Imperial Navy



The Imperial Navy, also known as the Imperial Starfleet or simply the Imperial Fleet, was the military arm of the Galactic Empire charged with maintaining security in Imperial space.

At its peak, it fielded millions of warships and fulfilled Emperor Palpatine's will throughout the Galaxy.

After the defeat at the Battle of Endor, the Galactic Empire split up into warring factions led by warlords, and the Imperial Navy splintered along with it. The remnants of the Navy were later reunited under the leadership of Emperor Bacharan Valak in 8 ABY.

Specific responsibilities of the Imperial Navy included defending Imperial citizens from space-based threats such as pirates, smugglers and other armed governments, enforcing Imperial will, and overseeing commerce through customs and blockade operations. The Imperial Navy also performed orbital bombardments, transported major ground force deployments, and supported them with space and aerial support.

The Imperial Navy conducted itself by the Imperial Naval Code, a set of martial laws and regulations created to guide the massive military organization. The vast majority of personnel in the Imperial Starfleet were male Humans, although Human females and even other species were also in the service, such as Admiral Daala and Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Key ships of the fleet
The most recognizable symbol of the Imperial Starfleet was the Imperial-class Star Destroyer, although millions of starships of different designs and functions were fielded for various purposes and roles.

Most major capital ships during the height of the Galactic Empire were constructed by Kuat Drive Yards. The Corellian Engineering Corporation was also known to have supplied the Empire with gunships and corvettes (and possibly also large battleships and starfighter carriers). Other ship manufacturers supplied the Imperial Starfleet with support ships such as Carrack-class light cruisers, Lancer-class frigates, Strike-class cruisers, and escort carriers.

Education
Naval recruits first attended the Imperial Academy to gain the basis of their higher education and military discipline, and then continued their education at the Imperial Naval College, where Academy graduates received specific training on naval operations, combat, and command functions. Finally, non-commissioned officers and recent graduates of the Imperial Naval College could participate in a training program through the Imperial Navy Officers' School to focus on military customs and courtesies, military history, leadership, officership, deck command exercises, discipline drills, and other pertinent areas of education of potential officers. Upon graduation, trainees were commissioned in the Imperial Navy as Ensigns.

Organization
The Imperial Navy used an overall strategy of focusing on capital ship firepower rather than starfighter superiority. This was reflected through the design of their starships, the formation of their naval units and the overall organization of the force. Regional, oversectorial and strategic military commands existed as well, but the details of their compositions is unknown.

Command
An individual command, a single starship, was the building block of the Imperial Starfleet. Achieving command of a starship, no matter its size, was point of pride in an officer's career. Officers commonly turned down impressive staff promotions in the hopes of receiving a ship command, although serving as a staff officer on a prominent starship, such as a squadron flagship, was often considered a fast track for promotion.

Line of battle
The most basic unit in the Imperial Navy was a line of battle, or simply a line. The Imperial Starfleet shaped four to twenty starships into lines, depending on the type of line. Commanded by a captain of the line, the line was the most amorphous level of organization in the Starfleet. The Imperial Starfleet Order of Battle outlined seven types of lines: attack, heavy attack, reconnaissance, pursuit, skirmish, troop, and torpedo. Attack and heavy attack lines aggressively engaged enemy starships in combat, reconnaissance lines gathered intelligence of the disposition of enemy forces, pursuit lines chased and trapped retreating enemies, and skirmish lines harassed capital starships and engaged enemy picket lines, whereas troop lines were designed to haul Imperial troops, and torpedo lines were designed for planetary bombardment.

In addition to the five types of lines, the Imperial Navy considered an Imperial-class Star Destroyer a line in itself. While an Imperial-class Star Destroyer may be able to act as an attack line and its compliment of starfighters as a skirmish line, the decision to give commanders the option to field a heavy cruiser as a line unto itself was more political than tactical. After a naval staff study suggested a Star Destroyer was the field equivalent of the smallest of naval squadrons, the Admiralty decided that, as there were more lines than squadrons, designating the Star Destroyer as a line unit would get them more Star Destroyers. The Admiralty's thinking prevailed.

Lines theoretically consisted of a unit of four ships, commanded by the captain of the line. In practice, however, naval lines began to range from one ship, in the case of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, to as many as twenty.

Attack Line
An attack line consisted from three to six ships depending upon the outfit of ships present; heavy cruisers and other large ships were generally fewer in number in attack lines, whereas light cruisers and frigates were were in greater number.

The purpose of the attack line was to engage enemy starships of equivalent size, or, when in the presence of a Star Destroyer or other, larger capital ship, to engage the enemy within range of the Star Destroyer, making sure the Star Destroyer is out of effective range of enemy ships, thus allowing the Star Destroyer to concentrate on destroying any enemy starship rather than focus on defense.

Heavy Attack Line
A heavy attack line consisted of a unit of four to eight ships, none smaller than a light cruiser. Designed to be an independent element of maneuver, the heavy attack line would come out even against any like number of enemy ships.

Pursuit Line
A pursuit line consisted of a unit of four to ten ships, usually light cruisers or lighter ships, such as corvettes. The mission profile of the pursuit line was to maintain contact with a retreating enemy, often employed against non-hyperspace capable starfighters, or to follow escaping craft long enough to calculate their jump coordinates.

Some missions, such as "beambaiting," as it's called by crew, called for the pursuit line to track Rebel units to a base or a planet known to house Rebel sympathizers. They engaged starships to see if any Rebel units came to their aid, and then employed a fighting retreat to a point where a heavier element of the fleet can jump in from hyperspace. The Empire enhanced this tactic by sending pursuit lines on such missions without any backup, so the Rebels would never be sure whether or not the line is part of a trap.

Recon Lines
Recon lines consisted of a unit of two to four ships, operating in pairs or individually. Usually light cruisers modified for greater sublight speed, and trading in half of their laser cannons for superior sensor capability, recon lines were prioritized to find the enemy, retreat without engaging, and return to report on the disposition of the enemy units.

Recon lines became more common by the time of the Battle of Yavin as the Empire equipped more of its larger capital ships with improved hyperwave signal interceptors (HSis) capable of detecting flux shift, which allowed the Imperial Navy to project a ship's destination once it jumped to hyperspace with greater accuracy.

Skirmish Line
Skirmish lines consisted of a unit from four to twenty small combat starships, corvettes being the most common. Skirmish lines were tasked with harassing larger starships or else engage in coordinated action against enemy starfighters.

TIE Fighters used skirmish lines as mobile cover, and skirmish lines provided cover fire for the TIEs.

Torpedo Line
The torpedo line usually consisted of two torpedo spheres, designed for planetary bombardment.

Troop Line
Troop lines consisted of two Evakmar-KDY transport vessels and two escort vessels, usually two Strike-class medium cruisers. A single transport was designed to carry a corps of Army troops, but often carried less than a full corps as subordinate elements were assigned to other vessels.

Squadron


A squadron was the smallest independent operating unit in the Imperial Navy. Composed by several lines, a squadron was commanded by a Commodore and ranged from 14 to 60 ships, depending upon the composition of the lines in the squadron. A squadron was the largest concentration of ships normally assigned to a single system. Only a direct order from a Moff, Grand Moff, Grand Admiral, or the Emperor himself could gather more ships in a single system.

The Galactic Republic designated units of identical configuration as fleets. Those units were the total naval presence in a sector. Thus, the squadron was a useful measure of the growth of the Imperial military after the establishment of Emperor Palpatine's New Order.

Similar to lines, the Imperial Navy's Order of Battle designated four types of squadrons: light, heavy, battle, troop and bombard. Light squadrons patrolled areas known to be safe with two attack lines, a skirmish line and a reconnaissance line. Heavy squadrons engaged planetary systems that possessed known enemy presences, with either two heavy attack lines, an attack line and a reconnaissance line for situations where the enemy's position and composition was unknown, or with three heavy attack lines and a skirmish line for situations where the enemy was known to be defending a fixed asset.

It was common to assign Victory-class Star Destroyers to the latter type of heavy squadron. Battle squadrons contained an Imperial-class Star Destroyer. In addition to the Star Destroyer, there were at least three lines, two attack lines and one pursuit line, for an average of 18 ships. The mere arrival of a battle squadron, and more importantly, an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, was often enough to squelch a planetary revolt or scare off an armed space-threat.

Bombard squadrons subjugated worlds in open rebellion that had developed planetary defenses including multilayered planetary shields and large planetary guns with four torpedo spheres, a skirmish line, and a pursuit line.

Troop squadrons had two troop lines, an attack line, and a skirmish line for an average of twenty-five to thirty vessels. They were often used as transfer points for Army units, reinforcing or reorganizing the Army complement of other squadrons.

Systems force
A systems force combined several squadrons under the command of an admiral. These combined forces were responsible for Imperial Starfleet actions across multiple star systems. Rather than outline specific formations of system forces, the Imperial Starfleet Order of Battle lent flexibility to commodores to pool the whole of their naval resources and shape them as necessary missions required.

Force superiority pooled at least three battle squadrons and a light squadron. With a minimum of three Imperial-class Star Destroyers and nearly 90 other starships, force superiority's mission was to achieve space superiority, defined as, "the complete absence of hostile craft within the orbital space of controlled worlds, and no chronic enemy ship activity within the entire system."

Force escort protected crucial commercial shipments, economically essential space installations or facilities, and hunted down harassing pirates. With at least two heavy squadrons and two light squadrons, force escort was the most flexible of the force pools. Admirals used force escort to run a variety of missions, knowing well that their large starship count and organizational flexibility would allow for their completion. Where force superiority was given the maxim "always send enough", force escort bore the maxim "never send too much".

Transport force consisted of two troop squadrons, a heavy and a light squadron, for an average of eighty ships.

System bombard consisted of an average of one hundred ships divided between three bombard squadrons and a light squadron. If the admiral felt that force superiority has failed to remove hostile craft from the system, the system bombard squadron was augmented with ships from a light squadron.

Force technical services (FTS) consisted of technical and mechanical specialists who were organized by single ships. FTS has eight vessels, often Evakmar-KDY transports, and was devoted to getting the techs where they were needed. FTS could not repair hulks which were dead in space, but they were equipped with tractor beams to return such vessels to deepdocks where they could be repaired. If the vessel was a complete wreck, FTS had salvaging equipment.

Force support handled munitions, consumables, spare parts and equipment for FTS, medical ships, and droid services, and a typical force support unit consisted of one hundred ships. If travelling into a combat zone, force support is given an escort, otherwise they were on their own.

Fleet
Where all previous units were generally bound to specific system or set of systems, the Imperial Navy designated a fleet as a "sector resource", allowing it to operate on a sector-wide scale. A fleet was the smallest unit transferred between sectors. With such a large number of units, there were thousands of potential types of fleet alignments. Common fleet deployment types included superiority fleets, assault fleets, and bombard fleets. Other examples of alignments that a fleet might have taken included a deepdock fleet, support fleet, or ordinance fleet. A fleet was almost always under the command of a Fleet Admiral.



Superiority fleets maintained space superiority in sectors with "four or fewer world confirmed hostile to the New Order, and no more than 16 additional worlds with confirmed significant hostile elements", a superiority fleet was deployed. With six Imperial-class Star Destroyers and almost 400 other starships, a superiority fleet was presumed to be a sufficient force for relatively calm sectors.

Assault fleets transported huge numbers of Imperial Army and Navy troops to coordinate ground operations, while maintaining space superiority around the targeted systems. With two transport forces and two force escorts, an assault fleet engaged in massive planetary and system-wide ground campaigns. Typically numbering about three-hundred seventy six ships, and were built to sustain the so-called "1/4/16/64 Plan." The fleet was expected to coordinate and sustain four types of eforts: four continuous operations at the battlegroup level (occassionally shifting troops from other theaters to temporarily reinforce one mission to corps level), sixteen continuous missions of regimental level (with potential for shifting troops to temporarily reinforce one area to a battlegroup), and sixty-four missions of irregular duration at the battalion level or lower.

Bombard fleets contained an average of 416 ships, allocated between two system bombards and two force escorts. Bombard fleets were assigned to sectors where the Empire had determined the probability of repressing the Rebellion in the sector to be less than even. System bombards were used when the Empire would rather completely destroy a world rather than see it fall into Rebel hands.

