 |  |
The Acclamator-class transgalactic military assault ship, also known as Acclamator-class Republic assault ship, Acclamator-class Planetary Assault Ship, Acclamator-class battleship, or Acclamator-class cruiser, was a type of cruiser-class proto-Star Destroyer utilized by the Galactic Republic for ferrying clone troopers across the galaxy. They were first deployed at the First Battle of Geonosis after transporting the clone army from Kamino, and subsequently carried the Grand Army of the Republic from Coruscant to the various arenas of the Clone Wars, a conflict in which they would see extensive use.[2]
Characteristics[]
Design and systems[]
An Acclamator II-class transport entering a planet's atmosphere.
The Acclamator-class assault ship was developed by Rothana Heavy Engineering, a subsidiary of Kuat Drive Yards. The predecessor to later Star Destroyer designs like the Venator-class, the Acclamator-class was part of the secret construction program initiated by Darth Sidious (under false orders of the Jedi High Council) to create a Grand Army of the Republic.[9][10] It had a broad, arrowhead shaped hull, with a single command and observation deck toward the aft of the ship, with most of the interior of the ship devoted to cargo space and passenger berthing. During the first battle of geonosis, Acclamators were unpainted in a gray color. Some time after this, most Acclamators featured a red strip through the center, as well as stripes along it sides. The Acclamator-class cost 111,000,000 credits and was equipped with long-range sensors.[7] Although planetary defense forces had previously built much larger ships to patrol local space lanes, the Acclamator-class was notable for representing the return of the first truly transgalactic warships to the galaxy.[1]
The Acclamator-class was propelled by a series of electromagnetic thrust-vectoring sublight engines[1] and extraordinarily fast[2] Class .6[7] twin hyperdrive engines,[9] that utilized a navigation computer. It additionally possessed a backup hyperdrive of Class 10[7] The hyperdrives were housed within the tail of the ship, along with neutrino radiators for the power system. The main reactor was hidden deep within the ship's hull terraces and fed by condensed annihilation reactant many orders more dense than the ship itself. Tensorial integrity and inertial compensator field conduits ran throughout the length of the ship. Towards the stern of the ship was the conning tower, which housed the main sensor and communications assembly at the fore, behind which was the bridge and battle operations room.[1]
Passengers and complement[]
The Acclamator-class was crewed with 700 officers and enlisted crew. While it carried no starfighters, it carried 320 speeder bikes, 66 Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry, 14 Low Altitude Assault Transport carriers, 48 AT-TEs, and 36 SPHA walkers. The Acclamator-class could carry a full legion of clone troopers— 9,000 fighting troops and 6,000 HQ and support troops. The Acclamator additionally carried 6 months of consumables and 10,000 tons at encumbrance.[7] Unlike many craft of its size, the Acclamator-class was capable of both ground and water landings, where it could unload its complement of clone troopers and vehicles[9][10] in a matter of mere hours.[7] In order to support the ship's weight, a combination of antigravity repulsorlifts and landing pads are utilized. Troops and vehicles could exit from the main hanger via ramps extending from the sides or a ventral hanger opening.[1][11] Barracks for most troops were near the dorsal terrace of the ship. LAAT gunships were carried on a circulating rail in the main hanger, with platforms allowing for maintenance and loading of troops, while other combat vehicles were stored in dedicated service bays.[1]
Defense[]
In order to defend itself from attack, the Acclamator-class was cladded in super-dispersive neutronium-impregnated armor, making it quite impervious against Separatist fusion rockets. It was also protected by strong deflector shielding, with regional shield generator nodes located at different points on the ship.[1] However, as displayed during the Battle of Ryloth, Separatist J-1 proton cannons could easily penetrate the shields of an Acclamator-class assault ship.[12]
Armament[]
The Acclamator-class possessed three starboard, three port and six forward quad light turbolaser batteries, twelve port and twelve starboard heavy laser cannons, four proton torpedo launchers, and tractor beams.[7] The ship was ringed by a series of point-defense laser cannons.[1] These armaments allowed it to conduct a range of orbital bombardments in support of ground forces. These could vary from precise surgical strikes to massively devastating Base Delta Zero bombardments.[1]
Role[]
During the Clone Wars, the Acclamator-class's primary role was as a troop transport, although it also had a secondary function as a warship.[9][10] Designed to monitor ground movements and coordinate attacks, each clone trooper was equipped with a tracking device in their helmet that allowed controllers on Acclamator-class ships to better establish a picture of the combat zone. Their versatility and role as a troop transport proved essential during the Clone Wars.[2]
History[]
Clone Wars[]
Action at Geonosis[]
Acclamator-class assault ships landing on Geonosis.
During the First Battle of Geonosis in 22 BBY,[13] which marked the end of the Separatist Crisis and the beginning of the Clone Wars, the Acclamator-class assault ship saw extensive use in the battle.[14] There, twelve Acclamators[15] of the Rothana assault ship fleet,[16] including the Implacable, were sent alongside Jedi Grand Master Yoda to Geonosis to reinforce the Jedi, where they transported a total of 192,000 clone troopers, 1,600 Low Altitude Assault Transport/i gunships, 400 Low Altitude Assault Transport carriers, 100 Self-Propelled Heavy Artillery Turbolasers, and 2,160 All Terrain Tactical Enforcers,[15] eventually resulting in a victory for the Republic.[14]
Deployment to Christophsis and Teth[]
An Acclamator makes its descent on Teth.
Following the Battle of Geonosis, the Confederacy of Independent Systems blockaded the crystalline planet Christophsis as part of their attempts to take possession of the galaxy's major hyperspace routes.[11] However, after Republic forces led by Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker broke through the blockade,[17] they were left trapped, dwindling, and outnumbered on the planet's surface, where they fought the army of Kerkoiden General Whorm Loathsom. Amid the battle, the Jedi contacted the Jedi Temple on Coruscant requesting assistance, resulting in the fleet of Admiral Wurtz under Yoda and Admiral Wullf Yularen, which consisted of four Acclamator-class assault ships and three Venator-class Star Destroyers, being sent.[11]
After their victory at Christophsis, Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano were dispatched to the planet Teth aboard an Acclamator-class assault ship in order to rescue the Huttlet Rotta, the son of crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure.[11]
Landing on Ryloth[]
- "Commander, the invasion fleet is coming out of hyperspace."
- ―Wullf Yularen to Ahsoka Tano, referring to the Republic invasion fleet
While landing on Ryloth, one of the Acclamators is hit by a J-1 proton cannon.
Later, during the Battle of Ryloth, after Skywalker and his fleet of three Venators managed to break through the Separatist blockade orbiting the planet, the Republic dispatched an invasion fleet of three Acclamators under Generals Mace Windu and Kenobi, which subsequently prepared to make their descent on the planet. However, while the three assault ships made their landing, the Separatists, using J-1 proton cannons, proceeded to fire on the invasion fleet, where they managed to break through the deflector shield of one of the assault ships, destroying one of its engines and and sending the damaged vessel plunging to the surface, which forced the remaining two to break off their descent, dispatching several LAAT/i gunships to the surface to destroy the cannons.[12]
Kenobi, leading the 212th Attack Battalion's Ghost Company, soon managed to destroy the proton cannons after navigating through the Twi'lek settlement of Nabat, allowing the remaining ships to land on the surface, where the Republic would proceed to free Ryloth from the Confederacy's occupation.[12]
Return to Geonosis[]
The Republic fleet arrives in the Geonosis system.
Later in the second year of the war,[13] the Republic, having learned that the Confederacy, with help from the Trade Federation and the InterGalactic Banking Clan, were establishing a new droid factory on Geonosis, returned to the desert world with a massive fleet of ten Acclamators and six Venators under the command of Generals Kenobi, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Luminara Unduli, Skywalker, and Jedi Commanders Tano and Barriss Offee, in hopes of destroying the factory and retaking the planet from the Confederacy.[19]
Exiting hyperspace, the Acclamators made their descent on the planet's surface, where the Jedi Generals proceeded to board their gunships while a fleet of carriers delivered All Terrain Tactical Enforcers down to the surface,[19] which resulted in the costly destruction of the factory itself and the[20] capture of Geonosian Archduke Poggle the Lesser by the end of the battle.[21]
Engagement on Saleucami[]
Three Venators escort an Acclamator to Saleucami.
Sometime later, after Separatist forces under the command of Kaleesh Separatist General Grievous captured Jedi Master Eeth Koth aboard his Star Destroyer, the Republic proceeded to dispatch Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, along with his fleet, to the planet Saleucami, where Grievous and his fleet awaited their arrival, in hopes of rescuing General Koth from the Separatists. However, despite their successes in rescuing Koth from the enemy flagship, Grievous managed to escape his doomed vessel to the planet's surface,[22] where an Acclamator-class assault ship was sent to deploy Republic ground forces to locate and defeat the Kaleesh general. Once more, despite their efforts, Grievous managed to escape Saleucami and the Republic aboard a Sheathipede-class transport shuttle.[23]
Battles of Kamino and Sullust[]
Clone troopers exit from an Acclamator before the Battle of Kamino.
