The Immobilizer 418 cruiser, or simply the Immobilizer, was a type of cruiser used by the Galactic Empire's Imperial Navy that was developed for Imperial adviser Kren Blista-Vanee's Deep Core Security Zone and manufactured by the Corellian Engineering Corporation and Sienar Fleet Systems. It represented the Empire's first foray into Interdictor design based on less successful designs from the Galactic Republic. The Immobilizer was 600 meters in length and possessed a quartet of gravity well projectors located toward the aft of the vessel's sharply bowed hull. The starship additionally had twenty laser cannons, including multiple quad laser cannons. The Immobilizer 418 typically acted with an escort, and it carried a complement of twenty-four TIE fighters divided into two squadrons.
In the Obroa-skai system in 14 BBY, Imperial Moff Wilhuff Tarkin used a state-of-the-art, untested Immobilizer as part of a task force attempting to intercept the corvette Carrion Spike. However, the Immobilizer malfunctioned and caused many vessels to revert out of hyperspace. After the incident, the Immobilizer was returned to Corellian Engineering.
Due to its many vulnerabilities, manufacturing of the Immobilizer was discontinued by 0 ABY, although many vessels remained in service. In that year, an Immobilizer pulled the luxury yacht Desert Jewel out of hyperspace in the Daalang system. The Desert Jewel subsequently destroyed the Immobilizer and its accompanying TIE fighters. The Imperial Navy continued using the cruiser until the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY, where the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Glaciate was captured at the battle by New Republic forces under the orders of General Carlist Rieekan.
The Immobilizer 418 cruiser, or simply the Immobilizer, was an Interdictor cruiser with many vulnerabilities manufactured by the Corellian Engineering Corporation and Sienar Fleet Systems. The Immobilizer 418 was the Galactic Empire's first prototype Interdictor vessel and was based on previous unsuccessful attempts by the Galactic Republic. It was similar in shape to a Star Destroyer but much smaller, at 600 meters in length. It had an economical basque chassis, despite the fact that the price was still exorbitant. It could quickly and easily be repaired or refitted for new functions, and maintenance could be done with commonly available parts. The Immobilizer had a sharp, bowed hull and a bladed edge, with a hangar located on the underside of the ship. The vessel also possessed an aft engine room, a reactor governor, at least one porthole, a bridge, and twelve deflector shield generators—a mix of particle shields and ray shields.
The cruiser possessed four gravity well projectors (one pictured).
The Immobilizer cruiser was armed with twenty laser cannons, including multiple quad laser cannons. It was crewed with stormtroopers and gunners. The Immobilizer possessed a complement of twenty-four TIE/ln space superiority starfighters divided into two squadrons. In addition, the hull's aft featured four spherical gravity well projectors. The projectors contained equipment to pull multiple ships out of hyperspace, and the strength of the gravity well could be adjusted to some extent by the relative speed of the target ship. One hemispherical gravity well projector was more than enough to pull a ship from hyperspace, while the others could be used to block possible hyperspace routes for escape. The Immobilizer was also equipped with overcurrent resistors in order to prevent the ship's gravitic systems from redlining. However, these systems were not foolproof and could sometimes malfunction catastrophically.
As an Interdictor vessel, the Immobilizer was used to pull ships out of hyperspace. Immobilizer cruisers had multiple vulnerabilities and were more easily destroyed than Star Destroyers. On occasion, it acted in concert with other Interdictor vessels as part of a task force. It typically operated with an escort, but in times of desperation, it acted without one.
Five years after the foundation of the Empire, in 14 BBY, Imperial Moff Wilhuff Tarkin requested an untested state-of-the-art Immobilizer 418 cruiser vessel from a deepdock in the Core Worlds' Corellia system from Imperial adviser Kren Blista-Vanee, who was developing the Interdictor for his Deep Core Security Zone. Tarkin planned to use the cruiser as part of his Imperial Navy task force that was attempting to intercept the modified IPV-2C Stealth Corvette Carrion Spike, which had been hijacked by dissidents.
An Immobilizer 418 cruiser attempted to capture the Carrion Spike, a modified stealth corvette (pictured).
