The Executor, a flagship utilized by the Sith Lord Darth Vader, was a vessel of the Executor-class Star Dreadnought lineage. Considered the most formidable creation of the Galactic Empire, it operated under Lord Vader's direction, spearheading the Death Squadron after the Battle of Yavin and commanding the assault on the Rebel Alliance's base during the Battle of Hoth. During the Battle of Endor, while serving as the command ship under Admiral Firmus Piett's command, the Executor met its demise. A stray rebel A-wing starfighter piloted by Arvel Crynyd collided with its bridge, leading to a power failure and a subsequent collision with the DS-2 Death Star II Mobile Battle Station. This effectively destroyed the Super Star Destroyer.
The Executor, an Imperial vessel of significant size and power, measured 19,000 meters in length. It dwarfed its Imperial-class Star Destroyers escorts and boasted an arsenal exceeding 5,000 turbolasers and ion cannons. Its arrowhead-shaped hull, crafted from a reinforced [titanium] (/article/titanium)alusteel alloy, featured a city-like superstructure on its central upper surface, while the majority of its engineering systems were housed on the underside. A trapezoidal command tower, topped with two geodesic communication and deflection domes, distinguished the stern. Thirteen thrusters located at the hull's base provided propulsion. Widely regarded as the Imperial Navy's most crucial ship, it possessed the potential to independently annihilate entire fleets.
A total of 280,784 individuals, encompassing Imperial officers, pilots, and enlisted personnel, were required to operate the Executor. The ship was staffed by many of the Imperial Navy's most promising and skilled officers, as Darth Vader's tendency to eliminate officers created opportunities for rapid advancement. Located on one of the uppermost levels was a throne room, separate from the rest of the ship and equipped with its own airlocks and life support systems. The Emperor used this room at least once. Admiral Kendal Ozzel served as the vessel's commanding officer during the Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY, but Vader executed him, promoting Captain Firmus Piett to admiral and installing him as the new commander. Piett remained the vessel's final admiral until the Battle of Endor.
Other notable Imperial figures were stationed on the Executor. Sabé, a former Naboo Royal Handmaiden and Imperial Commander, was stationed on the Executor for some time and had private quarters on the ship. The assassin Ochi was also a frequent visitor to the vessel. Lieutenant Suba held the position of Chief of Security on the Executor.
The Executor's droid complement included units from a service droid model and a monster droid model. At least one RA-7 protocol droid was present on board. Following Vader's takeover of the droid uprising, B1-series battle droids and B2-series super battle droids were brought to the Executor for repairs. However, these units were quickly corrupted by the Scourge, which led to Vader destroying them.
Similar to the Imperial I- and Imperial II-classes, the bridge of the Executor incorporated two extended pits positioned below the floor level, along with a walkway for the superior officers. A key difference was that, around 3 ABY, the consoles within the pits were aligned parallel to the walkway, rather than perpendicular. However, by 4 ABY, the console arrangement had been modified.
The Executor possessed immense firepower, with an armament comprising more than 5,000 turbolasers, including 750 twin heavy turbolaser batteries and 1000 turret-mounted twin light turbolaser batteries. Additionally, the Executor was equipped with 125 assault concussion missile launchers, 100 twin battleship ion cannons, and 250 turret-mounted quad laser cannons.
The Executor, constructed by Kuat Drive Yards, belonged to a class of Star Destroyers bearing the same designation. This class was the result of a project championed by Sith Lord Darth Vader. The Executor was intended to replace the Annihilator as the flagship of the Supreme Commander, Grand General Cassio Tagge, thereby becoming the most significant starship in the Imperial Fleet. Following the Shu-Torun War, the Super Star Destroyer neared completion at the orbital shipyards of Kuat.
