Executor/Legends

"I&mdash;it looks like a battle cruiser, sir&hellip; the largest one I've ever seen!"

- C-3PO to Luke Skywalker

The 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, among others.

Specifications


"I guess you ground-thumpers don't need to keep up with Fleet news. The Executor just happens to be the brand-new flagship of the Lord Darth Vader."

- Joak Quiller to Daric LaRone and Saberan Marcross

The 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, making it as large as a small city.

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
"Vader's on that ship."

- Luke Skywalker

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



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

The ship served in the Fifth 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. The Executor later redeemed itself in a number of strikes against Alliance bases.





The 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, his A-wing spinning out of control, crashed into the Executor ' s unprotected command tower, smashing through portions of the bridge section, disabling the massive ship's navigational systems and causing it to drift into a collision with the incomplete second Death Star, where the Star Dreadnought was vaporized. Ironically, the fighter responsible for the Executor ' s destruction was designed by Walex Blissex, the father of Lira Wessex, the naval architect who designed the Executor.

Commanders


"Assignment to the Executor is the fast track to promotion&mdash;as well as an early grave."

- Saying on board the Executor

While Vader wielded the 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 by making an Imperial fleet exit hyperspace too close to the rebel base. For his failure, Ozzel was force-choked to death by Vader and was succeeded by Admiral Firmus Piett. Piett, a competent commander, was the only commanding officer of the Executor not responsible for a botched assault; however, after the Battle of Hoth, as the Millennium Falcon was escaping the planet Bespin, he did not anticipate the astromech droid R2-D2 repairing 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 the Executor as their command ship for Death Squadron.

Behind the scenes


Many Expanded Universe sources have claimed that the Executor was only 8,000 meters long. Some other sources, most notably starwars.com, have claimed that the 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
 * Sand Blasted
 * Classic Star Wars
 * Allegiance
 * Star Wars Rebellion: My Brother, My Enemy
 * Imperial Spy
 * Galaxy of Fear: The Hunger
 * Splinter of the Mind's Eye comic
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars: Imperial Ace
 * Shadows of the Empire comic
 * Shadows of the Empire novel
 * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
 * Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * A Day in the Life
 * Mara Jade: A Night on the Town
 * Heir to the Empire
 * X-wing: Isard's Revenge