Grievous's frigate

Grievous's frigate was a Munificent-class star frigate used as the personal flagship of General Grievous, in the Confederacy of Independent Systems' naval forces early in the Clone Wars in 22 BBY. When the heavy cruiser Malevolence was lost under his command, Grievous was forced to post his command aboard numerous disposable frigates, using one in a number of engagements and claiming several victories with it. With five other frigates accompanying his own, the general targeted the strategic world Bothawui, but assaulted and captured the planet Falleen beforehand.
After taking Falleen, the frigate fleet moved to capturing Bothawui to advance in the Mid Rim. Coming into contention with the fleet of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, Grievous's fleet was unwittingly drawn into a trap set prior to the battle. With deflector shields all angled forward, a tank brigade scattered throughout the asteroid field came out of hiding and out-flanked the frigates, which were destroyed in quick succession, including Grievous's flagship. The general, however, escaped aboard his starfighter Soulless One into hyperspace.
==Description==
Incorporated into the Confederacy of Independent Systems Navy, the Separatists used a Munificent-class star frigate as General Grievous's flagship. Otherwise used for ship-to-ship combat as a warship, Grievous's frigate reached 825 meters in length, 426 meters in width and 243 meters in height. Along the dorsal surface placed on a forward-facing platform was the command bridge, where the vessel's captain oversaw operations from a central chair. The rest of the crew operated from several other chairs and monitor screens, some of which displayed progressing battles or tactical information on other starships. Surrounding the bridge were numerous high-performance sensor antennas, that were designed to monitor a fleet's perimeters at light-day ranges. Grievous's frigate was also equipped with numerous docking rings, superdense reactant tanks and two port and starboard hyperwave supralight transceivers.
The frigate received its sublight-to-hyperspace propulsion capabilities from seven ion drive thrusters and hyperdrive generator, the former of which were physically shielded by the ship's hull. Meanwhile, the frigate was protected by a deflector shield projected from a forward-to-aft angling generator and powerful hull armor that could withstand multiple asteroid strikes and heavy firepower. But for offensive measures, the Munificent came mounted with a weapons array of two heavy turbolaser cannons that slowly maneuvered on an elevation platform but were deadly to other warships. These cannons were supplemented by an additional two prow-mounted heavy ion cannons situated directly under the bridge and thirty-four twin light turbolaser cannons. To engage in ship-to-ship combat, the Munificent was loaded with a maximum of four squadrons of forty-eight vulture droid starfighters and Grievous's personal Belbullab-22 heavy starfighter Soulless One launched from a port hangar bay, but employed up to 150,000 battle droids for ground assault and anti-boarding actions.
==History==
===Grievous's Separatist conquest===
General Grievous's frigate was constructed for the Confederacy of Independent Systems, designed for combat-communications and to assist with fleet navigation and coordination through enemy territories. Early in the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, the Separatist navy was robbed of both an effective anti-Galactic Republic warship and their primary command shipUltimate Star Wars, New Edition the Subjugator-class heavy cruiser Malevolence, at the Battle of the Kaliida Nebula following a multi-month campaign with the vessel. From this significant defeat, General Grievous's reputation had greatly suffered as a result and prevented him from holding command over further important vessels. As punishment, the general was forced into posting his command aboard disposable Munificent-class vessels, making one his flagship for a time early in the war.
Even with the numerous setbacks, the Separatists simply progressed their galactic conquest. From a six-ship fleet of Munificent-class frigates, Grievous personally directed campaigns in the Outer Rim Territories with information gained by the Skytop Station listening post in the Mid Rim's Ruusan system. Within a month, the Republic's foothold of the Outer Rim became jeoparized, from the general's invasions and blockades of hyperlanes for the planets Bespin, Kessel and Mon Cala. Advancing the campaign into the Mid Rim, Grievous set his sights on the world Bothawui, a strategic location and vital planet to Republic Intelligence. However, the general altered the plan after learning Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and a fleet of three Venator-class Star Destroyers were assigned to protect Bothawui, but used his frigate fleet, which included his own frigate, to force the Republic out of hyperspace and into a brief skirmish before reaching Bothawui. Adapting the strategy once the Republic still reached Bothawui, Grievous stopped pursuing Skywalker and commanded his frigates into attacking the planet Falleen, resulting in the Republic's loss of their defending battle group.
===Battle of Bothawui===
Once Falleen was captured, Grievous returned to his attempt at taking Bothawui, but received warnings from Separatist spies that Skywalker's fleet was located beyond the orbiting Fervse'dra asteroid belt. Entering from hyperspace, the frigate fleet found the warnings to be accurate; Skywalker's Star Destroyers had been waiting for them. Rationalizing an above-from attack would be to Skywalker's advantage, Grievous implemented an unusual tactic by approaching through the asteroids to engage them. While unaware of an All Terrain Tactical Enforcer brigade scattered in the field, the frigates diverted all power into their forward deflector shields, believing that the asteroids would prevent an attack from behind. The Republic, meanwhile, had deployed starfighters from Gold Squadron under Skywalker's personal command to lure Grievous into their trap. While the Star Destroyers waited, the frigates fully closed in and opened fire on all three ships and disabled one after repeated heavy fire, forcing Gold Squadron into evasive actions.
Preparing to finish off the Republic forces, Skywalker called the tank brigade out of hiding to catch the Separatist fleet off-guard. Outflanked and having diverted power to forward shields, the AT-TE walkers opened fire and destroyed one of the frigates, allowing Skywalker to enter the battle and the Star Destroyers to commence firing and destroy two others consecutively. Realizing the battle was lost, Grievous boarded his starfighter Soulless One and jetted out of the hangar. Though pursued by Skywalker, the general escaped into hyperspace and allowed the Star Destroyers to destroy his flagship with the rest of the crew still aboard. After the battle, the frigate fleet's wreckage still drifted in the asteroid field, where its debris was scoured by the scavenger Gha Nachkt. Grievous later replaced his flagship with another Munificent.
==Commanders and crew==
Although disposable in nature, the frigate became the place-of-command for General Grievous during the Clone Wars. As its commander, Grievous held overall command of it and other vessels of its accompanying fleet. Like all other Munificent-class vessels, Grievous's frigate accomodated a required crew of 200 personnel, including a single OOM command battle droid, OOM pilot battle droids, and other B1-series battle droids. These droids operated the deflector shields and weapon systems.
==Behind the scenes==
Grievous's frigate first appeared in flashbacks of "Rising Malevolence," the second episode of the first season of the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which originally aired on October 3, 2008. The frigate later made its full appearance in "Downfall of a Droid," the first season's sixth episode, which aired on November 7 of that same year. It was later identified in the fortieth issue of De Agostini's Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine series, published around October 7, 2015.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
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*Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy
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==Notes and references==
Category:Flagships
Category:Munificent-class star frigates
Category:Starships of the Confederacy of Independent Systems