Welcome to the #5 edition of 60 Standard Minutes.

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

Hello again, I would like to say a few things about this edition before I move on. This edition is considerably smaller than some of the previous editions I have researched. It was much harder to come across information on a few of the superweapons of the Empire. But, I did my best and I hope you also shudder as I, from now on after reading about the frightening and terrible power and might of the Galactic Empire!

 

 

Death Star

This satellite-sized battle station was designed by Tol Sivron at the Maw installation, and was built by Bevel Lemelisk and Imperial Engineering. It was believed that the original theories and plans behind the Death Star were developed by the Geonosians, under the direction of Darth Tyranus.

Grand Moff Tarkin had asked for a superweapon with which he could control the entire Outer Rim Territory, and the Death Star was the result. It housed a huge superlaser which combined the output of multiple lasers into a single, focused beam. A huge focusing lens was built to accomplish this; it located on the upper hemisphere. The superlaser was designed to be targeted at anything from a capital ship to a planet. This objective was known only to a select few, for Tarkin and the Maw's top scientists decided that they should downplay the role of superweapon to keep the project on schedule. They told the project engineers that the station would be used to break down dead planets in an effort to reach the core of elements easier. The funding for the original Death Star came from funds diverted form the Departments of System Exploration and Public Works.

The interior of the initial Death Star was planned to have 84 unique levels, each 1,428 meters in height. Each level was subdivided into 357 sublevels. The entire design was then divided into two hemispheres, each with twelve zones. The crew of the first Death Star design was 27,048 officers; 774,576 troops, pilots, and crewers; 378,576 support and maintenance crewers; 400,000 support droids; and 25,000 stormtroopers. The human inhabitants were provided with an array of parks, shopping centers, and entertainment facilities, since the average length of service aboard the station was to be six years without leave. At the north pole of the station was constructed a 100-story tower, which was heavily shielded and virtually impenetrable. This tower held Palpatine's operational headquarters, for those times when he was aboard the station. According to Imperial sources, the first Death Star took too long to construct, exceeding Palpatine's every deadline. It was built in orbit around the prison world Despayre. Labor for the construction was taken at will from the prison below. When the first Death Star was complete, Tarkin ordered the superlaser tested on the planet Despayre itself. Needless to say, this initial test exceeded even Tarkin's wildest dreams. However, despite its formidable weaponry, the original design was flawed, as it vented its main reactor directly to the outside. These allowed the Alliance to fire proton torpedoes into the exhaust shaft and destroy the station. The original station was 120 kilometers in diameter.

The second model was modified to eliminate these flaws, and was slightly larger than the original at 160 kilometers in diameter. However, during its construction in orbit around Endor's forest moon, the Alliance succeeded in knocking out its primary shield and destroyed the main reactor, exploding the unfinished station. The outer hull was made from quadanium steel for protection. For defensive measures, the Death Star was to house 4 capital ships, 7,200 TIE fighters, 3,600 Lambda-class assault shuttles, 2,480 blast boats, 1,860 drop ships, and 13,000 support craft. These included 1,400 AT-ATs, 1,400 AT-STs, 178 Mobile Command Bases, 1,420 repulsortanks, 1,420 repulsorcraft, 355 Floating Fortresses, and 4,843 Juggernauts. The original Death Star had the following design features:

 

• 5 Access trenchs (2 at the poles, 2 midhemisphere, and 1 at the equator)

• Surface City Blocks

• Main Reactor Core with surrounding Power Cells

• 2 Ready Power Cells (midsection)

• 2 Hyperdrive Motivators, driven by 123 generators (midsection)

• 2 Sublight Drives (midsection)

• 2 Computer Cores

• Deep Armory and Hangar Bays (bottom hemisphere)

• Command Core (upper pole)

• 2 main Hangar Bays (upper pole and upper hemisphere)

• Deep Storage Bays

• Dry Bulk Storage Bays

• Liquid Bulk Storage Bays

• 5,000 turbolaser batteries

• 5,000 heavy turbolaser batteries

• 2,500 laser cannons

• 2,500 ion cannons

• 768 tractor beam generators

 

 

Sun Crusher

Third-generation superweapon designed by Qwi Xux and built by Tol Sivron at the Maw Installation. It is a long, four-sided ship about the size of a 6-man fighter, with nearly-indestructible quantum molecular armor plating and a transmitting dish mounted underneath. The dish launches a modulated resonance projectile into a star's core, causing the star to explode. The Sun Crusher flies in a unique upright position similar to a B-Wing, but it has no wings or stabilizers. It was armed with five laser turrets mounted on top and at the four top corners. The prototype built at the Maw was thought to be destroyed by the New Republic after it was recovered from the Maw when Han Solo and Kyp Durron escaped in it.

 

The Sun Crusher was sent into the core of Yavin to be crushed, but it was later stolen by Kyp Durron. Kyp was under the influence of Exar Kun and the Dark Side of the Force, although it worked - to a degree - in the New Republic's favor. He felt that the Imperial weapon should be used to hurry various Imperial worlds. The Sun Crusher worked to perfection, but Kyp eventually returned from the Dark influence of Kun to return the ship to the Republic. It was destroyed when it was sucked into the black holes of the Maw.

 

Star Destroyer

Huge, triangular-shaped warship at the forefront of the Imperial Navy, the Star Destroyer was actually first designed and developed during the last years of the Old Republic. There are four main classes of Star Destroyer: the original Victory-class ships, developed by Rendili StarDrive for the Old Republic; their successor, the Imperial-I and Imperial-II class ships, developed by Kuat Drive Yards for the Empire; the huge Super-I class and Super-II class command ships; and the largest class, the Eclipse-class Star Destroyers. Like all capital ships, they were given names based on phrases and adjectives which described their strength and capabilities, such as Devastator and Agonizer. Luke Skywalker believed that Emperor Palpatine chose names which would also serve as a subconscious reminder to their crews that the ships were essentially the methods by which he corrupted people's souls.

