The ORIGINAL Star Destroyer: Colin Cantwell's Design Reborn 

I love how the original star destroyer is basically a normal battleship superstructure glued on a giant dorito

I actually met Colin Cantwell. He came to my local game shop and talk about his experiences designing these ship. It was really cool.

What an am amazing video. We're very lucky to have your talent in the community.

The colors on the original model makes me think it could've begun serving in the Republic, maybe towards the end of the Clone War, alongside Venators and Victory cruisers. Regardless, very impressive! Nice work.

With those big Antenna arrays the Incursor-Class Cruiser looks like it could be used as a communications or electronic warfare cruiser

Given the over-sized antennae, I could see the "Incursor" Class function more like a modern-day AWAC, acting as a long-range sensor and communication platform to assist in Imperial fleet movements as well as an early warning system.

That design speaks "Support Cruiser" to me. As in: second-line warship. In that vein the large turrets on either side of the superstructure would be housing capital-grade weapons to deliver additional hitting power against bigger vessels, whereas the smaller turrets have a point-defense-vibe to me - basically a cruiser to screen proper ISDs from small craft during fleet engagements, while also adding a bit of capital-grade punch to the fight. On their own this would make them fairly versatile and a tough opponent to take on for any ragtag gang of pirates of system-bound insurgents. Add to this a wing of small craft (TIE-fighters or interceptors) and you end up with a rather terrifying opponent in its weight class. Those are my thoughts on the design. Thank you for sharing.

I'm curious if you've ever decided to tackle Uglies? You've shown a lot of creativity with these refurbishments, so I'd imagine you'd be able to come up with some inventive/engaging scrapyard kitbash oddities. =)

For head canon purposes, one could say these ships were sometimes mistaken for a destroyer and vice versa. This could explain why Han Solo called the destroyers that came after the Millenium Falcon in Episode 4 cruisers as from a distance it's difficult to tell them apart.

Well, shouldnt be much more then a week before the comics show this in a issue in place of a star destroyer.

I used to be a professional model builder. Spacecraft were my specialty. I'll have to try & build this one for pure relaxation 🌌🚀👽

RIP Colin, thanks for giving us all these unique designs

"Maintaining a tradition star destroy was unnecessary or otherwise *COSTLY* " *Palpatine Laughing*

This Cruiser seems to fit right into a replacement for the Aclamator class ships of the Republic.

almost looks like the bridge design (for the Star Destroyer)was inspired by WWII era Japanese naval vessels.

Random idea - The incursor is much more fuel-efficient than the standard star destroyer. Being a mere one sixth of the weight of it's larger sibling, the Incursor utilises an order of magnitude less fuel. This makes it an ideal choice in situations where supply lines are wearing thin, or in regions where resources are scarce and unlikely to be able to support a larger and more powerful vessel for a prolonged period. It is also ideal for the cost-effective deployment of surgical strike teams and squadrons, where sending a much larger vessel would be determined to be overkill, but the flexibility of a star destroyer (or similar class,) would be advantageous. During the galactic civil war and other engagements, Incursors took over anti-piracy, policing and patrol duties from their heavier sibling - freeing up valuable (and much needed) ships of the line to be deployed in other vital theatres. In short, I envision this vessel to be more of a lone wolf operator, rather than a ship of the line/fleet. It's designed to operate as a portable base of force projection in regions where larger vessels would struggle for logistic, supply or cost reasons.

