Interdictor Star Destroyer

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Interdictor Star Destroyers are a group of warships in the Star Wars Universe. Their main purpose is to interdict using unique and rare devices called gravity well generators. These generators created a field of gravity that distorted the spacetime continuum in the area. They did not literally draw in nearby objects, but in hyperspace, this graviton field was accentuated, disrupting hyperspace travel in the vicinity. All starships that were currently in hyperspace in the area would be drawn in. A common tactic was to pair an Interdictor Star Destroyer with an Imperial-class Star Destroyer at a point in deep space where a convoy would pass by in hyperspace. Then, the convoy would be pulled out, and the Imperial-class Star Destroyer would destroy the convoy.

There are many individual classifications:

The older Interdictor Star Destroyers have gravity well generators take up a large amount of energy, taking power away from weapon systems, making them very vulnerable for their size. They also have large spheres for their gravity well projectors, making them instantly recognizable.

• Immobilizer-418-class heavy cruiser: The original Interdictor Star Destroyer. It is 600 meters long, has four gravity well generators, twenty quad laser cannons, and two squadrons of TIE fighters. An example is the Aggregator.

• Interdictor-class Star Destroyer: This was the first variant of the Immobilizer-418-class heavy cruiser. It was built off the frame of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer. However, near the midsection, there were four bulbous protrusions (gravity well generators) that clearly differentiated it from the standard Imperial-class. They were armed with thirty turbolasers, thirty ion cannons, two Class III tractor beam projectors, and six squadrons (one wing) of TIE fighters, TIE bombers, and TIE interceptors. The first Interdictor-class Star Destroyer was the Dominator.

In the newer classifications of Interdictor Star Destroyers, the formerly cumbersome and energy-voracious gravity well projectors were modified to become physically sleeker and less obtrusive, and they took a fraction of the energy formerly needed. This meant that various classifications of Star Destroyers could be interdictors, but be externally identical to other vessels of their former classification. For example, the Galactic Alliance Interdictor Imperial-class Star Destroyer Mon Mothma was externally exactly identical to its sister vessel, a standard Imperial-class Star Destroyer, the Bail Organa.

• Interdictor Victory-class Star Destroyer: A gravity well generator-equipped Victory-class Star Destroyer. It is 800 meters long, has two squadrons of X-wings or E-wings, and is armed with ten quad turbolaser batteries, forty double turbolaser batteries, eighty enhanced ion cannons, and eight Class II tractor beam projectors. An example is the Olovin. They are very rare.

• Interdictor Imperial-class Star Destroyer: A gravity well generator-equipped Imperial-class Star Destroyer. These are becoming increasingly popular in the Galactic Alliance. They are 1,600 meters long, and are armed with standard Imperial-class Star Destroyer weaponry: sixty turbolasers, sixty ion cannons, ten Class III tractor beam projectors, and six squadrons (one wing) of TIE fighters, TIE bombers, and TIE interceptors, but also have four gravity well generators for interdiction. An example is the Mon Mothma.

• Interdictor Defender-class Star Destroyer: A gravity well generator-equipped Defender-class Star Destroyer. These powerful 1,040 meter long warships are armed with four gravity well generators, forty heavy turbolaser batteries, forty heavy turbolaser cannons, twenty enhanced ion cannons, and eight concussion missile launchers. They also have sixty starfighters, or five squadrons. An example is the Memory of Ithor.

There was also an Interdictor-class heavy cruiser that was actively used in the Sith War nearby four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. This classification was believed to be the forerunner of the Immobilizer-418-class heavy cruiser, hence they were the ancestors of all Interdictor Star Destroyers.

• Interdictor-class heavy cruiser: The Interdictor-class heavy cruiser was a warship that was nearly identical to the modern-day Immobilizer-418-class heavy cruiser. They were developed to be flagships of Old Republic fleets, and were heavily armed and armored for their time. However, when Admiral Saul Karath defected to the Sith, with the flagship of the Republic Fleet, upgraded Interdictor-class heavy cruiser, the Leviathan, the Sith obtained the plans for this classification of heavy cruiser. Then, they began mass-producing them as the backbone and core of the Sith fleet at the Ratakan factory known as the Star Forge.