Thrawn's fleet

Grand Admiral Thrawn, the last of Emperor Palpatine's original college of Grand Admirals, took command of the scattered forces of the Empire five years after the defeat at Endor.

Reorganizing the Imperial military machine around a dizzying Star Destroyer thrust into New Republic space, he was able to reconquer as much as a third of the Galaxy in a matter of months, before his defeat and death at Bilbringi. But even for a Grand Admiral, such success would have been impossible without a fleet to command.

Thrawn and his forces


On his return from the Unknown Regions, Grand Admiral Thrawn was the ranking officer of the Imperial military, and while some commanders and warlords held aloof from him, he was able to command sufficient forces to be regarded as the new leader of the Empire, accepted by the Moffs and the Ruling Council. During his campaign against the New Republic, he was capable of orchestrating strikes all across the Galaxy.

The king-piece on Thrawn's strategic chessboard was his personal armada, built around the flagship Chimaera and five other Imperial-class Star Destroyers. In a typical engagement, the raid on Sluis Van, five of the six Star Destroyers from the armada formed the centrepiece of the strike force (the absent ship, Judicator, was undergoing a brief refit following a strike on Nkllon). These five ships were supported by a close support squadron of twelve Strike-class cruisers, and a picket line of twenty-two Carrack-class light cruisers, with thirty TIE squadrons deployed in the fighter screen.

Although this squadron included several veteran commanders and storied warships, it was a relatively small grouping compared to the formations of dozens of Star Destroyers deployed at key strategic battles like Endor and Tralus. Rather, the armada was used by the Grand Admiral a personal flying column for planetary conquests and long-range strikes, as at Sluis Van or Ukio, which could also combine with other forces in campaign warfare, and serve as the centrepiece of larger fleet formations for major set-piece battles like Bilbringi.

All in all, Thrawn's armada can perhaps be compared for its size and significance to Darth Vader's Death Squadron&mdash;albeit without a Super Star Destroyer command ship. Nevertheless, many details still remain unclear. Even the armada's operational designation is unknown, and while Chimaera had apparently been serving for the previous five years as command ship for the remnants of the fleet deployed at Endor, it is uncertain what relationship this armada bore to that once-larger formation; Captain Brandei of the Judiciator was likewise a veteran of Endor, but during the intervening years, at least one of the Star Destroyers in the squadron, Inexorable, had apparently been serving with the Grand Admiral in the Unknown Regions.

Needless to say, Thrawn's front-line fleet was not limited to a half-dozen Star Destroyers. Other Imperial-class and Victory-class Star Destroyers are known to have operated in direct support of the armada, and as tactics required, the ships of the armada could be intermingled with additional forces. For example, in a series of synchronized strikes against planets near Sluis Van, in the preliminaries to the assault on the shipyard described above, the ships of the armada were grouped with other Star Destroyers and then temporarily reorganized into three battlegroups of four, with each Star Destroyer being escorted by a dedicated taskforce of approximately five smaller ships.

As the campaign progressed, additional resources were deployed to reinforce the fleet, such as the first wing of Scimitar Assault Bombers and the 178 recovered Katana fleet Dreadnaught-class cruisers. One image, probably representing a point late in the campaign, shows a mustered force of at least two dozen Imperial-class Star Destroyers, supported by Dreadnaught heavy cruisers.

Away from the battle plane, of course, further elements of the Imperial military remained deployed in defensive roles. For instance, the Chazwa system, a transport hub, had the Interdictor cruiser Rampart as its guardship, while the Ubiqtorate base at Tangrene warranted a minimum squadron of two Imperial-class Star Destroyers and ten smaller warships, sometimes upgrated to more than fifty capital ships.

Following Thrawn's death at Bilbringi, Gilad Pellaeon took command of the fleet and withdrew it to the Deep Core, where they participated in Operation Shadow Hand (specifically the Battle of Duro).

Imperial-class Star Destroyers in Thrawn's personal armada

 * Chimaera
 * Death's Head
 * Inexorable
 * Judicator
 * Nemesis
 * Stormhawk

Other Imperial-class Star Destroyers

 * Bellicose
 * Peremptory
 * Relentless

Victory-class Star Destroyers

 * Adamant
 * Crusader

Interdictor Cruisers

 * Constrainer
 * Rampart
 * Sentinel

Known officers

 * Grand Admiral Thrawn
 * Captain Gilad Pellaeon
 * General Freja Covell
 * Captain Aban
 * Captain Brandei
 * Captain Harbid
 * Captain Dorja
 * Lieutenant Tschel
 * Ensign Rejlii Mithel

Behind the scenes

 * Despite the presence of many different multi-mile Imperial ships in this era, most of Thrawn's forces presumably relied on mile-long Star Destroyers as major warships. Some have seen this as "evidence" that larger classes are considered rare in the Imperial Navy at any and all times. However, the fact remains that many of the Empire's larger ships were summoned to the reborn Emperor Palpatine's headquarters of Byss over a period of years prior to Thrawn's campaign, thus denying large numbers of assets to ambitious officers like him; furthermore, several battles before Thrawn's return severely damaged substantial fractions of the fleets of both the Empire and New Republic, making ship acquisition a priority for both sides. It is a testament to Thrawn's abilities in utilizing his resources to the fullest, that he managed to reconquer a massive volume of space in a matter of months. Many veteran ships and officers from his campaigns also remained the heart of the Imperial military until the victory over the Yuuzhan Vong.


 * One claim about Thrawn's fleet has been current among fans so long that the original source (if one ever existed) has been forgotten; namely the statement that Thrawn reduced the standard Star Destroyer squadron of a Moff's Sector Fleet from twenty-four to twelve, potentially freeing up as many as four thousand additional Imperial-class Star Destroyers for duties on the battle plane and in newly-reconquered volumes of space. Readers should be aware that at present, the accuracy of this statement is uncertain, but it is hoped that the matter can be clarified with a direct reference.

Appearances

 * Heir to the Empire
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command