Vengeance (Executor-class)

The Vengeance was an Executor-class Star Dreadnought that served with the Imperial Navy, under the command of Admiral Wooyou Senn. It was thought to have perished as a result of the Battle of Nocto.

History
As flagship, Vengeance led the Imperial Task Force Vengeance into in the Airam sector to pacify it and quell a Rebel Alliance expansion. Their opposing campaigns were known as Task Force Vengeance and Spreading the Rebellion, respectively. Combined, they became colloquially known as the Balance of Power campaign.

The Rebels wore down the task force with a series of surgical strikes and by attacking their supply lines. Eventually, Admiral Senn attempted to force a victory by launching an all-out attack, spearheaded by the Vengeance, against the Rebel stronghold in the Nocto system. During the ensuing Battle of Nocto the rebels and their Airam allies rammed three suicidal Dreadnaughts filled with explosives into the Vengeance from the rear. This and a heavy bomber strike carried out by B-wing starfighters was sufficient to bring down its deflector shields. Finally, a CR90 corvette rammed the bridge of the Vengeance after its shields had been disabled.

Although there are conflicting reports on the outcome of the battle, both the Vengeance and the Rebel shipyard Calenz are thought to have been destroyed in this battle.

There is some evidence suggesting that Vengeance may have been one of the very first lot of four Executor-class ships commissioned by the Emperor prior to the Battle of Yavin, and the second such ship built at the Fondor Shipyards&mdash;the first being the Executor.

Behind the scenes
Within the game itself, Vengeance had a length of eight kilometers, which at the time was considered canon for the Executor-class. However, Balance of Power cover art depicts it as a substantially larger ship, in line with the nineteen kilometer length that is now canon.

The Dark Jedi Jerec operated another SSD named Vengeance several years later, but it appears to be of an entirely different design, being much sleeker than the Executor-class. It is definitely a different ship.

Canonicity of destruction
It is somewhat arbitrary whether the destruction of the SSD Vengeance is canonical. The Balance of Power add-on to the X-wing vs. TIE Fighter game, the only source featuring this ship, comes with a campaign for both sides, the Empire and the Rebellion. Both campaigns culminate in the same battle where the Vengeance leads an all-out attack against a Rebel shipyard. When playing the Rebel side, the last mission's objectives are to prevent the destruction of the shipyard and destroy the Vengeance while the Imperial mission objectives are reversed. If the player successfully concludes the Imperial campaign, the shipyard is destroyed while the Vengeance is not.

However, the destruction of both SSD Vengeance and the Rebel shipyard do not cancel each other out; it could be argued that all missions and cutscenes from Balance of Power are canonical, including the ultimate simultaneous destruction of the shipyard and the SSD Vengeance. This would be the smallest possible tweak to the available information and also fit in with the apparent general consensus that the Empire and the Rebellion achieved a draw in the Airam campaign by essentially wiping out each other's forces. Neither the SSD Vengeance nor Admiral Senn are ever mentioned again afterward.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: X-wing vs. TIE Fighter: Balance of Power