The Interdictor of Kassius Konstantine was an Interdictor-class heavy cruiser under the command of Imperial Admiral Kassius Konstantine during the events of the Battle of Atollon. This starship, an Interdictor-class vessel, carried four gravity well projectors that could create an interdiction field, which is an artificial gravity well preventing other starships from making the jump to hyperspace. During the period of the Galactic Civil War, Grand Admiral Thrawn led a campaign against the rebel Phoenix Cell, and the heavy cruiser was a component of Thrawn's 7th Fleet. Back in 2 BBY, it participated as part of an Imperial vessel squadron that attacked the rebel cell above the planet Atollon, where their base was located.
During the engagement, Konstantine commanded the heavy cruiser, and together with the Interdictor Constrainer, it stopped enemy ships from escaping into hyperspace. Despite receiving direct orders from Thrawn to hold his position, Konstantine was baited away by rebel Commander Jun Sato's command ship, the Phoenix Nest, as the admiral was eager to personally secure the kill. However, Sato then steered his carrier into the Interdictor's trajectory, resulting in the destruction of both vessels. This action allowed rebel Ezra Bridger to evade the Imperial blockade and request reinforcements, which ultimately enabled the remaining rebels to escape. Historian Beaumont Kin, reflecting on the battle in his book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, considered it absurd to entrust such a critical warship to Konstantine, given the admiral's history of military failures.
The Interdictor of Kassius Konstantine was one of the Interdictor line's Interdictor-class heavy cruiser, a type of cruiser that had a length of 1,129 meters. As an Interdictor-class ship, Konstantine's Star Destroyer was armed with four gravity well projectors, which could generate an interdiction field. This field produced an artificial gravity well, which allowed the Interdictor to extract other vessels from hyperspace. Furthermore, the heavy cruiser had five sublight engines, a [hyperdrive](/article/hyperdrive], deflector shields, and laser cannons. Its dorsal hull had an open bay, with both the aft and forward walls containing a hangar that was otherwise enclosed.
The Interdictor also contained a bridge, which could be accessed through doors at the rear. The wall to the left of the doors featured an alcove that had a console covering its rear wall. The front of the bridge had a row of triangular viewports with buttons below. Behind this was a walkway leading to the door, to the right side of which was a sunken work station containing more controls.
During the Galactic Civil War fought between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, this Interdictor-class heavy cruiser served the Imperial Navy. As Grand Admiral Thrawn conducted a campaign against the rebel Phoenix Cell, the cruiser was part of Thrawn's 7th Fleet. In 2 BBY, Thrawn discovered the location of the cell's base: the planet Atollon in the Lothal sector. Consequently, Thrawn instructed Admiral Kassius Konstantine to deploy an Imperial vessel squadron to the planet to initiate the Battle of Atollon. Konstantine, who previously commanded the Lothal sector fleet from his flagship, the Relentless, had been integrated into the 7th Fleet when Thrawn initially targeted the Phoenix Cell. The demoted admiral accompanied the squadron to Atollon aboard his Interdictor, along with five Imperial-class Star Destroyers, including the Dark Omen as the lead destroyer; another Interdictor-class cruiser, the Constrainer; and a pair of Arquitens-class command cruisers.
The squadron emerged from hyperspace within the Atollon system, arranged in a line with Konstantine's Interdictor on the right. Upon their arrival, Imperial forces jammed the rebels' long-range communications. General Jan Dodonna, whose forces were supporting the Phoenix Cell, ordered all rebel ships to retreat. An EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate then jumped into hyperspace, but the gravity field generated by the two Interdictors pulled the frigate back out. Realizing the Empire was using Interdictor-class vessels, rebel Commander Jun Sato lamented that there would be no escape for the rebel fleet. Konstantine, on the bridge of his Interdictor, was informed by a weapons technician that the ship's gravity wells were active. The admiral then instructed the technician to open fire with all batteries. As the Interdictor opened fire on the Nebulon-B, Grand Admiral Thrawn arrived in his flagship, the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Chimaera.
Subsequently, the rebels engaged the Imperial blockade, employing Danaan tactics. Thrawn then contacted Konstantine via hologram, instructing him to keep his Interdictor back until ordered otherwise. Konstantine inquired why he was not allowed to attack immediately with overwhelming force. The Grand Admiral countered that he was familiar with this rebel group, having studied them, and knew they would defy convention and attempt something unexpected. He added that the Imperials would only be prepared for this if Konstantine did exactly as he was ordered. As the rebels charged the blockade, they were overrun, as Thrawn had ordered his capital ships to hold their positions and wait for the rebels to come to them.