I really love this design! Good work as always! To expand on the "lore" of the 'Incursor Class Cruiser' - I really like the idea of emphasising its long-range sensor and communications systems (both being far greater than other ships of similar size), and have it acting as a sort of 'deep space recon command ship' - I've had an idea in mind to re-create the 'deep space task force' seen in the original TIE FIGHTER computer game. This "Imperial Deep Space Expeditionary Force" (IDSEF) would escort colonisation efforts, patrol uninhabited and/or 'transit systems', track down and eliminate pirate threats, with 'occupation duties' being a relatively rare task for them. To aid in these duties, the various taskforces of the IDSEF would have a high proportion of hyperspace capable fighters. In the early days of the empire, this would have been 'Imperialised' ARC-170s and V-wings, but over time those would be replaced even in this role, mostly with 'XG-1 Starwing' Assault Gunboats, and (another nod to you here EC), various hyperspace capable TIE variants, like the 'TIE Vector', and later the 'TIE Avenger' (TIE Advanced) and, though it never actually happened, theoretically, the 'TIE Defender' could have seen deployment with such groups. The 'capital' ships of the IDSEF would have been much more limited in size than the 'standard/battle fleet', with a distinct focus on range and speed over firepower, especially Corvette and Frigate sized vessels such as the 'CR-91a Imperial Corvette', and the Nebulon B1 and B2 frigates. However, each taskforce still had at least one 'heavy cruiser' sized command ship, which while also emphasising speed and range over firepower, also had a heavy focus long-range communications and sensor systems... Originally designed during the later stages of the Clone-Wars alongside her 'battle fleet' sister-class (The 'Victory Class SD'), the "Incursor Class" cruiser, which was originally intended as a more basic 'heavy patrol cruiser', was taken on by the fledgling IDSEF, and re-designed to better suit their needs, with reduced armaments that focused on lighter weapons, enhanced command and communications facilities, and an enhanced Class-1 hyperdrive along with more powerful sublight engines. The ships hangar facilities were also enlarged for more deck-space for 'support craft' such as shuttles and Stormtrooper Transports, although this also meant that the 'standard complement' of 12 TIE-model fighters could be expanded with 3 'long-range heavy fighters' (Initially ARC-170s, later replaced with XG-1 Starwings), and with enough space to carry a full further 12 TIES in 'emergencies'. These 'TIE family' fighters varied over time, but included all the 'standard' variants (fighter, Interceptor, Bomber), but also more specialised models such as the Atmospheric 'TIE Vector', and the multi-role 'TIE Garrison'. ~JD

This guy really made the Star Wars equivalent of a Armored cruiser

Personally I like the design in the 300 meter range, but I like ships closer to real world vessels given the insane dimensions and massively underutilized space in most sci-fi designs. Here though, I'm thinking that that the vessel was built to fill a Radar Picket role. Using the powerful communication and sensors to scan farther than any other ship in the fleet to track ship and possibly even fighter craft movement through hyperspace. Could have also been built with the Scout Cruiser role in mind, a vessel designed to patrol and take on enemy ships below her own weight class. Powerful sensors would be of great use there and what appear to be oversized tractor emitters on the ventral hull could be there to capture ships for inspection. This could even be a late clone wars or early empire design that was commissioned for raiding/anti-raiding work (either way, love to see the design in Republic Red) Oooh, you could also have subtypes that drop the fighter bay in exchange for an extra reactor and/or missile/torpedo tubes. to help the vessel take on enemy cruisers and capital ships,

Absolute genius work here. Well done.

I really love the image of the Incursor in front of the Devastator. It's reminiscent of many episodes of Star Trek TNG where the Enterprise-D would be flanked by a smaller starship, usually an Excelsior. The pairing of an iconic ship with a smaller cousin is really meaningful for me, for that reason.

This is something I would love to see to be made canon. It’s genuinely surprising that lucasfilm and Disney hasn’t hired you

I feel like you and Fractal Sponge would work exceptionally well together

Colin Cantwell just passed away two days ago.

Looks amazing. like as if it was reborn For the next video can you make a Star Wars version of the a-10 wart hog

It looks like a Corvette killer

Looks like an Electronic Warfare Gun Boat and a very early version of a Victory Class which was a gun boat. Are we able to get a comparison with how this Cantwell Class Star Destroyer Design paralleled say with the Victory then the Imperators?

The Imperial Star Destroyer was always my favorite Star Wars ship. RIP Colin Cantwell.

This thing to me looks like the ship that could have been originally designed to replace the Acclamator-class assault ship in the Imperial Navy.

