Super Star Destroyer

[YT300000]

Executor-class ships are meant to be command ships. While in combat they could do very well, with their nearly-impenetrable shielding that only massive assaults can bring down, it is not designed to be constantly fighting. Some of these ships are refitted, with more guns put in to make them more formidable, but usually Vengeance, Eclipse, Sovereign, etc. SSD's would be used for direct combat.

That bit on the shielding is very much incorrect. It takes a mere 6 ISD or Mon Cal cruiser level ships to knock out the shields of an Executor. Executors have fewer weapons then they should, they mount only the same weapons as smaller ships rather then larger weapons (IE, mini super lasers), their armor is not significantly different then ISDs. Executors are very much command ships as well as heavy carriers.

An SSD has ~ the firepower of a fleet (6) of ISDs. It has sheilds a lot stronger. About 15 Calamari Cruisers of various types were pounding on it at once.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Umm, the empire has a fuckload more then just 25,000 destroyers. ISDs are cruisers. Given the bare minimum number of total ships listed for the Empire, the ISD most definately is NOT a destroyer. It merely means the Sovereign is a super battleship and the Eclipse just magnitudes higher.

With all the observed ship classes, the Imperator-class falls into the midrange scale and generally would be associated as a lighter vessel like a destroyer. Neither destroyer nor cruiser in the classic wet navy sense well-define the Imperator-class designation.

The Imperator, in a "yesterday's war" sense, was designed as a destroyer. However, in meeting new capabilities it dedicated much volume and operations to C4I, carrier/troopship duties, and interdiction/law enforcement, etc. The agility and high-hyperspeed remind one of its destroyer roots however.

The Imperator-class Mark I is the first step in the transition. It appears based on perhaps the heavy destroyers of yesteryear; a huge Victory-class. It begins to show its new role above.

The Imperator-class Mark II is definitely more of a destroyer shoehorned into a battleship or heavy cruiser when compared against Rebel Star Cruisers. It has flexible and impressive anti-ship weaponry.

The destroyer designation is further supported by Imperator-like vessels which appear to occupy true destroyer roles in fleets. The destroyer varient which appeared escorting Admiral Giel's battleship in its quest for the Teezl, is such an example.

However, the matter of numbers is quite misleading. The cited quote from Admiral Pelleaon is already flawed--he states that the Empire dominated 1 million worlds, where we already know that the total number of worlds was over 50 million--and must be reinterpreted as it is. To suggest that the 25,000 figure is somehow the sacrosant part of the quote, even though it is contradicted by WEG scale materials which indicate no less than 48,000 Imperator-class vessels, and the Starfleet/Navy duality is dubious. The actual number of Imperator-class Star Destroyers, much less the other varients of Star Destroyer such as the Victory- and Alleagance-class, is probably much higher.

Furthermore, the KDY "Star Battlecruisers," "Star Dreadnoughts," and the Calamarian "Star Cruisers" obviously indicate a nomenclature where the "Star Destroyer" label indicates that the Imperator, is, in fact, a destroyer.

I choose to ignore erroneous WEG claims of "Super-class Star Destroyers" and the like because they are the disfigured children of the "5-mile fallacy" and not based on correct in-film references, where the Executor is repetatively and more commonly addressed as a "command ship."

Keep in mind what I am saying: the Imperator might be labeled by KDY and perhaps utilized in the grandiose Giel-style armadas as fleet destroyers, but that doesn't mean they were always or even often utilized in that role. Against minimalistic Rebel vessels and threats, they usually occupied all manner of roles as the primier Imperial ship-of-the-line.

[NecronLord]

Prehaps it has the capability to build vessels in that bay?

(note this is just a thought experiment, I know this particular abiliy is questionable at best, though it is interesting)

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Tec ... ower2.html

1E25 watts

Taking that as the peak reactor output of an Imperator we can safely multiply that by ten for the excecutor we have 1E26 watts

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Sci ... tants.html

9E16 J/kg

1*10^26/9*10^16 =

10000000000000000000000000/90000000000000000

111111111.1recurring Kg per second.

We don't know that the empire has the capability to produce matter from energy (though this may be a meathod of operation for duplicators) but it would be possible for the power core of an excecutor to produce multi-megatonne mass ships in minutes. (though it would realistically take hours or days to assemble them, as this would only produce raw materials.)

