Battleship / Legends Battleship was a name widely used for types of capital ship . Often , it was reserved as a term for the largest and strongest warships in a navy , broadly comparable with dreadnaught , but sometimes , smaller vessels in the same navy were described as performing the duties of a peace - keeping battleship . At times , it was synonymous with " warship " and simply described larger combat ships . History . Republic records . Even in the Pre - Republic era , large capital ships like the titanic battlecruisers that served in the navy of Xim the Despot were counted on to turn the tide of any battle . Some of the earliest Old Republic era battleships and battlecruisers belonged to the planetary or sector naval forces of such worlds as Coruscant , Alsakan , Corellia , and their respective allies within the Core . Throughout the course of the Alsakan Conflicts , squadrons of great and massive battleships were described to be the guardians of the Core worlds . The prevalence and effectiveness of these larger capital ships varied depending on the technology and the prevailing strategies of the day . One of the known battleship classes introduced around the year 10 , 000 BBY , were vessels created in imitation of the long - running planet buster Kumauri Battleship line . This trend culminated with the " Cal " - class battleship , which was popular with several governments , most notably the Galactic Republic . These battleships were used to intimidate or destroy hostile civilizations , as the Republic aggressively expanded outward into the Galaxy . They were also effectively used as terror weapons during the Tenth Alsakan Conflict . After the Waymancy Storm of 7811 BBY , the Republic slowly incorporated new technologies like the squintpipe process , which led to greatly improved turbolasers . By 7500 BBY , new breakthroughs in armor , shields , hyperdrives , and power generation ushered in a golden age of warship production . Larger capital ships would once more become the mainstays of the Republic military and its individual private sector fleets , as well with dominions and kingdoms located beyond the boarders of the Republic . This battleship era would only come to an end in 2500 BBY due an economic downturn , which led to fleets being largely comprised of smaller cruisers . The wars between the Republic and the Sith Empire , as well as with the Mandalorians , were known for their colossal battles involving some of largest capital ships in the history of the Galaxy . Throughout the Great Hyperspace War , the primary combatant ships in both Sith and Republic fleets , were denoted as " battleships " . During the Great Sith War and the Mandalorian Wars , the Mandalorian factions used " Kyramud " - type battleships and Kandosii - type dreadnaught s in their fleets . Meanwhile , the Republic maintained fleets of very large and blocky command ships and battleships , which slowly became outdated and were eventually replaced with newer warships . The Mandalorian Wars saw the Galactic Republic constructing and fielding the " Inexpugnable " - class tactical command ships which were sometimes referred to as " battleships . " The Republic would go on to build a number of very advanced warships during the Great Galactic War , one of the largest examples being the behemoth Superdreadnought the Star of Coruscant . In the final stages of the New Sith Wars , the term " battleship " for capital ships like the corsair battleship , fast - moving vessels which , along with starfighters , served in a picket / attack role , and provided support for other warships like Sith Destroyer s and " Hammerhead " - class cruisers . After the devastation wrought by the New Sith Wars , the Republic military was disbanded and reorganized into the Judicial Forces . In an effort to keep the peace , the Ruusan Reformations implemented many restrictions on fleet sizes , armaments , and on the hyperdrives of the larger warships serving in the various Planetary Security Forces around the Galaxy . Generally , warships were limited to being cruisers with a maximum length to 600 meters , though there were some exceptions to these restrictions . Planets and sectors that had direct representation in the Senate were allowed more military allowances , as they strove to impress neighboring systems and to create robust defenses . As time went on new battleships would be constructed for the wealthy planets and sectors of the Republic , while intergalactic organizations built large transports there were capable of being transformed into large warships . In an effort to encourage innovation and the development of new technologies , starship manufactures were also allowed to produce prototype warships or experimental variants of existing classes that could be in excess of the Ruusan restrictions . In the centuries prior to the Clone Wars , the