AS-66 Blade-class Heavy Cruiser

Blade-class Heavy Cruiser

"The Separatist fleet has lost its advantage"

 was a ship designed and built by Aurora Drive Yards, primary capital ship provider for the Sorian Navy. It first fought during the Clone Wars, proving its worth in numerous engagements. Fast, tough, and armed to the teeth, Blade squadrons presented a major challenge for the Separatists, and later the Empire.

Weaponry
The Blades best feature was its heavy armament. It mounted ten heavy turbolasers in two batteries of five running the length of each side of the ship. These were supplemented by thirty quad laser cannons and seventy-five repeating laser cannons in three batteries respectively. However, the Blades most feared armament was its Super Harpoon missile launcher. This launcher fired an armored and shielded projectile twice the length of a Y-wing starfighter capable of splitting a Munificent in half. The launcher was always the first target of an enemy attack.

Production
The Blade-class heavy cruiser was designed as a replacement for the obsolete Leopard-class attack cruiser that served the Sorian Navy during the Great Galactic War. It was designed to be fast and agile, but still have heavy armament.

Usage
The first models of the Blade deployed with the Sorian 3rd Fleet during the hunt for the Malevolence. During this deployment, the Blade squadron of about 5 Blades and 2 escorting AS-15 light cruisers encountered a Separatist fleet of about 8 Munificent-class frigates and 2 Providence-class cruisers along the Hydian Way. The Separatist commander expected an easy victory, but he soon found his ships ripped apart by the Sorian cruisers. From that day forward the Blade formed the backbone of the Sorian fleet, providing an alternative to the powerful but slow and expensive Scimitar-class carriers.

Obsolescence
The Blade-class lost some of its support after the unveiling of the larger, more heavily armed Sword-class battlecruiser midway through the war, but it stilll remained part of the Navy due to its speed and agility, and the fact that it was much easier and faster to produce.