A cruiser type of Mon Calamari design was originally employed as a commercial freighter by the Mon Cala Mercantile Fleet under the monarchy's authority; later, during the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire, the Alliance to Restore the Republic's naval forces utilized it as a warship. Among this class were the Geist, the flagship commanded by General Hera Syndulla, and Commander Lajaie's cruiser. These Star Cruisers exhibited a bulbous form and stubby wings.
Following the mutiny on Mon Cala that occurred in 1 ABY, several Star Cruisers involved managed to escape with assistance from the Alliance. Subsequently, the Alliance modified and retrofitted them with components sourced from the planet Shu-Torun. It was discovered that the Kingdom of Shu-Torun's Queen Trios had sabotaged this equipment, rendering a significant portion of the fleet inoperable, which contributed to the Imperial victory at the Battle of Mako-Ta. Despite the substantial losses suffered by the Alliance fleet, some vessels of this class survived.
The Mon Calamari from the planet Mon Cala conceived the Star Cruiser class as an integral part of their merchant fleet. The cruiser was propelled by four major sublight engines accompanied by a central, smaller engine unit. The hull design incorporated two short wings on both the port and starboard sides, and the bridge was positioned atop one of the two towers on the starship's upper surface. An optional, extended tower could be added to the ventral side, amidships. Consistent with other Mon Calamari ships, the hull presented a rounded shape, adorned with various modules across its surface. The cruiser also featured a deflector shield generator, escape pods, and a minimum of two hangar bays capable of housing starfighter squadrons.
Similar to other Mon Calamari cruiser models present at the Mako-Ta Space Docks, many pivotal systems within the cruiser were replaced with Shu-Torun technology during a refitting process that spanned several months. This included the hyperdrive and communication systems. The Kingdom of Shu-Torun implemented blockers that bypassed the original hardware, enabling sabotage, though some operational bypasses might have remained.
Moreover, mirroring other ships, the hangar doors could be sealed using Shu-Torun blockers, thereby preventing direct Rebel control. Despite the sabotage, the cruisers retained the ability to transmit Rebel signals, and their fail-safes remained functional. Consequently, the proximity sensors could detect nearby Rebel transponders, triggering the hangar doors to open. The Shu-Torun systems included an override code that could reboot the refitted Mon Calamari cruisers' systems when a chip containing the code was inserted into a terminal on the cruiser.
The Mon Calamari cruiser functioned as a trade vessel and could also be utilized as a flagship for a battle group.
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, the Mon Calamari cruisers were in service, operating as Imperial trading vessels within the Mon Cala Imperial Trade Fleet following the invasion of Mon Cala. They also participated in the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. In 1 ABY, after the battle for Jedha, Princess Leia Organa of the Rebel Alliance sought to establish new alliances and expand the Rebel Alliance Navy.
Following the failure of a Rebel team led by Princess Leia Organa to convince Grand Admiral Dors Urtya to mutiny against the Empire, the team succeeded in recording the final words of King of Mon Cala Lee-Char before Imperial stormtroopers killed him. Although Urtya secured the recording, he chose to disseminate it to all starships within the trading fleet, prompting the Mon Calamari crews to mutiny. When the revolt occurred, several ships, including two Mon Calamari cruisers of this class, were positioned above Mon Cala and were confronted by an Imperial blockade commanded by Admiral Tyrus Meori with multiple Star Destroyers.
Rebel Alliance forces, under the command of Admiral Gial Ackbar, arrived to support the mutineering vessels of the Mon Calamari monarchy. After the MC80A Home One Type Heavy Star Cruiser Aurora Flare breached the blockade by sacrificing itself and destroying the Imperial flagship, the Mon Cala and Rebel Alliance starships jumped to hyperspace and retreated. Months later, at least eight of these Mon Calamari cruisers were present at the Rebel Alliance Mako-Ta Space Docks, where they and other Mon Calamari starships underwent refitting with Shu-Torun systems and integration into the Alliance Navy. At least two of these Mon Calamari cruisers functioned as flagships, with the Geist serving as the flagship of General Hera Syndulla's Gamma Group and Commander Lajaie's cruiser as the flagship of Beta Group.
