Executor

From the Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction - http://encyclopedia.wizards.pro

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Executor and several escorting Star Destroyers

The Executor was the personal flagship of Darth Vader, and the lead ship of its class of Star Dreadnoughts. It was involved in the Battle of Hoth and the Battle of Endor.

Specifications

Executor was the first of the Executor-class Star Dreadnought line. It was 19,000 meters long, almost twelve times the length of an Imperator-class Star Destroyer. It carried more than 5,000 turbolasers and ion cannons, wings of TIE fighters, at least 200 other combat and support ships, 2 prefabricated garrison bases, and enough stormtroopers and walkers to destroy any conceivable Rebel base.

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History

Image:Toolate3.jpg

A Rebel A-wing fighter craft about to crash into the bridge of the Executor during the space portion of the Battle of Endor

Built in secret at the shipyards of Fondor, Executor was presented to Vader shortly after the Battle of Yavin. The new dreadnought replaced Devastator as Vader's personal flagship, thus making it the flagship of the newly formed Death Squadron. As the ship proceeded to destroy the Alliance base at Laakteen Depot, Vader christened the ship in reference to his role as the executor of both the Emperor's will and enemies.

The only known person to be able to break into Executor was Kyle Katarn as a stowaway in a corvette from a fueling station on Ergo. Singlehandedly he managed to reach the boarding hangar and smuggle himself to the secret position of the Arc Hammer.

The ship served in the Second Battle of Yavin, where it was rammed by three Imperial warships leaving hyperspace - an accident that allowed the remaining Alliance forces to escape. Executor later redeemed itself in a number of strikes against Alliance bases.

Executor was destroyed at the Battle of Endor after the shields protecting the bridge superstructure were knocked down by a heavy bombardment from the Rebel fleet. Rebel fighter pilot Arvel Crynyd then deliberately steered his hopelessly damaged A-wing into Executor's unprotected bridge, smashing through portions of the bridge section, disabling the massive ship's navigational systems and causing it to accelerate into a collision with the incomplete second Death Star, where the Super Star Destroyer was vaporized.

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Commands

While Vader wielded Executor as his personal weapon, its military functions were commanded by a series of admirals, each of which met an untimely demise. Admiral Griff was the ship's first officer, having overseen its construction at Fondor. Griff, in a ploy by Vader, led a foolhardy assault on Yavin 4, and perished. Command was then handed to Admiral Ozzel, famous for his part is allowing yet another escape by the Alliance at Hoth. For his failure, Ozzel died at Vader's hands and was succeeded by Admiral Piett. Piett, a competent commander, was the only commanding officer of Executor not responsible for a botched assault. He did, however, perish in battle as his forebearers had.

It is likely that the day to day operations of the ship was overseen by a captain, and the admirals above merely used Executor as their command ship for Death Squadron.

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Behind the Scenes

Many Expanded Universe sources have claimed that the Executor was only 8,000 meters long. Some other sources, most notably starwars.com, have claimed that Executor was 12,800 meters long. Both of these figures are in direct contradiction with the films themselves, which consistently show the Executor to be around eleven to twelve times as long as accompanying 1,600m long Star Destroyers, or 17,600-19,200m. The 12,800m figure was apparently intended as a "compromise", being halfway between the length seen in the movies and the West End Games 8,000m version. In September 2005, the starwars.com Databank was finally updated with the 19,000 meter length.

The miniature Executor used in filming was 2.83 meters long (9 1/4 feet).

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