[NecronLord]

It's also worth noting that the Vengance has a similarly gigantihuge ventral cavity that could be used for a similar purpose.

This could also explain the very rapid construction of the Death Star II despite the lack of exterior facilities. They built the reactor and duplicators, and let the DS churn out its own raw materials...

[Alyeska]

Executor-class ships are meant to be command ships. While in combat they could do very well, with their nearly-impenetrable shielding that only massive assaults can bring down, it is not designed to be constantly fighting. Some of these ships are refitted, with more guns put in to make them more formidable, but usually Vengeance, Eclipse, Sovereign, etc. SSD's would be used for direct combat.

That bit on the shielding is very much incorrect. It takes a mere 6 ISD or Mon Cal cruiser level ships to knock out the shields of an Executor. Executors have fewer weapons then they should, they mount only the same weapons as smaller ships rather then larger weapons (IE, mini super lasers), their armor is not significantly different then ISDs. Executors are very much command ships as well as heavy carriers.

An SSD has ~ the firepower of a fleet (6) of ISDs. It has sheilds a lot stronger. About 15 Calamari Cruisers of various types were pounding on it at once.

Incorrect. An SSD has maybe the firepower of 12 ISD level ships due to its HTL counts. Its shields are far inferior. I have already detailed this on the SSD. It takes only about a half dozen ships with fighter compliments to overwhelm and destroy an Executor.

[Darth Wong]

Incorrect. An SSD has maybe the firepower of 12 ISD level ships due to its HTL counts. Its shields are far inferior.

From the same official sources of those HTL counts, we know that an SSD can survive a squad of ISD's crashing into it as they come out of hyperspace. Its shields are hardly inferior.

I have already detailed this on the SSD. It takes only about a half dozen ships with fighter compliments to overwhelm and destroy an Executor.

That seems like a serious underestimate. But I'd say that the Executor's poor showing at Endor was probably due to the fact that it was designed for long-range combat, and could not bring many of its heavy weapons to bear on Rebel ships moving around its firing arcs at point-blank range.

[Alyeska]

Incorrect. An SSD has maybe the firepower of 12 ISD level ships due to its HTL counts. Its shields are far inferior.

From the same official sources of those HTL counts, we know that an SSD can survive a squad of ISD's crashing into it as they come out of hyperspace. Its shields are hardly inferior.

Actualy there is one canon source and two EU novel sources that mostly agree on the level of shielding an Executor has. The canon source is ROTJ. The Executor only had ~6 Mon Cal cruisers near by pounding on it. Thats all that knocked its shields out. Prior to that the Rebel fleet hadn't been giving the Executor much thought.

That seems like a serious underestimate. But I'd say that the Executor's poor showing at Endor was probably due to the fact that it was designed for long-range combat, and could not bring many of its heavy weapons to bear on Rebel ships moving around its firing arcs at point-blank range.

More then just that. The Executor has a fair weapons load and that alone can take on fairly large fleets. What handicaped the Executor was the orders it was under. That is what hurt the entire fleet. It allowed the Rebel fleet to close range and take advantage of multiple problems. That said, it still shows the Executor has grossly weaker shields in comparison to its relative weapons loadout.

[NecronLord]

Alyeska, The rebel fleet concentrated all firepower on the Excecutor for around 5-10 minutes during the battle of endor. Including Home One, The heaviest warship the rebellion had.



The rebel fleet distances itself from the DS2 explosion. All of these (and more) were concentrating their weapons on the Excecutor, and it's sheild dissapation capacity was only marginally exceeded (as evidenced by the fact that Ackbar didn't order a small contignet of "half a dozen ships" to destroy it but ordered the entire rebel fleet to attack it.) by the entire rebel fleet. I count more than 'half a dozen' there.

[Alyeska]

Alyeska, The rebel fleet concentrated all firepower on the Excecutor for around 5-10 minutes during the battle of endor. Including Home One, The heaviest warship the rebellion had.



The rebel fleet distances itself from the DS2 explosion. All of these (and more) were concentrating their weapons on the Excecutor, and it's sheild dissapation capacity was only marginally exceeded (as evidenced by the fact that Ackbar didn't order a small contignet of "half a dozen ships" to destroy it but ordered the entire rebel fleet to attack it.) by the entire rebel fleet. I count more than 'half a dozen' there.

All of those? You have no idea where those ships were in relation to the Executor as of that time. Your making pure assumption here. Based on the SSD bridge scenes as well as cuts from various angles we can deduce that half a dozen Mon Cals were pounding on it at best. That fleet scene you have only shows what part of there fleet looked like after it ran from the DS2 at full speed.

[NecronLord]

Concentrate all firepower on that super star destroyer

We saw the positions of the rebel and imperial fleet shortly before that. Unless you think that

A) for some reason half the rebel fleet decided to scoot away round Endor.
(Which was IIRC after they were ordered to close with the imperials)

B) Imperial ECM is so good that the rebels can't hit a 17Km ship from anything but point blank range.

It is clearly the intent of that dialogue that Ackbar orders every rebel ship to attack the Excecutor.

(PS. Please don't quote images)

[Alyeska]

Concentrate all firepower on that super star destroyer

We saw the positions of the rebel and imperial fleet shortly before that. Unless you think that

A) for some reason half the rebel fleet decided to scoot away round Endor.
(Which was IIRC after they were ordered to close with the imperials)

B) Imperial ECM is so good that the rebels can't hit a 17Km ship from anything but point blank range.

It is clearly the intent of that dialogue that Ackbar orders every rebel ship to attack the Excecutor.

(PS. Please don't quote images)

Given the acceleration rates its entirely possible the Rebel fleet brought itself closer together while fleeting.

We know prior to Ackbars claims that the Executor was not being concentrated upon heavily. Thus any damage it recieved prior was moderate which allowed the local cruisers to start finishing its shields when Ackbar gave the order.

Of course you ignore the fact that imediately after Ackbar makes that statement the Executor goes down hard. The fleet didn't have time to engage the Executor. All that engaged the Executor were the near by ships.

[NecronLord]

We know prior to Ackbars claims that the Executor was not being concentrated upon heavily. Thus any damage it recieved prior was moderate which allowed the local cruisers to start finishing its shields when Ackbar gave the order.

What's your point? The rebel fleet's firepower only marginally exceed the excecutor's dissapation rate, as huge chunks aren't blown out of her by the rebel firepower.

Of course you ignore the fact that imediately after Ackbar makes that statement the Executor goes down hard. The fleet didn't have time to engage the Executor. All that engaged the Executor were the near by ships.

I don't ignore the fact. Imperial shields work as a power output, you must exceed the power output of that sheild section in order to damage the ship beneath. The rebel's firepower in that instance was sufficient to overload the bridge sheild...

127 INT REBEL STAR CRUISER - BRIDGE 127

ACKBAR
We've got to give those fighters more time.
Concentrate all fire on that Super Star
Destroyer.

X-wings pilots head across the surface of the huge battleship.

128 INT VADER'S STAR DESTROYER - BRIDGE 128

Admiral Piett and a commander stand at the window, looking out to
the battle. They look concerned.

CONTROLLER
Sir, we've lost our bridge deflector shield.

PIETT
Intensify the forward batteries. I don't want
anything to get through.

The commander is looking out of the window where a damaged Rebel
fighter is out of control and heading directly toward the bridge.

PIETT
Intensify forward firepower!

COMMANDER
It's too late!

The Rebel pilot screams as his ship hits the Star Destroyer,
causing a huge explosion. The giant battle ship loses control,
crashes into the Death Star, and explodes.

here

The combined efforts of the rebel fleet manage to destroy a single sheild section of the Excecutor, and then only because the emperor's orders have allowed them to get in close enough to descriminate the bridge for fire. The excecutor was destroyed by a freak combination of Imperial Decree, accurate fire and an A-wing on a freak vector. Not the massively overwhelming firepower of the rebel fleet.

Now, what was your reason for suggesting that the rebel ships are all in a position to be unable to hit the Excecutor?

[Alyeska]

Now, what was your reason for suggesting that the rebel ships are all in a position to be unable to hit the Excecutor?

Simple line of sight. The other ships were to busy engaging other imperial ships and were not in proper position to engage the Executor.

Also, I would like a screen shot of the heavily damaged Executor. I have seen this claim multiple times and have yet to actualy see it myself. Mind you I have the Asian SE DVD rip and its not in there.

Furthermore, this still proves that the Executors shields were sufficently weak enough that a half dozen cruisers are able to knock it out. This is further supported by Bacta War and Ion Fist.

[NecronLord]

The rebel ships could easily move into position to attack the Excecutor.

