Priam (starship)

The Priam was an EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate which served in the Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War. The ship was stationed near Kalla VII in the months leading up to the Battle of Yavin. In need of repairs, it traveled to the Imperial base near Kalla VII to find the base destroyed during an attack by the Alliance to Restore the Republic. With the Priam stranded in the system, the Rebels mounted a series of strikes that resulted in its capture.

Description
The Priam was a Kuat Drive Yards EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate, designed to help defend Imperial convoys from attack by Rebel starfighters. Like other ships of its class, it was 300 meters in length and comprised a main section, connected to a smaller propulsion module by a slender neck. It had an array of sublight engines located at the rear of the propulsion module and was fitted with a hyperdrive for travel through hyperspace. The vessel had deflector shields for defense and was armed with turbolaser batteries for use against capital ships and a laser cannons to target fast-moving starfighters.

Nebulon-B frigates had hangar space for two full squadrons of starfighters and the Priam carried a complement of TIE/ln starfighters and TIE/sa bombers. It also carried at least three Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transports and at least two Lambda-class T-4a shuttles.

Arrival at Kalla VII
The Priam was stationed near Kalla VII during Operation Strike Fear, a major Imperial offensive against the Alliance to Restore the Republic in the months prior to the Battle of Yavin. After Operatiom Strike Fear was defeated, Rebel X-wings acted as part of a plan by General Jan Dodonna to destroy the Imperial repair dock at Kalla VII and leave Imperial ships on the way to the Death Star stranded in the system and open to capture, a trap which the Priam eventually found itself caught in. The Priam arrived in need of repairs just as Rebel X-wings were preparing to leave after an attack on the facility. As soon as the Priam exited hyperspace, it collided with Breth Gart's ship, killing him instantly but the other Rebels escaped. With the Priam now stranded the Rebels prepared to move against it.

Escorts
At some point after its initial contact with the Rebels, the Priam escorts arrived in the form of three CR90 corvettes from Dar Es group. They would be charged with protecting the stranded vessel. To aid with the defenses, a minefield was also quickly deployed around the ship. A Delta-class DX-9 stormtrooper transport was also dispatched to deliver supplies and personnel.

The Rebels, meanwhile, prepared an assault to remove these defenses. Two R-22 Spearheads from Blue Squadron were to engage the Priam TIE starfighters while two Y-wings from Red Squadron, led by Keyan Farlander, Gart's flight leader in the previous mission, were to destroy the corvettes with their proton torpedoes.

All three corvettes were quickly destroyed, as was the incoming transport and the Rebels withdrew leaving only the minefield and a handful of TIEs to defend the Priam. One R-22 was lost during the battle but a subsequent rescue operation retrieved the pilot who had been able to eject.

Capture of the Priam
With the escort destroyed, General Dodonna gave the order for Alliance Special Forces to conduct a "board and capture" operation against the Priam. The Rebels sent a complete squadron of Y-Wings from Gold Squadron to disable the Priam, attacking in two groups of six. Keyan Farlander, having just returned to the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Independence from the previous mission, immediately launched to support the operation, flying the only craft available, an R-22 Spearhead.

Farlander moved quickly to destroy the few remaining TIE/ln starfighters before they could pose a threat to the Y-wings and then proceeded to destroy the minefield while the Y-wings used their ion cannons to disable the Priam. The Priam made one last attempt to fight back, launching two TIE/sa bombers but they too were quickly destroyed.

After losing relatively few Y-wings, the Priam was finally disabled. The Y-wings withdrew while the Special Forces team moved in with transports from Assault group carrying commandos to board the frigate. Once captured, Lambda-class shuttles from Panda group delivered the new crew for the ship while transport group Jordi delivered supplies. Once all the transports were aboard, the Rebel forces, along with the newly captured frigate, jumped to hyperspace. Despite Farlander having not been scheduled to fly in the mission, Commander Lagrane acknowledged during his debriefing that his actions had helped keep Rebel losses lower than expected.

The journals of Priam computer revealed to the Alliance that the location of the Death Star was Despayre. Corvette group Ethar was dispatched to the Horuz system to investigate.

The final stage of the Priam capture was later recreated as a training mission for pilots learning to use the new B-wing starfighter. The training scenario gave Red Squadron the responsibility of disabling the frigate, while a lone R-22 from Blue Squadron took Farlander's place. However, Red Squadron were allocated B-wings with which to disable the frigate, instead of the Y-wings used by Gold Squadron in the original mission. The aim of the scenario was to demonstrate that, by using the B-wing instead of the Y-wing, the same objective could be achieved with fewer ships.

Behind the scenes
The Priam was created for the 1993 LucasArts video game Star Wars: X-wing. The ship appeared in three missions during "The Gathering Storm", the game's third tour of duty; "Destroy Imperial Base", "Destroy Priam Escort" and "Capture the Frigate Priam". The final mission was reproduced using B-wings as a training mission in the game's B-wing expansion pack.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: X-wing
 * Star Wars: X-wing Tour of Duty: B-wing