''"With the Executor under my command, I will be the ultimate power in the universe!"''<br />'''―Admiral Kendal Ozzel, only moments before being killed by Darth Vader'''
The Executor-class Star Dreadnought, colloquially known as the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer or Executor-class Star Destroyer, was a heavy warship class in the Star Dreadnought league, often used as command ships and flagships in the Imperial Navy. At their prime, they were among the largest vessels in the galaxy, and were almost invincible in combat, although they were costly to operate.
=='''Characteristics'''==
==='''Dimensions'''===
The Executor-class measured 19 kilometers in length and was 100 times more massive than the ubiquitous Imperial-class Star Destroyer.
280,734 Imperial Navy officers, gunners and enlisted men were said to have crewed each vessel. Though several variants of the Executor-class existed, all followed similar design-attributes in terms of structure.
==='''Propulsion systems'''===
The Executor-class was built with one main reactor and an unknown number of secondary reactors. Thirteen Executor-50.x engines placed in five thruster banks gave the Executor-class impressive acceleration for its size. The main reactor was accessible through various service tubes.
==='''Offensive and defensive systems'''===
The Executor-class had over 5,000 weapons emplacements, including turbolasers, assault concussion missile launchers, and ion cannons. With warships being able to direct all power to their energy weapons, the Executor-class had at least 100 times more firepower than an Imperial-class destroyer.
A majority of gun batteries and missile launchers were located in the central cityscape on the class's dorsal side, while some point-defense guns were located throughout the side-trenches. On at least one ship, many heavy batteries were sacrificed for an increased number of anti-starfighter cannons. Despite its impressive firepower, the design was far from perfect, as the ventral side and the aft were relatively undefended, and Executor-class SSDs required an impressive starfighter defensive screen to chase off enemy starfighters and marauding smaller capital ships who otherwise could remain in the main weaponry's blind spots.
Its shields handled much of the power generated—an amount equivalent to the total power of a medium star (3.8 × 1026 W). Shield-projectors were placed throughout the hull, which decentralized the protection system and decreased the chance of all shields falling at once. Known shield segments included the dorsal, ventral, bow, aft, port and starboard shields. In later-model ships, an extra shield generator was mounted in the middle of the ship.
In addition to the shield generators, several Executors had cloaking generators or stealth-armor fitted to the vessel, in order to perform sneak attacks on enemy targets.
==='''Sensor domes'''===
The geodesic domes located on and around the Executor's bridge tower (similar to those of Imperial-class Star Destroyers) served dual purposes. Inside the dome were hyperwave transceiver coils for supralight active sensors, while vanes jutting out of the dome served as shield projectors for the surrounding area. There were many such geodesic domes scattered around the ship.<br />These domes were not vulnerable to external attack as long as the shields remained intact, but concentrated capital ship bombardment—such as that ordered by Admiral Ackbar during the Battle of Endor—could knock out this protective field. The sensors and shield projectors thus became vulnerable to attack, as demonstrated by Rebel starfighter pilots.
==='''Complement'''===
A minimum of 144 starfighters were carried onboard Executor-class vessels; but the massive hangars could hold thousands. In addition to fighters, the Executor-class also carried a large number of landing craft, dropships, ground armor and two prefabricated garrison bases.
At least three hangar bays were located on the portside, several underneath the vessel and multi-level fighter bays deep inside the main superstructure. The class had an internal Beltway cargo handling system. The internal freight shaft went from the stern to the prow of the battleship, equipped with a tracked hauler that could carry large loads throughout the vessel.
In terms of detention facilities, these Super-class Star Destroyers possessed six detention blocks that were used for crew discipline alone. In addition, they held ten additional high-security blocks that were used for enemy prisoners. Furthermore, they contained three cargo areas that were designed for the secure transport of large quantities of slaves, refugees or even prisoners of war. Adjacent to the large landing bays used by the bulk shuttles were holding areas that were equipped with only minimal facilities in terms of water taps, ventilation and food dispensers. These regions of the ship were considered adequate for up to a thousand people.
==='''Bridge'''===
The bridge tower was almost a starship in itself and was a standard module on many different KDY warship classes. It was equipped with heavy shielding to compensate for its highly visible location, and contained mess halls, special quarters for officers of high rank, and large escape pods. The admiral aboard the vessel even had his own escape pod, directly above the command bridge and next to admiral's suites. The command tower also had its own power generators, relays, and life-support systems. It was connected to the ship's main reactor by a cluster of power feeds.
The bridge of the Executor had the same basic layout as standard Star Destroyers. The outer-most part featured nine triangular viewports. The center contained two crewpits which housed the control consoles for the ship. Between them was the command walkway. To the right and left sides of the bridge were two alcoves containing the weapons and defense stations. Behind the bridge were the communications stations, a turbolift, and a HoloNet pod for ship-to-ship communications. On the level directly beneath the bridge was the main navigation complex.