I frigging LOVE this ship! If you're interested, I can think of a few more roles for the ship: Escort: The thought if the full-blown Imperial-class Star Destroyers being capital ships, similar to carriers and battleships, kinda leads into this. Whereas an ISD would serve the role of, say, an Essex-class fleet carrier, the Raider-class corvettes would act akin to the Fletcher-class or Allen M. Sumner-class destroyers, the Incursors would be more like a Cleveland-class light cruiser, a bigger, more powerful ship in the second ring of an ISD's anti-starfighter screen. Thusly, I'd imagine that the four dual turrets on the upper levels of the superstructure, as well as the three single guns on the lower levels, are dual-purpose batteries, while the larger turrets serve as the main battery with likely some limited AA capabilities. Destroyer leader: Similar, again, to Second World War heavy and light cruisers, I'd imagine that Incursor-class cruisers could capably lead smaller ships into battles where an ISD would be less suited; for instance, a battle consisting primarily of fast-moving corvettes and frigates. Two or three Incursors, plus between five and eight Arquitens-class light cruisers and Raider-class corvettes, would force the enemy to break up their fire between anywhere from seven to eleven Imperial vessels, rather than concentrate their fire on one large, rather unmaneuverable target.

2:25 I would put the turrets on different heights in a superfiring position so they can all fire in the same direction. I would also say the shipclass has a good point defence weaponry and would serve alongside ISDs to provide anti air support and additional firepower. Overall it would have the same specifications as heavy cruisers and the german Deutschland class panzerschiff from WW2.

I love that they used Cantwell ship design from 0:44 as a ship in Andor and named it after him.

This is actually amazing, I love how you fit it in the lore. It’s in my head canon now.

It's incredible that they brought back the design of the original Imperial carrier as an interdiction and picket cruiser, and paid homage to Cantwell by naming it after him.

I’d have this as a jamming/communications hub for Fleets. I can imagine one of these being just out of shot in ESB.

R.I.P. Colin Cantwell! Thanks for making Star Wars happened! May The Force Be With Us!

Could you do a star wars interpretation of the uns c infinity...what would it look like in the star wars universe and can use a ok it's features. I think it could be a great idea.

Incursor Armament: 2 Heavy Long-Range Dual Turbolasers (the disk ones) 4 Medium Dual Turbolaser Turrets 1 Forward Firing Turbolaser (On the very front of the hull. Note, this also may be a Proton Torpedo launcher, IDK. If it was, this just makes the ship scarier.) 2 Dual Long-Range Turbolasers (on the end where the trench curves into the Engine. There's one on each side) 6 Laser Cannons (On the Broadside, by the disk turrets. 3 on both sides) 1 Triple Laser Cannon (For point defense) 2 Single Laser Cannons (I Think I see two parrel turrets on the bottom) A squadron of 9 TIE Fighters. Source for the numbers: www.artstation.com/artwork/lVPNVz As well as this video. Overall, a pretty scary ship. It has some nice AA abilities plus can hammer into crappier rebel ships. This ship would probably be best with one on the flanks of an ISD.

I love these model videos Seriously wish I could 3D print these and display them they're that cool I'd put them on a shelf. I know they're a lot of work but I am in awe at the final results! Keep it up!

*sighs* Be one with the Force, Mr. Cantwell.

This later became a passenger vessel after The Battle of Jakku

So the Incuror-Class Cruiser is now cannon to me. Disney i regect your reality and substitute my own!

I know it's an old video but that star destroyer with three dishes is now in the Disney plus series Andor

RIP Colin Cantwell, he is now one with the force. May 21, 2022

1:07 I just saw Andor and it shows up in the show as well. nice

For some reason this makes me think of the original 7 frigates of the US Navy. Just shy of a proper ship of the line, designed to out run anything it couldn't out fight, or out fight anything it couldn't out run.

Love this. Absolutely love the Cantwell StarDestroyer concept, but I love his paint scheme - understand why you removed it to tie in with the established Imperial aesthetic, but that paint scheme was so unique to the Cantwell ship.

It makes me happy that the Cantwell Class finally got the screen time it deserved in Andor.

My thought, due to the size and apparent armament, would be that it would be used as a more heavily armed, and thus rarer, version of the Legends timeline's Vindicator-class heavy cruiser: as an escort for lone capital ships that could hold its own in combat.

