You command the Battle of Crait (RAR).

[Patroklos]

There is a reason I said “from the moment Supremacy showed up”, but to be more accurate from when the chase starts and she takes charge.

As for how or why to get rid of Holdo, she is a vice admiral in a squadron of three ships, and we have no reason to believe the rebel fleet was ever any bigger than what we see in TLJ plus whatever starfighters were lost against starkiller. She is dead top weight.

But I take your point. I was approachig this as god mode, you meant we are personally there commanding. She likely just stays on her ship and is a nonentity.

[The Romulan Republic]

You make a valid point about the small size of the fleet, and the resultant difficulty in moving around personnel, particularly those of a high rank. Though I still give you the option of detaching Holdo as an emissary of Leia's if you don't want her with the fleet (command of her ship would presumably pass to her second in command).

It is also somewhat odd that Holdo has the rank of Vice Admiral, while commanding only a single small escort. That does suggest a somewhat top-heavy command structure, does it not? My personal theory would be that she received the command in some other force (New Republic Navy or local planetary defense fleet, probably), and kept it when she joined the Resistance. Is that plausible?

[Elheru Aran]

You make a valid point about the small size of the fleet, and the resultant difficulty in moving around personnel, particularly those of a high rank. Though I still give you the option of detaching Holdo as an emissary of Leia's if you don't want her with the fleet (command of her ship would presumably pass to her second in command).

It is also somewhat odd that Holdo has the rank of Vice Admiral, while commanding only a single small escort. That does suggest a somewhat top-heavy command structure, does it not? My personal theory would be that she received the command in some other force (New Republic Navy or local planetary defense fleet, probably), and kept it when she joined the Resistance. Is that plausible?

IF it had been made clear that the Resistance base on D'Qar was just -A- base and not THE base, and that the Resistance was bigger than that one outpost, then perhaps one could rationalize that they had more fleet elements at hand, and Holdo was part of the Resistance general staff as a result, just happening to be at D'Qar and thus able to take temporary command of a single craft in the evacuation flotilla...

Alternatively: the Resistance is a figurehead propped up by the New Republic, and Holdo is a VA in the NR fleet playing incognito.

But the fuckwits in charge of LFL/Disney have apparently decided that's not how it is, so... bleh.

[The Romulan Republic]

I mean, ignoring any EU stuff and going off of just what was on-screen in the film, the obvious answer to me is that Holdo was an NR officer, who when the NR folded like wet paper to the First Order, defected and joined the Resistance.

[FaxModem1]

You make a valid point about the small size of the fleet, and the resultant difficulty in moving around personnel, particularly those of a high rank. Though I still give you the option of detaching Holdo as an emissary of Leia's if you don't want her with the fleet (command of her ship would presumably pass to her second in command).

It is also somewhat odd that Holdo has the rank of Vice Admiral, while commanding only a single small escort. That does suggest a somewhat top-heavy command structure, does it not? My personal theory would be that she received the command in some other force (New Republic Navy or local planetary defense fleet, probably), and kept it when she joined the Resistance. Is that plausible?

Promotions might be the only way to keep people onto to their noble cause due to lack of support and supplies, same way the Terran Rebels did in DS9:

O'BRIEN: You remember Captain Bashir.
SISKO: Captain?
O'BRIEN: Captain Bashir, Captain O'Brien, Captain Sisko. We may not have enough troops or ships or weapons, but we have plenty of captains.

[Patroklos]

I mean, ignoring any EU stuff and going off of just what was on-screen in the film, the obvious answer to me is that Holdo was an NR officer, who when the NR folded like wet paper to the First Order, defected and joined the Resistance.

My rationalization was that resistance organizations are rarely unitary. They are generally a hodgepodge if cells/conspiracy/regional groups that due to circumstances find themselves absorbed/allied due to various circumstances. Sometimes quite temporarily and antagonistically. Holdo could have been the senior officer of another group, and when joining with Leia was given rank as a sop or just to keep her group happy and represented. She could be a leader of an NR officer conspiracy that defected wholesale to the Rebels.

In any case groups like this are prone to using ostentatious and overly flashy titles. It keeps factions happy and egos flattered. It also means people with these ranks may not be trained military officers at all. They could have been the glorious resistance party central commitee chairman in their previous organization organization. This can also explain her lack of uniform.

I do not think she is a seconded NR Officer though. I would expect more coordination with the remaining NR fleet if that was the case and she never mentions any resource or help outside the resistance itself.

