Endurance - class fleet carrier The " Endurance " - class fleet carrier served as the centerpiece of modern New Republic fleets composed of New Class warships . Characteristics . The " Endurance " had a Class 1 hyperdrive and could carry 1 , 600 troops and enough consumables for five months . However , weapons had to be sacrificed to make room for extra fighters . " Endurance " - class fleet carriers were only armed with a secondary armament of twelve turbolaser cannons , twenty laser cannons , eight ion cannons , and four tractor beam projectors . While they boasted improved hull integrity , their shields were markedly less powerful . Although they were equipped with a formidable anti - starfighter weapon system , the fleet carriers were usually protected by screening ships and starfighters . They were not designed to enter the savage heart of battle , but to deploy and coordinate smaller ships . The main fighting punch of an " Endurance " - class ship consisted of almost four wings of starfighters . One wing was a short - range assault wing composed of K - wing bombers and Defender starfighter s for close support . Another wing was a long - range superiority wing composed of hyperdrive - equipped fighters such as E - wings , A - wings , and X - wings . History . Fleet carriers represented a change in the Republic ' s military policy . While the Imperial Navy was built around larger , heavily - armed warships , such as the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer , the New Republic had chosen to use much smaller gun platforms , with starfighters playing a greater role in power projection . Following New Class practice , the " Endurance " - class fleet carrier was built upon the same basic hull and systems of the " Nebula " - class Star Destroyer — although this commonality disguises the fact that the Star Destroyer was apparently designed first , as part of the Defender project , so that the " Endurance " - class could also be seen as a Star Destroyer variant with heavy weapons replaced by extra fighters just as on the earlier " Venator " - class Star Destroyer . Besides being a base ship for starfighters , the " Endurance " was also a command vessel . Task force commanders and fleet flag officers often used these carriers as their flagships . Admiral Areta Bell raised her flag aboard the lead ship of the class , " Endurance " , during the Orinda campaign of 12 ABY , until her destruction by the Imperial Remnant at the Battle of Orinda . Behind the scenes . Until recently , the only official image directly depicting the " Endurance " - class fleet carrier came from the RPG sourcebook " Cracken ' s Threat Dossier " . In contrast with some of the other New Class Modernization Program designs supposedly based on shared hullforms , the image of the carrier resembled that of the " Nebula " / " Defender " - class Star Destroyer reasonably closely . The differences were that the bridge tower on the " Endurance " was topped off by a sizable saucer section ( possibly representing the carrier ' s role as a command ship ) and a second , smaller tower was located at the front section of the ship . Often , people have misread " Before the Storm s description of the carrier , reading fat - hulled as flat - hulled " ' . This discrepancy makes it somewhat easier to reconcile the CTD image . More recently , " Starships of the Galaxy " provided a new image of the " Defender " - class Star Destroyer ( now retconned to being the " Nebula " - class ) , much sleeker in appearance and completely lacking a bridge tower . A new image of the " Endurance " - class fleet carrier has appeared in the " Essential Guide to Warfare " . This image resembles the image of the " Nebula " - class Star Destroyer that appeared in " Starships of the Galaxy " .