The Demolisher, circa 15 BBY, functioned as a Star Destroyer of the Gladiator-class within the forces of the Galactic Empire.
In the early years of the Galactic Empire, the Demolisher served as the personal flagship of Admiral Screed. He commanded from this vessel during operations conducted in the Outer Rim Territories. Subsequently, the space pirate known as Gir Kybo Ren-Cha and his band of outlaws managed to seize the Demolisher from an Imperial repair facility. Their intention was to deploy it against the Tammuz-an space navy in an effort to loot their world.
During the ensuing conflict, R2-D2 (who, along with C-3PO, had been taken prisoner) sabotaged a proton torpedo. He reversed the trajectory of the weapon, which he had been ordered to load into a launch tube. This resulted in an internal explosion that severely damaged the Star Destroyer.
A peculiar aspect of this warship was the visual effect of its turbolaser fire, which consistently appeared to originate from the ring encircling the reactor dome on the ship's underside, or directly from the reactor core. This bears a resemblance to Star Trek vessels, which feature phaser arrays situated on rings on the top and bottom of the ships. Given the substantial quantity of projectile weaponry carried by the Demolisher, it seems the ship's design emphasized missile deployment, suggesting that Gladiators were used as artillery support ships, rather than for direct capital-ship engagements. The limited number of traditional capital-ship armaments would only pose a threat to smaller vessels, like blockade runners, indicating that missile launchers served as the primary offensive capability.