[The Romulan Republic]

Lack of a uniform means nothing. Leia has no uniform. Han was a high-ranked officer in the Rebellion and had no uniform. That isn't evidence that Holdo's incompetent or just got her position for political reasons- its pretty much par for the course for major Rebel/Resistance characters in this franchise. So I feel like you're apply real-world military standards and logic in a place where they don't necessarily apply, and doing so inconsistently at that.

I do think that the top-heavy command structure that seems to be potentially in place could be due to drawing people from a wide range of backgrounds, some with existing high rank in other organizations and others needing to be appeased with a title.

As to whether Holdo being an NR officer would enable her to more effectively coordinate with other NR elements... that would depend on how much of the NR fleet is left intact, how much is still willing to continue fighting the FO, and how many contacts Holdo retained when she left, I'd imagine. If she was part of a fleet that largely surrendered/collaborated, and mutinied to defect to the Resistance, she might not have a lot of friends left beyond whoever she brought with her when she left the NR.

That said, while this is purely speculative, if I were writing her backstory I'd probably make her an officer in a local defense force, just because its more original than making her an NR officer.

But if we want more than just speculation... well, there's not a lot to go on, but this is basically all Wookiepedia gives on her bio pre-TLJ:

A human female, Amilyn Holdo was born on the planet Gatalenta during the early Imperial Era. In the year 3 BBY, Holdo joined the Apprentice Legislature, an Imperial organization on Coruscant for youth in politics. While in the Apprentice Legislature, Holdo met Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, daughter of Senator Bail Organa. Holdo and Princess Organa spent much time together during senatorial sessions and routine pathfinding training on various worlds such as Alderaan, Eriadu, and Felucia. While pathfinding on the planet Pamarthe, Holdo discovered Organa's involvement with the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Soon after, Holdo helped Organa find passage to the Paucris system in order to warn the fleet of an impending Imperial attack.[1]
Organa's Resistance
In 2 BBY, the rebellion became the Alliance to Restore the Republic,[6] and in the subsequent Galactic Civil War, the Empire was toppled and replaced with a New Republic.[7] However, an Imperial remnant reorganized into the First Order,[8] so in 28 ABY,[9] Organa created the Resistance to oppose them.[8] By 34 ABY,[2] during the conflict between the two groups, Holdo joined the Resistance military and served as a Vice Admiral and commanding officer of the cruiser Ninka.[3]
After the attack on Starkiller Base, she was posted on the Resistance ship Ninka. On D'Qar just before the First Order's arrival, she briefed the Resistance pilots from Cobalt and Crimson Squadron about the events of the annihilation of the Hosnian system as well as the subsequent destruction of Starkiller Base. She offered ammunition from her ship to help arm their squadrons. Having heard of Rose Tico's previous accomplishments with Cobalt Squadron, Holdo asked her to take a position on the Ninka as part of the maintenance team.[10]

Also, this:

"She's somebody who's a bit off-kilter, who sees the world through a prism most others don't understand. At first Leia thinks she's pleasant but weird, but as time goes on, it becomes apparent that there's much more to Holdo than you might guess when you first met her. We don't really have a lot of true oddballs in Star Wars, so it was fun to introduce one!"
―Claudia Gray, on Amilyn Holdo[src]
Amilyn Holdo is a character developed for the 2017 film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi, in which she is portrayed by actress Laura Dern. The casting announcement was revealed on February 15, 2016,[13] and Holdo's name was revealed on May 24, 2017 in a Vanity Fair article.[14] During the Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi marketing campaign, Holdo appeared as a supporting character in the young-adult novel Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray,[1] and was briefly shown in the picture book A Leader Named Leia.[4] Holdo's appearance in Leia, Princess of Alderaan was received positively, with some readers comparing her to the character Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.[15]

Which leaves a big blank space of over thirty five years that you can fill pretty much however suits your fancy. But it does indicate that:

a) Holdo and Leia were very old friends, who met during their youth in the Imperial Apprentice Legislature. Since I'm guessing that this would be a fairly exclusive group of youths, I would say that it is likely that Holdo is either very intelligent, from a wealthy/well-connected family, or both, and more likely than not from a family that was at least publicly pro-Imperial (though given she was friends with Leia and supported the Rebellion, perhaps privately anti-Imperial).

b) She's enough of an oddball that she's probably spent much of her life not being taken seriously, which might help explain her lack of patience for Poe's shit.

c) Holdo had some limited involvement in the early rebellion, but apparently in an espionage capacity, not a fleet combat or command capacity.

