A week ago Eckharts Ladder posted a video that brought up a really interesting question,
which is why did the Rebels use the GR-75 Transports in battle?
Transport ships that are neither armed nor equipped with anything that’d make them
useful during an active battle.
Their purpose was never made clear in either Canon or even Legends material, with the sources
giving us very vague reasons at best about their use.
.
Eckharts Ladder in his video came to the conclusion that they were likely used for target saturation
or as anti starfighter ships.
However we think their real purpose is drastically different and that they may actually be one
of the most important ships within the Rebel Alliance.
We won’t be viewing these transports as an asset to the rebel fleet during battle,
but rather that they are an essential component to the Rebel Alliance’s overall strategy
on survivability, and them being in the fleet during battle is just a byproduct of that
strategy.
The Rebel Alliance was always on the move, every base that they set up could not be permanent
and it had to be hidden.
If the Empire were to ever discover their base, the only thing the Rebels could do was
evacuate as the overwhelming Imperial forces came down upon them.
We’ve seen this happen multiple times, from Chopper Base on Atollon to Echo Base on Hoth.
These Transport ships ensured that the Rebels could swiftly ditch their current headquarters
and quickly set up another one with relative ease, as these transports stored all the essential
equipment and materials needed to set up another temporary base and to have it operational
in no time.
The way the Rebel bases are set up, it looks like everything they use can be quickly unhooked,
taken apart and stored into a storage crate which is then attached to a transport ship.
So if they were ever forced to abandon a compromised base, the Rebels could set up another one
by landing on another planet or moon, unload the base equipment from the transports and
then have a new base up and running in a day or so.
This shortens the amount of time the rebels have to go without having an active, central
base of command.
So the question then is why are these transport ships present in offensive battles orchestrated
by the Alliance?
Well it could be because that’s the safest and most strategic place for them at that
specific time.
The Rebel fleet was the most powerful military arm the Alliance had at its disposal.
With that being said, the Rebel fleet could only at best compete with the Imperial fleet
in most cases.
Whenever the Alliance committed to a massive attack, it had to send pretty much every ship
it had if it wanted to even have a chance of winning.
As a result, during a naval assault on an Imperial installation, the main rebel base
is almost entirely undefended, as the fleet that once defended it is gone.
What if the Empire was to attack the Rebel base while the Rebel fleet was away making
its own separate attack, then that's when the transports flying in the fleet would come
it handy.
The rebel fleet could quickly disperse and retreat from its attack and scatter across
the galaxy.
Even though they lost their entire planetary base from an Imperial counter attack, the
Rebel Alliance could set up another base quickly due to the transports that were within the
fleet.
The Rebel Alliance was not centralized and did not have a permanent set of territory.
In its early years it could not confront the Empire in a wide, open battle.
As a result every planetary base the Rebels built up was in constant danger of being wiped
out had the Empire discovered them.
These transport ships reduced the damage of losing a planetary base as it allowed the
Rebels to set another one up in no time.
Them being in the fleet was only added security just in case if the central rebel base was
destroyed while the fleet was away or scattered across the galaxy.
These transports were essential to the Rebel Alliance’s survivability as they were a
vital asset to their ability to always be on the move.
So what do you guys think?
Does this sound like a reasonable theory as for why the Rebels used these transport ships
in space battles or do you think they serve a completely different purpose?
Also be sure to check out Eckharts Ladder’s video on the same subject, where he goes more
in depth behind his reasonings for his theories.