I actually prefer the idea of it being a 300 meter baby star destroyer. It fits well into the lore as an armored cruiser developed by kuat as a replacement for the aging Dreadnought class fleets in service prior to the clone wars. Kuat claimed that due to decades of technological advancement, the same job could now be performed by a ship half the size, and at half the cost. Although many of Kuat's claims about the ships' performance were exaggerated, it was competitive with the dreadnought at a much lower price point. It even ouperformed the dreadnought in some areas. Despite its low cost, lower crew complement, and newer technology, it never caught on. With the state of peace the galaxy was in, most systems weren't interested in buying new warships. The dreadnoughts were already more than enough for defense, and while they were expensive to operate; they were not costly when mothballed. They were much more interested in small corvettes which could persue and capture criminals. Something the new armored cruisers were ill equipped to do. In the end, they would see lackluster sales. Mainly being confined to the Kuat sector defense fleet, in which they would serve respectable careers. They would see a brief moment of glory during the clone wars, in which their two capitol grade turbo lasers would prove effective against seperatist warships. Although, even then, production was sidelined in favor of the cheaper and easier to produce arquitens class. Post war, the cruisers would be sold off to backwater planets. There they would act as flagships and fleet leaders for sectors too poor to afford any of the larger ships being sold surplus. None would survive to the end of the galactic civil war. In the end, these cruisers would serve as a cautionary tale for all shipwrights about market forces.

Some point defence systems would be nice. A lot of them.

when I saw that original model, I thought "that's a corvette!"

If by "sensor bubble" you mean "shield generator" then, yes, it's a shield generator.

I love this ship. Despite being much smaller, this really looks like more of a bruiser than the full ISDs.

Fairly certain those “sensor arrays” are shield generators

He should make it at least 800-1000 meters long to fit a MUCH larger hanger bay, giving it at least 2-3 squadrons and a larger docking area for shuttles, there would also be more space for a smaller command viewing area giving it more room for weaponry and maybe even some intordiction bulbs as seen on the immobiliser 417

Hey, this is an awesome interpretation of the design. Just one thing, those "sensor globes", aren't those actually the shield generators? About purpose, I think the ship could do much more. With those large antennas, it might also be able to provide long-range reconnaissance and surveillance, maybe also serve as a communications center. For example, if there are multiple battlegrounds in a battle, a ship like this could serve to coordinate all those. It also "feels" much more like a multi-purpose craft than a Star Destroyer, which is kind of like a one-trick pony in my eyes. It's a pure battleship, and that's all it can do. The Incursor-class is certainly cheaper to produce, and can fit (or be fitted to) a much wider range of mission profiles. So basically, whenever there's a mission that's not suited for a Star Destroyer, or where a Star Destroyer would be overkill, the Incursor would come into play.

ok, I loooove this. Type of thing I love about the starwars community! I might just find a way to include a ship strongly inspired off of your take on the original star destroyer model into the background of my dark empire animation :)

I want to see how you would change the new Starhawk design. And I assume you would, given your handle on SW iconography.

I know this four years late, but i just noticed something, watching this again, that i thought was kinda cool. If those disc shapped turrets can move 360° (minus where the guns would collide with the ship, as well as being artificially limted to only "usable arcs") then this would be one of only a very small handful of ships in the Empires arsenal that could use its primary armament in all major directions. Meaning even if it decided to turn and run, it could still lay down effective fire to keep any larger ship from venturing too close. Obviously the discs would also limt the traverse in the verticle axis, making it poor up close against ships even slightly above or bellow it, but i think this ships role in a fight would be something like that of a light cruiser or heavy frigate. Engaging smaller or equal weight ships at long range, supporting larger task force's, or running away from anything large enough to pose a serious threat. In addition to the scouting and backwater patrol duties you mentioned in the video.

Heyyyy do now a video like this of the x-wing, tie fighter and y-wing as closer as the original prototypes

I hate how cruisers are smaller than destroyers in Star Wars

This looks amazing! Can someone please twitter this to @colincantwellcb ?

