"I've outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk cruisers, mind ya; I'm talking about the big Corellian ships, now." Han Solo

So if the "big Corellian ships" are star destroyers, what are the "local bulk cruisers"? Gozanti? Arquitens? Vics? Raiders even?

Or are the "local bulk cruisers" star destroyers, begging the question what are the "big Corellian ships"? Executors? Dreadnaughts?

I would say Arquitens and Gozanti both fit the description of a "Local Bulk Cruiser" to a tee. Raiders would be a Corvette-Class since they were all speed and guns, plus they didn't exist in '77.

I don't think a Star Destroyer could be classified as a cruiser, even if we were using the Executor as the measuring stick. At very least they would Battlecarrier, or Carrier if not one of the, "Big Corellian Ships."

Plus, trying to trace continuity in the dialog of A New Hope is a tricky beast at best. I would assume Occam's Razor on this one. If something seems pretty obvious, and the other option requires a greater logical leap, then it is probably the most likely one.

I don't think the EU ever described what those 'Big corellian ships" were, except maybe the CR-90s and DP-20s?? Even then, they're teeny compared to ISDs.

7 hours ago, Norsehound said:

I don't think the EU ever described what those 'Big corellian ships" were, except maybe the CR-90s and DP-20s??

The Essential Guide To Warfare (late EU) specified that Corellian-built ISDs were unusually fast. The endnotes to it said that this was specifically a shout-out to Han's comment:

http://jasonfry.tumblr.com/post/21728447315/eg-to-warfare-endnotes-pt-4

Manufacturer: Corellian Engineering: So that’s what Han meant when he boasted of outrunning “the big Corellian ships.” A hopefully satisfying little retcon that only took 35 years to be born.

Star Wars Poster Monthly also portrayed the Devastator as a "triangular Corellian cruiser"

STAR WARS: OFFICIAL POSTER MONTHLY #13
Published October 1978

(scroll sideways to see the section on models, including the Star Destroyer)

http://theforce.net/image_popup/image_popup_global.asp?Image=timetales/misc/arcana/pos13-03.jpg

So, in that sense, the really early EU had established the concept of Corellian ISDs, and the late EU revitalised it (the new EU also states that ISDs are built at a lot of places besides Kuat, including Corellia (Rogue One Ultimate Visual Guide).

Hmm... nice! I wonder if the lore is ever going to distinguish these corellian ISDs in a meaningful way. Maybe they are the long-knecked ISDs from Rebels? That would be distinct. And Han would have been running from those for a while before proper ISD-IIs showed up.

It could work. The ISDs we see in R1 were supposed to be the end of ISD-I production, with Devastator being the last one. A transitional subclass?

Devastator isn't the only ISD-I seen in Rogue One - all the ones seen in it look the same.

In the context of Rebels, I put it down to them using McQuarrie imagery as much as they can even when it slightly contradicts live action. In one Rebels Recon episode, they stated that the TIEs don't really have such proportionately small wings - the art deliberately undersizes them, and they are just movie TIEs. Similar principle may apply to the ISDs. Especially given that they look more like ISD-IIs than ISD-Is (engine intakes, turrets, bridge domes).

Even the old EU stated that ISDs were built on many planets, including Corellia. Although Corellians were more proud of their smaller ships.

Well in WEG they gave us the Neutron-Star Class Bulk Cruiser. Probably an older-model cruiser relegated to Systems Patrol and Escort duties.

And in the Han Solo trilogy book 2, the Imperial forces at the Battle of Nar Shaddaa consisted of Dreadnoughts supported by these Bulk Cruisers - so, at least in the EU, we had a notable example of Han encountering them.