As for melting them down, there is one advantage to that. Since the Venator is trimmer and shorter than the Imperator, you ought to get at least materials for one and a half Venators out of every Imperator.

“Navigare Necesse Est”-'Get me out of here!'

Actually, most of the Imperator class is slated to remain in service for a good while yet; it's the older, smaller Victory-class Star Destroyers that are being phased out as the Venators come online. For good or ill, the Imperator is the flagship product (as it were) of KDY's Star Destroyer line, and the starship people think of first when they think of the Military Arm. Getting rid of them anytime soon is just not in the cards.

As for the retiring Victory-class ships, I expect you're right that the oldest ones, the spaceframes that are reaching the end of their useful service lives, will be reclaimed for construction materials. A lot of them (especially the later Block IV and Block V models) are still fairly young vessels, though, and big, sturdy, well-propelled hulls are much in demand in certain sectors of the starship market. I'd expect those to be demilitarized (which is not the same as total disarmament) and sold. Some of the ones in sort of intermediate condition would then most likely be broken up to provide spare parts for those remaining in service.

For that matter, they don't all have to be demilitarized. There are plenty of planetary defense forces that would jump at the chance to have even a small(ish), somewhat aged Star Destroyer as the centerpiece of their fleets. For all that Old GENOM used them as symbols of terror and oppression, everybody respects the Star Destroyer series for its capabilities and its build quality - they're a prestige product.

--G.
"I'm not talking about your local bulk cruisers, I mean the big Corellian ships, now."
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

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To be frank, the use of hanger space on an ISD must be hideously contested. The Legion needs to store their pre-fab base, and their AT-ATs plus landers for the same. The fighter wing needs to avoid taking up so much space that the main bay can't be used to hold or tow captured craft-there's several hundred thousand cubic meters you won't use very often. That's the risk of being multi-role, you wind up being mediocre for your displacement at any one of them, like those Iowa conversions that were supposed to delete the rear turret to add a large helipad and hanger.

As for Largo harassing the Biotech department... damnit, you've got me thinking about Mir again. That girl has infected my brain. She'd probably sing DISPIDIA( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yholPj9DfKQ ) for him, if she got the chance. Chains and binding wills together and making him her slave and all that.

“Navigare Necesse Est”-'Get me out of here!'