What heavily damaged Excecutor? I never claimed anything about such a ship. I said it was not heavily damaged.



It can be clearly seen here that there is no noticable damage to the dorsal city sprawl or armour.

Bullshit. they destroyed one sheild section and inflicted minor damage. The Excecutor was only destroyed because it crashed into the death star before the aux bridge could take control.

[Tribun]

The rebel ships could easily move into position to attack the Excecutor.

What heavily damaged Excecutor? I never claimed anything about such a ship. I said it was not heavily damaged.



It can be clearly seen here that there is no noticable damage to the dorsal city sprawl or armour.

Bullshit. they destroyed one sheild section and inflicted minor damage. The Excecutor was only destroyed because it crashed into the death star before the aux bridge could take control.

This scene is one of the reasons, I don't really like ROTJ. It was totally unbelivable for me, that such a simple crash into the bridge caused the shipd to simply fall down. The destruction of the Executor was one of the worst scenes in the entire movie, and ranks on #2 on my "ugly in ROTJ"-List, only topped by the idiotic Ewoks.
What made me angy was also, that the Rebels were shown as people, who dance on other peoples graves when they cheer over the soon-death of 250.000 men. That scene did it, that I disgusted the Rebels and thier ugly "New Republic" (in which they include all faults of the old one) forever.

[consequences]

Not to mention the fact that the rebels celebrate the death of probably billions whenever they kill a Death Star. Would it really have hurt them to transmit saying 'hey you are going to explode' immediately after Luke successfully launches Proton torpedos?

[Tribun]

At http://www.geocities.com/imperialchicks/piettfic.htm
I found in a fanfic something interesting:

“The Super Star Destroyer is going down.” Telsar reported excitedly. “You have to come and watch.”
For a moment Mon Mothma considered staying where she was, but Telsar would be greatly disappointed if she refused to come along, and … at least she would see some part of the fight going on around them. She got up and followed Telsar out of the room.
“Hurry, you don’t want to miss it.” Telsar was running along the corridor to the observation room. “Come on.” Mon Mothma hurried but she did not feel like running. As usual she thought that Telsar should not be here at all, children had no place here, they should be somewhere safe, not in the middle of a battle. But Captain Notika had been adamant that his daughter should be with him. He had good reasons of course. His entire family, his wife and his two sons had been killed by stromtroopers during a raid on his house. Killed because he was fighting in the Rebellion. Telsar had been shot and left for dead as well but she had survived. Still Mon Mothma felt unhappy about it. At least the mass invasion of families she had feared this precedent would bring had not occurred, most of the Rebels, herself included, did not have any family. The observation room was overcrowded with people, some like her had merely political functions in the Rebellion, but there were also some injured pilots and some who were just off duty and should be in bed now. Instead they were all staring out of the huge viewports, watching the spectacle outside. Gods, she had not known they were that close to the Imperial fleet. She had been told that they were engaging the fleet directly but she had not thought that meant they would literally fly into the midst of the Imperial fleet. Mon Mothma found herself staring like everybody else. Specks of light indicated the fighters who were hit and destroyed. Then her eyes were caught by the Super Star Destroyer, which was indeed ‘going down’. Flames were leaping out of various bits of the huge ship, explosions shaking its hull. It was slowly turning and falling, falling towards the Death Star which was sitting like a giant’s toy next to the moon. Small dots were emerging from it, some of them the last of the fighters still aboard, but there were also escape pods. The Super Star Destroyer was still surrounded by Rebel fighters that were shooting at everything coming out, TIE fighters and escape pods. Mon Mothma suppressed a sigh. Shooting escape pods was strictly against orders, but what could she do? She had been told repeatedly that in a battle situation there often was just not the time to first find out what was emergingd from an enemy ship, and most people just did not want to take the risk. She knew that not all those escape pods were shot accidentally. Captain Notika was not the only Rebel who had lost family or friends to the Empire and some of the pilots were not forgiving enough to pass up an opportunity to kill any of the hated Imperials.
Mon Mothma slowly crossed the room. The people assembled there made room for her, letting her pass right to the front. Telsar was standing at the viewport, her nose pressed against the glass. The vastness of space outside gave Mon Mothma a weird feeling of vertigo. Of course she would not fall out, even though the Death Star and the forest moon hanging in front of them made her feel that this direction must be down.
The Super Star Destroyer crashed into the Death Star, disintegrating in a massive explosion.
“Pretty!” Telsar stared with wide eyes.
There was a bizarre beauty in the destruction, the gigantic ship burying itself into the station like an arrow into a giant apple. But Mon Mothma could not help thinking of all those men aboard the huge ship who were dying. There were thousands of troops on these ships. Most of the pilots would be outside by now but the Star Destroyers were also carried huge numbers of ground troops. Some had perhaps had the chance to get to the transport ships, but most of them would not have had a chance to escape. Mon Mothma closed her eyes for a second and said a short but fervent prayer for the dead.
“The Death Star’s shield must be down.”
Mon Mothma turned to find who said that. It was a pilot, injured probably during a recent skirmish, sitting in one of the chairs in the front row. She gave Mon Mothma a lop-sided grin.
“Otherwise the Super Star Destroyer would not have hit the thing as hard as it did.”
Mon Mothma nodded. She knew she was more or less completely useless where military things were concerned but sometimes she was still annoyed by her ignorance.
“They’re in view of the reactor now,” somebody announced.
Were they actually going to make it? Destroy the second Death Star with the Emperor on board? Or would Palpatine flee when he noticed what was going on?
Mon Mothma stared at the grey shape of the Death Star. Fires were still raging where the Super Star Destroyer had exploded, fuelled by the oxygen escaping the damaged battle station. It was too far away to make out details, there were too many ships swarming around the imperial battle station for her to see which of them were their own ships, which were imperial ships, which of them were emerging from the Death Star and which were disappearing into its structure.
A hush fell over the assembly, nobody moved and after some time Mon Mothma realized that she was holding her breath. Stay calm, she told herself. Whatever happens will happen. And there is nothing you can do.
She drew her eyes away from the viewport and looked around. She was the only person in the room who did that. At the end of the room, next to some computer equipment an elderly Bothan was listening to some transmission he received through headphones he was pressing to his head, his eyes fixed on the Death Star. He was probably the person who had announced that Lando Calrissian and his unit had started their attack. Suddenly his face lit up and Mon Mothma knew they made it, even before he started shouting on the top of his lungs. “A hit! They hit the power core! They made it!”
The silence of the observation desk was shattered as everybody started shouting and screaming.
Seconds later the Death Star exploded. For a few moments the pandemonium died down, only to be renewed even louder. Telsar threw her arms around Mon Mothma’s waist, squeezing her face into the folds of her robe. Mon Mothma could not hear what she was saying. She did not know what to do, so she awkwardly patted Telsar’s back.
Somebody was clapping her on the shoulder as if she had herself actively taken part in the destruction of the Death Star. The injured pilot was standing shakily on her feet, shaking her fist against the debris of the Death Star. Her face was contorted in hatred as she wished the Emperor into the deepest pits of hell. There was something deeply disquieting about this display of raw emotions. There was so much hatred around, on their side as well as on the Empire’s. So much death.
How many thousands had just now died with the second Death Star? Could any moral qualms about the regime of the Emperor justify all the millions that had died during the Rebellion. Most of the men on the Death Star, after all, had not volunteered to be there. It was not possible to weigh the millions who died on Aldaraan against those who died now on the Death Star, every one of them was one too many.
The cheering around her was enervating. How could all those people be actually happy?
Mon Mothma disentangled herself from Telsar’s embrace. She had to leave. Of course she was happy that they had won, she knew that there had been no other way to fight against the Emperor. After all, she had tried. It was useless to ponder whether there would have been more or less dead if they had not started the uprising against the tyranny of the Emperor. But she couldn’t help thinking that there must have been some other way.
If she could only know that the Emperor had indeed been on the Death Star and had been killed, perhaps then she could find the sacrifice of those thousands justified. But it could be days or even weeks until they were certain that the Emperor was dead. As for Darth Vader, he was nearly as dangerous as the Emperor. If he had not been on the Super Star Destroyer, if he had survived he would have the strength to rally the distintegrating Empire around him. If only those two, Palpatine and Vader were dead, then they had a real chance.
The people around her were too excited to notice that she wanted to get through, she had to push her way through the milling crowd. Her anguish must be clearly visible on her face, she could hear somebody asking perplexed: “What’s the matter with her now?”
“Women.” Somebody else answered. “Hormones are probably acting up.”
The Emperor obviously had no exclusive rights on sexism.