WHO WOULD EVEN CONSIDER DISLIKING THIS VIDEO AND WHAT REASON COULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE BESIDES BEING A TROLL? And in regards to the video...high pitched teenage girl EEEEEEEKKKKK!!! this is amazing!

3:40 Your sclaed-up version makes me think of real-life "pocket battleships". Such ships were basically in between heavy cruisers and full battleships, and like your design, only had a handful of main guns, in two turrets.

This vessel seems like a link in the overall chain of an imperial fleet to me

Well, this basically ended up becoming the victory class so all is well

2:32 Those are shield generators, my man.

Honestly, I think this design works better as a late republic, proto-star destroyer design made by KDY. You could even keep the original color scheme if you wished. There are also a lot of visual similarities to Fractal Sponge's model of the Procurator-class Battlecruiser, what with the prominent tumblehome superstructure and the spine rising steeply towards the aft. The Incursor would look excellent flanking a Procurator , the former serving as escort and support ships to the massive latter vessel. It's also (obviously) easy to see how this design would develop into the proper Imperial Star Destroyer, which making it a late republic design would support. Making it a pre-star destroyer would also be a nice nod to the actual history of the design, it being a prototype and all. The model looks excellent, and as a fan of early 20th century naval warfare, I love the disc turrets and prominent masts

"In addition to their role as a backwater monitor, Incursor-classes are frequently assigned as impromptu escort vessels for larger ships, or as part of a small fleet. They provide the necessary firepower to deter lightning strikes by lighter Rebel warships, but without the excessive risk or cost of deploying additional Star Destroyers. Where the toughness of a warship is needed, but a Star Destroyer would be excessive, Admirals often favour the pluck and reliability of the Incursor-class."

The Incursor-class cruiser was ordered shortly after the IS-1 class began production during the early days of the empire, meant for patrolling sectors deemed too peaceful or unimportant to warrant the precence of a full star destroyer. Though smaller, the Incursor-class was still intended to fill the same role as larger star destroyers and therefore had to be at least as capable as it's larger siblings, hence the four turbolaser turrets and massive sponson-mounted proton accelerators. These advanced and hugely capable weapons systems proved to be the design's doom, however, as imperial designers and egineer couldn't find a power source capable of fitting in the cruiser's more modest volume and the main battery, though immensly powerful, proved too expensive to keep the design cost efficient. Because of these shortfalls, the empire opted to order and assign the larger star destroyers to postings invitioned for the incursors, which was, paradoxically, seen as the more economical and sensible alternative. With the production run of IS-1:s and their later upgraded version proving cheaper and more efficient than first imagined, the empire largely dropped the idea of a lighter, more heavily armed battlecruiser-type starship, aside from limited experimental projects.

And then this appears in marvel comics In a few months

"It's too small to be destroyer, so it's cruiser". What? You know the ship under the destroyer is corvette? Or patrol craft? Escort ship? It's sad to see the video to follow this stupid retcon that replace sensible (and logical) terminology proposed by Saxton, made just because because some people can't get Imperial Navy used modern, not ancient designation for their ships...

colin cantwell died recently

Beautiful, wish I could utilize it for a story. And also this definitely fits in perfectly in Star Wars.

2:32 dude what?! those are the ICONIC deflector shield generators! what the heck... I can't believe you said that...

If you were an Imperial ship designer and created this ship, what'll be the name of this class of warship be? What're the parameters of that class? Will it still be a "Star Destroyer" or would you call it a Heavy Star Cruiser to compete against the Vindicator-Class cruiser? I could see this as a pure ship-killer. It'll have a small complement of fighters but this ship would be more of a brute in ship to ship combat.

imagine if the empire actually made massive carrier craft that carried full size star destroyers, those things would be HUGE with the current scale

I would have made it to a similar scale as the Star Destroyer and called it a predecessor to it. Produced in very limited numbers, mostly used for testing and training that formed the imperial doctrine and later designs, thus giving birth to the star destroyer

BTW the "sensor globes" as you call them arnt sensors those are deflector shield globes

To me the large sensor arrays and other bits make me think it's a command and control type ship. It mighty be very small, but it has the communication capabilities of a much larger star destroyer. It would probably go supplement an existing subjection group acting as a force multiplier. It couldn't subjugate the planet all it's own, but it can coordinate enough storm troopers on the ground to.

