It resembled the Imperial-class Star Destroyer, to which it had been designed as a successor, roughly the same length and with a similar command tower and bridge atop the hull, but it was broader and blunter in shape, and one and a half times the tonnage of the older ships. There appeared to be several hangars on the Galactic-class, with the forward-port-flange starfighter hangar housing four and a half squadrons and being the size of a sports arena.
Although it was considered a new, large Star Destroyer, the designation "battle carrier" was chosen to avoid reminding people of the old Imperial terror symbols. Moreover, the first ship of the class was called the Dodonna, after Rebel hero Jan Dodonna.
The Galactic-class was said to be in a different size-class than the Strident-class Star Defenders of the Corellian fleet, one of the vessels it faced during the Second Galactic Civil War.
On its introduction in Legacy of the Force: Betrayal, the Galactic-class battle carrier is described as "just as long" as an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, suggesting a length of around 1,600 meters, although its widened hull makes it a significantly larger warship.
Dodonna is also indicated as being in a larger "size class" than the Strident-class Star Defender, which has caused some confusion, as some fans believe that the Strident-class vessels should be a rather larger ships than the scale indicated for the battle carrier. However, this assumption is based on a complex inference from canon, and need not be correct, whereas the size of Dodonna directly constrains the size of the Star Defender. As some fans have pointed out, the key line of dialogue stating that the Corellian fleet has "nothing in the size class of Dodonna" could be read as indicating that the Strident-class ships are actually larger than the battle carrier. This goes against the sense of the scene, but it could serve as the basis for a retcon. It is also possible that Galactic-class vessels could be the same length as Imperial-class Star Destroyers, but also substantially wider or taller. This would allow the Strident-class vessels to be longer than an Imperial-class Star Destroyer yet still smaller than the Dodonna.
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Guide to Warfare