There is a large picture in the book of three star destroyers fighting a space battle and one of them (Left most ship) has no bridge super structure, What Ship is this???

Praetor II battlecruiser.

There is a large picture in the book of three star destroyers fighting a space battle and one of them (Left most ship) has no bridge super structure, What Ship is this???

Praetor II battlecruiser.

Here's the Wookieepedia entry on it, and below is a better picture from a different angle.

I don't consider Star Destroyer a class of ships. It is an added descriptor for cruisers, battlecruisers, and dreadnoughts that possess the ability to fulfill the roles of warship, carrier, and assault transport all in one package. In my game, the Vindicator-class cruiser would be considered a (small) Star Destroyer while the Immobilizer - based upon the same hull - is still a cruiser but is not a Star Destroyer.

I think there needed to be something in the classification system between Heavy Cruiser and Battlecruiser but yeah I'm not sure why they picked Star Destroyer. The majority of ship classes in that range are Star Destroyers or Destroyers though so that probably has something to do with it.

Edit: To clarify, of all the names that ship has been given, from CR90, to Corellian Corvette, to Rebel Blockade Runner... I think "Alderaan Cruiser" ranks among the worst. I suppose all of them could be "multiple names for the same thing," but why are they making up new names when it's just going to generate confusion? Or are they trying to divorce themselves from the names that previously existed in canon?

I've been looking into this. Sculpting the Galaxy says that the original script referred to the Tantive IV as a "galactic cruiser". I can't confirm this but the novelization uses this term. That book also says that the production notes for Ep 3 calls the Tantive IV the "Alderaan Star Cruiser." I'm not defending the name, just saying that it wasn't some random dude making up a new name.

Edit: To clarify, of all the names that ship has been given, from CR90, to Corellian Corvette, to Rebel Blockade Runner... I think "Alderaan Cruiser" ranks among the worst. I suppose all of them could be "multiple names for the same thing," but why are they making up new names when it's just going to generate confusion? Or are they trying to divorce themselves from the names that previously existed in canon?

I've been looking into this. Sculpting the Galaxy says that the original script referred to the Tantive IV as a "galactic cruiser". I can't confirm this but the novelization uses this term. That book also says that the production notes for Ep 3 calls the Tantive IV the "Alderaan Star Cruiser." I'm not defending the name, just saying that it wasn't some random dude making up a new name.

Fair point, and my gripe is a very minor one regardless.

Thank you, by the way, for taking the time to explain the ship class controversies to me.

I think part of the problem is they weren't thinking of ship classifications when they wrote the script or named the ship classes. The individual writers just stuck whatever classification they personally felt was correct or thought sounded cool at the end. Which is how we ended up with cruiser classes being anywhere between 50 and 1,200 meters long, and frigate classes that are anywhere between 35 and 825 meters in length. Than when the WEG people, and later the writer of the Essential Guide to Warfare needed to draw up standardized classification systems there was just no realistic way IMO to not be left with a lot of ship classes with the wrong classification for their size or role..They did they best they could with the job they were given though.

I think part of the problem is they weren't thinking of ship classifications when they wrote the script or named the ship classes. The individual writers just stuck whatever classification they personally felt was correct or thought sounded cool at the end. Which is how we ended up with cruiser classes being anywhere between 50 and 1,200 meters long, and frigate classes that are anywhere between 35 and 825 meters in length.

There's also the Malevolence which is a heavy cruiser despite being 4.8km long; bigger than the Separatist's battleships and dreadnoughts. The only way I can make sense of it is to assume the term "cruiser" applies to any capital ship that is fast regardless of size. Ships useful for pursuit and fast attacks. Things like battleships and dreadnought are much slower and useful for blockades. Before Interdictors, speed was essential in capital ship engagements as you needed to quickly close with your enemy before they jump to hyperspace.

In SW and ESB, the Falcon was shown as incapable of simply outrunning star destroyers. I think that ISDs should have a speed of 3, reserving 1 and 2 for battleships and dreadnoughts, or civilian freighters.

Yeah technically Malevolence is a very large Battlecruiser while the Trade Federation Battleships are midsized Battlecruisers and the ships they call CIS Dreadnoughts are small BattleCruisers.(Battlecruisers are 2000 to 5000 meters. Malevolence is 4,845, the Trade Federation Battleships are 3,170, and the CIS Dreadnoughts are 2,177) The Seps don't have any real Dreadnoughts AFAIK. I believe that the Empire was the first to build those.

At the end of the WEG ship classification system they warned that some fleets used local classification systems while some shipwright's deliberately mislabel their craft, and the Anaxes system didn't change that. The CIS is really bad about this since the only ship models of theirs which we can confirm as being named with their proper classification are the Recusant-class Light Destroyer, and the smaller variant of the Providence-class Destroyer both of which fall in the Star Destroyer classification under the long form of the Anaxes system..

In SW and ESB, the Falcon was shown as incapable of simply outrunning star destroyers. I think that ISDs should have a speed of 3, reserving 1 and 2 for battleships and dreadnoughts, or civilian freighters.

Well... this was more that the Falcon couldn't outrun the projected power of star destroyers, namely the large numbers of very fast TIE Fighters it could throw at them to harass them while the lumbering Star Destroyers got near enough to engage their tractor beams. Yes, in a straight line, the Falcon could outrun a Star Destroyer quite easily, but when dodging and jinking and taking evasive action versus a horde of fightercraft, they're not going to make a lot of headway to put distance between them and the craft.

As for the Star Destroyers in EpIV leaving Tattooine, they were in orbit already while the Falcon was transitioning between atmospheric and orbital speeds... which allowed them to lumber into intercept positions. While the film gives the impression that the Star Destroyers were chasing the falcon, they may have been moving on a perpendicular path moving to intercept it, which allowed them to get close enough to fire.