c) She was a late-comer to the Resistance, having only just joined when the shit hit the fan, and she was given command of a ship and her rank as Vice Admiral (simultaneously?). This implies that she did not bring any ships with her, and that she was given a very high rank right off the bat, relative to the size of the forces she commanded and her known combat experience. Indeed, were it not for the fact that Poe references her involvement in a prior battle in a seemingly positive light in TLJ, nepotism from Leia would be the obvious explanation to me for how she gained her command (although other explanations could certainly be devised, if one wished to be generous).

d) She was put in charge of briefing star fighter forces, and offered to supply them from her ship's stores (this suggests a certain generosity to her character that I wish we'd seen more of in the film, and the connection to the fighter squadrons helps explain her animosity toward Poe very nicely).

e) We have no idea what she was doing for thirty five years.

Now, none of this says "incompetent" to me, necessarily, and several things, both on-screen and in her backstory, suggest that's she's anything but incompetent, and that moreover she's a generally decent person and a loyal friend. But it does say that her personality is perhaps not best-suited to getting others to take her seriously as leader, and that her experience and skills based on available information lie more in politics and espionage than in fleet command. So its possible that she was posted to a position she was not best-suited for, perhaps due to a shortage of qualified officers, or perhaps due to Leia wanting to surround herself with people she trusted (I have a hard time seeing Leia putting incompetents in command due to personal favoritism, but I can certainly see her, in the wake of losing her son, husband/lover, and brother, being very, very cautious about who to place her trust in).

Incidentally, something vaguely similar was always my head canon for Admiral Dala, another widely-reviled female admiral who was supposed to be competent but was frequently seen as anything but- my favored theory was always that she had been a good ground commander who lacked experience as a fleet commander, and got posted to a position she was unsuited for due to nepotism from Tarkin.

Bringing it back to the original topic, all of this confirms my view that Holdo might very well do better if assigned to a more political or espionage-related position, though the evidence is still too thin to say for certain.

[FaxModem1]

Which leaves a big blank space of over thirty five years that you can fill pretty much however suits your fancy. But it does indicate that:

a) Holdo and Leia were very old friends, who met during their youth in the Imperial Apprentice Legislature. Since I'm guessing that this would be a fairly exclusive group of youths, I would say that it is likely that Holdo is either very intelligent, from a wealthy/well-connected family, or both, and more likely than not from a family that was at least publicly pro-Imperial (though given she was friends with Leia and supported the Rebellion, perhaps privately anti-Imperial).

Leia knew she could trust her, being a lifelong friend. That's enough when you need people in your resistance movement to not have a mutiny against you and stab you in the back.

b) She's enough of an oddball that she's probably spent much of her life not being taken seriously, which might help explain her lack of patience for Poe's shit.

Which is a fault as a CO. Projecting your own issues on subordinates is never a good thing.

c) Holdo had some limited involvement in the early rebellion, but apparently in an espionage capacity, not a fleet combat or command capacity.

Which means she was in the wrong place, and was only there due to rank. Jack Ryan and James Bond are both very intelligent espionage characters, who have rank in their organizations due to their time in their prospective fields, but I wouldn't want them commanding a naval fleet against an enemy, as it's totally out of their wheelhouse, and would lead to a lot of mistakes.

c) She was a late-comer to the Resistance, having only just joined when the shit hit the fan, and she was given command of a ship and her rank as Vice Admiral (simultaneously?). This implies that she did not bring any ships with her, and that she was given a very high rank right off the bat, relative to the size of the forces she commanded and her known combat experience. Indeed, were it not for the fact that Poe references her involvement in a prior battle in a seemingly positive light in TLJ, nepotism from Leia would be the obvious explanation to me for how she gained her command (although other explanations could certainly be devised, if one wished to be generous).

Nepotism seems likely. Holdo may have even been someone who came up with a key idea that saved the day at said battle, but other officers instituted it. She may be best as an advisor, not someone in command. Kind of like Jack Ryan in The Hunt for the Red October, bringing up good ideas as a civilian specialist, but definitely not in charge.

d) She was put in charge of briefing star fighter forces, and offered to supply them from her ship's stores (this suggests a certain generosity to her character that I wish we'd seen more of in the film, and the connection to the fighter squadrons helps explain her animosity toward Poe very nicely).

So, she's the equivalent of a CAG and a quartermaster? Or more likely, she had tactical info about some system, and briefed the troops about what's going on. From someone who has suffered many, many, many Commander's calls and Post Briefings in his life, those briefings can be done by anyone with knowledge, and bringing in a specialist to brief you about something key to that specific area may be the reason why. They are not supposed to be on the frontline, or giving orders.

