Black Fleet

The Black Fleet was the name given to the Imperial Navy battle group assigned to Black Sword Command.

History
In 16 ABY, the term came to be adopted by the New Republic to denote the Black Sword ships that had disappared in the Koornacht Cluster after the Battle of Endor.

It was later discovered that at least some of these ships had been seized by the native Yevetha of the Duskhan League during the Imperial withdrawal in 4 ABY, and they too had continued to use the name "Black Fleet" for their new navy as they augmented their prizes with new ships built to Imperial designs, and their own thrustships.

It is not known how many ships were originally assigned to Black Sword Command. Intelligence recovered from the wreck of the Gnisnal in 16 ABY, however, revealed that forty-four capital ships had disappeared from Black Sword after Endor, consisting of five front-line Star Destroyers and thirty-nine other ships undergoing construction or repair. None of these was smaller than a 900m Victory-class ship, and they included three Super Star Destroyers. To this total should also be added five Type II orbital repair yards.

The Yevetha are known to have captured the Black Fifteen shipyard, which orbited their homeworld at N'zoth, and with it nine Star Destroyers in various states of repair and construction, and a large number of Imperial prisoners, who they held in a camp on Pa'aal. However, at least twenty of the ships recorded as being in dock in the records from the Gnisnal were scheduled to have left Koornacht by the time of the Yevethan revolt, and it is unlikely that the Yevetha had the capacity to challenge the five front-line Star Destroyers. Considering this, the possibility must remain open that, as well as the ships seized by the Duskhan League, many of the missing ships in the Black Fleet may in fact have been diverted en masse out of the Koornacht Cluster to an unknown destination.

Nor is it clear how many of the other four missing shipyards were seized by the Yevetha, although one, Black Nine, was later put back into commission by the Duskhan League at Prildaz, where it was destroyed in the Battle of ILC-905. Whatever the exact truth, however, the Black Fleet contained sixty or so capital ships of Imperial design by the time of the Great Purge, and some of these ships must have been new building from Black Nine, Black Fifteen, and perhaps the other missing yards. More Star Destroyers were under construction at Black Nine when the shipyard was destroyed.

During the last stages of the Black Fleet Crisis in 17 ABY, the surviving Imperial captives staged a daring counter-coup. Led by Major Sil Sorannan, they seized control of every Imperial ship in the Duskhan League's fleet. Following their initial orders, what Sorannan dubbed the "Camp Pa'arl Squadron" withdrew immediately to Byss, but here they split up.

The bulk of the Imperial crews surrendered their ships to the New Republic, but four Victory-class Star Destroyers joined the forces of Admiral Daala in the Deep Core, while two Star Destroyers and the EX-F allied themselves with Admiral Gilad Pellaeon and the Imperial Remnant on the Outer Rim. Intimidator herself disappeared into the Unknown Regions, presumably to join the "forces of the Empire" rumored to exist in that area. It was later found adrift as a wreck. The Aramadia was apparently scuttled in the Deep Core and later brought back to N'zoth, to be used as a museum.

Known force composition
Super Star Destroyers
 * Intimidator, renamed Pride of Yevetha as Duskhan League flagship. This ship was an Executor-class Star Dreadnought.
 * Aramadia, unknown whether this was its Imperial name or Yevethan name. Named as a personal flagship for Nil Spaar, later used as a museum ship on N'zoth.
 * One other Super Star Destroyer.

Imperial-class Star Destroyers
 * Redoubtable, badly damaged at Endor and still under repair at Black-15 when the Yevetha seized the shipyard, is the only Imperial-class ship known conclusively to have been in Yevethan hands.

Victory-class Star Destroyers
 * Harridan, the guardship at N'zoth, was withdrawn to fight in the Battle of Notak, and apparently never captured by the Yevetha.
 * Valorous, captured intact by the Yevetha, later participated in the bombardment of Polneye. It may have been the Star Destroyer named Devotion of Yevetha by the Duskhan League.

Other capital ships
 * New Republic Intelligence later said that the smallest class of ship represented in Camp Pa'aal Squadron was the 600m Immobilizer 418 interdictor.
 * An "Interdictor Dreadnaught", the Imperator, was responsible for the seizure of the New Republic shuttle Tampion; this may have been an example of the larger interdictor based on the same 1.6km spaceframe as the Imperial-class Star Destroyer.
 * The interdictor which formed part of the Yevethan fleet at the Battle of N'zoth was known in Duskhan League service as Splendor of Yevetha.
 * An ex-Imperial corvette named Beauty of Yevetha had earlier been used by Nil Spaar to scout Koornacht, presumably after the Imperial retreat, but was destroyed in a kamikaze run by Recon-X pilot Rone Taggar in 16 ABY.
 * The engineering testbed EX-F, renamed Glory of Yevetha may have been a rebuilt 600m Dreadnaught Cruiser.
 * Alongside Devotion, mentioned above, ships named Liberty and Honor were involved at Polneye. They seem to have been Imperial designs, and Liberty is called a "cruiser", but their class is not known for sure.
 * A "battle cruiser" named Purity destroyed the survey ship Astrolabe at Doornik-1142.
 * A "cruiser" named Star Dream was responsible for the destruction of New Brigia.
 * A ship named Harramin was one of the vessels from which the Imperials initiated the slave circuitry that allowed them to regain control of the Black Fleet during the Battle of N'zoth.

Yevethan Designs
 * As well as sixty or so ships of Imperial design, the Duskhan League also had hundreds of Aramadia-class thrustship, small but tough capital ships based on pre-Imperial Yevethan designs augmented with turbolasers, hyperdrives and deflector shields. Known ships of this class included Nil Spaar's ostensible flagship Aramadia, and the two guardships at Black Nine, Tholos and Rizaron.

Shipyards
 * Black Fifteen at N'zoth was seized intact by the Yevetha and moved to a more secure location elsewhere in the cluster.
 * Black Nine was relocated by the Yevetha to Prildaz and destroyed in the Battle of ILC-905.
 * Black Eight and Black Eleven were originally located at the Yevethan worlds of Wakiza and Zhina. It is not known for sure what happened to them during the Imperial retreat and the Yevethan uprising.
 * A fifth Type II yard, of unknown designation, was also regarded as unaccounted for by New Republic Intelligence.

Starfighters
 * The Duskhan League's main starfighter was their own trifoil design.
 * Star Destroyers in Yevethan service also employed some TIE series variants such as the TIE/rc scouts carried by Devotion.

Behind the scenes

 * The Black Fleet should not be confused with the Dark Force.

Appearances

 * Before the Storm
 * Shield of Lies
 * Tyrant's Test