Sometime later, the Republic discovered that the Kaleesh Separatist General Grievous and the Dark Acolyte Asajj Ventress were planning to launch a second attack on the cloning planet of Kamino[24] after their first attempts failed earlier in the war,[25] in hopes of destroying the cloning facilities to tip the scales of the war in favor of the Confederacy. In response, the 501st Legion, under Generals Skywalker and Kenobi left for Kamino, were deployed to the planet aboard an Acclamator to reinforce Tipoca City from the attack. The Acclamator later participated in the battle with the Republic's blockade, where it engaged Grievous's fleet above the planet.[24]
Later in the war, an Acclamator-class assault ship fought alongside the fleet of Anakin Skywalker in the Battle of Sullust against the Separatist fleet of Ventress, which resulted in the destruction of Skywalker's flagship, the Venator-class Star Destroyer Resolute.[26]
Battle of Umbara[]
An Acclamator proceeds to land on Umbara.
After the government of the planet Umbara seceded from the Republic[27] in 20 BBY,[28] following the death of Senator Mee Deechi,[29] who represented the planet in the Galactic Senate, and aligned themselves with the Confederacy, which resulted in the establishment of a Separatist blockade. However, the blockade was later engaged by a fleet of three Venators and three Acclamators, which allowed one of the Acclamators to reach the planet's surface after punching a hole through the blockade, where it deployed ground forces to engage the native Umbaran combatants.[27]
Action on Kiros and Naboo[]
An Acclamator proceeds to land on Kiros.
Later on the planet Kiros, Separatist forces under Zygerrian Darts D'Nar and Count Dooku arrived on the planet, where they proceeded to capture and transport all Togruta colonists to the planet Kadavo. However, not long after the Separatist invasion, Republic forces under Generals Kenobi and Skywalker arrived on the planet, where they utilized an Acclamator-class assault ship to deploy ground forces against the Separatist Droid Army.[30]
Sometime later on Naboo, Republic forces, with the intent of ensuring Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine's protection against a plot devised by Separatist Head of State Count Dooku to capture the Chancellor, dispatched Generals Windu and Skywalker, and his Padawan, alongside an Acclamator-class assault ship to Naboo, which was ferrying several All Terrain Tactical Enforcers and squads of clone troopers.[31]
Relief mission to Aleen[]
After a series of devastating groundquakes rocked the planet Aleen, the Republic received a distress signal from the native Aleena who were requesting aid. As a result, Clone Commander Wolffe and the clones of 104th Battalion were sent with a lone Acclamator-class assault ship and three Pelta-class frigates to deliver relief supplies and install new equipment in their communications center.[32]
Battle of Ringo Vinda[]
Later in the final year of the war,[33] Republic forces under the command of Generals Skywalker, Tiplar and Tiplee, engaged Separatist forces led by Harch Admiral Trench at the planet Ringo Vinda. There, the Republic utilized a blockade from the Open Circle Fleet consisted of twenty Venator-class Star Destroyers, an Arquitens-class light cruiser, three Consular-class cruisers and a single Acclamator-class assault ship against Trench's fleet, while the Jedi and their clone forces engaged the Separatist Droid Army on the Ringo Vinda space station.[34]
Action in the Ruusan system[]
Sometime during the war, Republic and Separatist forces fought in the Ruusan system. The Republic's forces, which consisted of at least one Venator, one Acclamator, and at least two Low Altitude Assault Transports, fought against at least one Lucrehulk-class Battleship.[35] Around 3 ABY during the Imperial Era,[36] the Nautolan bounty hunter Nakano Lash hid amongst the wreckage of the battle.[35]
Age of the Empire[]
By the time of the Imperial Era, the Acclamator-class assault ship was considered to be an old model.[8] The wreckage of an Acclamator was left in the Wastelands of Kullgroon.[37] Despite the ship model's age, at least one, the Lodestar, was still active during the Galactic Civil War, serving as the flagship of New Republic General Hera Syndulla's Barma Battle Group.[8]
Behind the scenes[]
Concept art of the Acclamator-class assault ship.
The Acclamator-class transgalactic military assault ship first appeared in the 2002 episodic film, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones.[14] Initially referred to as the "Jedi troop transport," the triangular shape of the starship was intended to be a nod to the Imperial Star Destroyers of the original trilogy.[38] They were later identified in the 2015 canon reference book, Star Wars: Ships of the Galaxy, authored by Benjamin Harper.[2]