Moff Tarkin assembled his task force in the Inner Rim's Obroa-skai system, including three Interdictors: a CC-7700 frigate, a Detainer CC-2200, and an Immobilizer 418, as well as picket vessels and gunboats. Through his task force liaison officer, Tarkin subsequently ordered the Interdictors to activate their gravity well projectors in order to capture the Carrion Spike. However, upon the gravity well projectors' activation, the Immobilizer's overcurrent resistors failed to prevent its gravitic systems from redlining. The incident jolted Tarkin's flagship, the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Executrix, and caused several ships to revert out of hyperspace, including the star cruiser Stellar Vista, the Lux-400 yacht Truant, and the YT-1000 light freighter Reticent. The Stellar Vista then collided with the Immobilizer, severely damaging the civilian ship's stern and killing around 1100 individuals. The Reticent had been sent by the Carrion Spikes hijackers as a decoy, and the Empire subsequently captured the vessel to question its crew. Following the incident, the Immobilizer was sent back to Corellian Engineering for reassessment.
The Desert Jewel, which was caught in a skirmish with an Immobilizer
By 0 ABY, production of the Immobilizer 418 cruisers was discontinued by the Imperial Navy due to their vulnerabilities, although they continued to be used throughout the galaxy in large numbers despite not being actively produced. Its successor model, the Interdictor-class Star Destroyer, was also discontinued in time as well. In order to make its Interdictors harder to destroy, the Empire began to put gravity wells into Star Destroyers, resulting in a model known as the Interdictor-class. In 0 ABY, the Rebel Alliance agents Luke Skywalker and Nakari Kelen were chased by Imperial forces aboard the luxury yacht Desert Jewel to the Mid Rim Nanth'ri system. Skywalker and Kelen were being pursued as they had just freed Drusil Bephorin, an important Givin cryptologist, from Imperial captivity on the Inner Rim planet Denon.
As the Desert Jewel was traveling through hyperspace, an Immobilizer 418 cruiser pulled the Jewel out of hyperspace into the Mid Rim's Daalang system. In the ensuing skirmish, the Immobilizer launched its full complement of TIEs. However, due to the Empire's frequent use of the Immobilizer cruiser against Alliance raiding groups, Skywalker had knowledge of the ship's weaknesses and formed an attack strategy. Skywalker and Kelen ultimately destroyed both the Immobilizer's TIE complement and the cruiser itself, splitting the latter in half with a Utheel Rockcrusher Compact Seismic Charge.
The Glaciate participated in the Battle of Jakku (conflict pictured).
The Immobilizer cruiser Glaciate fought over the Inner Rim planet Jakku in 5 ABY. The Battle of Jakku was the final engagement of the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the the Rebel Alliance's successor, the New Republic, during which a Republic squad infiltrated the Glaciate. The squad included humans who had previously served aboard Imperial Interdictors and the Ranat Musmuris Reetgeet, acting on General Carlist Rieekan's orders.
The operatives infiltrated the Immobilizer with a stolen Imperial assault shuttle, entering the cruiser by making a hole in its aft engine room. Since the vessel's crew was distracted by the larger battle, the team proceeded to the next chamber with little resistance. In the room, Reetgeet crawled inside the cruiser's systems and disabled the reactor governor, capturing the starship for the New Republic. Reetgeet later reflected on the squad's capture of the Immobilizer.
The Immobilizer 418 cruiser in the Star Wars Legends continuity
The Immobilizer 418 cruiser first appeared in the current Star Wars canon in James Luceno's 2014 novel Tarkin, referred to as the Immobilizer. The Immobilizer 418 cruiser was first identified by its full name in the eighty-seventh issue of the Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine, published by De Agostini around August 31, 2016. The interior of an Immobilizer was later pictured in the 2017 reference book Star Wars: On the Front Lines, written by Daniel Wallace.
The vessel originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was first mentioned in the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplement The Star Wars Rules Companion, which was written by Greg Gorden, edited by Bill Slavicsek, and published by West End Games in January 1989. Referred to only as an Interdictor in The Star Wars Rules Companion, Slaviscek and Gorden's October 1989 Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplement Imperial Sourcebook first pictured the vessel and identified it as an Immobilizer 418 Interdictor-class Heavy Cruiser. The Immobilizer then made its first appearance in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, the first book of author Timothy Zahn's Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy. Bill Smith's 1996 reference book The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels then identified the vessel as an "Immobilizer 418 cruiser." The canon Interictor-class Star Destroyer, which was an in-universe successor to the Immobilizer 418 cruiser, was based on the design of the Legends Immobilizer from the Imperial Sourcebook.
- Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 87
- Star Wars: On the Front Lines