Vibre-class assault cruiser
The Vibre-class assault cruiser was a starship specifically designed for commerce raiding by the Galactic Empire, used both by elements of the Imperial military and by pro-Imperial privateer crews.
History
After the defeat of Palpatine, the remnants of the Empire shifted tactics; lacking their former resources, they approved the use of smaller ships designed specifically to raid vulnerable New Republic cargo convoys.[3] The earliest design to embody this innovative "assault cruiser" concept was the Vibre-class space transport,[3] which entered service around 11 ABY.[1] The type was created by Silviut Corporation, previously known for their outsourced work for Sienar Fleet Systems, but now shifting to producing their own designs.[5] Intended for use by independent privateer crews operating outside the Imperial Navy,[2] the type was also used by the regular Imperial military as a commerce raider.[5][2]
Designed primarily to capture ships and valuable cargos rather than simply destroy them,[1][2][3] the Vibre-class were deployed principally against lightly-guarded convoys of freighters,[1][2][3] but they were capable of knocking out escort vessels for long enough to complete their attack on the transports,[1][3] and were also used to raid vessels carrying New Republic officials, and in direct attacks against smaller warships.[1] The type became an important and versatile weapon for the remnants of the Empire.[2]
Characteristics
Sleek and scarab-shaped,[1][3] the Vibre measured 100 meters in length,[1][2][3] the minimum size to be officially designated a a capital ship by the Empire.[6] The design featured a bridge in the bows, large boarding hatches on either side, and four thrusters at the stern - two main engines mounted vertically in the centre, two slightly smaller secondary units on either side.[1]
The Vibre was a very small vessel, and only lightly armed, but compensated for these weaknesses with an innovative design emphasising sophisticated sensor technology.[3] Using the sensitive antenna that ringed the ship's median,[1] Vibre crews could locate and identify targets at long range,[7] while it was able to sneak close to opponents using systems designed to reduce their ability to detect it,[2][3] including a sensor mask,[3] and a matte-black stealth coating on the hull.[1]
Conventional firepower consisted of four laser cannon mounted in turrets with extensive firing arcs, two at the very front of the ship and one on each side of the hull right at the stern,[1] but the Vibre also carried four heavy ion cannons, two forward-firing in the bows and one on either broadside,[1] and relied on these to knock out ships too large for its modest destructive firepower to destroy outright.[2][3] With its target disabled, the Vibre would use its powerful tractor beams to pull itself together with the opposing ship,[1] [3] typically using its laser weaponry to blast a hole in a target's hull for boarding,[1][3] and exposing its interior to hard vacuum in the process,[3] before debarking its compliment of spacetroopers.[1] [3] Once the target ship was captured, an Imperial crew would take control and return it to territory under their control.[3]
A version of the ship exchanged the laser cannon for four light turbolasers united in a single turret, providing a focused destructive punch that could be aimed in any direction around the ship.[3]
The type also carried very powerful deflectors, somewhat compensating for the lightly-built hull.[7]
Behind the scenes
The emphasis on the deployment of spacetroopers suggests that the assault cruiser was conceived as a hybrid of the Imperial assault shuttle and a small capital ship (the very strong shields and sensors assigned by the stat block also correspond directly to those of the assault shuttle).
The statement that the ship was originally designed specifically for Imperial privateers is mentioned only in Pirates & Privateers and was probably a retcon to adapt the ship for the use in the setting of that scenario - the "spacetroopers" carried by such privateer vessels are presumably not Imperial Spacetroopers, and the source does not comment on whether or not they use standard spacetrooper armor.
References to the type's use by regular Imperial units are less explicit, restricted to passing remarks about its service in Imperial "fleets" or "forces", but are inferred here as a natural inference based on the lack of any indication to the contrary in the original description of the ship in the Jedi Academy Sourcebook.
There is a discrepancy relating to the type's armament between the Jedi Academy Sourcebook and the later Starships of the Galaxy, with the first source listing four turret-mounted laser cannons and showing them in the associated schematic as individually mounted weapons at separate points on the hull, whereas the other changes these to four light turbolasers and states that the ship carries its "heaviest weaponry in a turret", implying that all four turbolasers are group in one mounting with all-around firepower (the ion cannons are mentioned separately in the text, and are consistently indicated as non-turret-mounted). Although it is unclear whether this was intended as a deliberate revision of the armament, this article reflects the difference in the text.
The Jedi Academy Sourcebook also refers in passing to the ship mounting "assault blasters", but it is unclear whether this is simply a description of the laser cannon, or a reference to additional light weaponry, excluded from the listed armament due to limited firepower.
There is also a difference in the way the type's tractor beams are described. The Jedi Academy Sourcebook states that the assault cruiser "pulls itself" onto its (implicitly much larger) target ships, while Starships of the Galaxy says in contrast that they "draw in" the deactivated ship towards the cruiser.
Sources
- The Jedi Academy Sourcebook
- Pirates & Privateers
- Starships of the Galaxy
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 30 (TRA4, Tractor Beams)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 The Jedi Academy Sourcebook, pp. 130-132.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 Pirates & Privateers, p. 87.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 3.25 3.26 3.27 Starships of the Galaxy, pp. 87-88
- ↑ This is implied by the stat block "space speed" of 7 in the Jedi Academy Sourcebook and Pirates and Privateers.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Jedi Academy Sourcebook, p. 129.
- ↑ The Imperial Sourcebook, pp. 49, 51.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The performance of these systems is implied only by a comparison of the numbers in the stat block with those for standard Imperial designs in The Imperial Sourcebook, though similarly powerful systems are fitted on other small types such as the Gamma-class shuttle.