Additional tower-structures were located throughout the ships main superstructure, including a forward structure similar in design to the Munificent-class Star Frigate's command tower.
=='''History'''==
==='''Design and construction'''===
The Executor-class was the brainchild of Lira Wessex, the brilliant and ambitious engineer who already had the designs of the Venator-class and Imperator-class (later renamed Imperial-class) Star Destroyers to her credit. Following her work on the already-impressive Imperial-class, Wessex sought to improve on the design.
Adhering to Kuat Drive Yards' philosophy of psychological effect in starship design, or "terror styling", she believed that the immense size of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer was largely responsible for its ability to intimidate opponents. Working on that theory, she began designing a starship that would dwarf all her previous works. Though KDY had designed and built extremely large warships in the past, such as Star Dreadnoughts like the Mandator-class and Star Battlecruisers like the Procurator-class, the result obtained by Wessex was utterly gargantuan.
Emperor Palpatine authorized the construction of the first four Executor-class ships even before the Battle of Yavin (0 BBY), but it still had to be slipped past the watchful eyes of various oversight committees in the Imperial Senate; to the very last, the minority of Senators who opposed Palpatine and his policies used the few political tools they had left to hinder him, and one of these was budget oversight. To conceal the particulars of the vessel from the opposition, the Navy listed the new ship as a "Super-class Star Destroyer" in budget reports submitted to the Senate, and understated its true length (19,000 meters) by many kilometers.
This way, the Executor-class and other ships of its size-range became known by the nickname "Super Star Destroyers",and the ship's length, even in Imperial government scandocs, was variously reported as 8,000 or 12,800 meters, before the true details of the class came to light.
The first of the class, the Executor, began construction in the years preceding the Battle of Yavin. The unfinished vessel was used as a headquarters for Darth Vader and his secret apprentice, Galen Marek. With the sudden and unanticipated destruction of the Death Star at Yavin, Wessex's production schedule changed completely. At the urging of Darth Vader, the Emperor ordered her to rush the new line into production as quickly as possible, to compensate for the loss of the battle station. As certain segments of naval command may have anticipated, a new symbol of intimidation was needed, and as Wessex had believed, the Executor-class fit the need well.
The first two Executor-class ships were now being built simultaneously, with the Lusankya at Kuat Drive Yards and the Executor moved to the Fondor Shipyards. Darth Vader received the finished Executor at Fondor about half a year after the fiasco at Yavin. The second ship, then known as the Executor II, was completed shortly afterwards at Kuat, received its new name, and was hidden on Coruscant.
==='''Imperial service'''===
The Executor went on to become the most feared and famous of its class by virtue of its status as Darth Vader's command ship. However, the vessel was destroyed at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, after an A-wing starfighter rammed through its bridge and it subsequently crashed into the Death Star II.
'''Compliment''':
*12 squadrons of TIE fighters (12 ships per squadron)
*50 other small craft
*25 AT-ATs
*50 AT-STs
*3 prefabricated garrison bases
During the early years of the Galactic Civil War, several other Executor-class ships were built and fielded. A Rebel strike destroyed an Executor-class ship, upgraded with cloaking technology, while still under construction at Fondor in 3 ABY. Another Star Dreadnaught with cloaking capability, the Terror, was already operational by 3 ABY. The Vengeance led a task force around this time. Towards the end of Palpatine's glory days in 4 ABY, other Executors were noted as well. The Guardian was tasked with protecting Coruscant, the Annihilator served in close vicinity to Kuat, the Reaper led Scourge Squadron on its patrols in the Outer Rim Territories and the Brawl was given to Admiral Zsinj by Palpatine himself.
'''Description'''
In the later years, production on Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts and other Super Star Destroyers accelerated in a display of the Emperor's wealth and power. After the death of the Emperor and the fragmentation of the Galactic Empire into feuding fiefs, Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts were popular acquisitions amongst warlords hoping to improve their military power and prestige. Some would fall into the hands of the New Republic, where they would fight against the Empire they had once served. The Imperial Warlord Superior General Delvardus had a new Executor-class Star Dreadnought constructed at great expense and it was completed in 12 ABY. It was named the Night Hammer and was soon taken by Admiral Natasi Daala as her flagship. She renamed it the Knight Hammer and led it in an attack against the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. However, it was destroyed by the Jedi Callista Ming.
The Imperial Star Destroyer squadron assigned to Darth Vader after the Battle of Yavin was code-named the Imperial Death Squadron. First under the command of Admiral Griff,
and later Admiral Ozzel, and later still, Admiral Piett, the Squadron consists of Vader's Super-class Star Destroyer and a mix of five Imperial I and II Star Destroyers.
==='''Legacy'''===
The Executor was the first of four Super-class Star Destroyers. At over eight kilometers in length, the Executor was capable of winning engagements without firing a single shot. Not that it didn't have adequate firepower to back up its impressive size. Over 1,000 weapons batteries are capable of reducing any planetary surface to slag.
