Thunderer

Thunderer
Production information
Model	Resurgent-class Star Destroyer
Type	Battlecruiser Star Destroyer
Technical specifications
Length	2,915.81 meters (9,566.29 feet)
Engine unit(s)	KDY Destroyer Ion Engines (3) Gemon-8 ion engines (8)
Hyperdrive system	Equipped
Power plant	III-a1a primary hypermatter-annihilation reactor
Shielding	Deflector shielding
Sensor systems	Long-range sensors
Armament	Turbolaser cannons Tractor beam projectors
Complement	TIE/fo space superiority fighters Part of Galek's TIE fighter squadron Unidentified TIE fighter battalion TIE/sf space superiority fighters Galek's TIE fighter squadron TIE/se Bombers At least 3 X-wing drones At least 1 Upsilon-class command shuttle Pyre's ship AAL-1971/9.1 Troop Transports Unidentified AAL-1971/9.1 Troop Transport First Order speeder bikes First Order All Terrain Armored Transports First Order All Terrain Scout Transports
Crew	First Order officers At least 1 First Order Security Bureau Agent Security Operations personnel First Order fleet engineers First Order TIE Fighter Pilots At least 1 Flight instructor At least 1 Special Forces pilot TIE pilot cadets Stormtroopers Executioner troopers At least 1 Tech stormtrooper KXFO-series security droids Spider probe droids BB-series astromech droids First Order Sentry Droids MSE-6 series repair droids
Cargo capacity	Cargo containers and crates
Communication systems	Holoprojectors
Usage
Role(s)	Warship Mobile Academy
Destroyed	34 ABY, Barabesh system
Present for battles/events	Battle of Castilon Skirmish over D'Qar Sabotage of the Colossus Skirmish by a signal beacon Escape of Venisa Doza Rescue of Norath Kev Battle of Aeos Prime Blockade of Dantooine Suppression of the Aeos system Battle of Barabesh
Affiliation	First Order First Order Academy
Navy	First Order Navy
Commander(s)	Pyre Tierny
Crewmembers	5-L Lin Gaava Galek Jace Rucklin Tamara Ryvora Unidentified First Order lieutenant Unidentified First Order security personnel Unidentified First Order stormtrooper Unidentified First Order stormtrooper Unidentified First Order stormtrooper Unidentified First Order stormtrooper Unidentified First Order stormtrooper Unidentified tech stormtrooper Unidentified female First Order TIE fighter pilot Unidentified First Order Special Forces pilot Unidentified male First Order TIE fighter pilot

"Wait, what just showed up? A Star Destroyer… A really big, tremendously huge Star Destroyer."

―Kazuda Xiono on seeing the Thunderer

The Thunderer was a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer that was used by the First Order. During the occupation of the Colossus, the Thunderer tried to stop the Colossus from jumping to hyperspace and leaving Castilon. After the supertanker fuel depot's escape, the Thunderer was used by Agent Tierny and Commander Pyre as they continued to pursue the Colossus, under orders from Captain Phasma to destroy it. The Thunderer got destroyed during a skirmish in the Barabesh system against the Colossus.

History

Hunt for the Colossus

Battle of Castilon and aftermath

Following the Hosnian Cataclysm, the Thunderer, a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, was dispatched to pursue the Colossus refueling station after Team Colossus led by Kazuda Xiono and Commander Jarek Yeager ended the First Order’s military occupation led by Commander Pyre. Though the Thunderer opened fire on the Colossus, it was unable to stop the station from fleeing into hyperspace.

After the Colossus' escape, Captain Phasma conferred with Pyre and First Order Security Bureau Agent Tierny via holoprojector, ordering them to hunt down the Colossus since they could not secure it for the First Order because she could let it fall into the grasp of General Leia Organa since it was a valuable resource to her and warned them that failure would cause them to be killed with her overseeing it. Before, Agent Tierny befriended Xiono and Yeager’s teammate Tamara Ryvora, who became a First Order TIE Fighter Pilot cadet. Bitter towards Xiono and Yeager for keeping secrets about the former, Ryvora agreed to commit herself to the First Order. Xiono later attempted to contact her via comlink but Ryvora was still angry with him.