rich and heavily industrialized Core Worlds like Corellia , Humbarine , and Kuat were awash in warships and built fleets centered around powerful multi - kilometer long warships . During this era , two types of large warships that were among Kuat Drive Yards bountiful catalogue of Star Destroyers , were the 2 , 500 meter long " Procurator " - class Star Battlecruiser and the 8 , 000 meter long " Mandator " - class Star Dreadnought . Kuat would not only use these battleships for their own sector forces , but also sold these warships to other planetary governments and eventually the Republic itself during the Clone Wars . The Clone Wars would then once more usher in an age of large and heavily armed transgalatic warships . Clone Wars and beyond . The " battleship " designation was again used by the Trade Federation for the militarized version of their LH - 3210 cargo freighter . Though very large ships , and at least sometimes heavily shielded , the original militarized version of these ships was more of a starfighter carrier and battle droid assault ship than a combat warship , with a relatively light defensive armament of quad laser cannons . Later versions used during the Clone Wars , however , lived up to the " battleship " designation with a massive armament of turbolasers . During the Clone Wars , the Republic also faced the threat of the battleship " Malevolence " , Grievous ' s flagship and the strongest vessel in the Separatist fleet . Cruisers and battleships . During the Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War , ships such as the " Venator " - class , " Victory " - class and " Imperial " - class Star Destroyers could be referred to as either " battleships " or " peacekeeping battleships " . At the same time , the " Venator " - class was also contrasted with battleships in the Republic fleet , for which they acted as escorts . Little else is known about these battleships , except that they were heavier in some sense than " medium - weight " warships like the " Venator " - class . This would be mirrored in the Imperial Navy , with Star Destroyers of the day acting as escorts for larger vessels , like Star Dreadnaughts . During the Galactic Civil War , the Imperial Navy described ships bigger than Imperial Star Destroyers as its largest battleships , built for the Imperial Navy by shipwrights like Kuat , Rendili and Loronar . In the Alliance to Restore the Republic , the Mon Calamari MC80 Home One type Star Cruiser " Home One " served in a battleship role for the Rebels , In the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic , at least one model of Corellian gunship , could be described as a " battleship " or a " ship of the line " . Behind the scenes . In real life , the term " battleship " emerged with a precise meaning in the late nineteenth century , as an abbreviation of " line - of - battle ship " . It denoted a ship that could fight in the " line of battle " , the main fleet formation . The early battleships were contrasted with , which while at this time were similar in size and speed , but were designed for longer - range patrol missions , and carried less armor . Over the following decades , cruisers became faster , with more speed but less armor than a battleship . The term ( erroneously spelled " dreadnaught " . ) became synonymous with " battleship " after the introduction of the revolutionary " all - big gun " battleship " " in 1906 . Overnight , all battleship classes prior to " HMS Dreadnought " were made obsolete , and two modern eras in battleship history would later be considered : Classes made before " HMS Dreadnought " were referred to as " pre - Dreadnoughts " while classes made afterwards , based on its design - principles , were referred to as " Dreadnoughts " . However , this nomenclature only applied to the new generation of battleships , and didn ' t replace the term " battleship " ( for instance , the US Navy referred to its largest ships as Battleships : as well as second generation Dreadnoughts being referred to as Super Dreadnoughts before the term faded following WWI ) . Alongside the dreadnaught , a type of large cruiser with a similar armament of heavy guns was introduced , called the . These retained the traditional of less armor and greater speed , but being Capital Ships in their own right , quickly came to be perceived as closer cousins to Dreadnoughts than to normal cruisers , a situation that was formalized in the international naval treaties after World War I , which limited the size of cruiser guns . In the early twentieth century , battleships were often only slightly larger than contemporary cruisers , even the limited post - WWI types , and usually smaller than battlecruisers . The SW galaxy diverges somewhat from the real - world terminology by having a mix of " battleships " and " dreadnoughts " in the same cultures and eras .