Following the Black Fleet Crisis, where the New Republic faced the Star Dreadnought Intimidator, a decision was made to build a warship class that could counter threats from rogue warships like the Executor-class. The result was the Star Dreadnought-analogue Viscount-class Star Defender built by the Mon Calamari.
The only other remaining Star Destroyers whose provenance is unclassified are the Avenger and the Devastator. The first, Captain Needa's vessel, has a proud history of over 436 planetary suppression's since commissioned, its last being Dankayo. Strangely, it has served under eight different captains in the last few years.
In addition to these Star Defenders, the few Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts left after the Galactic Civil War would see heavy action in the Yuuzhan Vong War, where even more ships were lost. After the war, the only known Star Dreadnought left and operating under the Galactic Alliance was Guardian, which was present at the Second Battle of Coruscant and later returned to its post at Kashyyyk, following the war's end.
The Devastator was Lord Vader's personal flagship until the Battle of Yavin. The Devastator is noteworthy for having captured the Tantive IV, Princess Leia Organa's consular ship, over Tatooine. Before that, it was Lord Tion's flagship that saw heavy action in the subjugation of Ralltiir. After the Battle of Yavin, Vader transferred his flag to the Executor.
By the Sith-Imperial War, the Executor-class was gone from active service, having been found too expensive to run. It shared this fate with many other heavy warship-designs, as fleet doctrine moved towards smaller, compact weapons-platforms, like the Scythe-class main battle cruiser. The final legacy of the Executor-class was its partial inspiration for the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer, which incorporated systems from both it and the Imperial-class Star Destroyer.
'''Source''': Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook: Special Edition (pages 139-140), Galaxy Guide :The Empire Strikes Back (2nd Edition) (page 48)
Latest revision as of 22:07, 19 May 2015
Executor-class Star Dreadnought Craft: Kuat Drive Yards Executor-class Star Dreadnought Type: Command ship / Carrier / Battleship / Dreadnought Scale: capital Length: 8,000 meters Skill: capital ship piloting Crew: 279,144; gunners: 1,590; skeleton: 50,000 +10 Crew Skill: Astrogation 4D, capital ship gunnery 6D, capital ship piloting 6D+2, capital ship shields 5D+2, sensors 5D Passengers: 38,000 troops Cargo Capacity: 250,000 metric tons Consumables: 6 years Hyperdrive: x2 Hyperdrive Backup: x10 Nav Computer: yes Maneuverability: 0D Space: 4 Hull: 10D Shields: 8D Sensors
Passive: 75/1D+2
Scan: 150/3D+2
Search: 300/5D
Focus: 8/6D+2
Weapons:
250 Turbolaser Batteries
Fire Arc: 100 front, 75 left, 75 right Crew: I (100), 2(150) Skill: Capital ship gunnery Fire Control: 1D Space Range: 3-15/35/75 Atmosphere Range: 6-30/70/150 km Damage: 7D
250 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries
Fire Arc: 100 front, 50 left, 50 right, 50 back Crew: 2 Skill: Capital ship gunnery Fire Control: 4D Space Range: 1-10/25/50 Atmosphere Range: 2-20/50/100 km Damage: 10D
40 Tractor Beam Projectors
Fire Arc: 20 front, 10 left, 10 right Crew: 1 Skill: Capital ship gunnery Fire Control: 4D Space Range: 1-5/15/30 Atmosphere Range: 2-10/30/60 km Damage: 9D
Compliment:
12 squadrons of TIE fighters (12 ships per squadron)
50 other small craft
25 AT-ATs
50 AT-STs
3 prefabricated garrison bases
Description
The Imperial Star Destroyer squadron assigned to Darth Vader after the Battle of Yavin was code-named the Imperial Death Squadron. First under the command of Admiral Griff,
and later Admiral Ozzel, and later still, Admiral Piett, the Squadron consists of Vader's Super-class Star Destroyer and a mix of five Imperial I and II Star Destroyers.
The Executor was the first of four Super-class Star Destroyers. At over eight kilometers in length, the Executor was capable of winning engagements without firing a single shot. Not that it didn't have adequate firepower to back up its impressive size. Over 1,000 weapons batteries are capable of reducing any planetary surface to slag.
The only other remaining Star Destroyers whose provenance is unclassified are the Avenger and the Devastator. The first, Captain Needa's vessel, has a proud history of over 436 planetary suppression's since commissioned, its last being Dankayo. Strangely, it has served under eight different captains in the last few years.
The Devastator was Lord Vader's personal flagship until the Battle of Yavin. The Devastator is noteworthy for having captured the Tantive IV, Princess Leia Organa's consular ship, over Tatooine. Before that, it was Lord Tion's flagship that saw heavy action in the subjugation of Ralltiir. After the Battle of Yavin, Vader transferred his flag to the Executor.
Source: Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook: Special Edition (pages 139-140), Galaxy Guide :The Empire Strikes Back (2nd Edition) (page 48)
Executor-class Star Dreadnought: Difference between revisions
