OK,... not sure why I am asking, perhaps I am just short of other questions... but its always good to know stuff

How big do you see the AA-9 Transport?

(For those who don't immediately know, and to save you looking it up... the AA-9 is the Transport ship that took Anakin and Padme back to Naboo (undercover) in AotC).

Wookieepedia lists the AA-9 as being 390 as being 390m long, and capable of carrying 30,000 passengers.

That seems a tad small, even if you cram them in like cattle...

However, the article for the Jendirian Valley which is the named ship of this class Anakin and Padme actually traveled on has a listed size of 1290m, and also 30,000 passengers. More realistic. But that makes it nearly as big as a Star Destroyer.

BOTH Articles say the "middle deck" (suggesting one deck) had been modified to carry passengers. (Granted, it could be bad writing, it could cover multiple decks).

Both article are Legends.

Whats your take on it? Do you go with either size? or do you settle for something different?

Do you assume they made some identical ships or various sizes, so both could work? (I personally, dont like this approach).

Thoughts?

390 meters sounds the most reasonable, with the actual passenger number being around 3000 instead. Given the interior scene from Attack of the Cones, the layout seems more akin to a passenger ship. The RMS Titanic was about 270 meters long and carried 2435 passengers, so I think 3000 is a good amount for a space passenger ship.

I'd think 1290 meters is on the large side, I could see 390 meters being about right for a cargo of 30,000 persons, you have to remember just how huge that size is, a football field is 105 meters long, and they are huge, you could (if you cattle stacked) thousands of people onto a single football field.

So if you were to take as you thought, the writing as bad and say that the middle decks are converted, it'd be able to carry upwards of 30,000 persons, granted it may be a little cramp when flying with that many persons. I think with this ship the height is perhaps more important than the length, since it'll give you an idea of how many decks the ship could boast.

390 meters sounds the most reasonable, with the actual passenger number being around 3000 instead. Given the interior scene from Attack of the Cones, the layout seems more akin to a passenger ship. The RMS Titanic was about 270 meters long and carried 2435 passengers, so I think 3000 is a good amount for a space passenger ship.

Aye, the 'official' (or as official as they can get) numbers just seemed off... while you MIGHT be able to get 30k people in one, I would expect it to be FAR more cramped than depicted in the films.

3000 seems like a reasonable number, + cargo. Thank you

(For those who don't immediately know, and to save you looking it up... the AA-9 is the Transport ship that took Anakin and Padme back to Naboo (undercover) in AotC).

Umm... yeah... still had to look it up... you know... prequel...

Ahh well, no worries

Modern luxury cruise-liners are 300-400 meters and carry around 3000-4000 passengers and 1000-2000 crew... and the passengers live in luxury and have vast room to spend their time in.

So it's not inconcievable that a bulk-people transport could cram in 30.000 passengers in half decent rooms, especially if it is quite tall (which it seems in the picture)

EDIT: also, since they were converted by a refugee relief movement, I doubt they're very spacious when it comes to the quarters.

Modern luxury cruise-liners are 300-400 meters and carry around 3000-4000 passengers and 1000-2000 crew... and the passengers live in luxury and have vast room to spend their time in.

So it's not inconcievable that a bulk-people transport could cram in 30.000 passengers in half decent rooms, especially if it is quite tall (which it seems in the picture)

EDIT: also, since they were converted by a refugee relief movement, I doubt they're very spacious when it comes to the quarters.

Also a good point... still feels abit off though... but food for thought...

Certainly, if it was more than ONE deck, it would make more sense.. the article specifies a single deck... but that could be language, and mean the Mid Decks, as opposed to the operations and engineering decks...

hmm...

Modern luxury cruise-liners are 300-400 meters and carry around 3000-4000 passengers and 1000-2000 crew... and the passengers live in luxury and have vast room to spend their time in.

So it's not inconcievable that a bulk-people transport could cram in 30.000 passengers in half decent rooms, especially if it is quite tall (which it seems in the picture)

EDIT: also, since they were converted by a refugee relief movement, I doubt they're very spacious when it comes to the quarters.

Also a good point... still feels abit off though... but food for thought...

Certainly, if it was more than ONE deck, it would make more sense.. the article specifies a single deck... but that could be language, and mean the Mid Decks, as opposed to the operations and engineering decks...

hmm...

I think it means they converted one cargo deck (which could be much taller than a crew/passenger deck) to take on passengers.

The crew and other stations are on other decks, I suppose.

BTW. I looked up the largest luxury cruise-liners, and the largest one is 362m by 65m (tall), It's got a maximum passenger capacity of 6.296. And those are by luxury standards.

Take away the giant ballrooms, open dining rooms and other fluffy stuff (not to mention making the actual passenger rooms smaller), and you could probably squeeze in 30.000 people in there with little effort.

So yeah, the way I enterpret the text in wookieepedia, you get one rather large cargo-hold deck, that's converted to possibly two or more passenger decks with either very cramped bunks (think the size of trains with sleeping cabins) or just open cargo space where people can live and sleep.

Here's a trains sleeping car room for comparison:

That's about 2 cubic meters, and factoring in the ship being 390 meters long (with maby 350 meters being the actual length of the hull) and around 50 meters across, that'd be enough to cram in those 30.000 people with relative comfort.

All great points.

I guess you will be throwing out the 1290m length option then?

All great points.

I guess you will be throwing out the 1290m length option then?

Well, the length on that one has no citation, so I don't know where they got that from.

(however, I kinda doubt it since the Venator-class star destroyer was 1.137 meters long, and that would mean this transport was longer. And it just doesn't look like it. That would be the widest bridge I've seen on any starship in the star wars universe, if that was the case hehe)

EDIT: In fact, the star destroyer shown in the opening scene of Ep IV, is 1600m long. That's 300m more than the AA-9 if the 1290m lenght is to be believed. I'm no expert on the prequels, but does it look like it's that large in the movie?

Its hard to tell (for me certainly) what the size is based on what you can see. Theres little to give an idea of scale.

For me, it just didnt sit well that a cargo ship could be as big as a Star Destroyer, it kinda makes the SDs a little less intimidating.

Well, making a big box (essentially a cargo ship) of even a truly enormous size isn't all that challenging... Making that box capable of fighting while a couple dozen holes have been punched in it, now -that's- challenging. Hence why cargo ships can get bloody silly sizes for relatively cheap prices while combat ships are bloody expensive as the silouettes go up.

True I suppose...... maybe I just like the idea that SD are bigger than pretty much everything else...

So, the thing I would be inclined to do is to figure out how many people could reasonably be put into a standard modern cargo container, in a refugee type situation.

Then, figure out how many cargo containers it would take to handle the total amount of people that are desired.

Then look at modern cargo ships to see which ones can handle roughly that many cargo containers, and compare that size against what is claimed in the wiki. Keeping in mind that you’re talking about comparing a space ship that has to at least briefly have enough atmosphere and other supplies necessary to support life for that many people, and you’re comparing that against a modern seagoing ship.

But that would at least give you some sort of ballpark.

Its hard to tell (for me certainly) what the size is based on what you can see. Theres little to give an idea of scale.

For me, it just didnt sit well that a cargo ship could be as big as a Star Destroyer, it kinda makes the SDs a little less intimidating.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lucrehulk-class_battleship

Converted bulk-freighter used in the Clone Wars. Over 3000 meters long.