Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to this smaller cruisers had been of the protected cruiser model, possessing armored decks only.

History

The first small steam powered cruisers were built for the British Royal Navy with HMS Mercury launched in 1878. Such second and third class protected cruisers evolved, gradually becoming faster, better armed and better protected. Germany took a lead in small cruiser design in the 1890s, building a class of fast cruisers—the Gazelle class—copied by other nations. Such vessels were powered by coal-fired boilers and reciprocating steam engines and relied in part on the arrangement of coal bunkers for their protection. The adoption of oil-fired water-tube boilers and steam turbine engines meant that older small cruisers rapidly became obsolete. Furthermore, new construction could not rely on the protection of coal bunkers and would therefore have to adopt some form of side armoring. The British Bristol group of Town-class cruisers (1909) were a departure from previous designs; with turbine propulsion, mixed coal and oil firing and a 2 inch protective armoured belt as well as deck. Thus, by definition, they were armoured cruisers, despite displacing only 4,800 tons; the light armored cruiser had arrived. The first true modern light cruisers were the Arethusa class (1911) which had all oil-firing and used lightweight destroyer-type machinery to make 29 knots (54 km/h).

List of Star Wars spacecraft

The following is a list of fictional starships, cruisers, battleships, and other spacecraft in the Star Wars video games and movies.

Corellian Corvette

Death Star

The Death Star is a planet-destroying mobile space station that appears throughout the Star Wars franchise.

Ebon Hawk

The Ebon Hawk is the players character's ship in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. It is designed to be reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon.

Geonosian solar sailer

Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) reaches Coruscant aboard a Geonosian solar sailer in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. The ship's solar sail was originally part of the concept for the Naboo royal starship in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The insectoid ship resembles both a beetle and a butterfly. Its forward cockpit bubble was added when it was determined there was a need for a shot of Dooku sitting next to his pilot. It is somewhat similar to the private Antonov An-2 plane in real life.