For a famous pop culture example, think Ripley from Aliens. She has prior experience, briefs the Colonial Marines about what's going on the planet LV-426, but is only there as a civilian adviser, not someone who is supposed to be there. This might be that key battle Poe knows about, where her knowledge turned the tide, as opposed to some stratagem that she came up with or anything like that. It could be that she had key intel to give them that saved the day.

Now, none of this says "incompetent" to me, necessarily, and several things, both on-screen and in her backstory, suggest that's she's anything but incompetent, and that moreover she's a generally decent person and a loyal friend. But it does say that her personality is perhaps not best-suited to getting others to take her seriously as leader, and that her experience and skills based on available information lie more in politics and espionage than in fleet command. So its possible that she was posted to a position she was not best-suited for, perhaps due to a shortage of qualified officers, or perhaps due to Leia wanting to surround herself with people she trusted (I have a hard time seeing Leia putting incompetents in command due to personal favoritism, but I can certainly see her, in the wake of losing her son, husband/lover, and brother, being very, very cautious about who to place her trust in).

That makes political sense, especially as Leia was thrust out of New Republic politics. However, that can lead to problems when the shit hits the fan, as such people can be unqualified. It's sounding like Holdo was a competent spy, but not someone you want anywhere near the battlefield. Like Jack Ryan.

Of course, we also have to factor in, as I mentioned in previous threads, that Rebellion promotions seem wonky anyway(Han Solo was promoted from Commander to General while frozen in Carbonite, for instance), and based more on who you know and what resources you bring to the table. But then, that's how a lot of Resistances work anyway. Hence my allusion to the Terran Rebellion from DS9.

Bringing it back to the original topic, all of this confirms my view that Holdo might very well do better if assigned to a more political or espionage-related position, though the evidence is still too thin to say for certain.

I'm thinking the only reason she has such a rank is that there doesn't seem to be a separation between the ranks of espionage and military personnel. And that leads to someone like Holdo being put in command.

Like my Jack Ryan example, it'd be like if all the command officers in The Hunt for the Red October were incapacitated, handing over command of a Carrier group because they had died, and since Jack is in the CIA as a paper pusher, but has seniority over the actual naval officers there, he's in charge. It'd only lead to trouble.

This speaks to what dire straits the Resistance was in as an organization even prior to The Last Jedi as a fighting force.

[The Romulan Republic]

Yeah, her being more experienced as a spy, and given a fleet command due to the irregular nature of the Resistance, Leia's trust, and lack of experienced officers makes sense. Mind you, I don't think she could be completely hopeless or inexperienced at ship combat, given Poe's line during the briefing, her evident piloting skill, and the fact that Leia isn't a moron. But it probably wasn't the optimal posting for her. And a background in espionage would fit with some of her command decisions, such as a secretive, "need to know" only approach to disseminating information.

So, like I said earlier, assign her to a mission to negotiate with allies or steal fuel or something. If possible, keep Ackbar alive, as he's probably the most qualified person in the fleet to command in a space battle.

[FaxModem1]

Yeah, her being more experienced as a spy, and given a fleet command due to the irregular nature of the Resistance, Leia's trust, and lack of experienced officers makes sense. Mind you, I don't think she could be completely hopeless or inexperienced at ship combat, given Poe's line during the briefing, her evident piloting skill, and the fact that Leia isn't a moron. But it probably wasn't the optimal posting for her. And a background in espionage would fit with some of her command decisions, such as a secretive, "need to know" only approach to disseminating information.

Not completely hopeless isn't exactly a ringing endorsement. If she were more self aware, she would have found if another officer could help her shoulder some of that burden of command. However, you're probably right, and her espionage instincts prevented her from recognizing she was beyond her depth.

So, like I said earlier, assign her to a mission to negotiate with allies or steal fuel or something. If possible, keep Ackbar alive, as he's probably the most qualified person in the fleet to command in a space battle.

Yes, seeing if she can hobnob rich gamblers on Canto Bight or other posh locations full of potential supporters would be something she would be more accustomed to and a much more useful wielding of her abilities.

Sidenote, today I learned the correct spelling of hobnob.

EDIT: Totally crazy idea, see if she can start making bets at Canto Bight on the survival of the Resistance fleet, get a few people to bet on the Resistance surviving, and then have some people start supporting the Resistance to hedge their bets, ensuring that the Resistance gets help, rich dilettantes get their money, and her friends come out ahead.

