Warship/Legends

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"From the earliest atomic rockets with primitive laser armaments, to Expansion Era cruisers such as the Gilagimar, to the Republic's battle vessels, to the amazing Super Star Destroyers of the Empire, ships have traded fire in the depths of space."

―Unknown^[1]

A warship was a starship designed primarily for use as a combatant in space warfare, instead of for civilian use, support or yard operations.

Generic usage

As a general rule, warships possessed heavy armor, strong shields, target acquisition and tracking equipment, and at least one offensive weapons system.

The primary armament consisted of the ship's heaviest weapons, typically heavy turbolaser cannons. These massive weapons drew their power straight from the main reactor to direct a vessel's full power against a target. Often, these systems had limited targeting ability independent of the vessel's hull, which required the vessel itself to maneuver for targeting.

Secondary armament usually consisted of smaller, directed-energy weapons which served as both offensive and defensive systems. These dual-role systems provided supporting fire during offensive operations against planets, mid-range attack capability for ship-to-ship engagements, and some defensive capability against larger targets. Secondary armament systems typically consisted of turret-mounted weapons which could be targeted independently from each other or fire-linked to bring multiple batteries to bear against a single target.

The third tier of armament was referred to as the close-in or "last-ditch" weapons. These smaller-caliber weapons were typically not utilized in offensive operations as they consisted of close-in weapons systems like flak guns, point defense lasers and ion cannons for shooting down incoming hazards or small asteroids. Smaller vessels such as starfighters rarely incorporated this third tier of weaponry in their design.

Specific typology

A few classes of combat vessel used "warship" in a more specific sense, comparable to "frigate" or "cruiser." These were typically large combat warships, including the Cal-class warships of the Galactic Republic and most notably the Yuuzhan Vong Miid ro'ik, although the latter may also have been the class of ship designated as a destroyer analog by the New Republic.

Behind the scenes

While in the real world "warship" is basically a generic term, the examples cited above means that it also has a more specific meaning within Star Wars.