A deepdock fleet had an average of two-hundred eighty support vessels, plus a force escort to protect the deepdock assets. Deepdock contained two deepdock complexes, the engineering corps, plus two force technical services.

A support fleet consisted of at least five hundred vessels, a qaurter of which were corvette class or smaller, while a quarter of them were Loronar FSCVs (Field Secured Container Vessels).

Sector group
A sector group was the sum total of Naval strength which the Empire expected to commit to a normal sector. A High Sdmiral commanded a sector group, a title usually granted to the Moff who governed the sector. In sectors that were involved in constant and severe naval actions, the high admiral was a separate position from the Moff. A sector group could be expected to contain at least 2,400 ships, 24 of which were Star Destroyers (Imperial-class Star Destroyers were the norm, but some groups contained older model Star Destroyers), and another 1,600 combat starships.

The Navy Under Valak
After the fragmentation of the Empire in the wake of Endor, the Navy was heavily split up amongst various warlords vying for total control of the Empire, in what is now known as the Imperial Civil War. The Interim Ruling Council was the legitimate face of the Empire during these turbulent times, and large Naval assets flocked to this council, including the Emperor's Pride Fleet.

The four Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts left to the Empire after Endor fell into the hands of powerful admirals, as did the tens of thousands of Imperial Star Destroyers. As the Civil War raged, the Imperial Navy more or less ceased to exist.

By the end of the Civil War and the coronation of Bacharan Valak in 8 ABY, the Imperial Navy had been reduced to approximately 60% of its former battle strength. But Valak would not allow this to stand, and gradually, but surely, rebuilt the Navy and Army. The Super Star Destroyers were finally returned to the Empire, and a new one, the HIMS Palpatine, was commissioned in honor of Emperor Valak.

In the Great Campaign of 8 ABY, a revitalized Imperial Navy struck back at the fledging New Republic, regaining massive amounts of territory, including Coruscant itself.

The Imperial Navy continued to operate throughout the Second Imperial Civil War and the turbulent times that followed, but was seriously diminished by the Third Imperial Civil War, which saw the destruction of the Palpatine, then named the Dark Eminence, and the departure of a large amount of the Navy's finest, including Admirals Danik Kreldin and Fianar Reanus, and the one notorious Black Stars squadron itself.

Its battle effectiveness seriously diminished, the Empire once again fell into disarray, with Coruscant once again falling back into the hands of the New Republic.

Imperial Blitzkrieg
In 14 ABY, the Imperial Navy saw a resurgence under the command of Warlord Malign and the recently returned High Admiral, Danik Kreldin, who led the Empire through what is now named the Imperial Blitzkrieg. Like the Great Campaign of 8 ABY, massive amounts of territory were reclaimed and fortified, and Coruscant itself was cut off from the rest of the galaxy.

Current Times
Currently, the flagship of the Imperial Navy is the HIMS Malevolence, and the Navy itself is under the command of Grand Admiral Danik Kreldin, in the wake of the Battle of O'paal, which saw the death of Imperial High Command, including the few remaining Grand Admirals left to the Empire.

The main battle fleet of the Imperial Navy is currently Imperial First Fleet, led by the Malevolence itself, with Task Force Hammer as its most prominent assault group.

Infantry units

 * Imperial marines
 * Imperial Navy troopers
 * Imperial pilots
 * Spacetroopers

Multi-purpose fighters

 * ARC-170 Starfighter
 * Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing
 * Belbullab-22 Starfighter
 * Skipray Blastboat
 * TIE Advanced x1
 * TIE Aggressor
 * TIE Avenger
 * TIE Defender
 * TIE/fc Fighter
 * TIE/ln Fighter
 * TIE Hunter
 * TIE/rc Fighter
 * TIE Interceptor
 * TIE Interceptor Mark 2

Scouts

 * A-9 Vigilance Interceptor
 * Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing Starfighter
 * Delta-7 Aethersprite-class Light Interceptor
 * Eta-2 Actis-class Light Interceptor
 * ISP-6 Shuttle Pod
 * TIE Raptor
 * TIE/rc Fighter
 * TIE Scout
 * TIE Vanguard

"Special"

 * TIE Phantom

Automated

 * TIE/D Automated Fighter

Bombers

 * Scimitar Assault Bomber
 * TIE Bomber
 * TIE/gt Fighter
 * TIE Interdictor
 * TIE Oppressor