Now make a detailed SDF-1 Macross for a video.

I have a question.how many fighters do u consider a squadron? In lore a squadron could be anywhere from 3 to 14 starfighters.I usually consider a squadron to be 6 fighters but in the vid where u restored the forgotten yt freighters it carried 8 which u called a squadron.is 8 your normal squadron size?

"Sensor Globes" No, those were not Sensors, those were Shield Generators.

Looks like a better pursuit oriented ship much like IRL subchaser ships meant to trail and huras blockade runners or other ships too fast for full fledged star destroyers. Plus the huge bulbed side gun batteries get a good fwd firing arc so much so that the line of fire could even cross unlike most star destroyers who needed to broadside a ship to get more of its heavy batteries in a good position. The added antenna suite also compliments the ability to pick up ships with stealth features or outright comms blackout jammers making it a better tool for asteroid fields, scanning major space battle Kessler syndrome areas or worlds. Just my thoughts.

Incursor-class cruisers should also be fully capable of trans-galactic communication and relaying information.

Cantwell Class Arrestor Cruiser from Andor!

I think the empire would make an upgraded version of this ship to be able to carry out an orbital bombardment to scare the citizens of newly conquered worlds into fear and not only that it would have to have 4 quad-turbo laser's like the star destroyer have the reason for this upgrade is because the empire like firepower and maybe this variant might carry missile's like the ones on the victory class star destroyer one of the reasons for this is to easily annihilate escaping civilian vessels without letting them escape and this new variant might be in a fleet of these to blockade a newly conquered world fast and since its smaller than a normal star destroyer it would be faster so it would most likely be accompanied by maybe 1 or 2 interdictors and maybe 3 or 4 Imperial Arquintens class frigates to stop civilians or hiding rebels to escape.

2:32 those aren't sensors, I"m not trying to grill you maybe just you haven't looked into it so let me correct you. While for the original idea here I'm not sure if that's what those were intended to be but those on an ISD are the shield projectors or aka Shield Generators. 2:40 that's not an antenna array, it's the tractor beam targeting array.

for me its a military grade long range relay for the holonet and communications, doubled with a extremely long range scanner for the mapping of an enemy position , it take place in larger battle group like an interdictor as a specialised ship. unlike his size would let you presume, his high tech equipment make it as costly as a star destroyer and if it was utilised as a cheap replacement for a star destroyer, it was only in a dumbed down version with a civil grade detection equipent which could be used as a relay for the civil holonet in especially isolated world

You could also call it a "pocket star destroyer" in reference to Germany's pocket battleships of WWII which tried to give the firepower of a battleship to a ship the size of a Destroyer. Perhaps pocket star destroyer could be a rebel designation for the ship while the empire could call it a "Star Cruiser" or "Micro Star Destroyer"

Hot Wheels has some of these concept ships , best reviews on these you will find on " The Points of Articulation " you tube channel

I wonder if this is what the Turbulent-class Star Destroyer from the Legends books, might look like?

This thing yells "Radar Picket ship". This looks like it would have an impressive sensor array and would work alongside other ships of the line to patrol and dominate a system. Figure a Star Destroyer working with one of these Sensor ships and a pair of support ships like some Lancer frigates would make a nice battle group for controlling a contested area. Great video once again.

I think this ship would hold supplies to build more robust infrastructure on planet and use that massive antenna array to temporarily bluster the communications network for the construction teams and to serve until they build a permanent system planet side.

“Goood Henry, goooood. Now… make it, canon” -Palpatine maybe if he saw this

Everyone: EC Henry: A full squadron of fighters is housed in this ship. Me: 😀

YOu make amazing videos. I'm hoping to see more videos of hidden lost starships of Star Wars.

is the arrester crusier the one that showed up in Andor?

For the Star Wars universe I’m guessing the model for the star destroyer in this iteration was a model and not an actual ship and was mostly streamlined