Strike - class medium cruiser The " Strike " - class medium cruiser was a medium star cruiser designed by the Loronar Corporation during the Galactic Civil War for the Imperial Navy as a general - purpose vessel capable of modular modifications to allow it to fit many mission profiles , yet cheap enough to be produced in large quantities . Description . The 450 - meter long " Strike " - class was capable of challenging larger Alliance cruisers with its surprisingly heavy load of firepower , strong shields , and high sublight speed . Armaments included 20 turbolaser cannons , 10 turbolaser batteries , ten ion cannons , and some point - defense weapons . The Order of Battle considered two " Strike " - class cruisers the equivalent of one " Victory " - class Star Destroyer . In addition , the interior storage space of the " Strike " - class could be modified for different missions . The most common sets were designed for planetary garrison , space superiority , and planetary assault . Planetary garrison loadouts included an assault company , two AT - STs , one AT - AT , and several support speeders ; space superiority included up to three squadrons of TIEs ; the planetary assault loadout included five AT - ATs . However , the internal storage spaces and skeletal structure proved weak against enemy fire once the shields were down . History . A departure from the Navy ' s trend towards increasingly large warships , the " Strike " - class cruiser was an admission to diminished ability to defend space superiority against the Rebel Alliance and other forces as the conflict wore on . While Luke Skywalker was still recovering from his injuries from Cloud City , the Rebel Fleet was traveling to its rendezvous point , when an Imperial Strike - class cruiser located them and attempted to transmit a communication channel to Vader of the coordinates of the Rebels . However , the Rebels reacted by jamming Imperial communications and dispatching Rogue Squadron ' s X - wings under the command of Wedge Antilles . The Strike Cruiser ' s TIE Fighter squadron was quickly overwhelmed , so her commanding officer set a course to escape . The Imperials safeguarded the rear of their Strike Cruiser by concentrating its shields towards the stern of the ship , which successfully deflected the first barrage from one of the X - Wings . Rogue Five then exploited the relatively low shielding of the bow of the ship and fired a pair of proton torpedoes that blew the Strike Cruiser apart . Rogue Three ' s X - Wing engine was damaged in the process , and the Rebel Fleet was forced to change course as a precaution to avoid discovery . During rogue Admiral Zaarin ' s campaign in the Omar system , he successfully trapped Admiral Thrawn ' s flagship " Sceltor " and sent the Strike Cruiser " Serpent " to destroy his nemesis . While Thrawn ' s Victory I - class Star Destroyer was nominally the more powerful vessel , Zaarin ' s cruiser had the advantage since it approached from the rear where most of the Star Destroyer ' s turbolasers had a poor firing arc . However this move backfired when Maarek Stele used a Mag Pulse torpedo to disable the " Serpent " just as it moved into firing range of the " Scheltor " . Zaarin ' s Strike Cruiser instead found itself temporarily incapacitated and its shields gradually drained by the hammering of Thrawn ' s flagship . By the time the Mag Pulse effects had worn off , Stele eliminated the remainder of the " Serpent ' s " shield and disabled it with his TIE Defender ' s ion cannons . During the Imperial campaign against the proliferation of TIE Defender technology in the Eva - T system , the Strike Cruiser was used by five factions ; loyalist Imperials commanded by Thrawn , the traitor Zaarin , the Rneekii , the Nami , and the Rebel Alliance . How such a class of vessel with Imperial origins becoming so widespread is never made clear , however Zaarin cooperated with the Nami for some time , and the Nami later tried to sell the TIE Defenders to the Rebels , which could explain how the Strike Cruisers fell into enemy hands . Ironically , the one big disadvantage of the " Strike " - class cruiser was a side effect of its biggest advantage . Due to the modular design of the ship , a single , well - placed hit could shut down entire systems or weapon batteries if the densely arrayed power connectors between two sections of the ship were damaged . If the ship suffered too many critical hits by large - impact weapons ( such as proton torpedoes or heavy turbolasers ) it was also possible that its structure might simply break apart ( as was the fate of the " Termagant " ) . By the time the ship was introduced into full naval service , this was only considered to be a minor flaw , as the Empire had enough resources to replenish damaged or lost components that were considered " disposable " at that time . However , as the war raged on and large starships started to become a rare sight , the Imperial Remnant felt the need to make this otherwise reliable , versatile , and thus tactically important class of cruisers more durable , which resulted in reinforcing the connections between the cruiser ' s basic integral structure and the attached modules in order to prevent easy decouplings . Nevertheless , these spots remained the most vulnerable parts of the " Strike " - class , and pilots and commanders on both sides of the Galactic Civil War adapted their tactics to deal with this knowledge . At least one " Strike " - class cruiser , " Peregrine " , was modified by the Rebel Alliance with two large , bulbous housings for gravity well projectors , which were removed from a captured Imperial Interdictor cruiser . This ship was designated by the Rebels as a modified strike cruiser . The " Strike " - class cruiser was also redesigned to produce the " Eidolon " for Sate Pestage , but this prototype never went into full production . One " Strike " - class cruiser , the " Termagant " , was used by Warlord Zsinj alongside his Super Star Destroyer " Iron Fist " to intercept and destroy a New Republic bacta convoy . Behind the scenes . In Polish translations of various Star Wars novels , the " Strike - class Cruiser " is called simply " krążownik uderzeniowy " ( " uderzeniowy " is the adjective form of " uderzenie " - strike ) , which refers to the ship ' s role , not this class of particular Loronar design . In every case , the name " krążownik uderzeniowy " refers to the Loronar " Strike - class Cruiser " precisely . This is probably a translator error ( not paying attention to the capital letters ) or it occurs due to the fact that " Uderzenie " ( thus " Krążownik Klasy Uderzenie " which is the literal translation of the " Strike - class Cruiser " ) is both phonetically and semantically not suitable for naming the ship ' s class , while the adjective form is acceptable .