The Shu-Torun systems, supplied by Queen Trios, were designed for sabotage, as Trios secretly served the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. During the launch celebration of the Alliance Fleet, multiple cruisers were docked at the Mako-Ta Space Docks, while others orbited nearby. As General Jan Dodonna's flagship, the MC80A Heavy Star Cruiser Republic, prepared for departure, Princess Organa requested status updates from several battle groups. Commander Lajaie of Beta Group responded from their cruiser's bridge, as did General Syndulla from her respective cruiser. When the groups were ready, General Dodonna ordered the ships to jump to hyperspace, but they remained unresponsive.
At that time, Vader's Imperial Death Squadron appeared and, after a deliberate pause to instill fear, attacked the Alliance Fleet, which was vulnerable, exposed, and unable to deploy its starfighters. Vader's flagship, the Super Star Destroyer Executor, began by destroying Yavin's Hope, General Vanden Willard's flagship. Subsequently, the Imperial fleet targeted various Mon Calamari vessels, with one cruiser of this class positioned near another model of Mon Calamari ship. By the time the Rebel YT-1300 light freighter Millennium Falcon arrived at the Mako-Ta Space Docks, Commander Lajaie's cruiser was under attack by the Executor as the Rebels attempted to overcome the system failures. With insufficient time, Commander Lajaie ordered the crew to evacuate via escape pods and instructed survivors to inform other Rebel personnel about potential system bypasses and details regarding the failures.
While enduring heavy fire, Lajaie's cruiser began to explode as its escape pods launched. Under Vader's orders, Imperial forces targeted these pods, with many being destroyed by TIE fighters. The cruiser eventually detonated in a large fireball, through which the Millennium Falcon flew, pursued by Vader in his TIE Advanced x1. This maneuver allowed the Millennium Falcon to gain distance before launching the rebel C-3PO in a Model CEC Class-1 escape pod towards the rebel flagship Republic, carrying information to circumvent the Shu-Torun systems.
After the Republic's starfighters launched, Force-sensitive pilot Luke Skywalker and his unit, Rogue Squadron, created a display trail to attract the attention of other Rebel Mon Calamari cruisers and flew near the bay doors of the Geist, another cruiser of this class. When the ship's bay doors opened in response to the rebel transponder, Admiral Ackbar ordered all fighters to launch if the bay doors responded to the transponders; the Geist subsequently launched its fighters. After Princess Organa and Rebel forces investigated and located the transponder codes to deactivate the Shu-Torun system blocks on the Executor, the rebels used the Shu-Torun cruiser to board the Imperial flagship. By this point, the battle had intensified, with more cruisers of this class under attack and exploding. Organa's circumvention of the blockers allowed the Republic to escape.
Following regrouping, the Republic returned to the Mako-Ta docks and engaged the Executor, while several rebel transports landed on the surviving cruisers, including several of this class, and distributed the override codes. The Geist managed to reboot its systems and attacked Imperial forces, while other vessels of the class remained under attack. After all cruisers were online and Alliance personnel were evacuated from the Mako-Ta Space Docks, General Dodonna ordered the surviving cruisers to jump to hyperspace, with the Republic providing cover until it was destroyed. In the aftermath, the Alliance Fleet dispersed, and Emperor Palpatine expressed satisfaction with Vader's decimation of Alliance forces.
The Mon Calamari cruiser made its initial appearance, although unidentified, in the forty-eighth issue of the 2015 comic series Star Wars. This issue was authored by Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Salvador Larroca, and published by Marvel Comics on May 23, 2018. When questioned on Twitter about whether the Holocron contained a designation for the cruiser class, among others, Leland Chee, a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group who also maintains the Holocron continuity database, indicated that comic scripts generally do not include such specifics.
An artistic inconsistency in a panel within the forty-ninth issue, released on June 6, 2018, portrays the cruiser as significantly smaller than the MC80A Home One Type Star Cruiser, which measures between 1,200 and 1,300 meters in length. This size is comparable to the MC80 Liberty Type Heavy Star Cruiser, which ranges from 1,200 to 1,500 meters. Despite appearing much smaller relative to the MC80A Home One in this panel, the cruiser is depicted as being of similar size in a subsequent panel within the same comic, as well as being a similar size once again to the MC80A and the MC80 Liberty in a third panel. The consistent similarity in size to the MC80 Liberty is maintained in issue fifty, released on July 4 of the same year.