Such a job was relegated to those gunners who were of both the highest-rank and the best-trained of their peers. On both Death Stars, the gunners, often called Death Star gunners, had the additional job of maintaining a careful balance of energy in the battle station's superlaser, avoiding the risk of either an overload of the titanic energies or otherwise it phase imbalances that would result huge internal explosions. As such, their duties included tracking targets during combat, firing at targets, reloading ammunition, and preventing overloads in the weapons systems. They were trained in repairing and handling engine equipment, light laser cannons, light, medium and heavy turbolasers, as well as ion cannons, missile launchers and tractor beams. Even though they did not make it into becoming pilots, Imperial gunners nonetheless possessed keen eyes, superior reflexes, and a rapport with specialized equipment, and as such they were tasked to use their skills with weapons to handle the powerful turbolasers and ion cannons of Imperial vessels, such as Star Destroyers and World Devastators. Imperial gunners were recruits from the Imperial Navy's piloting program that were either still in training or washed out.

Imperial navy officer star wars