When the renegade Doctor Cylo attempted to seize control of the starship and stage a coup against Emperor Palpatine, Lord Vader intervened. As a reward, the Emperor presented the Executor and its fleet to his apprentice. Tagge tried to reason with Vader, who now had more authority than him, but Vader did not give in. The Dark Lord of the Sith swiftly used the Force choke on the Grand General, killing him for his errors, and then inquired of Admiral Kendal Ozzel about the ship's readiness. Ozzel responded that the ship would be ready for launch in approximately a month due to the damage sustained during Cylo's takeover, but Vader gave him two weeks. When the officer began to object, the Dark Lord threatened his subordinate, remarking that he sounded much like the late Grand General. Ozzel glanced at the deceased Tagge and then assured Vader that the ship would be prepared. Vader gazed out into space and briefly connected with his son, Luke Skywalker, through the Force.
The Executor became the command ship of the Death Squadron, the fleet of capital ships assigned to Darth Vader, and Kendal Ozzel remained in command, much to Vader's growing irritation. The ship replaced the Devastator as the Sith Lord's flagship, and many of the stormtroopers serving on board were chosen for their outstanding performance at the Imperial Academy. Following the crucial Battle of Yavin, where the Alliance to Restore the Republic destroyed the Empire's Death Star superweapon, the Dark Lord and his flotilla were tasked with locating the Rebels' base. Sometime after Vader received the Executor, it underwent modifications to include a meditation chamber akin to the one at his abode on Mustafar.
After Queen Trios informed Lord Vader of the Alliance Fleet's location at the Mako-Ta Space Docks, the Executor and the rest of Death Squadron arrived at the rebel space station, initiating an attack on the fleet. From the Executor, the Dark Lord directed the attack, ordering the destruction of the nearest cruiser, Yavin's Hope. When the Millennium Falcon, piloted by the smuggler Han Solo, arrived at Mako-Ta and tried to use a rebel proximity signal to open the locked fighter bay doors, Vader left his flagship to pursue them in his TIE Advanced. Ozzel continued to command the attack from the Executor, ordering the destruction of several more cruisers. Vader's attempt to stop Solo from opening the bay doors of Dodonna's flagship, the Republic, failed, and a squadron of X-wings led by Luke Skywalker entered the battle, forming Rogue Squadron.
While on Mako-Ta, the rebels continued their search for a way to reactivate their fleet in Trios' files. Leia Organa discovered that the override code was located aboard the Executor. To board the flagship, Princess Organa used the transponder codes of the Shu-Torun monarch's ship to impersonate the queen, bringing a team of General Davits Draven's forces with her. They were cleared to land and managed to sneak out of the ship, killing the Imperial officer who had come to greet them. As Draven ordered his forces out of Trios' ship, he noticed Vader's TIE Advanced heading towards them, alerting Organa. The rebels managed to escape, but the Dark Lord landed in the docking bay and drew his lightsaber, aware of their presence.
The rebels successfully retrieved the override codes and reached a hangar where a single TIE fighter was docked. After some deliberation, they decided to have Leia take it back to Dodonna's flagship while Draven led the rearguard to delay Vader. This plan worked, and the Princess escaped; however, the General and the rearguard were all killed by the Dark Lord. The Republic regained power and successfully fled the battle.
As Vader and Ozzel watched the remaining rebel ships get destroyed, Dodonna's ship returned and opened fire on the Executor, prompting the Imperials to focus on that ship. This was a diversion that allowed Han and Leia to take transports to the remaining cruisers to give them the codes to escape. The remaining rebel vessels fled, except for the Republic, which had been too badly damaged and was finished off by the Imperials.
In 3 ABY, an Imperial probe droid discovered the Rebel hideout, Echo Base, on the frozen planet of Hoth while the Executor and its accompanying ships were in the Juris sector. Despite Ozzel's disagreement, Vader sensed the discovery of the Rebels and ordered him to move the armada to the Hoth system. However, the Admiral brought their fleet out of hyperspace too close to the system, which allowed the Rebels to raise their defensive base shields, forcing the Empire to initiate a ground assault. Ozzel was subsequently killed by Vader for his failure, and Captain Firmus Piett was promoted to serve as his successor.
As the Empire forced the Rebels out of Hoth's surface, the Executor, along with several Imperial-class Star Destroyers, pursued the fleeing Millennium Falcon into the Hoth asteroid belt near the Anoat system. Eventually, Lord Vader ordered the Executor to abandon the pursuit and clear the asteroid field so that he could communicate with Emperor Palpatine without interference. He later directed the ship to the gas giant Bespin, where he planned to trap the fugitives aboard the Falcon to lure out his son, Luke Skywalker.
