Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer

The Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer was a warship design produced by Kuat Drive Yards to serve as part of the starfleet of the Fel Empire.^[2] It was succeeded by the Imperious-class Star Destroyer, which was the result of Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire forcing the Mon Calamari Shipyards to reverse engineer an improved version of the Pellaeon-class.

Characteristics

The Pellaeon-class was named in honor of former Imperial Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon,^[2] and drew upon the distinctive and classic wedge-shape of earlier times, made famous by the Harrower, Venator and Imperator classes used by the navies of the Ancient Sith Empire, Galactic Republic and the old Galactic Empire respectively.^[2]

The class was often used as command ships and combined certain elements from Star Dreadnoughts like the Executor-class and earlier Star Destroyers like the Imperial-class.^[3]

Offensive and defensive systems

The Pellaeon-class was considered one of the most powerful warships in the galaxy and noted as having unmatched weapon systems and starfighter components. With its sleek outline, it presented less of a target to potential enemies, while at the same time optimizing its shield protection.^[2]

The forward-sloping superstructure of the Pellaeon-class also gave the main gun batteries excellent vantage points, more so than on the Star Destroyers of the previous centuries.^[2]

The class had slightly more armament than the older Imperial II-class Star Destroyer.^[3] Some of these guns were of a similar design to the XX-9 turbolaser batteries of the old Galactic Empire.^[7] The Pellaeon-class also possessed an interdiction field, capable of pulling ships out of hyperspace.^[4]

Complement

The class had a ventral hangar where starfighters and shuttles could land and embark from.^[2] Predator-class fighters would be stored in racks in narrow passages throughout the hangar area. Traffic control centers were located on either side of the main hangar opening, overlooking the area.^[5]

Its sloping profile allowed the Pellaeon-class to be shorter than the Imperial-class while at the same time be able to carry a decent amount of landing craft and small starships.^[3]

Propulsion systems

A reactor bulb protrusion was visible outside the ventral hull. It is not known if this was the ship's primary reactor or a forward, secondary one.^[2]

Bridge tower

The Pellaeon-class had at least one conference room with a holographic projector table in the center.^[8] Its bridge was styled similar to earlier warship classes such as the Venator-class, with crew pits encircled by a command deck where ship commanders could view the ship's surroundings out of panorama windows.^[9]

Known vessels

• Animus
• Avenger
• Dauntless
• Fist of the Empire
• Imperious
• Iron Sun
• Jagged Fel
• Relentless
• War Hammer

History

Thousands of years before the Sith–Imperial War, the Sith Empire used a capital ship similar to the Pellaeon-class during the Great Galactic War.^[10]

The Pellaeon-class itself began its service over 100 years after the Battle of Endor,^[3] succeeding the Imperial-class and was noted as going up against the heaviest Galactic Alliance warships, including the smaller-yet-faster Scythe-class main battle cruiser.^[8]

After the betrayal of the new Sith Order under Darth Krayt, some of these ships chose to rebel and follow Emperor Roan Fel into exile. As of 137 ABY, a number of these vessels were kept in orbit and close to his stronghold on Bastion for protection.^[11]

Later in the same year, Darth Stryfe used a Pellaeon-class vessel to search for Jedi refugees on Ossus. Upon feeling a continued presence after his troops returned empty-handed, he ordered the vessel to destroy the ruins of the Jedi Academy.^[7]

Some Pellaeon's fell into the hands of the Galactic Alliance Remnant during the Second Imperial Civil War and were distinguished with its symbol on the sides of their dorsal hulls.^[6] Similarly, Pellaeon-class Star Destroyers loyal to the Empire-in-exile were distinguished not only by the Imperial seal but by red markings as well.^[12]

Behind the scenes

In an interview for Star Wars Insider 89, designer and illustrator Sean Cooke described the design of the Pellaeon-class as a new way to look at Super Star Destroyers. The original idea entailed not making the vessel incredibly long, like the Executor, but incredibly tall and with a cathedral-like aspect to the design. The refined design harked back to the original Star Destroyers, but with a "front plow" addition based on the Khetanna, Jabba the Hutt's sail barge.

While the actual number of guns on the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer are currently unknown, the ship's entry in Starships of the Galaxy lists a number of weapon batteries, which according to the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook, represent up to ten weapons of the same type per battery.

An image of the Pellaeon was used to represent a Harrower-class dreadnought bombarding Coruscant in Timeline 1: Treaty of Coruscant, as the ship's design had not yet been finalized at the time of the video's creation.

Appearances

Sources

• Star Wars: Legacy (2006) 0 (First mentioned)
• "The Art of War" — Star Wars Insider 89
• Starships of the Galaxy, Saga Edition
• Star Wars: Legacy (2006) 0½
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Legacy Era Campaign Guide
• "10 Great Military Leaders" — Star Wars Insider Special Edition 2013

Notes and references