Skirmish above D'Qar

When fellow cadet named Jace Rucklin discovered the comlink, he persuaded Ryvora to report it to the First Order. Using the comlink, the First Order were able to track the Colossus to the Ileenium system. The Thunderer arrived in the system as the Warbird gang, who allied themselves with the Colossus, were salvaging from the wreckage the Mandator IV-class Siege Dreadnought Fulminatrix for coaxium for their hyperdrive. Following a brief skirmish, the Colossus managed to evade the Thunderer after Xiono and Neeku Vozo managed to repair the station's hyperdrive. Before that, the dreadnought obliterated the base on D'Qar.

Training exercises

Later, Ryvora, Rucklin, and Lin Gaava joined the other cadets in training exercises aboard TIE/fo space superiority fighters. During an exercise which involved pursuing X-wing drones, Ryvora saved Rucklin's life after his fighter lost control. Despite saving his life, Ryvora was reprimanded by their instructor Lieutenant Galek for disobeying orders. As a result, she was not appointed as leader of her squadron.

Tierny's spy

Continuing the hunt for the Colossus, Agent Tierny, with the reluctant support of Commander Pyre, dispatched the Nikto engineer Nenavakasa Nalor to infiltrate the Colossus and sabotage it from within. Posing as a stranded space traveler, Nena managed to befriend the inhabitants of the Colossus and offer her services as an engineer. While repairing the ship's systems, Nena installed regulators into the station's service tunnel, sabotaged its turbines and thrusters, and installed a case blind on its bridge.

Nena also managed to drive a wedge between the Colossus' leader Captain Imanuel Doza and the Warbirds. However, Xiono and Synara San discovered her conspiracy. Nena managed to escape and alert her employers, who dispatched the Thunderer to the Colossus' coordinates. The Thunderer attacked the Colossus. However, Kaz and Neeku managed to reverse Nena's sabotage with the help of the pirates, allowing the Colossus to escape into hyperspace. In attempt to deflect blame, Tierny blamed Nena and issued orders for her death with Pyre happy to comply.

Trouble with Venisa Doza

Later, the Thunderer managed to track down the Colossus after Captain Doza attempted to use a signal beacon to contact his wife Commander Venisa Doza, who joined the Resistance after Leia formed it. The Thunderer dispatched several TIE fighters, which took on the Colossus' Ace Squadron in a brief dogfight. The Colossus and the Aces managed to escape while the First Order lost one TIE fighter.

Shortly later, Venisa turned up in her X-wing and was captured by the Thunderer's tractor beam. She was taken prisoner by Agent Tierny and several stormtroopers. However, she managed to escape with the help of her astromech droid Torch. During her escape, she encountered Ryvora and Rucklin. While taking Ryvora hostage, she befriended her and managed to get the young lady to question her commitment to the First Order. Following a brief skirmish that resulted in the destruction of several TIE fighters, Venisa and Torch managed to escape in their starfighter.

A supply run

While TIE cadets Ryvora and Rucklin were refueling TIE fighters, they were reassigned by Lieutenant Galek on a supply run to the refueling station Titan. While visiting the Titan, the two encountered Xiono and Vozo, who were on a mission to steal a trans-binary deflector for the ailing Colossus. Though Rucklin trapped them, Ryvora secretly helped them escape.

Pursuit on Varkana

After bounty hunter Ax Tagrin alerted Commander Pyre to his capture of several more members of the Resistance including Norath Kev and Kaz, the Thunderer traveled to the planet Varkana. While Pyre and Agent Tierny led a detachment to the surface to apprehend the suspects, Lieutenant Galek commanded the Thunderer during a search through the Varkana system for the Colossus.