After Lord Vader seized Captain Solo, frozen in carbonite, from the Crimson Dawn auction on Jekara, he lured in Luke Skywalker and engaged in a dogfight. Concurrently, General Hurst Romodi's shuttle was disabled during the transfer of the carbonite-encased smuggler to the Executor. The bounty hunters Beilert Valance and Boba Fett, aboard the Slave I, moved in to retrieve Solo at the same time as Lando Calrissian, Leia Organa, and the rest of the crew of the Millennium Falcon. Meanwhile, the Hutt Clan was enticed by Crimson Dawn to attack the Executor, a blatant insult to the Empire. Ultimately, Fett secured Solo, Valance was left for dead, and Vader slaughtered the treacherous Bokku and his fellow Hutt companions.
In 4 ABY, the Executor, still under Piett's command, served as the flagship for an Imperial fleet of Star Destroyers stationed at the remote forest moon of Endor, where the Empire's new superweapon, the second Death Star, was under construction. The Executor guarded Endor, processing clearance requests from all starships entering the system. When the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle Tydirium arrived, the Executor requested its code clearance and received an older but still valid code. Just as Piett was about to grant the shuttle passage, Vader requested more information about its destination, sensing that there was more to the ship. The shuttle had actually been stolen by the Rebel Alliance and was carrying a strike team, including Skywalker, to the surface. While Piett was willing to hold the Tydirium, Vader allowed the ship to pass so that he could deal with the matter personally.
When a Rebel fleet entered the system in an attempt to destroy the incomplete battle station, initiating the Battle of Endor, the Executor and the fleet moved into position to prevent the Rebels from retreating. However, Admiral Piett did not attack the Rebels, as Emperor Palpatine wanted to demonstrate the destructive power of the Death Star's superlaser against the trapped Rebel capital ships.
To escape the Death Star's firepower, the Rebels engaged Piett's Star Destroyers at close range while their ground assault team destroyed the shield generator protecting the superweapon, allowing the Rebel fighters to fly into its superstructure. The Alliance Fleet Supreme Commander, Admiral Gial Ackbar, seeking to buy more time for the fighters to complete their mission, ordered a concentrated barrage against the Executor. As the Alliance warships focused their fire on the Super Star Destroyer, two RZ-1 A-wing interceptors strafed the Executor's bridge deflector shields, bringing them down. In response, Piett ordered the forward batteries to intensify their firepower to prevent anything from penetrating the window of opportunity.
Recognizing that the Executor would become the focal point of not only the battle but also the balance of power in the entire Outer Rim, Vice Admiral Rae Sloane moved her ship, the Vigilance, to flank the Executor in an attempt to defend it. However, Rebel Green Leader Arvel Crynyd, whose A-wing starfighter was badly damaged by fire from the Executor, managed to maintain just enough control of his stricken ship to send it towards the Imperial vessel's unshielded bridge. Seeing the threat, Admiral Piett once again shouted to intensify the forward batteries, but Commander Gherant realized that it was too late. The Rebel fighter crashed into the Executor's command tower. As explosions engulfed the bridge, the massive ship listed to port and plunged towards the Death Star's surface, exploding upon impact.
When asked about the official pronunciation of "Executor," Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group could only offer his personal preference. The non-canon video game LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga features the Executor, which General Rothlan attempts to defend against the player if attacked.
In Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!, Tom Angleberger's retelling of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, the Super Star Destroyer present at the battle of Endor was mistakenly referred to as "the Eclipse, the Emperor's own Super Star Destroyer." In Angleberger's manuscript, that mistake had been caught and fixed by Hidalgo, who even specifically added that "There's only one Super Star Destroyer [at Endor], and it's the Executor." Despite Hidalgo's correction, the mistake still appeared in the released version of the story.
Star Wars: On the Front Lines and Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition state that the Executor was the first of its class; however, other sources contradict this, and this article assumes that On the Front Lines and Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition are incorrect.