However, they are somewhat sluggish spacecraft and even later refits never really fixed that design flaw. Ships of the Victory class are 900 meters long and possess two primary ion drives for sublight propulsion. The Republic and fledgling Empire bought them and their competitor, KDY's Venator-class Star Destroyer, in great numbers. They were the most powerful medium combatants of the Galactic Republic's military machine during the Clone Wars. The Victory-class Star Destroyer was designed by Rendilli Stardrive to compete with Kuat Drive Yards and the successful Acclamator long-range military assault transport. These vessels were also employed by the fledgling Empire, but were later phased out in favor of larger and more powerful designs. Although the two were comparable in size and power, each had distinct characteristics and abilities that the other lacked. The Victory- and Venator-classes of Star Destroyers, complementing designs, were both deployed during the Clone Wars to serve as multi-role and escort warships of the Republic.

Other examples-with a ventral hangar bay similar to later Star Destroyers-were seen orbiting an unnamed world around the time of the Battle of Naboo in the Star Wars Tales comics.

One example may be the Rand Ecliptic, which had two docking bays that had openings on both port and starboard. On the scale of the Imperial Starfleet, they class as Star Frigates. There appears to have been several variants of the Acclamator dedicated for space combat rather than planetary assault. There was no large downward-facing hanger bay on the Acclamator, but there were large retractable loading ramps in order for the clone troopers to board. The ship was first deployed at the Battle of Geonosis and saw many battles in both the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War. Eighty LAAT gunships were carried to insert personnel or cargo to a battlezone. The craft possessed heavy armament for the time including 12 quadruple turbolaser emplacements and can also serve as Star Frigates to support their landing groups.

They are capable of operating within atmospheres and of landing on planetary bodies to receive the ground forces and disembark them directly to the battlefield. At the height of the Clone Wars, each of these ships carried over sixteen thousand Galactic Republic Clone troopers into battle. While not a Star Destroyer itself, the 752 meter long Acclamator-class assault ship is a relative of later destroyers.

Mandator class star destroyer