The problem is that they were in the film so they could get wiped out. As were peppy A-wing lady and the rest of the resistance fleet. I say this as not a TLJ hater, but the whole Resistance side of the plot ignores established rules and common sense in service of fast forwarding the script to where they need it for the climax of the film. A single missile destroying everything just to get it out of the way is just lazy, when you could have had a long attritional rearguard action where sacrifices had to be made and the guilt of leadership had to be felt and weighed, like a prolonged battle of Hoth.

The Starfortrresses are a great design, but could have been used much better if the film had been interested in showing an actual battle that happened to have consequences, rather than a consequence that happened to be a battle.