Tarkin responsible for Death Star destruction

[wdmundt]

I've been saying all along that the members of the Palpatine Administration are incompetent. Now I read that Grand Moff Tarkin personally canceled the close fighter defense system for the Death Star months before the station was destroyed by just such an attack.

You'd have to be stupid to go at it head on. That's what the deflector field is for," said Grand Moff Tarkin.

www.galactictimes.net/ -- archive --issue 5

Throw the bums out, I sez!

[Jason]

Not only were they incompetent, but they didn't learn from their mistake. The second one didn't have a workable anti-fighter system either.

[Al Johnston]

To be fair, the second one wasn't finished ...

[Jason]

Tarkin lied, stormtroopers died!

[wdmundt]

What did Tarkin know, and when did he know it?

[Jason]

If you listen to the Star Wars radio show, you hear a scene between Tarkin and General Motti (the guy who Vader choked earlier) where Tarkin is well aware that the Rebels have a good chance of destroying the Death Star and is ready to evacuate, but Motti convinces him that if he leaves for every attack on the station it will weaken his chance to later use his control of the Death Star to leverage himself a position of equal power with the Emperor. After their discussion Tarkin pretends to be fully confident that the Rebels will fail to the younger officer who asks him if he wants to evacuate (as seen in the film).

So Tarkin could have evacuated as soon as Gold Squadron's attack was destroyed, and saved the lives of thousands of station personnel!

[nomuse]

An odd problem in military intelligence. Tarkin was appraised that the Rebels believed their tactic was plausible. He was not aware that the Rebels had a Jedi, but his intelligence had also not indicated such skills were necessary.

Worst case would be if he abandoned the station and the scuttling charges failed. Then the Rebellion would have its technology to analyze.

Best case, of course, is that the station survives but Lord Vader is killed in the defense. Not having the Emperor's pet right there in his command center would really strengthen Tarkin's post-battle position.

Really, the mistakes were made far prior to the battle. On the Rebellion's side, Leia's gamble in letting the Empire track them (unless she had reason to believe that would draw the Death Star out -- see below). And the additional Rebellion mistake of not making a more complete evacuation.

On the Empire's side, not having a screening force! A few Star Destroyers would have really evened out the odds against a small group of snub fighters.

Seems the Empire hadn't studied their war history well enough. One has to wonder what the tactical thinking was around the Death Star. Was it considered so much the invincible ship it didn't need a screening force? Could it's complement of fighters really do all the tasks a cruiser or two might be better suited for (say patrolling, force projection)? Or was the thought that the Death Star was a terror device; that it intentionally traveled without escort or flight plans so it might show up at any moment on the doorstep of any planet?

Or was Tarkin getting a little clever already, and he'd made care to separate his command from the regular navy?

Either way, his last words as seen on screen are only what any officer needs to do. Even if you think the plan is bad and your chances are slim, project total confidence to your underlings.

[Jason]

May 2, 2008 16:18:30 GMT -4 nomuse said:

Worst case would be if he abandoned the station and the scuttling charges failed. Then the Rebellion would have its technology to analyze.

You think Tarkin would leave the station completely empty and/or scuttle it? Not a chance. If he really thought it was in danger he would ship himself and maybe his command staff off and leave the rest of the crew to fight it out.

On the Empire's side, not having a screening force! A few Star Destroyers would have really evened out the odds against a small group of snub fighters.

Not really. The Empire has a screening force of Star Destroyers for Death Star II in Return of the Jedi and they don't seem to help at all.

Seems the Empire hadn't studied their war history well enough. One has to wonder what the tactical thinking was around the Death Star. Was it considered so much the invincible ship it didn't need a screening force?

Yes. Dialogue in the first movie makes it clear that the Death Star's defenses are designed around repulsing large ships as the only valid threat. Fighters are simply beneath its notice.

Could it's complement of fighters really do all the tasks a cruiser or two might be better suited for (say patrolling, force projection)? Or was the thought that the Death Star was a terror device; that it intentionally traveled without escort or flight plans so it might show up at any moment on the doorstep of any planet?

Obviously the Death Star is a terror device. Blowing up a planet only has intimidation value - it certainly doesn't let you control the planet. Ideally it would only have been used once or twice and then never again.

[wdmundt]

If you guys (or anyone else) are interested in turning your geeky knowledge of Star Wars into a creative endeavor, the owner of "The Galactic Times" news site I linked to above is always looking for funny writers. There is a link on the bottom of the page at:

web.mac.com/andylangager/iWeb/starwars/index.html

Just for fun and does not pay, of course.

[dragonblaster]

Oh, yeah? Do you know there was not a single Jew aboard the Death Star when she blew up? And I have it on good authority that the guy who thought that two-metre exhaust port was a good idea was called Silberman!

And look at the so-called "X-wing" fighters! Four points for the wing tips, with cockpit on top and stab fin on bottom and you have a pattern of 6 dots.

Join the dots and see what that reminds you of!

And did you know that if you say "The Death Star must be destroyed" in Ewokian, you get an EXACT anagram of "This is a filthy Zionist conspiracy"?

Well, except for the Z and the H. Oh, and there's a Q and an extra F in it as well, but that doesn't really matter.

I think I make my point clear enough. We all know who the guilty party is.

[Jason]

So what's your theory of what really destroyed the Death Star? You don't think two puny proton torpedoes could really bring down the might of the Empire, do you?
And of course we know that no battlestation has ever been destroyed by proton torpedoes.

[Data Cable]

And there was a hurricane suspiciously nearby on Yavin that day...

[Jason]

And there was suspiciously little debris from the destruction of the Death Star - it's almost like it dustified. And the Special Edition footage has obviously been edited...

[raven]

Who is to blame for the cuts in Marksmanship training and body armor of the Stormtroopers?
The quality is so bad even a rock-throwing Ewok could take one of these brave soldiers of the Empire down. Who is responsible?
The Imperial Legion wants answers.

[tedward]

It was the welders strike. They were protesting for right to shoot womp rats on their days off. They were supposed to weld a grill over the hole but industrial relations went south. They also wanted better rights for droids.