Executor/Legends

Executor "Vader's on that ship."

- Luke Skywalker

Executor was the personal flagship of Darth Vader and the lead ship of its class of Star Dreadnoughts. It was involved in the Battles of Hoth and Endor.

Specifications
Executor was the first of the Executor-class Star Dreadnought line. It was 19,000 meters long, almost twelve times the length of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer.

It sported more than 5,000 turbolasers and ion cannons, wings of TIE fighters, at least 200 other combat and support ships, 5 prefabricated garrison bases, and enough stormtroopers and walkers to destroy any conceivable Rebel base.

History
Built in secret at the shipyards of Fondor, Executor was presented to Vader shortly after the Battle of Yavin. The new dreadnought replaced Devastator as Vader's personal flagship, thus making it the flagship of the newly formed Death Squadron. As the ship proceeded to destroy the Alliance base at Laakteen Depot, Vader christened the ship in reference to his role as the Executor of the Emperor's will.



The only known person to be able to break into Executor was Kyle Katarn. He stowed away aboard a corvette leaving a fueling station on Ergo. Singlehandedly he managed to reach Executor's boarding hangar and smuggle himself along on the ship's voyage to the secret position of Arc Hammer.

The ship served in the Sixth Battle of Yavin IV, where it suffered two accidents: first, the shield-weakening effects of Vrad Dodonna's power gem; and second, a ramming by three Imperial warships (under the command of Amise Griff) leaving hyperspace. Both events allowed the remaining Alliance forces to escape. Executor later redeemed itself in a number of strikes against Alliance bases.



Executor was destroyed at the Battle of Endor after the shields protecting the bridge superstructure were knocked down by a heavy bombardment from the Rebel fleet. Rebel fighter pilot Arvel Crynyd then deliberately steered his hopelessly damaged A-wing into Executor's unprotected bridge, smashing through portions of the bridge section, disabling the massive ship's navigational systems and causing it to accelerate into a collision with the incomplete second Death Star, where the Star Dreadnought was vaporized.

Commands
There was a saying on board Executor: "Assignment to the Executor is the fast track to promotion&mdash;as well as an early grave." While Vader wielded Executor as his personal weapon, its military functions were commanded by a series of admirals, each of which met an untimely demise. Admiral Amise Griff was the ship's first officer, having overseen its construction at Fondor. Griff, in a ploy by Vader, led a foolhardy assault on Yavin 4, and perished. Command was then handed to Admiral Kendal Ozzel, famous for his part in allowing yet another escape by the Alliance at Hoth. For his failure, Ozzel died at Vader's hands and was succeeded by Admiral Firmus Piett. Piett, a competent commander, was the only commanding officer of Executor not responsible for a botched assault; however, after the Battle of Hoth, as Millennium Falcon was escaping the planet Bespin, he underestimated the astromech droid R2-D2's abilities to repair the Falcon's hyperdrive. Despite failing Vader, the Dark Lord spared his life. Piett later perished when the bridge was destroyed by Arvel Crynyd's A-wing during the Battle of Endor.

It is likely that the day-to-day operations of the ship were overseen by a captain, and the admirals mentioned above merely used Executor as their command ship for Death Squadron.

Behind the scenes
Many Expanded Universe sources have claimed that Executor was only 8,000 meters long. Some other sources, most notably starwars.com, have claimed that Executor was 12,800 meters long. Both of these figures are in direct contradiction with the films themselves, which consistently show the Executor to be around eleven to twelve times as long as accompanying 1,600m long Star Destroyers, or 17,600-19,200m. The 12,800m figure was apparently intended as a "compromise", being halfway between the length seen in the movies and the West End Games 8,000m version. In September 2005, the starwars.com Databank was finally updated with the 19,000 meter length. These lengths still remain a point of contention among some Star Wars fans.

The miniature Executor used in filming was 2.83 meters long (9 1/4 feet).

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Dark Forces
 * Classic Star Wars
 * Star Wars Rebellion 1: My Brother, My Enemy, Part 1
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Shadows of the Empire
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Empire at War: Forces of Corruption