IE, since she looks like she belongs in the Capitol from Panem, have her act like it to the Resistance's benefit.

[Batman]

What 'evident piloting skills'?' She managed to make the ship do a 180 and ram a ship that'd been tailing them for hours

[The Romulan Republic]

What 'evident piloting skills'?' She managed to make the ship do a 180 and ram a ship that'd been tailing them for hours

She was able to pilot a vessel that usually takes a full bridge crew to operate, and plot a course that would do optimal damage to the fleet, under pressure and in a very short span of time. I'm not saying she's Wedge Antilles here, but she's clearly competent at the least.

[Batman]

She reversed the ship and stepped on the gas.

[The Romulan Republic]

She reversed the ship and stepped on the gas.

And managed to precisely aim it, pulling off a never-before seen maneuver in the process...

This is getting off-topic, and I'd rather this tangent end here or go to another thread, but I must say I find the need of some fans to bash every aspect of a character or film they don't like deeply frustrating. Its not enough for you not to like it, its not enough for it to be bad, even. No, everyone must agree that every single aspect of the character/film sucks, no matter how small.

Its just tiresome, and it has steadily eroded any respect or affection that I once had for Star Wars fandom in general.

[Esquire]

That's less a feather in Holdo's cap, and more an indictment of Disney for clumsily fiddling with the underlying assumptions of the setting for no discernable reason.

Look, more Star Wars is better than less Star Wars, trivially, but pretty clearly these latest installations have some plot and prior-canon-consistency problems which didn't need to be there. That probably any possible sequel trilogy would have had its inevitable flaws highlighted on the internet does not mean the ones being highlighted for the real sequel trilogy don't exist, and basically by definition this forum is going to have a lot of arcane technical and/or abstract philosophical criticism of literally any new Star Wars content. The new movies have been fairly average, which is fine - by near definition, most things are mostly average. But if not by definition, then at least by obvious inference we're all going to hyperselect for criticism on obscure grounds over lukewarm praise. The bar for praise is high, and Disney have not earned themselves any goodwill whatsoever since taking over, so everything gets looked at with fewer blinders than if e.g. Lucas had made the same movies.

[KraytKing]

She reversed the ship and stepped on the gas.

And managed to precisely aim it, pulling off a never-before seen maneuver in the process...

This is getting off-topic, and I'd rather this tangent end here or go to another thread, but I must say I find the need of some fans to bash every aspect of a character or film they don't like deeply frustrating. Its not enough for you not to like it, its not enough for it to be bad, even. No, everyone must agree that every single aspect of the character/film sucks, no matter how small.

Its just tiresome, and it has steadily eroded any respect or affection that I once had for Star Wars fandom in general.

It's a question of wording, I would say. In Star Wars, the difference in piloting capital warships and piloting starfighters is extreme, but both are referred to with the same word. So, while she may be skilled at running a bridge, that is no indication of ability to fly an X-Wing. Additionally, even skill at piloting a capital ship may not be indicative of being able to fly one alone. To fly alone, you must not only be able to aim the ship, but also able to do the myriad tasks usually delegated away from the pilot.

I take issue with this idea that these massive, complex warships could be run by small crews, as few as one. I have taken issue with this since time immemorial, and I will continue to find it distasteful for as long as I can foresee, barring exceptional circumstance. If she wanted to do something like that, she should have needed a crew of hundreds to follow her into oblivion, given what we know of Star Wars.

[Patroklos]

Gents, take it from someone who drives warships. For simple maneuvers one person can do it. The extra people are there for redundancy, error reduction, and to do things other than driving. From what I could tell the Raddus was doing no fighting during the manuever. We get a good bit of screen time with Holdo too, she isn’t rushing from console to console doing the job of ten crewmen. She is just manning the helm, the job of one crewmen (sometimes two, but that’s rare these days)

Many nations have as little as two people on their warship bridge in normal circumstances. Most merchants have one. Some have none.

The manning issue here is not the bridge. It’s engineering. But even then only because of the hyperspace jump. Merchants normally don’t man engineering 27/7 these days, the spaces are monitored by video at night.

[The Romulan Republic]

To which I would add that Star Wars ships are probably more automated than modern ships, or at least the ought to be, given the technological capabilities.

[Esquire]

To which I would add that Star Wars ships are probably more automated than modern ships, or at least the ought to be, given the technological capabilities.

