. It was powered by generators that had to be housed in a starship with the minimum length of 15,000 meters. The Sovereign-class measured that length,^[1] while the jet-black^[2] Eclipse-class spanned 17,500 meters and had standard naval weaponry such as turbolasers to complement its superlaser.^[1] The superlaser was located along the vessel's spine and fired through the upper tip of its bow, above the distinctive red-colored indent of the ship, the front of which doubled as a ramming device.^[3]

Based on technology devised for the Death Star mobile battle stations, the axial superlaser^[1] fired at two-thirds the power of one of the Death Star's superlaser components,^[4] and was designed to penetrate planetary shields and vaporize cities in a single shot,^[1] and the weapon was even capable of searing a planet's entire surface^[5] and cracking its crust.^[3] Similar to the second Death Star,^[1] it could also target and obliterate capital ships,^[6] although the vessel on which the superlaser was mounted must be aligned with its target, posing a difficulty to aiming.^[4]

History[]

Destroyer of worlds[]

During the war against the Rebel Alliance, the Galactic Empire pursued innovations in superweapon technology as part of its ambition to wholly dominate the galaxy. To that end, the Imperial Department of Military Research developed the Death Stars, which were manufactured by Sienar Fleet Systems and housed the gargantuan planet-destroying Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlasers.^[1] Prior to the first Death Star's destruction at the Battle of Yavin, Emperor Palpatine had been planning other uses for the superlaser, including mounting it aboard warships as an axial weapon that was much smaller in size.^[2]

In 0 BBY,^[7] the Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide's Imperial Navy section, which was authored by Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, mentioned the Sovereign-class and Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyers that had been under development. In keeping with the Imperial doctrine of fear, Motti boasted that the destructive potential of their axial superlasers promised to solidify Imperial rule and revolutionize naval combat through the subsequent century. The admiral further speculated that the Sovereign-class might be commissioned ahead of the Eclipse-class due to its smaller size.^[1] After the loss of the Death Star, Imperial forces experimented with mounting a superlaser on an Imperial-class Star Destroyer—the Conqueror^[1]—as a replacement,^[8] but it was soon destroyed in action over the world Mustafar.^[1]

Eclipse of an Empire[]

The Empire wished to test the superlaser technology that would be employed in the Eclipse-class dreadnoughts, two of which were having their keels built in orbit of two planets—the Eclipse over Kuat, which was home to the Super Star Destroyer manufacturer Kuat Drive Yards, and the Eclipse II over Byss, the Emperor's secret stronghold. The regime thus constructed a superlaser platform dubbed the "Tarkin," though it was destroyed^[2] in 3 ABY,^[9] Nevertheless, advances in superlaser technology led to the new generation of Sovereign-class and Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyers that were successfully launched after the Empire was fractured in the Battle of Endor of 4 ABY, in which the second Death Star was likewise destroyed.^[5]

Following the Battle of Endor, the criminal Tyber Zann's Zann Consortium seized control of the half-constructed Eclipse during a battle between Imperial and Rebel forces over Kuat. The Consortium used the Eclipse's unstable axial superlaser against the Imperials and subsequently abandoned it, with Zann having been satisfied with looting the ship.^[6] The reborn Emperor Palpatine later used the Eclipse and the Eclipse II as his flagships during his attempted reconquest of the galaxy, using them alongside his Galaxy Gun and World Devastator superweapons. At the time, the Sovereign-class' lead ship of the same name was still being constructed as part of the Emperor's fleet in the Byss system.^[10] However, Palpatine's forces were destroyed between 10 and 11 ABY by the New Republic.^[2]

Appearances[]

• Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption

Sources[]

• superlaser in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
• The Essential Guide to Warfare
• Star Wars: Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide

Notes and references[]