From: shoham@ll.mit.edu (Daniel Shoham)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.starwars
Subject: Re: Questions
Date: 12 Jan 93 02:46:09 GMT
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory

In article <1iqe8mINN3na@leela.CS.ORST.EDU> littaum@atlantis.CS.ORST.EDU (Mike Littau) writes:

>1>  In the final fight, it appeared that all you needed to do to waste those
>expensive star destroyers (and the excelsior as well) is to blow up the
>ball things on top and then ram into the main command part of the ships.
>Whoever designed the things shoulda been choked by Darth Vader.  

Well, militarily, expensive star destroyers work very much like  a combination
of a battleship and an aircraft carrier. Such ships follow the philosophy of 
having one high-valued vehicle with many layers of defense as to allow for
force projection (unlike the fighter-based rebels who have no single high-value
ship, the most they got are cruisers).

- The outer defense of a SD is the TIE fighter wings it fields to keep enemy
  fighters away.

- If an enemy fighter gets through the screening TIE fighters, then the SD
  guns considerable firepower would provide the next layer of defense.

- The next layer is the shield designed to absorb the firepower of the
  occasional enemy fighter that survives long enough to fire at the SD.

- The final ("desperation") layer is the thick hull that probably can still
  take some punishment before giving way.

As a single ship, a SD cannot attack a large number of enemy fighters (they
would simply scatter about). It could however provide a base for wings of TIE
fighters to do so. Even if the battle as a whole is offensive in nature, the
SD role is always to defend itself and nearby assets while providing 
firepower and basing support to the offensive elmenets (the TIEs).

In an ordinary battle, the SD would never allow enemy fighters to come
anywhere near it in any numbers. It would launch it's screening fighters to
intercept (in naval jargon, an aircraft carrier launches its "umbrella"
when hostiles are anywhere near). Close quarter battles are a defenite no-no
for aircraft carriers, battleships, and stardestroyers - they are the domains
of fighters.

In the battle of Endor, the emperor ordered the SDs to stay back while he
plays with his new toy (the new Death Star). The empire figured that the
threat presented by the MASSED SD's would be deterent enough for the rebel
fleet to stay away. The TIE fighters were ordered to just kill rebel ships,
not to screen the SD's. What the empire didn't count on is the rebels being
led by a "certified lunatic" - Lando - and not the carefull and conservative
Ackbar. Lando talked Ackbar to kamakazi-like engagement of the SDs at "point
blank range". This attack bypassed the outer (fighter) defensive layer.
The next layer (SD guns) was not bypassed, the rebel took a lot of damage,
but more ships got close enough to the SD to take pot shots than the shield
could handle. Well, the most obvious thing for the rebels to shoot at is the
shield generator (the white ball). Once the shield protecting the generator
failed, the next shot would (did) strip the SD of it's shield.
After the shield was out, only the SD hull seperated it from destruction. Every
hit would now do damage, and the first to take out something vital would do
the job. Admiral Piett, under pressure, ordered to intensify forward defense
(i.e.  guns) to not allow anything through, but it was too late. A damaged ship
crashed (was steered??) into a very vital part of the ship - the bridge.


All in all, I wouldn't fault the designers. They built a very capable ship.
However, even very capable ships are not invincible. With proper tactics, 
a SD should be able to hold it's own against much of the rebel fleet. The 
emperor interfered with operational tactices in 3 crucial areas: Using
the fighters to hunt rebel ships instead of screen the SDs, not allowing the
SDs to attack when the *SDs where ready*, and massing them too close to each
other. The emperor has no one to blame but himself for the loss of the SD's.

Dan Shoham               shoham@ll.mit.edu
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