Decades before the Republic even became aware of the existence of the Kamino clone armies, the Senate supported multiple elaborate projects to support and enhance the effectiveness of the clone armies. Various smaller defense forces Aligned with the Republic and its member worlds. One of these projects was completed in AD 46, 14 years before the events. The Phantom Menace——It’s the Katana Fleet.
The Catana Fleet was a 200 ship strong fleet consisting entirely of Rendili Starlight Dreadnought heavy cruisers, it was valuable to the Republic not because of the ships themselves or their size, but for maintaining the fleet Manpower required. Prior to the Clone Wars, the Republic Judiciary’s Starfleet fleet was a fraction of the size of the Republic Navy at the height of its reach and influence. The Katana fleet was equipped with experimental walkers to assist in ground attacks. It would have taken approximately 16,000 officers to man a fleet of this size, but through the use of an experimental remote-controlled computer network known as “slave rigs,” the Katana dreadnoughts were operated The number of personnel is a fraction of its size, about 2,000.
At a time when the Republic had no standing army other than the Justice Department’s peacekeeping force, the Katana Fleet was also known as the Dark Force due to the cruisers’ dark paint jobs, but since they were all dimly lit, each required limited life support and crew space – represents the future of Republic military operations, given the increasing stressors of the Outer Rim such as piracy and the slave trade, and represents a growing problem for the Republic: a dominant fleet that can protect Republic interests, possess A fraction of the perceived effort.
