Bothan Assault Cruiser

Bothan assault cruiser The Bothan Assault Cruiser was a capital ship developed by the Bothan military and employed by the New Republic Navy during the Caamas Document Crisis.

Characteristics
The starship was 850 meters in length with a crew of 1,240, an armed compliment of 250, cargo capacity of 5,000 metric tons and two years of consumables.

Designed to fill the role of aging Victory-class Star Destroyer, the Bothan Assault Cruiser was armed with twenty-four heavy dual turbolaser cannons, twenty turbolaser cannons, ten ion cannons, twenty proton torpedo launchers with sixteen missile magazines, and four tractor beam projectors.

In addition to the array of weapon emplacements, the cruiser's two hangar carried four squadrons of starfighters. Dorsal and ventral hangars were located admidship and fitted with launch apertures that allowed for flexible deployment and rapid recovery. Cruisers also contained rear meditation cabins, equipped with transparisteel arches for viewing space.

Sublight engines gave the ship an equivalent speed of a Victory-class, while a Class 1 hyperdrive provided rapid hyperspace transit.

Defensively, the Bothan Assault Cruiser was a vast improvement to the Victory-class Star Destroyers it was intended to replace. Both armor and shields on the cruisers were 150 percent heavier than on the Victory-class, although in battle primary power was focused on weapons, making the cruisers open to heavy attacks.

History
Designed after peace was declared between the New Republic and Imperial Remnant, many questioned the motivation of the Bothans. Some declared it a wasteful program pushed by Borsk Fey'lya simply for the Bothans' benefit, while others feared it was a sign of impending Bothan aggression.

Another probable explanation was the inability of Bothawui defenses to protect the planet during the crisis surrounding the Caamas Document.

Admiral Cilas Hehl'new added further Assault Cruisers to his fleet in response to multiple terrorist attacks against the New Republic by the V-Initiative, though many have observed this as a ploy to steadily increase the government and the military's dependance on the Bothans.