I don't know, I always got kinda the opposite impression. Partly because the original source material is from the 70s, obviously, but in-universe there's anti-droid bias to consider as well as discipline-through-makework. I vaguely recall that somebody ran the numvers by volume, and found that e.g. an ISD is overmanned compared to a modern warship.

[The Romulan Republic]

To which I would add that Star Wars ships are probably more automated than modern ships, or at least the ought to be, given the technological capabilities.

I don't know, I always got kinda the opposite impression. Partly because the original source material is from the 70s, obviously, but in-universe there's anti-droid bias to consider as well as discipline-through-makework. I vaguely recall that somebody ran the numvers by volume, and found that e.g. an ISD is overmanned compared to a modern warship.

Hmm. Was that taking into account the large percentage of an ISD's compliment which is composed of ground troops, not guys actually operating the ship?

And yeah, there's the cultural phobia of droids thing, but on the flip-side, we saw the CIS using nearly all-droid crews in the Clone Wars. So clearly it can be done. And I'd also say the very fact that Holdo was able to solo operate the Raadus, even a little, indicates a high degree of automation.

[FaxModem1]

To which I would add that Star Wars ships are probably more automated than modern ships, or at least the ought to be, given the technological capabilities.

I don't know, I always got kinda the opposite impression. Partly because the original source material is from the 70s, obviously, but in-universe there's anti-droid bias to consider as well as discipline-through-makework. I vaguely recall that somebody ran the numvers by volume, and found that e.g. an ISD is overmanned compared to a modern warship.

Hmm. Was that taking into account the large percentage of an ISD's compliment which is composed of ground troops, not guys actually operating the ship?

And yeah, there's the cultural phobia of droids thing, but on the flip-side, we saw the CIS using nearly all-droid crews in the Clone Wars. So clearly it can be done. And I'd also say the very fact that Holdo was able to solo operate the Raadus, even a little, indicates a high degree of automation.

That could also be due to jury-rigging, as the crew were already planning on evacuating to Crait anyway, and wanted the ship to be able to keep on going with minimal people doing anything. Because even an idiot like Hux would want to know why the Raddus just stopped next to a habitable planet.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, I know sci-fi tends to ignore this, but wouldn't the ship just keep going on its original heading if left unmanned? Its not like there's anything to slow it down in the vacuum of space.

The real reason to have someone on board (grim though it is) is to activate the self-destruct so Hux can't take the ship intact and figure out that there's nobody left on board (a point raised earlier in this thread).

[FaxModem1]

Well, I know sci-fi tends to ignore this, but wouldn't the ship just keep going on its original heading if left unmanned? Its not like there's anything to slow it down in the vacuum of space.

The real reason to have someone on board (grim though it is) is to activate the self-destruct so Hux can't take the ship intact and figure out that there's nobody left on board (a point raised earlier in this thread).

Slow it down? No. Prevent it from continuing to accelerate so that it can't be overtaken by the First Order? Yes.

That's my justification anyway.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, I know sci-fi tends to ignore this, but wouldn't the ship just keep going on its original heading if left unmanned? Its not like there's anything to slow it down in the vacuum of space.

The real reason to have someone on board (grim though it is) is to activate the self-destruct so Hux can't take the ship intact and figure out that there's nobody left on board (a point raised earlier in this thread).

Slow it down? No. Prevent it from continuing to accelerate so that it can't be overtaken by the First Order? Yes.

That's my justification anyway.

Yeah, I guess that works too.

[Patroklos]

Movement in SW has always been screwy. Ironically this is was probably the best movie that portrayed it until the end. The chase actually made sense, with the Raddus having the greater acceleration but matching the Supremacy's top burn once at the separation distance they needed to be safe and then having to maintain that burn leading to the fuel situation.

One might ask why the Supremacy would not have greater acceleration than the Raddus volume for volume. The better question is why all the attending Resurgents seem to have the same acceleration as the Supremacy.

However at the end when Holdo takes a vector significantly not coincident to the Supremacy's (and eventually opposite), she should have been instantly run over. These ships have been burning for days, with presumably the FO burning at max capacity. The second the Raddus stops burning with her Supremacy would have closed those dozen odd km in less than a blink of an eye.

Even using wonky SW space movement, the Supremacy had been actively trying to close the separation to close to zero for days. Supremacy should have been on Raddus immediately,

Also, why do they need someone there to self destruct the ship? The thing should be full to the gills with unused star fighter munitions, it should be simple to set those up on a timer matching the fuel burn. The simple fact is nobody needed to be on the ship, I accept that someone stayed behind to pilot it as a drama device. The following events not so much.