[NecronLord]

That is not a crime. In time of war the law falls silent. Particularly on killing enemy men under arms. With the exception of the clones aboard, every man and woman on both the excecutor had chosen to serve in the millitary. They understood that they might be killed when they signed on.

I don't feel sorry for the nazis in Stalingrad either...

Now Aldreann. That's bad. IIRC the Excecutor was also responsible for the destruction of at least one planet.

Normal morality tends to go on holiday when the other side is shooting at you.

[/quote]It was totally unbelivable for me, that such a simple crash into the bridge caused the shipd to simply fall down.[/quote] The ship was hovering at very low altitude over something with the surface gravity of earth...

[Tribun]

The ship was hovering at very low altitude over something with the surface gravity of earth...

I should formulate it different:

Why the fuck did the repulsorlifts shut down, when the bridge is hit?! It is common Imperial practice, that the machines on starships are as autonomous aus possible. There is no logical explanation for shutdown of the repulsors only because the bridge is hit.
This scene was only in the movie for worshipping the Rebellion. Or, if the movies ARE historical documents of the NR, simple Rebel propaganda.

[Patrick Ogaard]

The ship was hovering at very low altitude over something with the surface gravity of earth...

I should formulate it different:

Why the fuck did the repulsorlifts shut down, when the bridge is hit?! It is common Imperial practice, that the machines on starships are as autonomous aus possible. There is no logical explanation for shutdown of the repulsors only because the bridge is hit.
This scene was only in the movie for worshipping the Rebellion. Or, if the movies ARE historical documents of the NR, simple Rebel propaganda.

Actually, the likeliest explanation for the collision is sheer bad luck. Common US Navy doctrine calls for the folks running the engines to run them full throttle if the bridge is knocked out, until control is reestablished. The idea is that a ship that is dead in the water is...dead.

It was the Executor's bad luck that the drift of battle had placed the Executor close enough to the station that it managed to slam directly into the station when the ship's engines were set to full thrust. The fact that the station apparently maintained a surface gravity field probably didn't help things much.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

[Isolder74]

What made me angy was also, that the Rebels were shown as people, who dance on other peoples graves when they cheer over the soon-death of 250.000 men. That scene did it, that I disgusted the Rebels and thier ugly "New Republic" (in which they include all faults of the old one) forever.

I guess the Japanese celebrating the thousands they killed on the Arizona is bad. I guess the British celebrating the sinking of the Bismark, Sharnhorst, and the Tirpitz was bad. I guess the American celebrating the sinking of the Yamamoto, the Musashi, and the carriers sunk at the battle of Midway was bad.

This is war! People on a warship are in the line of fire and they know that they might die in battle. I guess the celebrations at the end of all of the major wars in history was bad because they are dancing on the graves of those who die in them. Your statment makes no sense!

[consequences]

Yes, the celebrations of all of those events was bad morally speaking. Celebrating the end of a war is one thing, the ending of lives another.

You didn't see Tarkin shout "Yes!" and do a victory dance when he blew up Alderaan, did you? The ending of enemy life is necessary, it is not required to revel in it.

[Isolder74]

Yes, the celebrations of all of those events was bad morally speaking. Celebrating the end of a war is one thing, the ending of lives another.

You didn't see Tarkin shout "Yes!" and do a victory dance when he blew up Alderaan, did you? The ending of enemy life is necessary, it is not required to revel in it.

So celebrating a victory, any victory is evil? That's ridiculous!

[consequences]

If you are going to claim to cherish human life, no, it isn't.

That said, I'm likely to make it a point to desecrate my enemies corpses, but I don't try to claim that I'm a nice person either.

[Stravo]

Yes, the celebrations of all of those events was bad morally speaking. Celebrating the end of a war is one thing, the ending of lives another.

You didn't see Tarkin shout "Yes!" and do a victory dance when he blew up Alderaan, did you? The ending of enemy life is necessary, it is not required to revel in it.

You did see people singing and dancing when the Wall fell. Its not so much celebrating the death of soldiers as the fall of something evil. When Berlin fell there was a lot of celebrating by Allied troops. After Japan surrendered the celebration in the streets of New York were epic but no one equates that celebration with the deaths incurred. Remeber by the end of ROTJ we had a nice neat wrapped ending, so there was no time or need to show the long battles to finish off the rest of the Empire. It was celebration time, the end was finally in sight.