Dreadnought-class

The Imperial Support Vessel was a type of starship used by the naval forces of the Galactic Empire. Several of these vessels were part of Grand Admiral Thrawn's blockade over Lothal until the entire blockade was destroyed by flocks of purrgil during the planet's liberation from the Empire in the year 1 BBY.

Characteristics
The Imperial Support Vessel was a gray-colored starship, which was equipped with a sensor dish on its top, and 12 sublight engines in different shapes and sizes.

History
"Sir, several unidentified objects have just entered orbit.''" "My blockade will intercept them." "''They've destroyed the blockade. Our ships are just&hellip; gone."

- An Imperial officer and Grand Admiral Thrawn

Several Imperial Support Vessels were part of Grand Admiral Thrawn's Seventh Fleet's blockade over the planet Lothal, when the rebel light freighter Ghost managed to get through it by attaching to a cargo freighter in the year 1 BBY. Shortly afterwards, the rebel group led by Padawan Ezra Bridger managed to defeat the Imperial forces and liberate Lothal. During the battle, the entire blockade was destroyed by flocks of purrgil &mdash;massive whale-like creatures that were naturally capable of traveling through hyperspace &mdash;as part of Bridger's plan.

Behind the scenes
The Imperial Support Vessel first appeared, albeit unnamed, as a background ship in the 2018 Star Wars Rebels episode "A Fool's Hope," the penultimate episode of the series overall. The ship was identified by name in a concept art by Andre Kirk from the accompanying episode guide.

The designs for the support ship were derived from the Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, which figured so prominently in The Thrawn Trilogy, a trilogy of Star Wars Legends novels written by Timothy Zahn. The Dreadnaughts date back to the 1989 Imperial Sourcebook published by West End Games.