Yavin blockade The Yavin blockade , also known as the blockade of Yavin or the Blockade of Yavin 4 , was a military action conducted by the Galactic Empire after the destruction of the Death Star in 0 ABY . History . The siege . After the destruction of the first Death Star , the Rebel Alliance prepared to evacuate the jungle moon , fearing Imperial reprisals . Fortunately , most of the Rebel fleet , including the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser s under Gial Ackbar and the refugee ships containing the Alliance government , had not been present during the battle and were scattered throughout the galaxy . General Dodonna began organizing the evacuation of the Yavin base almost immediately after the Death Star ' s destruction . However , before the base staff could be evacuated , an armada of Imperial ships including Immobilizer 418 cruisers appeared in the Yavin system . Instead of attacking , the Imperial ships formed a blockade that prevented the Rebels from escaping into hyperspace . In fact , this blockade had been ordered by Darth Vader himself , who wanted to capture leading Rebels . The blockade was so extensive , it surrounded the entire Gordian Reach Sector . Though it was a large blockade , smaller ships could escape , while the large transports and capital ships were prevented from leaving . The blockade was more political than military , because the Empire didn ' t want the galaxy to know that an enemy was threatening it . Luke Skywalker , Princess Leia Organa , and Han Solo managed to escape the blockade multiple times . Once to the Wheel , to Hoth , Drexel , Aduba - 3 , Akuria II , Keeper ' s World and other planets . The blockade itself lasted six months , with many other events happening across the galaxy during the siege . Sometime during that time , Tyber Zann searched the debris of the first Death Star , locating several jettisoned pods that contained secret plans to the Eclipse and other plans . His forces were able to escape successfully before the Imperials arrived in force to eliminate them . Meanwhile , the Super Star Destroyer " Executor " was nearing completion at the shipyards of Fondor . This mighty ship could take on an entire armada of smaller vessels and would serve as Vader ' s flagship . In retaliation for the destruction of the first Death Star , Vader wanted to use the " Executor " against the Rebels . House of Tagge intrigues . The original commander for the blockade was General Ulric Tagge and was assisted by his family ' s company , led by Baron Orman Tagge . Several Tagge battlecruiser s helped take part in the blockade . It was Orman Tagge ' s goal to gain favor with the Emperor , by creating a rivalry with Darth Vader , and humiliating him . Orman Tagge used his vast resources of TaggeCo to develop weapons to defeat the Alliance at Yavin . The first was a station in the planet of Yavin that carried a turbine to allow fighters through the turbulent atmosphere , called the Achtnak Turbine Station . TIE / LN starfighter s used this station as a depot to allow them to maintain a continuous siege of Yavin 4 . This station was eventually destroyed by Luke Skywalker , who along with Princess Leia was ambushed by the TIE fighters while returning from another assignment . The second attempt used a new freezing bomb weapon , the Omega Frost . Han Solo led a Rebel fleet through an unknown gap of the Imperial fleet . Luke Skywalker managed to destroy the firing mechanism , and the Alliance fleet attacked Orman Tagge ' s fleet and led to his defeat . After this failure , Vader held Orman and Silas Tagge prisoner , and thus had leverage over Ulric Tagge , who believed his brothers dead , assumed the title Baron Tagge and retired from the military . Admiral Griff ' s involvement . At the same time , Darth Vader was being pressured by Imperial commanders to strike , having lost patience in the blockade and its failure to contain Luke Skywalker and other Rebels . A group of Admirals secretly revealed the existence of the Super Star Destroyer being built at Fondor to the Rebels . Skywalker led a team to sabotage the completion of the " Executor " , though they were betrayed and most of the task force was killed . Admiral Amise Griff , one of the treasonous admirals , was actually a spy for the Sith Lord . Vader killed the admirals for their betrayal . Vader rewarded Griff by placing him in command of the blockade . Griff launched stunning raids on the Massassi base on Yavin IV . His TIE fighters were slowly winning the battle of attrition . During another mission , Luke discovered the arctic planet of Hoth . After returning , he suggested to the Alliance that they evacuate to Hoth and set up another base there . A third mission was the Battle of Dantooine , where Tycho Celchu defected to the Alliance . Around the same time , Princess Leia had attended a conference of uncommitted systems on Kabal , where she met with Silver Fyre , leader of the Aquaris Freeholders and convinced her to bring their considerable fleet of small ships over to the side of the Rebels . Leia also sent Han Solo on a quest for a near - fabled power gem , in an attempt to use it against the " Executor " . Fortunately for the Rebellion , the Princess and Fyre ' s fleet ran the blockade and defeated the TIE fighters . The Empire continued to besiege the base , launching several raids to destroy transports and kill leaders . Evacuation . When the Super Star Destroyer " Executor " was finished , Vader led a final strike on the base with his new flagship . At the advice of Luke Skywalker to relocate to Hoth , the Alliance evacuated the last of the base , and attempted to delay the arrival of the Super Star Destroyer . The first attempt failed , and its commander , Vrad Dodonna , fled the battle , damaging his own ship to appear he barely escaped . Luke Skywalker caught Vrad from escaping , but did not want to hurt General Dodonna ' s feelings for his son . Vrad and Luke then volunteered on a mission to use a power gem to weaken the Executor ' s shields . Vrad , however , left Luke behind to escape on his own and sell the power gem . Attacked by the " Executor " , Vrad was forced to change course and rammed the ship . As the " Executor " redirected all power to its forward shields , the " Millennium Falcon " damaged the ship ' s rear . Unable to strike the Rebel Base , Darth Vader called upon Admiral Griff at Jovan Station to use the blockade force . Admiral Griff responded by sending a TIE / sa bomber fleet to destroy the base . However , General Dodonna detonated the temple — the blast destroyed the bomber fleet . This allowed the last Alliance transport to escape . In preparations for the evacuation , X2 and Shara were assigned to locate a transponder containing recognition codes to bypass the blockade located within the wreckage of the Death Star . Amidst the debris field , the two Rebel pilots fought a number of TIE Fighters over the transponder . The Rebels emerged victorious and managed to reclaim the device . Final actions . Despite successfully evacuating the base , the Rebels were still faced with escaping from the Imperial blockade . Rebel - aligned Admiral Gial Ackbar and his Mon Calamari forces attacked the Vallusk Cluster and two other locations along the blockade as a diversion . This allowed a gap in the blockade for the Alliance to escape . Admiral Griff was not fooled , and sent his three Star Destroyers to a nearby star to hide and wait to ambush the Rebel fleet . Luckily , Luke Skywalker discovered the Star Destroyers and warned them . Instead , Princess Leia led the fleet through a stellar flare around the star , with Skywalker guiding them through the Force . Meanwhile , with the repairs complete , Darth Vader and the " Executor " awaited on the other side of the star to ambush the fleet . Darth Vader had used Griff to draw the Alliance near him , and exhaust them . But the ambitious Griff , foolishly miscalculated a hyperspace leap to catch the Alliance , and his three Star Destroyers collided into the " Executor " . Admiral Griff was killed , but fortunately for Vader , the " Executor ' s " shields protected him from the collision . This event allowed the Alliance to escape . The Alliance finally escaped the Imperial blockade and spent a year relocating to Hoth and building Echo Base .