Tagrin managed to detect the Colossus' location inside a red gas giant by toying with Kaz's Star Commuter 2000 shuttle's communications system. However, this alerted Captain Doza who took the Colossus into hyperspace, eluding Lieutenant Galek. After Kaz and his team escaped Varkana with the help of Ace Squadron, theThunderer attempted to intercept them and dispatched several TIE fighters. However, Doza and his wife’s daughter Torra arranged with her father to pick them up. After rendezvousing with Kaz's team and Ace Squadron, the Colossus fled into hyperspace.

Final battles

Battle of Aeos Prime

Continuing the hunt for the Colossus, the Thunderer proceeded to dispatch several spider probe droids into space. One of these probe droids encountered Xiono and his racer Fireball above Aeos Prime. Though the probe droid was destroyed, it managed to alert the First Order. In response, Pyre and Tierny dispatched the Thunderer and its complement of TIE fighters and TIE/se Bombers to Aeos Prime to destroy the Colossus.

After the initial starfighter and bomber assault failed to knock out the Colossus, the Thunderer entered Aeos Prime's atmosphere and exchanged fire with the Colossus. Under the leadership of Xiono, Ace Squadron managed to distract the First Order by launching a diversionary attack on the Thunderer, which deployed more TIE fighters. Though the Colossus escaped, Ryvora saved the bridge of the Thunderer from Xiono's missile strike. Due to her efforts, Tierny promoted her to Second Squadron Commander.

Blockading Dantooine and suppressing the Aeos system

After Commander Doza's Jade Squadron, Kaz, Torra, and Hype Fazon broke through the First Order's blockade of Dantooine, Commander Pyre and Agent Tierny deployed the Thunderer and its TIE fighters to prevent the Resistance operatives from evacuating three ships carrying Resistance recruits. Lieutenant Galek's TIE squadron including Rucklin and Ryvora saw action against Jade Squadron and the Aces. Though Galek and many of her pilots were killed during the skirmish, Rucklin succeeded in destroying one of the shuttles carrying recruits for the Resistance. However, the Resistance operatives managed to escape with the two remaining ships. Following the death of Galek, Tam was promoted to Squadron Leader and Lieutenant much to Rucklin's dismay.

The Thunderer later participated in the suppression of the Aeos system, joining thirteen Star Destroyers in orbitally bombarding the Aeosian village as punishment for giving sanctuary to the Colossus. The devastating massacre led Tam to defect from the First Order.

Demise at the Battle of Barabesh

The Thunderer was finally destroyed during the Battle of Barabesh with the Colossus, whose residents decided to join the War against the First Order at the urging of Kaz and Ryvora. During the battle, Ace and Jade Squadrons managed to destroy the Thunderer's engines with the help of CB-23 deactivating the Star Destroyer's shields, causing the ship to explode. Commander Pyre got killed during the explosion, with Rucklin and the crew, while Agent Tierny got Force choked by Supreme Leader Kylo Ren for her failure to destroy the Colossus.

Behind the scenes

The Thunderer first appeared in the Star Wars Resistance Season One finale "No Escape: Part 2," which aired on March 17, 2019. It was first identified as the Thunderer in the 2021 reference book Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy.

Appearances

• Star Wars Resistance — "No Escape: Part 2" (First appearance)
• Star Wars Resistance — "Into the Unknown"
• Star Wars Resistance — "A Quick Salvage Run"
• Star Wars Resistance — "Live Fire"
• Star Wars Resistance — "The Engineer"
• Star Wars Resistance — "Rendezvous Point"
• Star Wars Resistance — "Station to Station"
• Star Wars Resistance — "The Missing Agent"
• Star Wars Resistance — "Breakout"
• Star Wars Resistance — "No Place Safe"
• Star Wars Resistance — "Rebuilding the Resistance"
• Star Wars Resistance — "The Escape"

Sources

• Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy (First identified as Thunderer)
• "Ace Squadron" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Star Wars: Timelines
• 5-L in the Databank (backup link)
• Jarek Yeager in the Databank (backup link) (Indirect mention only)
• Kazuda "Kaz" Xiono in the Databank (backup link) (Indirect mention only)
• Torch in the Databank (backup link) (Picture only)

Notes and references

In other languages

• français
• Nederlands