The ship had no tactical function

Might they also served as pocket carriers? ?

 

Good idea Lank.

Transports used as modified carriers would certainly make sense for the hit and run style of attacks the Rebellion would be doing.

I have a few more points agaisnt the idea they were brought for the intention of using them as flying bombs.

First, knocking down the shield by overloading it is much more likely to work then a small unsupported commando mission onto a world with a heavy concentration of enemy troops.If there was a reasonable chance that would work, why bother with the Commandos?

More tellingly, when it became clear it was a trap, and before the DSII opened fire, why weren't they used to try to knock down the shields?

About their use against ships.

Ackbar was hesitant to commit forces to so short a range, why then would he create a plan based on short range combat?

While Han was unsurprised to find the Executer there, he didn't see an entire fleet. the Executer's destruction shows the rebel fleet was clearly adeqaute to take it on and most likely a few ISD's as well, so only the case where it was a trap and there was a huge fleet there would the kamikaze transports be useful. Furthermore, they could be devestating tot he Rebel fleet if a lucky Imperial shot set one off and ripped a hole the Rebel formation.

About crashing into the Death Star superstructure. This idea, I think makes the least sense of all. Certainly getting a Starfighter into the core would be the quickest means of destroying the Death Star, but pounding the **** out of it with capital ships would be just as effective, if it would take longer. Since the Imperial fleet was stretched in a vain effort to engage them, they could have a reasonable period to cripple, destroy, or capture the station.

Only in the case where there was a large enemy fleet presence, or it was operational, and the shields had gone down, would that even make sense. And considering the apparent lack of a plan for if it was operational, the idea they would have a plan for the less likely circumstance seems odd.

 

I doubt that they could be used a mini carriers, seeing that they seemed to not have any entrence/exit ports large enough for fighters.

 

I assumed they were used as a direct analogy to support ships in Fleets of Ships on earth. Used to do things like Fight fires on other ships, pick up wounded etc etc.

Lines of battle and all that.

UKS

 

they could have a reasonable period to cripple, destroy, or capture the station
Yeah, because all those "independent contracters" working on DS II would surrender to a squad of Rebels!

Gallofree Yards Medium Transorts have minimal armament (according to "The Essentia Guide to Vehicles and Vessels") consisting of 4 twin laser cannons. Meanwhile, the Rebel Medical Frigate, a modified Kuat Yards Nebulon-B, had been stripped down to a mere 6 turbolasers and 8 laser cannons.

The Rebel Alliance is limited on it's resources so they would have to bring whatever weapons they could. That included ships that were not meant for capital ship combat. And while there was no information indicating the Imperial fleet would be at Endor...they doesn't mean the Rebel fleet should be defenseless while the starfighter fly inside the DSII's superstructure.

 

I still see nothing wrong with the idea of kamikaze attacks - it's contingency planning, and clearly last resort.

I don't see it as a question of "If it made sense, why not do it initially" - I think it's a CYA move if the Worst Case Scenario occurred.

 

On the original topic of this thread:

I thought it was pretty obvious -- the transports are needed to get all the people and gear off of Hoth! Not everybody at the Hoth Base was a fighter pilot. Everybody leaving Hoth had to be in some kind of ship, and the transports were the most efficient means they had.

Remember when Leia says "Evacuate remaining ground staff!" ?? They had all kinds of people at the base, and the transports were needed to get people off the planet. They were not really intended to serve any independent military or tactical function apart from this. That's why they're called "transports".

The purpose of the fighters in the evacuation was to escort the transports past the blockade.

 

Uh?! What's that got to do with my original question?! I asked why a transport ship would be needed in a space battle, that being the Battle of Endor! Please read my original question properly before posting in future!

But getting back to the conversation. No, I don't think they were meant to be flying bombs, seeing that this simply isn't the Reb's mentality. Nor are they mini carriers. If it's not a financial thing on the part of ILM (a.k.a. cut backs by using old models), or a simple mistake on the part of GL (he isn't best known for his military strategy knowledge), then the only other thing it could be is that the Rebs turned some of the ships, the ones you see at Endor, into gunships.

 

The rebels outfitted all sorts of ships with weapons, they even brought a freighter to do a fighter's job. They just wanted to have a big fleet, no matter how lightly armed they were.

 

Maybe they were transports. You know, transporting troops. Like they were designed to. It would have really sucked for the rebels if all the imperial troops took shuttles to Endor and then laughed at the rebels because they had no way of attacking them. I mean, what if the Emperor takes off to the surface, and then the rebels have to wait for reinforcements before they can chase him? I guess using the transports as transports is a radical idea.

 

I find it almost insulting that some of you think it impossible the Rebellion couldn't come up with the tactics on the spur of the moment and it needed to be preplanned.

Lets take what we know into evidence.

1. When the Rebels arrived, the shield was still up.

At this point if those ships ahd been planned to take down the shields they would have been used as such instead of fighting a pitched battle.

2. The rebel fleet did not immediately close with the Imperial fleet.

You'd think that if they had planned on crashing transports laden with explosives into enemy ships, they would get close to those ships instead of hanging back until the DS2 started firing.

If we assume those frieghters were lightly armed and brough to assume a support role, which seems completely reasonable, why is it hard to make the leap that when caught between the choice of staying in the open and getting destroyed by the Death Star, and moving within range of ships that could destroy them almost as easily, the crews chose to create a third choice by sacrificing their ships and maybe themselves to "take some of them with us".

Certainly no one would be surprised if a Rebel cruiser which was dying rammed into an Imperial ISD to take it out, so why should it be inconcieveable that faced with the prospect of certain death whichever way they turned the transport crews decided to go down fighting?

Just because a ship eventually destories itself and the enemy in a suicidal manuever, does not mean that was the intended use of the ship.

 

What it says is "Cargo ships loaded with charge were set on collision courses with fortress-vessels..."


This could mean anything to arming munitions held onboard to setting the reactor to overload.

They are, after all, Cargo ships. It is not inconcievable they could be acting as munition tenders for the fleet.

One could even argue it is an unwielgy way to say they were put on high accelerations (literally, "charge") .

 

1. When the Rebels arrived, the shield was still up.
Oh course it wasn't until Lando figured out that their scans were being jammed...that they knew this. The rebels walked right into that trap.

At this point if those ships HAD been planned to take down the shields they would have been used as such instead of fighting a pitched battle.
I think the Rebellion had such a limited number of ships, that even a small transport with a couple laser turrets would be more then leaving it behind.

2. The rebel fleet did not immediately close with the Imperial fleet.
Perhaps due to thier lack of ships...the Rebels typically avoid engaging in ship-to-ship combat with the imperial fleet. It wasn't until the DSII started firing that they decided to "take a few of them with us"

 

Oh course it wasn't until Lando figured out that their scans were being jammed...that they knew this. The rebels walked right into that trap.

I think the Rebellion had such a limited number of ships, that even a small transport with a couple laser turrets would be more then leaving it behind.

You're not making any sense. Once they realized the shield was still up, if those ships had been packed with explosives to be detonated against the shield they would have been used to try to take down the shields. The mission was to destroy the Second Death Star, not engage the Imperial fleet.

Perhaps due to thier lack of ships...the Rebels typically avoid engaging in ship-to-ship combat with the imperial fleet. It wasn't until the DSII started firing that they decided to "take a few of them with us"

However if those transports ahd been laden with explovies for the purpose of ramming imperial ships, they would have had to close with the Imperial ships before being used. Since the rebellion avodied this until the Second Death Star started firing, it only makes sense that those transports weren't there just so they could kamikazi.