The Eclipse-class dreadnought, also known as the Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer, was a class of Imperial Super Star Destroyer manufactured by Kuat Drive Yards and mainly used around six years after the Battle of Endor. Like the Sovereign-class, they were regarded as a new generation of Super Star Destroyer.
The Eclipse-class vessels were among the largest dreadnought-scale ships/Super Star Destroyers ever to be fielded within Galactic history. Although technically dwarfed in length by both the Executor-class Star Dreadnought and the Vengeance-class dreadnought by 1.5 kilometers, the Eclipse-class nonetheless exceeded even the Executor-class in terms of overall mass and volume. Its size was large enough for it to be classified as a space station.
The most deadly weapon carried by Eclipse-class ships was an axial superlaser, similar to but significantly less powerful than one of the component beams used in the Death Star’s superlaser. This superlaser was the pinnacle of Imperial destruction in their fleets.
An Eclipse‘s superlaser easily had the power to destroy other Super Star Destroyers, as the Annihilator found out when Tyber Zann seized the Eclipse‘s incredible power above Kuat.
The axial superlasers were capable of slashing through any planetary shield to crack open a planet’s crust and sear entire continental landmasses. The massive superlaser was more widely used to destroy enemy capital ships and space stations during combat. According to Admiral Conan Antonio Motti in the Imperial Handbook: A Commander’s Guide, the superlaser’s intended use was to penetrate planetary shields as well as vaporize cities with a single blast.
The class benefited from the most significant weaponry-improvements of the last few decades. This included gravity well projectors and improved ion cannons, the former of which were the same types included on the Interdictor-class Star Destroyers– Additionally, these behemoths were armed with hundreds of heavy laser and turbolaser mountings.
In addition to its firepower, the Eclipse-class’s hull armor and shields were so strong that it could ram enemy ships without hesitation.