 

Super-class Star Destroyer

An immense, heavy-duty Imperial Star Destroyer designed and built just before the destruction of the first Death Star, the Super-class Star Destroyer is an 8-kilometer-long battle station. Four of these huge capital ships were initially built by Kuat Drive Yards, displaying the depths of the Emperor's coffers and his desire to flaunt his power. The initial Super-class design was created by Lira Wessex, and although it was militarily impractical - several smaller ships could have performed the same job - it was ultimately successful in support of the Tarkin Doctrine. It was most often used as a command ship, and was manned by a crew of 279,144 accompanied by 1,590 gunners. Its weapons systems included 250 heavy turbolaser batteries, 250 turbolaser batteries, 250 concussion missile tubes, 250 ion cannons, and 40 tractor beam projectors. Darth Vader's command ship Executor was the first Super-class Star Destroyer, presented to the Dark Lord to assist in his search for the Alliance.

 

Victory-class Star Destroyer

A medium-duty capital ship, the Victory-class was the precursor to the Imperial class. It was designed by Walex Blissex and was commissioned into service near the end of the Clone Wars. It was manufactured by Rendili StarDrive, and was built to serve three purposes: planetary defense, planetary assault and ground troop support, and ship-to-ship combat. It can run at speeds up to .45 past lightspeed. The Victory-class measured 900 meters in length, and was manned by 4,798 crewers and 402 gunners. It could transport up to 2,040 troops, and held 8,100 metric tons of cargo. It was equipped with 10 quad turbolaser batteries, 40 double turbolaser batteries, 80 concussion missile tubes, and 10 tractor beam projectors.

 

World Devastators

Designed by the scientists at the Maw Installation, the plans for the World Devastator were sent to Grand Moff Tarkin years after his death at Yavin. The plans were intercepted by Umak Leth, who convinced his superiors that the designs were his own. This was easily accomplished, since the existence of the Maw Installation was well-hidden by Tarkin. Leth saw the creation of the World Devastator as his chance to surpass the genius of Bevel Lemelisk. He took the basic idea of a molecular furnace that broke down matter into its basic elements, and expanded on it. The plans were transmitted to GM Tarkin just after he left the Maw Installation with Bevel Lemelisk and the plans for the first Death Star.

 

As with the original Death Star plans, their source was never revealed to Emperor Palpatine. The World Devastators were eventually implemented by the clone of Emperor Palpatine and used against Calamari. It was the second generation of superweapon from the Installation, and was designed to "eat" the material from a planet's surface (buildings, cities, spaceships, etc.) and reconstitute them into raw materials for creating new Imperial war machines. As with the Death Star before them, the World Devastators were described to the engineers working on them as beneficial, to be used to recycle useless rubble into useful industrial components. In a similar vein to the Mon Calamari starships, each World Devastator was slightly different than the others. This stemmed from the fact that they built themselves over time. The basic skeleton is the same, but the ships are "grown" under supervision until they are ready for deployment. Then, their programming is altered to allow them to attack a planet and begin consuming its resources for use in creating other war machines, rather than for expanding themselves.

 

I hope you enjoyed the #5 edition on 60 Standard Minutes, and I hope you look forward to #6 when I investigate the mysterious and awe-inspiring Jedi. I will explore the past, present and, future of Jedi, I hope you are as excited about it as I am, I know it will be an interesting treat. May you enjoy the universe of Star Wars with more perspective than before and may the Force be with you.

[ADarkJedi44]

Wow, that was a real good edition! Keep them coming, a two week mini series is it going to be?

[Trejiuvanat]

WHOA! Pretty good job AA!!!

 

BTW, there's a 60 Standard Minutes Section in the In-Site Encyclopedia... Wonder who put it there???

 

Keep it up!

[Unagi353]

*wipes away a tear and claps*

 

Bravo! Bravo!

I'm getting all emotional... one point though... other sources say the Death Star was 100 kilometers... fyi.

But keep 'em commin'.

[Cain]

try to use some yellow color it looks great on the black background

[Mad78]

Well done keep it up!

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

I am glad you all enjoyed this edition. And Cain, I will try a yellow text color next time.

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

Hey I forgot to add, THANKS Trej for putting my articles in the encyclopedia. You did a great job!

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Very good. It's nice to see some info for the Sun Crusher and such!

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

I am glad you enjoyed it, Thrawn.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

That comment made me think of something. I don't know if you were being serious, or if your were being sarcastic. Man I hate reading for that!.

 

So are you goingto be doing more ships, or will you try to split your attention between ships and characters?

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

No, I was serious. I am not sure, it's more of a random thing. But expect plenty of ships and characters in future editions.

[Mad78]

Rogue Squadron?

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

You shall be happy, Mad. But that is all I can say.

[Grand_Admiral_Thrawn]

Just moving this back to the top. Not enough people have read it. Edited July 22, 2004 by Grand_Admiral_Thrawn

[Mad78]

You shall be happy, Mad. But that is all I can say.

Can't wait

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

Look for it sometime tonight.

[ADarkJedi44]

Ah, spam a little, read the nightly edition of Sixty standard minutes....and PWNZ0RZ T3H NUBZ 0N BF1942.

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

I am glad it has turned into a houshold name.

[ADarkJedi44]

Yes I do like to PWN-

Oh yes I mean the 60 standard minutes. Always a good read, I am especially looking forward to tommorow's

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

let it die now...