Even across the entire history of warship development in Star Wars, the Hunter Class Battlecruiser was absolutely an oddity among oddities. Its full complement of 420 aircraft was unprecedented and would never be matched.
Moreover, to carry so many fighters, the Hunter Class Battlecruiser had sacrificed far too much. Its single-layer armor, the hangar deck spanning the entire bow, and even its oddly positioned main guns—all of it was meant to free up vast amounts of space for fighter hangars.
In fact, its enormous fighter capacity did bring tremendous advantages in the early stages of the war, but those advantages were soon eclipsed by even more shortcomings.
For instance, Kuat Drive Yards had now completed development of the Pursuer-class battlecruiser/carrier and was submitting it to the Galactic Republic Shipbuilding Committee for approval. This massive 2,200-meter carrier had a designed complement of only 144 aircraft, a little over one-third that of the Hunter Class.
Granted, the Pursuer-class battlecruiser/carrier combined the functions of the Hunter Class and the Acclamator-class, with the capacity to transport 14,000 soldiers. But for a large warship twice the length and width of the Hunter Class, its complement of 144 aircraft clearly demonstrated Kuat Drive Yards' shift in design philosophy.
Though it carried only 144 fighters, the Pursuer Class could provide complete maintenance services for every one of them. Each fighter had its own individual hangar and automated servicing equipment, allowing a fighter to go from cold start to takeoff in five minutes.
Furthermore, the Pursuer Class could launch all its fighters by catapult within thirty minutes, or send them all airborne via antigravity engines within five minutes. On a rapidly changing battlefield, that was an enormous advantage.
By contrast, if all 420 fighters aboard a Hunter Class took off via antigravity engines, the entire process took nearly