Cross of fire (tactic)

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The Cross of fire was a military tactic and design principle used by the Galactic Alliance Defense Fleet approximately one hundred years after the Yuuzhan Vong War.[1]

Characteristics

Due to the economic realities of the Galactic Alliance of the time, smaller and faster ships that could punch above their class were commissioned in lieu of expensive and cumbersome Star Destroyers. The result was the Scythe-class Battle Cruiser, which utilized a massive vertical blade design in departure from past Mon Calamari engineering doctrine. This blade was densely packed with weapon batteries and power conduits, and were arrayed on the leading edge of the blade specifically so that all weapons could be fired simultaneously and continuously on a singular point, creating a withering barrage of firepower referred to as a "cross of fire."[1]

Despite the Scythe-class just being a third the size of an Imperial Star Destroyer, the cross of fire allowed the Scythe-class to go head-to-head with ships multiple times its size, with very few ships being able to weather the concentrated firepower for any length of time. Exemplifying this the Scythe-class was considered an even match to the much larger Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer.[1]

The cross of fire did have tradeoffs, however, primary being that it did not allow for sufficient coverage of remaining firing arcs to the flanks and stern, instead relying on Starfighter escorts to compensate. Further, the cross of fire necessitated massive power conduits and numerous auxiliary generators that ran the length of the blade in order to power and sustain its weapons, presenting an additional weakness.[1]

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Legacy Era Campaign Guide