The Imperial-class Star Destroyer (ISD) known generally as the Imperial Star Destroyer or as an Impstar, was a product line of massive dagger-shaped capital ships of the Imperial Navy of the Galactic Empire and later the naval branch of the First Order. The successor vessel to the Venator-class and Imperator-class Star Destroyers, it consisted of three variants, the Imperial I-class, the Imperial II-class, and the Interdictor-class.
Imperial-class Star Destroyer schematics
The Imperial-Star Destroyer replaced the smaller Venator-class used by the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars and was generally the Galactic Empire's star cruiser of choice. It was built upon the design of the Imperator-class Star Destroyer introduced near the end of the Clone Wars, which appeared in small numbers and witnessed limited service before the end of the conflict.
At the height of its power, the Empire operated over 25,000 Star Destroyers. The distinctive profile of the Imperial-class instilled fear into the soldiers of rebellious factions, and the name of a Star Destroyer could be preceded by the ship prefix ISD (standing for Imperial Star Destroyer). In a report to an admiral, Senior Commander Alecia Beck referred to the ISD Vehement.
Roughly thirty years after the Battle of Endor, the new Resurgent-class Star Destroyers were constructed to replace the aging Imperial-class by the Empire's successor state, the First Order, and would borrow design philosophies from the highly respected and coveted ship.
A Star Destroyer bridge
According to Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams, his original vision, which was storyboarded, involved beginning the film with vessels from the New Republic towing an Imperial-class Star Destroyer into the gravitational pull of Jakku, with the various shots being deliberately modeled after the famous opening sequence for A New Hope. After crashing, the wreckage was going to be scavenged by Rey. Though the sequence was cut and ultimately replaced with the attack on Tuanul, animator Tim Grey recreated the original opening sequence in a YouTube video which was uploaded on February 4, 2018.
While working on the Imperial-class Star Destroyers of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, model maker John Knoll worked from Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections to make sure that what the audience saw inside the ship matched what was known about Star Destroyers.
- The Art of Star Wars: Visions