Battle of Sluis Van The Battle of Sluis Van , also known as the Battle at Sluis Van Shipyards , was the first major military conflict of the Thrawn campaign , orchestrated by Grand Admiral Thrawn to steal a flotilla of New Republic ships . Background . The Imperials began with feints at Bpfassh and Draukyze which would ultimately lead to large numbers of ships ( which would otherwise have been in these systems ) being present in the Sluis system later . The hit - and - fade tactics also forced the New Republic to use its starfighter squadrons to become escort craft along various shipping routes to defend against possible Imperial attacks , and left the still - new galactic government strapped for freighters . This also caused the Republic to strip down and give only skeleton crews to some larger war vessels , even Mon Calamari Star Cruiser s , to transport goods and supplies . Thrawn also attacked Nkllon , stealing fifty - one mole miners from Lando Calrissian ' s Nomad City , jamming the system so that the administrator could not transmit his override codes . Finally , Thrawn ' s acquisition of cloaking technology gave him the extra help he would need to smuggle his ships into the system . Battle . Hours before the battle began , Cloak Leader was dispatched in an " A " - class bulk freighter , the " Nartissteu " , which had a cloaking device installed " inside " its cargo hold . When activated , the ship remained fully visible to both scanners and the naked eye , but the TIE / LN starfighter s and mole miners within appeared as empty space to any scans performed on the freighter . Although to the eyes and battle senses of the seasoned New Republic officers Afyon and Wedge Antilles the ship still seemed strange , the " Nartissteu " and its hidden fighter complement were able to fool Sluis Van Central and Sluis Control by reporting damage sustained in a pirate attack and being forced to drop their cargo and run . Antilles , deciding that the freighter handled more like a full , functional ship than a damaged , empty one , ordered Rogue Squadron to launch from Afyon ' s " Larkhess " . The " Nartissteu " exploded as the X - wings reached it , with the command section piloting away and the destroyed hull leaving space open for forty TIEs and fifty mole miners to engage the under - defended fleet of undermanned New Republic ships . At this point Thrawn ' s task force emerged from hyperspace to attack the spaceyard ' s perimeter . His thirty - nine capital warships and thirty TIE squadrons had the conservative goal of engaging and pinning down the formidable New Republic defenses , thus reducing the pressure on the Imperial infiltrators . The timely arrival of the Rogues and Han Solo , Luke Skywalker , and Lando Calrissian in the " Millennium Falcon " hardly slowed the Imperial forces as the mole miners drilled through the New Republic ships ' hulls to place boarding parties . Thrawn had packed four or five stormtroopers and spacetroopers into each of the two - man mining craft . These boarders were efficient enough to have even taken control of at least one Star Cruiser in only minutes , firing at Commander Antilles as he attempted to use what he thought was an allied ship as cover . The Imperials were even tapping into Republic comms , listening to Solo and Antilles ' tactics , so as to defend the mole miners against combined attacks . Thrawn ' s oversight . Before the raiders could abscond with the New Republic fleet , Han Solo realized that the Imperials were not jamming their comms this time , and Lando Calrissian used his command codes to activate the miners , making them drill entirely " through " the fleeing starships . However , at least one winged Mon Calamari cruiser , three GR - 75 medium transports , four Corellian Corvettes and one Nebulon - B frigate were crippled by the miners ' engines and a self - destructive spacetrooper before they were stopped . His plan foiled , Thrawn ordered " Chimaera " to retreat , telling Captain Pellaeon that the New Republic might have won , but had lost a great many ships in the process .