MC140 Scythe-class main battle cruiser

The MC140 Scythe-class main battle cruiser was the primary warship of the Galactic Alliance Defense Fleet approximately one hundred years after the Yuuzhan Vong War. Designed and produced by the famed Mon Calamari Shipyards, the Scythe was a radical departure from normal Mon Calamari starship design. In addition to the unique front blade, the Scythe-class was a mass-produced, standardized design, unlike prior generations of the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser.

These battle cruisers saw extensive use during the Sith–Imperial War. Following the surrender of the Galactic Alliance government at the end of the Sith–Imperial War, many Scythe battle cruisers saw continued service in the Galactic Alliance Remnant during their operations against the Sith.

Characteristics
The Scythe-class battle cruiser's name was in part due to the massive vertical blade centered on the bow of the warship. The Scythe-class was heavily armed with advanced weaponry, including thirty heavy turbolaser batteries, thirty standard turbolaser batteries, twenty ion cannon batteries, and forty proton torpedo launcher batteries with a total 160-warhead capacity. The majority of the Scythe's weapon batteries were mounted on the forward blade. This configuration was referred to as a "cross of fire" by Galactic Alliance officials and Mon Calamari engineers, and allowed the Scythe-class battle cruiser to focus its fire onto a singular point. While the "cross of fire" weapons arrangement proved deadly to almost any warship that fell into its crosshairs, this provided some drawbacks. The heavy concentration of weapons batteries on the forward hull meant that there was limited weaponry on the ship's broadsides and stern. Furthermore, massive power conduits from the ship's main reactor and numerous auxiliary reactors took up additional space.[2]

The Scythe's main hull followed standard Mon Calamari design patterns.[2] The forward blade gave the warship a similar appearance to the then-ancient Republic Hammerhead-class cruiser.[6] In addition to containing much of the ship's weapons, the blade was also the location of several hangar bays. These hangars could carry up to forty eight CF9 Crossfire starfighters and four Crix-class shuttles.[2] A twenty-one meter-long YT-2400 light freighter could easily fly through the aperture of one of its hangars.

Role
As the main capital ship of the Galactic Alliance, Scythe-class was capable of engaging the Fel Empire's Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer in direct combat, despite the fact that the battle cruiser was only a third of the size of the larger Star Destroyer.[7] The Scythe-class utilized its powerful engines to maneuver into a position where it could bring the "cross of fire" weapons batteries to bear on an enemy vessel. This massive barrage of turbolaser, ion cannon, and torpedo fire was capable of destroying larger vessels like the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer. The main drawback of the cross of fire was that the Scythe's broadsides and stern were lightly armed, which forced a Scythe's crew to constantly keep the bow facing an enemy warship - though with it's powerful engines, this was rarely a problem.