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- "Alert all commands. Deploy the fleet."
- ―Admiral Firmus Piett
Darth Vader overlooks an Imperial fleet.
A fleet was a conglomeration of warships organized into a single unit. The commanding officer would usually utilize one of the heavy capital ships within the fleet, such as a Star Destroyer, as their flagship.[1] The Galactic Republic maintained a fleet that was attached to each of its Sector Armies, totaling twenty. One of these twenty fleets was the 2nd Fleet.[2] The Confederacy of Independent Systems possessed fleets in its navy when it fought the Republic, and the Alliance to Restore the Republic managed a fleet with which it fought against the Empire.
In the Imperial Navy, a fleet could be commanded by an admiral,[3] a Fleet Admiral, or a Grand Admiral. Some Imperial fleets were mobile and travelled from conflict to conflict,[1] such as the Third Fleet,[4] the Seventh Fleet,[1] and Death Squadron.[3] On the other hand, sector fleets were set to a specific sector of the galaxy, such as the Lothal sector fleet[5] and the Anoat sector fleet.[6] Task forces, such as the Ninety-Sixth Task Force, were units of ships smaller than fleets that were under the command of an admiral[1] or commodore.[7]
