Imperial Navy (Galactic Empire)

The **Imperial Navy**, also referred to as the **Imperial Starfleet**, was the naval branch of the Imperial Armed Forces. It was responsible for space warfare, orbital bombardment, the deployment of starfighters, and the delivery of Imperial troops into combat. The Imperial fleet was created in the wake of the Clone Wars, when Chancellor Sheev Palpatine transformed the Galactic Republic he led into an authoritarian Empire. The Imperial Navy mainly consisted of Imperial-class Star Destroyers, and Victory-class Star Destroyers, as well as TIE line fighters, and the Imperial Navy was tasked with maintaining peace and order in the galaxy.

## Background

After the rise of the New Order, the massive military buildup that became synonymous with the late Galactic Republic in an effort to combat the Separatist Alliance continued and expanded in the now Galactic Empire. The Imperial Navy was created from the remains of the Republic Navy at the end of the Clone Wars, and inherited its proud naval tradition that dated back thousands of years.

It came to have its own starships that patrolled the vast majority of Imperial space throughout the reign of Emperor Palpatine's New Order. After the establishment of the Imperial Navy, it became the primary projection of the Imperial Military's arm, becoming the largest branch in the Armed Forces with its enormous fleet of vessels and millions of personnel.

The role of the Imperial Navy was the absolute dominance of known space in the name of the Empire, as well as enforcing the Emperor's will. The four key functions of the Imperial Navy, including blockading spaceports to cripple a planet's ability to fight, bombarding planets to destroy enemy infrastructure, guarding shipping lanes against pirates and smugglers to safeguard commerce and frighten criminals into conducting honest trade, and transporting and supporting other branches of the Imperial Military from space and from the air, supplying them with space and aerial support upon disembarkation if necessary.

The Imperial Navy's doctrine was heavily influenced by the experience of the Clone Wars, and it emphasized mid level ship firepower with high regard for starfighter superiority. The Navy's earliest Star Destroyer design, the Venator-class, had carried a substantial complement of 420 starfighters to counter the swarms of droid starfighters deployed by the Confederate Navy and had proved its worth as both a fighting ship and a carrier, but many Imperial strategists came to think that it would have been more effective if designed for a single role. Subsequent Star Destroyer designs like the hangarless Tector-class were larger and were built around more powerful reactors, allowing them to carry heavier defenses and weapons and so lessen the effectiveness of starfighter attacks. After a period of experimentation, the Navy settled on the Imperial-class Star Destroyer as the backbone of the Fleet. It was heavily optimized for fleet combat, carrying only a single wing of 72 starfighters.

## Organization

### Headquarters

The highest organizational body of the Imperial Military was the Imperial High Command. Below this was the Admiralty and the Naval High Command, the organizing body that directed all operations of the Imperial Navy. Naval High Command took orders directly from Emperor Palpatine. The Chief of the Imperial Navy had a high enough rank to both oversee various navy operations of various Imperial vessels that qualified. On rare occasions, Naval High Command also had direct involvement in military operations.

The Supreme Commander, Darth Vader, exercised supreme control over the Imperial Navy, with his orders being placed on the same priority as Emperor Palpatine's own instructions. The next-in-line authority was the cadre of the Grand Admirals, a body of senior naval officers known also as the "Twelfth Circle". The promotions were generally seen as an attempt by the Emperor to solidify his control over the Navy. Comprising respected naval strategists, researchers, and New Order partisans, they were assembled to be a leadership cadre for the entire Imperial Military.

### Administration

The Imperial Navy was commanded by Emperor Palpatine, Supreme Commander Darth Vader and the Joint Chiefs of the Empire, while admirals and captains assumed responsibility for their respective craft and would be informed of any long-term plans. The Admiralty was the overall leading unit of the navy and included Imperial Navy High Command. Naval Command and Control and the Naval chiefs also oversaw the tactical strategy of the Navy, and reassigned ships to trouble spots and plotted long-term strategy under the oversight of both the Emperor and Joint Chiefs. The Imperial Starfighter Corps also aided in overall naval operations, and disliked the Admiralty's push towards Kuat Drive Yards near monopoly on capital ship production due to a belief that TIE/LN fighters were purposely weakened to ensure continued production and purchases from the company would continue.

Similar to the Army, the Imperial Navy contained multiple branches responsible for various aspects of naval warfare, of which the most important and well known was Fleet Command. Fleet Command controlled the Imperial Navy's sub-capital and capital ships, and the lowest recruits to the Admiral of the Fleet fell under its auspices. It was highly unusual for officers to receive captaincy of a Star Destroyer until middle age, while being assigned captaincy of smaller craft was considered to be ignominious. It was common practice for the Imperial Starfleet to often amass ships in an attempt to intimidate various worlds, officers sometimes gathered their respective ships in an attempt to display their power and impress superiors, with the more ships and men under one's command the more important that person was considered. With the Emperor commanding the most ships and men, he was easily considered the most important. The Navy also worked in conjunction with the Imperial Security Bureau, who installed an internal affairs officer aboard every Imperial-class Star Destroyer and Executor-class Star Dreadnought, while the Naval Intelligence Agency and its oversight by Imperial Intelligence provided vital information for the armada.

### Branches

* Admiralty Board
	+ Office of the Chief of the Imperial Navy
	+ Twelfth Circle
	+ Chiefs of Naval Operations
* Naval High Command
	+ Fleet Command
	+ Line Branch
		- Deck Division
		- Administration Division
		- Logistics Division
	+ Flight Branch
		- Flight Division
		- Starfighter Corps
	+ Fleet Support Branch
		- Engineering Division
		- Technical Services Division
	+ Support Service Branch
		- Ordnance
		- Gunnery
		- Communications
		- Biological
		- Astrogation
	+ Naval Special Warfare Command
		- 204th Imperial Fighter Wing
			* Squadron One
			* Squadron Two
			* Squadron Three
			* Squadron Four
			* Squadron Five
		- Task Force 12
		- Black Eight Squadron
		- Scimitar assault wing
	+ Imperial Supply
	+ Merchant Galactic
	+ Imperial Exploration Corps
	+ Imperial Survey Corps
* Imperial Naval Special Forces
	+ Imperial Navy commando
	+ Venom Guard
	+ Inferno Squad
	+ Imperial Marines
* Imperial Naval Military Police
* Imperial Naval Judicial Board
* Imperial Logistics Division
	+ Naval Corps
* Imperial Naval Intelligence
	+ Naval Security Branch
	+ Department of Internal Affairs
	+ Imperial Navy Research, Development and Engineering Center
	+ Bureau of Information
	+ Bureau of Intelligence
	+ Bureau of Operations
	+ Office of Analysis
	+ Communications Intelligence
* Battle Station Command
	+ Battle Station Operations

### Order of Battle

Main Article: Navy’s Order of Battle

The Imperial Navy's tactical organization was defined by the Navy Order of Battle, designed to provide flexible resources for a commander's force requirements. The largest formal organizational unit was the sector force followed by a fleet, then a battle group, followed by a squadron, then lastly a line.

## Personnel

### Ranks

The ranks of those in the Imperial Navy's officer corps were determined by wearing a color-coded rank insignia plaque which utilized red, blue and yellow squares. An admiral was identified by twelve multicolored squares, six red over six blue; however, black-uniformed officers were identified with six colored squares side by side for the rank of admiral, four red and two yellow along with red-tipped code cylinders, unlike the blue tipped variant used by other officers. A captain was identified by six squares of three red over three blue. The prestigious title of Grand Moff was identified with twelve squares, six blue over three red and three yellow. While most high-ranking officers wore olive-green drab and lower ranking non-commissioned officers wore black uniforms, some officers could rise up the ranks and keep their black uniform variant.

The ranks of the Imperial Navy, arranged from highest to lowest, were:

* Admiral of the Fleet
* Grand Admiral
* High Admiral
* Fleet Admiral
* Admiral
* Vice Admiral
* Rear Admiral
* Commodore
* Captain of the Line
* Flag Captain
* Senior Captain
* Captain
* Senior Commander
* Commander
* Lieutenant Commander
* Senior Lieutenant
* Lieutenant
* Junior Lieutenant
* Ensign

The Chief of the Imperial Navy was a single individual who served on the Joint Chiefs and advised the Supreme Commander of the overall Imperial Military.

A Flag Captain referred to a high-ranking individual who captained the flagship of an admiral. A Flag officer referred to a senior officer above the rank of commander. It typically took ten to fifteen years to transition from ensign fresh from the academy to captain. Usually, a captain waited at least six more years before becoming commodore. However, the High Command could speed up the process, especially for political reasons.

When the Rebel Alliance pushed propaganda that the Empire was composed of warriors with poor aim, fleet officials decreed that promotions for gunnery officers would depend upon their kill ratios. Fleet logistics liaison Arvira believed the decision was an awful idea, recognizing that it would push ambitious gunner crews to fire on disabled ships instead of firing on active, but non-living, targets like drones. Indeed, Arvira found another issue with the rule in 0 BBY when gunnery captain Bolvan ordered his crew to not fire on an escape pod fleeing the Tantive IV over Tatooine because it did not have any life signs. Therefore, it would have hurt his blast-to-kill ratio. However, the pod contained droids C-3PO and R2-D2, who was carrying the Death Star plans, which were the very target the Empire had attacked the Tantive IV over in the first place. After the Empire was unable to find the plans aboard the Tantive IV, Bolcan realized the plans were likely aboard the pod he let pass, leaving him to go to Arvira for help in covering up his decision.

## Equipment

Main article: Imperial military uniforms

Imperial uniforms varied depending on the specialization of the individual, ranging from protective armor to pressed jackets. Those of higher rank often wore the distinctive olive-green double-breasted tunic along with boots, trousers and a command cap displaying an officer's disk designed by Tarkin himself following the rise of the New Order. It saw wide service in both the Imperial Navy and Army, however a black variant was utilized by noncoms and stormtrooper officers.

Imperial weapons technicians wore distinctive clamshell helmets and partial body armor, while TIE pilots wore encased full body armor with helmets similar to those worn by stormtroopers, along with with flexible gas transfer tubes in the front of their helmets along with other modifications for operating in the vacuum of space.

## Starships of the Imperial Navy

### Capital Ships

During its reign of the galaxy, the Imperial Navy used a plethora of capital ships as flagships and command ships. Several varieties of Star Destroyer were used, including the most common Imperial-class Star Destroyers which consisted of both Imperial I- and Imperial II-class Star Destroyers, as well as the Interdictor-class Star Destroyer, the qaz-class Star Destroyer, the Secutor-class Star Destroyer, the Tector-class Star Destroyer, the Venator-class Star Destroyer, the Victory-class Star Destroyer, the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer, and the Onager-class Star Destroyer.

Although a rarer sight than a Star Destroyer, dreadnoughts were even more formidable ships. Thirteen Super Star Destroyers were in Imperial service prior to the Battle of Endor, including several Executor-class Star Dreadnoughts which consisted of the Executor I-class Star Dreadnought and the Executor II-class Star Dreadnought. The Assertor-class Star Dreadnought, acted as a sector command ship, and a heavy weapons platform. The Bellator-class dreadnought and Mandator-class Star Dreadnought were in service as well.

### Smaller Craft

Along with its massive capital ships, the Imperial Navy also employed smaller vessels for support or other purposes not fit for a Star Destroyer. These included cruisers, such as attack cruisers, bulk cruisers, battlecruisers, the Imperial Support Vessel (the Dreadnought-class Heavy Cruiser), Detainer CC-2200s, Gozanti-class cruisers, IGV-55 surveillance vessels, Immobilizer 418 cruisers, Cantwell-class Arrestor Cruisers, Vindicator-class heavy cruisers, S-46I Medium Scout Ships, Carrack-class light cruisers, and both Arquitens-class command cruisers and light cruisers. A modified variant of the Arquitens-class command cruiser was the prison-tug, which served as a cruiser and tug for wreckage-prisons. A tractor tug was a model of tug utilized by the Empire.

Carriers were also widely used. Notable Imperial carrier ships included the Quasar Fire-class cruiser-carrier, the Gozanti-class Assault Carrier, the escort carrier, Adjudicator-class Light Carrier, and Revenge-class heavy carrier.

Corvettes such as the CR90 corvette, the Raider II-class corvette, and the Tartan II-class patrol cruiser were also utilized.

Frigates most notably used by the navy are the Pelta-class Frigate, EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigates, Victory II-class Frigate, and Razor-class frigates.

Other vessels in this category included the Action VI bulk freighter and Praetor II-class ships.

### Freighters and Cargo Transports

To move large amounts of materials across the galaxy, the Imperial Navy used freighters and similar vessels. Common freighters and barges included the class four container transport, the Eta-class supply barge and the Imperial heavy freighter.

### Troop and Vehicle Transport

Small craft dedicated to deploying troops and ground vehicles were known as dropships. Known dropships included the Theta-class barge, the Y-45 armored transport hauler and the Y-85 Titan dropship.

The type of transport called the Imperial Dropship Transport also performed this role, as did smaller gunships like the Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry and the LAAT/le patrol gunship. Other transports included the High-Altitude Entry Transport-221 and the Xiytiar-class heavy transports.

### Shuttles

Used to ferry around Imperial personnel, common shuttles included the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle which included its modified variant, the T-5 Deliverance and Delta-class T-3c shuttles of the Abecederian line, as well as Sentinel-class landing crafts, Theta-class T-2c shuttles, Zeta-class Heavy Cargo Shuttles and Zeta-class shuttles. The TIE/sh shuttles and TIE Boarding Crafts from the TIE line were also used as shuttles.

### Starfighters

Belonging to the Imperial Navy's own Imperial Starfighter Corps, notable starfighters included the Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing starfighters, Aggressive ReConnaissance-170 starfighters and Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptors. These were, however, later replaced with new TIE line starfighters, the basic model of which was the TIE/ln space superiority starfighter.

TIE variants included the TIE/IN interceptor and a crimson variant, the TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighter and its elite variant, the TIE/rb heavy starfighter, the TIE/gt, which would later evolved into the TIE/sa bomber, the TIE/sk x1 experimental air superiority fighter, the TIE/rp Reaper attack lander, the TIE Advanced v1, the TIE Advanced x1, the TIE Avenger, the TIE/ag "Aggressor" Starfighter, the TIE/ca "Punisher" Starfighter, and the TIE lander. The TIE/ph "Phantom" Multi-Role Stealth Starfighter, was equipped with a cloaking device. Outside the TIE line was the prestigious VT-49 Decimator.

### Space Station

Imperial construction modules were used as staging areas as well as for construction. The first and second Death Stars were battle stations within the Imperial fleet. The Wrath was a space station that orbited the planet Ponemah Terminal. The Torpedo Sphere that was rumored to be in the Empire's possession was classified as a space station and siege platform. The Shield Gate was a Golan M3185 class that orbited Scarif, protected the Imperial security complex. Hivebase-1 was a top-secret space station used by the Tarkin Initiative as an archive station, it was one of the largest archives ever built. The supertanker fuel depots were mobile space stations designed by the Empire.

For planetary defense, the Empire utilized facilities such as the FireStar II-class Orbital Defense Platform, and the Golan I Space Defense Platforms, including its other variants. Harbor-class Mobile Space Docks acted as mobile repair yards for Imperial fleets and battle groups. Mk IX Orbital Maintenance Depots were massive shipyards that could provide service to dreadnoughts. Other space stations included the Parozha VII, Harrikos-Fifteen Research Station, and Ankot Station. Imperial dockyards provide services and attended many ships.