After witnessing several rebel vessels be destroyed, Commander Sato ordered rebel Lieutenant Commander Ezra Bridger to go to heading 221 before evacuating the Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier, Phoenix Nest, leaving only himself and two rebel pilots onboard. As the carrier approached the Imperial blockade, Konstantine noticed it was a command ship and ordered a fellow Imperial officer to move to intercept it. Although the officer protested, citing Thrawn's orders for the Interdictor to maintain its position, Konstantine repeated his order, not wanting to be denied the glory of destroying the flagship.
Konstantine's Interdictor then broke from the blockade, banking port so it was perpendicular to the Imperial line. Noticing this, Thrawn contacted Konstantine and ordered him to return to his assigned coordinates immediately. Konstantine retorted that he had had enough of the Grand Admiral's games. As the Interdictor closed on the rebel carrier's port side, the heavy cruiser fired several blaster shots at the enemy vessel. The Interdictor itself received several blasts, which were absorbed by its deflector shields. On the bridge, Konstantine ordered the other officer to prepare the gravity wells before smiling to himself.
After waiting for the heavy cruiser to get closer, Sato executed a sharp portside turn into the path of Imperial craft. The other officer informed Konstantine that the carrier had changed course, with the admiral—realizing his mistake—crying out and futilely ordering the officer to take evasive action. The two ships then collided head-on, with the Interdictor being sawn in half medially and the resulting explosion rocking the Chimaera's bridge. Both ships were destroyed in the collision, and both Konstantine and Sato were killed. Capitalizing on this opportunity, Bridger successfully escaped to hyperspace in his Gauntlet starfighter, Nightbrother. Ultimately, the loss of the Interdictor severely disrupted Thrawn's blockade and allowed Bridger to recruit Mandalorian warriors, who destroyed the Constrainer and allowed the rebels to escape, although much of their forces had been destroyed.
Historian Beaumont Kin, writing in his 35 ABY book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, observed that Thrawn had recognized that, to ensure military success, the Empire needed to force the rebels to remain on the battlefield. Thus, the Grand Admiral's use of Interdictor cruisers at the Battle of Atollon to trap the rebel fleet demonstrated Thrawn's ability to preempt his enemies' strategies and counter them in advance. However, Kin also noted that entrusting Konstantine with an Interdictor at Atollon was one of Thrawn's errors of judgment during the battle. Due to Konstantine's prior tactical failures and that his promotions had been due to political connections, Kin believed that it was ludicrous to have placed such a crucial vessel in the admiral's command.
During the Battle of Atollon, the Interdictor-class heavy cruiser was under the command of Kassius Konstantine. Konstantine, an officer from Coruscant, was known to be stern, unforgiving, and lacking in imagination. Despite experiencing a string of battlefield failures, Konstantine was a competent leader, although he was more of a politician than a warrior. The admiral favored meetings over direct action and owed most of his promotions to his political connections. Konstantine, who adhered strictly to the Imperial Navy Handbook, tended to rely heavily on his subordinates for day-to-day operations, holding them in low regard.
Konstantine possessed a strong desire for personal glory, which proved to be a fatal flaw at the Battle of Atollon. While the rest of Thrawn's forces maintained discipline, Konstantine could not resist the temptation to attack the Phoenix Nest. By breaking formation, Konstantine disobeyed Thrawn's orders and walked into Commander Sato's trap, resulting in his death and the destruction of his vessel. In addition to Konstantine, the Interdictor's bridge was staffed by at least one Imperial weapons technician, who managed the vessel's gravity well generators. Another Imperial officer was also present on the bridge during the Battle of Atollon, who unsuccessfully attempted to remind Konstantine of Thrawn's orders before ultimately following the admiral's contrary instructions.
The Interdictor of Kassius Konstantine made its debut in "Zero Hour," which served as the finale of the third season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels. The episode was released in two parts on March 25, 2017, functioning as the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes of the season.
The vessel is absent from several wide shots of Thrawn's blockade in "Zero Hour," as seen here and here. In the episode's corresponding installment of the official Star Wars YouTube channel's series Rebels Recon, Keith Kellogg, the animation supervisor for Rebels, explained that technical limitations prevented the rendering of all ships simultaneously.
Before the broadcast of "Zero Hour," the Interdictor of Kassius Konstantine was initially depicted in a preview for the episode titled "Showdown with Thrawn," which was released on the Star Wars YouTube channel on March 21, 2017. While the cruiser remained unnamed in the episode, it was identified as Konstantine's cruiser in the StarWars.com episode guide for "Zero Hour."
The ship was subsequently named Konstantine's Star Destroyer in the reference book Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded, which was released on October 3, 2017. In 2021, the reference book Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy identified the cruiser as the Interdictor of Kassius Konstantine.