Seventh Fleet The Seventh Fleet was a fleet of the Imperial Navy during the reign of the Galactic Empire . Years before the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War , the fleet was considered an effective and powerful force as it had resolved major conflicts on the behalf of the Empire . The fleet was commanded by Fleet Admiral Sartan , until Sartan was replaced with Grand Admiral Mitth ' raw ' nuruodo around 2 BBY . At this time , Governor Arihnda Pryce of Lothal requested the aid of the Seventh Fleet to deal with the rebel Phoenix Cell . Thrawn used the Seventh Fleet to blockade Lothal , where he had set up his TIE Defender factory , and later to drive Phoenix Group from their base on Atollon . The vast majority of the fleet was destroyed in 1 BBY during the Liberation of Lothal , where the Jedi Ezra Bridger called upon Purrgil s to destroy the fleet over Lothal , and then to make the " Chimaera " , with himself and Thrawn on its bridge , jump into hyperspace . History . Early campaigns . The Seventh Fleet of the Imperial Navy carried a superior firepower against its enemies and participated in several major conflicts . Fleet Admiral Sartan acted as the fleet ' s commanding officer until the year 2 BBY . Sartan was replaced by Grand Admiral Thrawn , after Governor Arihnda Pryce advised the former - admiral of the 96th Task Force to volunteer for the position following his victory at Batonn . At this time , the fleet was headed by the " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer " Chimaera " , named after a creature with same name . Both the ship ' s belly and the fleet ' s emblem bore a stylized version of the chimaera . Tasked with eliminating the Phoenix Group . Some time after the battle of Batonn , Governor Arihnda Pryce of Lothal requested the aid of the Seventh Fleet to deal with the growing rebellion against the Empire , which was granted by Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin . After a group of rebels traveled to Mykapo in order to extract another group of rebels , the " Chimaera " traveled to the planet to support Admiral Kassius Konstantine , although the rebels were able to escape the battle . As Thrawn continued the hunt , he sent out E - XD infiltrator droid s to search for the rebel base . One of the droids infiltrated the base , but was reprogrammed by the rebels to self destruct upon returning to the fleet . After Imperial weapons technician s discovered it had been hijacked , the droid self - destructed its proton bomb , destroying the " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer it had docked with . The " Chimaera " was present for this , and as a result , Agent Kallus boarded the ship to inform Thrawn of this development . The Grand Admiral was relatively unconcerned by it , as the sabotage only narrowed his search from a thousand systems to just ninety - four . As the Seventh Fleet continued to blockade Lothal , Grand Admiral Thrawn called many Imperial officer s to the fleet to try and uncover the identity of the Rebel spy Fulcrum . The spy , Agent Kallus , attempted to be rescued by Ezra Bridger . However , Kallus eventually declined , as he understood that he could frame Lieutenant Yogar Lyste , who was already suspected as the rebel spy , and continue feeding the rebellion information . However , Thrawn caught onto the carefully orchestrated deception Kallus put in place and finally confirmed who he really was . After capturing Agent Kallus in the act of warning the rebels , Thrawn was able to deduce the location of Chopper Base by calculating the trajectories of both General Jan Dodonna ' s Massassi Group and Fulcrum ' s transmission . Thrawn ordered Admiral Kassius Konstantine to deploy the Seventh Fleet to the planet Atollon . During the Battle of Atollon , Thrawn ' s fleet inflicted heavy casualties on the Phoenix Cell and the Massassi Group , destroying numerous ships and starfighters . This allowed Imperial ground forces to storm Chopper Base . However , the Imperials also lost two Interdictor vessel s , which allowed the surviving rebel forces to flee into hyperspace . Despite Thrawn ' s failures at Atollon , the Seventh Fleet wasn ' t taken away from him by Emperor Palpatine , due to the factors of the failure not being under his control . However , the Grand Admiral was summoned by the Emperor to Coruscant in the " Chimaera " , after which he was sent to Batuu with Darth Vader to deal with a disturbance in the Force felt by Palpatine . While Thrawn was away , the fleet was run by Commander Woldar , who worked on tracking down the rebels who escaped Atollon with help from Grand Moff Tarkin , until his new assignment was prepared . Return to Lothal . Eventually Thrawn and the Seventh Fleet returned to Lothal . There , the fleet continued to blockade the planet , which was being heavily mined for resources . Despite the blockade , Rebels managed to sneak their way through the blockade , with the intent to disrupt Thrawn ' s plans there . Some attempted to escape the fleet in a UT - 60D U - wing starfighter / support craft . Despite bombardment from three " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer s , including the " Chimaera " , the ship managed to escape by jumping to hyperspace through an Imperial construction module . Following the ship ' s escape , the Rebels returned with a force of T - 65B X - wing starfighter s and BTL - A4 Y - wing assault starfighter / bomber s to attack the fleet so as to bomb the Imperial Armory Complex on the surface . They initially seemed to have an advantage , as they managed to destroy a TIE Defender Elite , its pilot Vult Skerris , an " Arquitens " - class command cruiser and an " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyer . However Thrawn , from the bridge of the " Chimaera " , allowed the Rebels to enter the planet ' s atmosphere , where the squadron was shot down by a large force of hidden TIE / ln space superiority starfighter s . Later , Thrawn dispatched his agent Rukh to capture the Rebel leader , Hera Syndulla , from her crashed ship , which he did . Aftermath of the attack . During Syndulla ' s interrogation , Thrawn was requested to appear on Coruscant by Grand Moff Tarkin , so he could make a case directly to the Emperor concerning the future of the TIE Defender program , in regards to increasing competition from Director Orson Krennic and his Death Star project . Thrawn then left immediately for Coruscant in the " Chimaera " . While Thrawn was away , Governor Pryce managed to kill the Jedi Kanan Jarrus during the rescue attempt of Syndulla , although the rest of the Spectres managed to get away and the Lothal City fuel depot was destroyed , completely stalling production of the TIE Defender . Soon after , Pryce launched an attack on the rebels ' base , in order to avoid execution from Thrawn . Although the attack was nearly a victory , the rebel ship " Ghost " managed to sneak through the Seventh Fleet ' s blockade by attaching itself to a class four container transport , allowing it to then destroy Pryce ' s forces . The rebels then captured the governor and set their sights on taking over Lothal ' s Imperial complex . However , Rukh survived , and warned Thrawn of the rebels ' intentions . Bombarding Lothal . The group managed to infiltrate the facility , and initiated protocol 13 , which summoned all Imperial forces to the complex for evacuation . The rebels then planned to launch the Imperial Planetary Occupation Facility into the air , and then activate its self - destruct mechanism to kill all Imperials aboard . However , before this could be enacted , Thrawn returned from Coruscant in the " Chimaera " , and held position directly over the complex , which forced the rebels to abort their launch out of fear of crashing into the Star Destroyer and destroying Capital City . Thrawn then contacted the rebels , and revealed that they had inadvertently allowed him to commence an orbital bombardment on the city without having to worry about damaging Imperial assets , as they were all inside the Imperial complex . Although the rebels then attempted to activate the facility ' s city - wide shield , this failed , as Rukh had already deactivated it . Then , to demonstrate his power and force the rebels to surrender , Thrawn started attacking Capital City from the " Chimaera " . However , the Grand Admiral stopped firing once Commander Ezra Bridger surrendered , although only upon the condition that he came aboard the " Chimaera " alone . Once Bridger had been escorted to Thrawn ' s Office , the Grand Admiral revealed that he never intended to utterly destroy Lothal , although that had become inevitable . Following their discussion , Thrawn then brought Bridger to a hologram of the Emperor , who tried to seduce the Jedi to the dark side of the Force . Once Thrawn had returned to the " Chimaera " bridge , he ordered that the bombardment of Capital City continue . However , the rebels in the Imperial Complex had managed to kill Rukh , and activate the city - wide shield , making Thrawn ' s attack redundant . The end of the fleet . Meanwhile , Bridger had escaped the Emperor , and managed to infiltrate the " Chimaera " bridge , taking out Thrawn ' s death trooper guard and holding the rest of the crew at gunpoint . Then , an officer informed Thrawn that several unidentified objects had entered orbit . Although Thrawn was adamant the Seventh Fleet would intercept them , the officer told him the blockade had been destroyed . Then , Thrawn contacted Captain Pellaeon , who confirmed that the objects had come out of hyperspace . The object were actually purrgil , a species of space - dwelling animals capable of traveling through hyperspace , who had been called upon by Mart Mattin in the " Ghost " , which was leading the assault . As the animals began destroying the " Chimaera " accompanying two Star Destroyers in Lothal ' s lower atmosphere , Thrawn told Bridger that what happened next would happen to both of them . Then , the purrgil ' s tentacles smashed through the forward viewport s , knocking down several stormtrooper s and trapping Thrawn , although he managed to shoot Bridger in the back , prompting the Jedi to then force - push him back against the wall . Then , the purrgil attached themselves to the " Chimaera " hull , and jumped into hyperspace with the vessel . With the Seventh Fleet gone from Lothal , the remaining rebels managed to destroy the Imperial Complex , completely removing the Imperial presence from the planet . The Empire never returned , as shortly after Lothal ' s liberation , the Battle of Scarif occurred , which marked the official start of the Galactic Civil War , which would eventually see the defeat of the Empire . Complement . Led by the " Chimaera " , the Seventh Fleet consisted of at least sixteen " Imperial " - class Star Destroyers of which at least nine were " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyers . It also possessed at least twelve " Arquitens " - class command cruisers , at least nine " Gozanti " - class cruisers , and at least four Imperial Support Vessel s . Additionally , at least two " Interdictor " - class Star Destroyers , including Konstantine ' s " Interdictor " - class Star Destroyer , were utilized . During the fleet ' s operations on Lothal , Grand Admiral Thrawn also deployed at least five ICM - 092792 construction modules .