The Nautilian was an MC80A Home One Type Heavy Star Cruiser that served in the Alliance Fleet during the Galactic Civil War. It participated in the decisive battle fought at Endor, where it was entirely obliterated by the second Death Star. In 34 ABY, Admiral Gial Ackbar and Admiral Ushos O. Statura exchanged annotations about the Nautilian in The Rebel Files.
The Nautilian was an MC80A Home One Type Heavy Star Cruiser produced by Mon Calamari Shipyards. Like the other ships of its class, the Nautilian measured at 1,300 meters and was armed with six tractor beam projectors, twenty-nine turbolaser cannons, and thirty-six ion cannons. It could reach speeds of 975 kilometers per hour using its ten ion engines.
It was also equipped with a deflector shield generator, a class one hyperdrive, and at least one hangar bay that could house ten squadrons of starfighters.
The Death Star II fires on the Nautilian, destroying it
During the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire, the Nautilian was under the command of Meeta Cors whilst it was being refitted into combat service in a rebel stardock in the Telaris cometary cloud. A refugee Mon Cala city-ship, the Nautilian was among the first to be completed in their conversion into combat-ready vessels, coming behind Admiral Raddus' MC75 Star Cruiser Profundity, and Admiral Gial Ackbar's MC80A Home One, despite the Nautilians delicate construction being hampered, particularly after the Ishanna inversion, which affected its launch.
In 4 ABY, during the Galactic Civil War, the Nautilian was among several MC80A star cruisers present at the Battle of Endor, with its goal, along with the other capital ships, to secure a perimeter around the second Death Star while rebel starfighters breached the incomplete superstructure and destroy the reactor. During the battle, the Alliance Fleet was caught in a trap by Emperor Palpatine. As the Alliance Fleet and Imperial Navy engaged each other, an MC80 Star Cruiser the Liberty, was destroyed by a blast that originated from the second Death Star, revealing that the battle station, while incomplete, was fully operational.
As Gold Leader General Lando Calrissian spoke with Ackbar on moving the rebel fleet closer to the Imperial Star Destroyers, the Nautilian was destroyed by a second blast from the Death Star. Aboard the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Vigilance, Imperial Security Bureau Colonel Emarr Ottkreg reacted with triumph on the destruction of the Nautilian. Eventually, the Rebel Alliance managed to deactivate the deflector shield generator protecting the space station, allowing for rebel starfighters to destroy the main reactor and ultimately the second Death Star.
In 34 ABY, after The Rebel Files were recovered by the Resistance, Ackbar wrote an annotation on a document on whether Home One beat Cors' Nautilian during combat conversion, with Admiral Ushos O. Statura writing that Ackbar was correct.
Crewed by over 5,000, the Nautilian was owned by Meeta Cors during its early service to the nascent Rebel Alliance.
The Nautilian first appeared, albeit unidentified, in the 1983 film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. It was identified in the 2016 canon novel, Aftermath: Life Debt, written by Chuck Wendig.
- Star Wars: The Rebel Files
- Star Wars: Battles that Changed the Galaxy
- Star Wars: Timelines