Independence

The Independence was an MC80A Home One Type Heavy Star Cruiser in service to the Alliance to Restore the Republic by the ending stages of the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire. It participated in the climactic Battle of Endor that witnessed the destruction of the second Death Star and the death of Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine.
==Description==
The Independence was an MC80A Home One Type Heavy Star Cruiser manufactured by Mon Calamari Shipyards. Like other Star Cruisers of the MC80a model, the Independence measured in length at 1,300 meters, was equipped with a deflector shield generator, a class one hyperdrive, and ten sublight engines giving it speeds of 975 kilometers per hour. It was armed with thirty-six ion cannons, twenty-nine turbolaser batteries, and six tractor beam projectors. It was crewed by over 5,000 personnel and had a complement of ten starfighter squadrons.
==History==
By 4 ABY,Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates the Battle of Endor to 4 ABY. Because the Independence participated in the Battle of Endor, it must have been part of the Rebel Alliance by that time. the Independence was part of the naval forces of the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War against the Galactic Empire.
At one point the Independence was critically damaged in an engagement with the Empire.Starships and Speeders
The Independence, alongside other MC80A star cruisers such as the flagship Home One, Nautilian,Aftermath: Life Debt and the Defiance, and with many other ships of the Alliance Fleet, participated in the Battle of Endor, a decisive battle in the war where the Rebel Alliance sought to destroy the second Death Star and defeat Emperor Palpatine. Rebel Alliance Admiral Gial Ackbar's strategy for an Alliance victory was for the Star Cruisers to form a perimeter around the second Death Star while starfighters moved into the incomplete battle station's superstructure and destroy it from the inside. The battle was, in actuality, a trap by Emperor Palpatine to destroy the Rebel Alliance, whose naval forces managed to entrap the rebel ships as the second Death Star was revealed to be fully operational, destroying several Rebel Alliance capital ships including the Nautilian and the Liberty.
General Lando Calrissian, believing that the Rebel Alliance would not have another opportunity, convinced Admiral Ackbar to attack the Imperial warships directly, which would protect them longer against the second Death Star's superlaser and because rebel forces could inflict more Imperial casualties. By the end of the battle, the second Death Star was destroyed, Emperor Palpatine would be killed by his own Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, and Imperial forces withdrew by order of Vice Admiral Rae Sloane.Star Wars Battlefront II
==Behind the scenes==
The Independence first appeared in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi and was first identified in the canon encyclopedia, Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles written by Landry Q. Walker and released on April 3, 2018. It debuted in Star Wars LegendsStar Wars: X-Wing in the 1993 video game, Star Wars: X-Wing, released in February of that year.
==Appearances==
* 
==Sources==
* 
*Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles
*Starships and Speeders
*
*
==Notes and references==
Category:MC80A Home One Type Heavy Star Cruisers
Category:Starships of the Alliance to Restore the Republic