Black Fleet

Black Fleet
Historical information
Notable campaigns	Black Fleet Crisis
Affiliation	Galactic Empire Imperial Military Imperial Navy

Warning: This infobox is missing the following parameters: naval

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 Command ships that had disappeared 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 were 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, whom the Yevetha held in a camp on Pa'aal. Another yard, Black Nine, was later put back into commission by the Duskhan League at Prildaz, where it was destroyed in the Battle of ILC-905. The Black Fleet contained sixty or so capital ships of Imperial design by the time of the Great Purge. 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'al Squadron" withdrew immediately to Byss, but there they diverged. 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 in the Outer Rim. Intimidator herself disappeared into the Unknown Regions, and 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

"According to Ayddar, the order of battle for Black Sword includes forty-four capital ships which we have not seen nor heard of since the fall of the Emperor. None smaller than a Victory-class Star Destroyer. Three are Superclass vessels."

―Admiral Gial Ackbar and Director Hiram Drayson

Super Star Destroyers

• Intimidator, renamed Pride of Yevetha as Duskhan League flagship. This ship was an Executor-class Star Dreadnought.
• Aramadia, named as a personal flagship for Nil Spaar and later used as a museum ship on N'zoth.
• One other Super Star Destroyer.

Imperial-class Star Destroyers

• Redoubtable was badly damaged at Endor and still under repair at Black-15 when the Yevetha seized the shipyard. Later renamed Destiny of Yevetha.
• At least three other vessels of this class were present at the battle of Doornik-319.

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 was captured intact by the Yevetha, renamed Devotion of Yevetha, and later participated in the bombardment of Polneye.

Other capital ships

• New Republic Intelligence later divulged 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.
• 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, 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, was a Sorannan-class Star Destroyer.
• Alongside Devotion, mentioned above, ships named Liberty and Honor were involved at Polneye.
• 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.
• 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.

Appearances

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

Sources

• Cracken's Threat Dossier
• The Essential Chronology
• The Official Star Wars Fact File 7 (PLA5, Planets of the Core Worlds)
• The New Essential Chronology
• Coruscant and the Core Worlds
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia