Dreadnought-class

The Imperial Support Vessel was a type of starship used by the naval forces of the Galactic Empire. Several of these vessels were part of Grand Admiral Thrawn's blockade over the planet Lothal. The blockade lasted until Lothal's liberation from the Empire, when the entire blockade was destroyed by flocks of purrgil shortly before the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War.

Characteristics
The Imperial Support Vessel was a gray-colored oblong starship which was equipped with a sensor dish located on the dorsal side towards the stern of the vehicle, along with twelve sublight engines in different shapes and sizes that were placed at the ship's larger stern. The vehicle also had several rectangular protrusions amidships on either sides, and viewports at the bow. The vessel, overall, was much smaller than the Imperial Navy's Imperial I-class Star Destroyer.

History
"Sir, several unidentified objects have just entered orbit.''" "My blockade will intercept them." "''They've destroyed the blockade. Our ships are just&hellip; gone."

- An Imperial officer and Grand Admiral Thrawn

The Imperial Support Vessel was one of the starship models used by the navy of the Galactic Empire. Shortly before the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War, several of these ships were part of Grand Admiral Thrawn's Seventh Fleet's blockade over the planet Lothal, when the rebel light freighter Ghost managed to get through it by attaching to a cargo freighter. Soon after, the rebel group led by Padawan Ezra Bridger launched a final attack on the Imperial forces and liberated Lothal from occupation. During the liberation, the entire blockade was destroyed by flocks of purrgil &mdash;massive whale-like creatures that were naturally capable of traveling through hyperspace &mdash;as part of Bridger's plan.

Behind the scenes
The Imperial Support Vessel first appeared as a background ship in the 2018 Star Wars Rebels episode "A Fool's Hope," the penultimate episode of the series overall. Prior to the episode's release, however, the ship was revealed in a trailer for the series finale. The vessel was later identified by name in a concept art by Andre Kirk from the accompanying episode guide.

The designs for the support ship were derived from the Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, which figured prominently in The Thrawn Trilogy, a trilogy of Star Wars Legends novels written by Timothy Zahn. In these stories, they were used by Grand Admiral Thrawn during his campaign against the New Republic. The Dreadnaughts were first mentioned in the 1983 novel Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, and their design originated in the 1989 Imperial Sourcebook published by West End Games.