Defender/Legends

"All cannons, fire! Fire!''" "''We can't stop it. What should we do?"

- Confederate Captain Mar Tuuk and an OOM command battle droid, shortly before the Defender rams into their ship

The Defender was a Venator-class Star Destroyer that served in the Grand Army of the Republic navy during the Clone Wars. Around 22 BBY, the planet of Ryloth was seized by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and a large Confederate fleet was placed over the planet to blockade it, under command of the Neimoidian Captain Mar Tuuk. The Defender was part of the Galactic Republic's task force of three Venator-class cruisers to eliminate the Confederate blockade, under command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano, along with the cruisers Resolute and Redeemer.

Upon the Star Destroyers' arrival in the system, Tuuk was able to lure the Republic forces into a trap, and the arrival of Confederate reinforcements forced the cruisers to retreat, but not before the Resolute and Defender had sustained damage, and the Redeemer was destroyed altogether under heavy fire. After a regroup, Skywalker devised a plan to pilot the heavily damaged Defender into Tuuk's lead ship, leaving Tano to command the Resolute and eliminate the remaining frigates in the blockade. Skywalker and astromech droid R2-D2 piloted the Defender into the system, and put the Defender on course before escaping in an escape pod. With the blockade down, the Republic's invasion forces under command of High Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu were eventually able to liberate the planet.

First assault
The Defender was a Venator-class Star Destroyer that served in the Grand Army of the Republic navy during the war between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Around 22 BBY, the planet of Ryloth was invaded by the Techno Union foreman and Separatist Council member, Wat Tambor, and its Twi'lek inhabitants were subjugated to a harsh rule. Tambor also blockaded the planet and put the Neimoidian Captain Mar Tuuk in charge of the fleet. In response, the Republic dispatched Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano, to breach the Confederate blockade and make way for invasion forces to land and liberate the planet, under command of High Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu. The Defender, along with two other Star Destroyers, the Resolute and the Redeemer, were assigned to Skywalker's task force, while Admiral Wullf Yularen accompanied Skywalker and Tano aboard the Resolute.



When Skywalker's task force arrived out of hyperspace in the Ryloth system, they immediately engaged the Confederate fleet. Tano led the V-19 Torrent starfighter squadron, Blue Squadron, on an attack run against Tuuk's flagship and the two Munificent-class star frigates flanking it. The three cruisers remained behind and gave heavy support fire. Blue Squadron managed to cut a path through the Confederate Vulture droids to Tuuk's command ship. However, Tuuk called in Confederate reinforcements, in the form of four Munificent frigates, and began to fire upon the Republic fleet, causing heavy damage to all three of the Star Destroyers.

With his fleet outgunned and outmaneuvered, Admiral Yularen ordered a full retreat from the system, and called Tano and her squadron back to the Resolute to give fighter cover. However, she disobeyed orders, thinking she could reach the Lucrehulk Droid Control Ship and destroy it, and the Defender and the other two Star Destroyers were heavily damaged by vulture droid suicide attacks without the cover. Eventually, after losing most of her squadron, Tano returned to the Republic task froce, the Defender and the Resolute were able to retreat to hyperspace, but the Redeemer had taken too damage and broke apart in space.



Second assault
"I decided the only way we can break the blockade is if I pilot the Defender right into their battleship and take out their commander.''" "What?" "This way, I'm the only one at risk. Besides, the Defender'' is damaged already."

- Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano

The remainder of Skywalker's fleet retreated from the battlefield to consolidate their forces and treat the injured. The Defender itself had lost one of its command towers, and large fires had sprouted along its hull. After conferring with Generals Kenobi and Windu via hologram, Skywalker was given one planetary rotation to breach the blockade, even though only half of his original forces remained. Seeking to both complete his mandate and bolster Tano's confidence, General Skywalker devised a plan to evacuate the heavily damaged Defenderand then pilot the Star Destroyer into Tuuk's flagship with the help of astromech droid, R2-D2. Skywalker and R2-D2 would escape the collision in an escape pod while the Resolute, under the command of Tano, would engage and destroy the six remaining Munificent frigates.

After all the clone troopers and supplies from the Defender were moved to the Resolute, Skywalker and R2-D2 piloted the Defender back to the system. Skywalker opened a hololink to Captain Tuuk, and deceived the Neimoidian, stating that he would surrender himself, his crew and the Defender in exchange for the safe passage of food and medical supplies to Ryloth. At first, Tuuk believed the Jedi's deception, but after a complete scan of the Defender discovered only one life-form aboard, Tuuk uncovered Skywalker's deception. Skywalker proceeded to target the Defender at the control ship and gun its engines, and he and R2-D2 made their way to an escape pod.



Tuuk's Lucrehulk Droid Control Ship tried to fire at the Defender, but could not stop the battleship or force it to change its course. When this became clear, Captain Tuuk fled in an escape pod and left the droids in control of the remaining ships in the blockade, shortly before the Defender smashed into the center sphere of his control ship. The Resolute arrived out of hyperspace and engaged what remained of the Confederate blockade, and Tano's forces were able to defeat the remaining frigates. Three Acclamator I-class assault ships, under command of Generals Windu and Kenobi, arrived out of hyperspace, carrying the invasion forces and ready to land. Tano dispatched a shuttle to pick up General Skywalker's escape pod. The destruction of the Confederate blockade, due in part to the sacrifice of the Defender, allowed Kenobi and Windu's ground forces to land on Ryloth. After heavy fighting on the planet, the Republic was able to recapture Ryloth, free the Twi'lek people, and capture Wat Tambor.

Behind the scenes
The Defender was a made its first appearance in "Storm Over Ryloth," an episode in the first season of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. A mistaken shot in the episode showed the Defender with both of its command towers intact just moments after showing the ship with the starboard tower destroyed. The Defender was later given an entry in the reference book The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

The ramming of the damaged Defender by a skeleton crew into the main enemy flagship is highly reminiscent of the English fire ships, used to great effect against the Spanish Armada. It is also reminiscent of the evacuation and ramming of the Lusankya into the Domain Hul worldship.

Notes and references
Defender (Schiff)