Transport ships/shuttles

 * Corellian Action VI Transport
 * Escort carrier
 * Imperial dungeon ship
 * Imperial transport
 * Imperial dropship transport
 * Lambda-class shuttle
 * LAAT gunship
 * MT/191 Dropship
 * Sentinel-class landing craft
 * Star Galleon-class frigate
 * Theta-class shuttle
 * TIE boarding craft
 * TIE lander
 * TIE Shuttle
 * Warlord Dropship
 * Y-85 Titan Dropship

Assault ships

 * Acclamator I-class assault ship
 * Imperial carrier
 * Venator-class Star Destroyer

Corvettes

 * Broadside-class cruiser
 * CR90 Corellian Corvette
 * Guardian-class Light Cruiser
 * Pursuit-class light cruiser
 * Tartan patrol cruiser

Frigates

 * Acclamator II-class frigate
 * Carrack-class light cruiser
 * Class II frigate
 * Class 1000 cruiser
 * Detainer CC-2200 interdictor cruiser
 * Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser
 * Interdictor-class Immobilizer 418
 * Lancer-class frigate
 * Nebulon-B Frigate
 * Neutron Star-class bulk cruiser
 * Star Destroyer Demolisher
 * Strike-class cruiser
 * Victory II-class frigate
 * Victory I-class Star Destroyer
 * Victory II-class Star Destroyer
 * Vindicator-class heavy cruiser

Destroyers

 * Imperial I-class Star Destroyer
 * Imperial II-class Star Destroyer
 * Star Destroyer Harrow
 * Tector-class Star Destroyer
 * Venator-class Star Destroyer

Cruisers

 * Gauntlet-class Star Cruiser
 * Hunchbacked cruiser
 * Imperial I-class Star Destroyer
 * Imperial II-class Star Destroyer
 * w:c:starwars:Imperial_Communications_Ship
 * Sleek Imperial cruiser

Battlecruisers

 * Battlecruiser (Captain Wermis')
 * Battlecruiser (Crimson Jack's)
 * Battlecruiser (General Tagge's)
 * Praetor-class Star Battlecruiser
 * Procurator-class Star Battlecruiser
 * Star-Destroyer-class Battlecruiser
 * Super Star Destroyer Vengeance

Battleships

 * Battleship (Giel's)

Dreadnoughts

 * Eye of Palpatine
 * Eclipse-class Star Dreadnought
 * Executor-class Star Dreadnought
 * Mandator I-class Star Dreadnought
 * Mandator II-class Star Dreadnought
 * Sovereign-class Star Destroyer

Known units

 * Alpha Squadron
 * Black Stars squadron
 * Dark Sword Squadron
 * Demon Squadron
 * Emperor's Pride Fleet
 * First Fleet
 * Lightning Squadron
 * Omega Squadron
 * Onyx Squadron
 * Phantom Squadron
 * Rapier Squadron
 * Task Force Anvil
 * Task Force Chimera
 * Task Force Defender
 * Task Force Devastator
 * Task Force Grey Wolf
 * Task Force Hammer
 * Task Force Nebula
 * Task Force Renegade
 * Tempest Squadron
 * Viper Squadron
 * War Shrike Squadron
 * Zeta Squadron

Known ships

 * HIMS Admiral Canis
 * HIMS Admiral Haederfeld
 * HIMS Admiral Thrax Daimien
 * HIMS Broadsword
 * HIMS Conqueror
 * HIMS Dauntless
 * HIMS Emperor Valak
 * HIMS Emperor Valak II
 * HIMS Eviscerator
 * HIMS Executor
 * HIMS Inhibitor
 * HIMS Iniquity
 * HIMS Inquisitor
 * HIMS Malevolence
 * HIMS Malevolent
 * HIMS Malignant
 * HIMS Nemesis
 * HIMS New Order
 * HIMS Oppressor
 * HIMS Palpatine
 * HIMS Predator
 * HIMS Ravager
 * HIMS Sentinel
 * HIMS Sovereign
 * HIMS Tormentor
 * HIMS Tyrant
 * HIMS Vanguard
 * HIMS Vindictive