Chief gunnery officer/Legends

"There goes another one.''" "''Hold your fire."

- Hija and Bolvan

Chief gunnery officer was a commission on the Star Destroyers of the Galactic Empire's Navy, a possible assignment for a naval lieutenant. More than one member of this officer rank could serve on the same starship. The chief gunnery officer managed the main weaponry of the vessel under the command of the gunnery captain.

Hija
The Human male Lieutenant Hija served the Imperial Navy as one of the chief gunnery officers aboard the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator. He was in charge when Sith Lord Darth Vader ordered the bombardment of Falleen in order to stop a bacterial plague that was spreading from a laboratory on the planet. Later, during the battle of Tatooine in the Galactic Civil War, Hija spotted an escape pod jettisoned from the captured Tantive IV, one of the Rebel Alliance's Corellian corvettes. However, his superior, Gunnery captain Bolvan ordered him not to fire because the Star Destroyer's gunnery sensors indicated that no lifeforms were aboard.

Behind the scenes
The rank of chief gunnery officer first appeared in the novelization of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster and first published in December of 1976 by Del Rey. Hija, the only known chief gunnery officer to date, was addressed as "Chief Pilot" in the Revised Forth Draft of A New Hope.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope