Boarding Technic

[el blanco]

Has it ever been stated whether or not the breach we saw at the begining of ANH was the only breach of Tantive IV? It kind of bugs me when you figure that there must have been multiple entries to the ship, the empire had a huge numerical superiority, and modern SWAT teams rely on speed and shock to take down entrenched tangos( breach as many places and scare the hell out of the enemy).

It also bothered me we don't see any grenades or some kind of flash bang device during the attack.

Has this been adressed in the novelization or ICS?

[Trytostaydead]

No idea, but IIRC a corellian corvette doesn't have much of a crew at any rate, and probably that was most of the security crew and the rest were busy at their stations.. or trying to flee.

[The Original Nex]

Has it ever been stated whether or not the breach we saw at the begining of ANH was the only breach of Tantive IV? It kind of bugs me when you figure that there must have been multiple entries to the ship, the empire had a huge numerical superiority, and modern SWAT teams rely on speed and shock to take down entrenched tangos( breach as many places and scare the hell out of the enemy).

I'd be suprised if there was only one breach.

It also bothered me we don't see any grenades or some kind of flash bang device during the attack.

They didn't want to risk heavily damaging any computer systems as the main reason they boarded was to extract information from it.

Has this been adressed in the novelization or ICS?

I don't believe so, but someone else could confirm it....

[Panzer Grenadier]

The big blast when the stormtroopers cut their way inside probably did the job that a flashbang or grenade would have done.

[Elfdart]

I agree about the door breach being the equivalent of a flashbang -notice the Rebels flinching away from it? A grenade in such a confined area could literally blow up in the stormtroopers' faces.

Besides, it looks like the door was a part of a standardized boarding corridor. From the ICS, this model of ship is pretty common, so the Imperials probably know the layout of the interior and decided to bullrush and repelling parties and take the corridor straight to the bridge and other key areas. Considering the opposition (on a spy ship they knew was from Alderaan) was squad or two of security guards armed only with pistols, it was a pretty sound plan for taking the ship intact.

[Knife]

Well, the size of the target vessel really doesn't give you much in the way of insertion points. The two main docking rings are really just across the street from each other, so assulting both docking ports at the same time puts your own troops in their own crossfire. Bad Ju Ju.

The use of a flashbang in modern MOUT is a distraction device, meant to get peoples attension off the entry point, so the entry team can make a clean entry and start traversing their assigned fields of fire.

Since the door 'blew up' and caused alot of smoke, noise, and bright light that made the defenders flinch, this was accomplished.


The ICS indicated that the bording was done via a 'boarding TIE ship' rather than some sort of gangway from the SD attaching itself to the corvette.

[Elfdart]

Which I think is silly. Aside from the fact that there's no hint of such craft in the movie (when you can see the part of the Blockade Runner where these TIEs supposedly docked). How many men can fit in one of those things? There were dozens of stormtroopers who boarded the ship. One TIE docks, unloads, then another? Why the Rube Goldberg method when an extended tunnel from the ISD would be so much easier? Besides, I always thought the bad guys entered through that giant pincer in the main hangar.

[Sea Skimmer]

Which I think is silly. Aside from the fact that there's no hint of such craft in the movie (when you can see the part of the Blockade Runner where these TIEs supposedly docked).

I'm pretty sure the TIE boarding craft where actually mentioned in one version of the script and the concept was then taken up by the EU from their.

How many men can fit in one of those things? There were dozens of stormtroopers who boarded the ship. One TIE docks, unloads, then another?

Well logically each vessel would have a hatch at each end of its passenger pod, so they could simply link up in a chain.

Why the Rube Goldberg method when an extended tunnel from the ISD would be so much easier? Besides, I always thought the bad guys entered through that giant pincer in the main hangar.

Asmall boarding ship is far more flexible. An extending tunnel arm would need to be able to move very complexly in ordered to mate up with whoever the docking hatch is on a captured ship. And since a big ship that requires a big boarding party probably wouldn't and couldn't be pulled into the hanger, the capacity limitation of using small ships matters less.

Not to mention, providing the enemy with a route back into your own ship just isn't a good idea. You never know what might be onboard.

[Robert Treder]

Not to mention, providing the enemy with a route back into your own ship just isn't a good idea. You never know what might be onboard.

For serious. Boarding a Star Wars ship isn't my idea of fun: the defenders might be a senator's bodyguards, armed with pistols and carbines if you're lucky ... but if they're hardened rebel zealots, and your boarding action is giving them the choice between dying alone and dying with you, you might just end up meeting something like this bad boy on the other end of the airlock.

[VT-16]

For those with special interest in the subject :

http://www.theforce.net/swtc/tie.html#tieboarding

[Elfdart]

I could see how these TIEs would be used for pinpoint attacks on certain areas of the ship, or on ships that won't fit into the hangar. They could hit a dozen or so places at the same time. But the Blockade Runner easily fits inside the main hangar and the stormtroopers entered a standard doorway. Wouldn't it be easier to simply extend the gangplank and storm the ship with twenty, fifty or a hundred men at once? From what is shown in the movie, the stormtroopers all entered the corridor and fanned out from there.

[Freeman's Trigger-Finger]

It also bothered me we don't see any grenades or some kind of flash bang device during the attack.

Aside from obviously not wanting to cause damage to onboard computer terminals and the like, as has already been mentioned, a long distance explosive would probaly be a possible threat to the outside docking bay of the SD, seeing as how Tantive IV was quite obviously docked in it via the tractor beam.

Another reason might be because of the fact that Vader was planning to board after the ship had been succesfully breached, and in the case of a chemical explosive going of, the excess fumes or residue toxins could prove dangerous to both his breathing and life support apparatus, not to mention the unprotected luitenant's which were involved in the insertion.

[YT300000]

the excess fumes or residue toxins could prove dangerous to both his breathing and life support apparatus

Unless they're plank gas, that would be really unlikely...

[vakundok]

In the novelization, the two ships (Tantive IV and Devastator) were attached by a tube, in the screenplay (at least in the SE version) there is no mention of it (neither boarding crafts). Again in the novelization, as I remember the stormtroopers quickly splitt up and went even vertically, so they opened a hole in the roof of a corridor and jumped through it (unsure whether it was the upper hull of the ship). Actually, it was one of the parts those were better in the novelization. (In my opinion, off course.) In earlier drafts, it was even better, the two ships only approached each other and the stormtroopers flew through space. (Sadly, they faced seekers ...)