The Vuutun Palaa was a battleship of the Lucrehulk-class. This vessel served the Trade Federation as a droid control starship during the Invasion of Naboo. It was the central hub of the Federation's blockade. During the Battle of Naboo, Anakin Skywalker destroyed it.
In 32 BBY, the Vutuun Paala participated in the Trade Federation's blockade of the planet Naboo. During the subsequent invasion of Naboo, Viceroy Nute Gunray and Settlement Officer Rune Haako communicated via hologram with Darth Sidious aboard the ship. They were introduced to Sidious' apprentice, Darth Maul. After the capture of Naboo's capital, Theed, the Trade Federation blockade dispersed, leaving only the Vuutun Paala in orbit. Command was transferred from the Lucrehulk-class LH-3210 cargo freighter, the Saak'ak. Several crew members, including Captain Daultay Dofine and Pilot Tey How, were relocated to the battleship.
The Vuutun Paala controlled the battle droids occupying Naboo. During the Battle of Naboo, the Naboo Royal Space Fighter Corps launched an assault on the droid control ship. Although the deflector shields were too resilient for the Naboolians, a ship piloted by Anakin Skywalker and R2-D2 inadvertently entered a hangar. The fighter overheated and came to a stop on the hangar floor, surrounded by battle droids. After regaining control, Anakin reactivated the ship's shields, prompting the droids to fire upon it. Anakin retaliated, destroying numerous droids before launching torpedoes that accidentally struck the control ship's primary reactor. On the bridge, How noticed the reactor's power loss and informed Dofine, who expressed disbelief, stating that their shields were impenetrable.
As Anakin piloted his ship out of the hangar, the control ship began to explode behind him. The Naboolian pilots, initially confused, soon cheered as the control ship's core detonated. Dofine and How perished, and with the control ship destroyed, the battle droids on the planet's surface deactivated.
The Vuutun Palaa made its debut in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. While unnamed in the film, the battleship received the name Vuutun Palaa in the 2012 Star Wars Legends reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare. The name was reintroduced into canon with the 2018 reference book Star Wars Encyclopedia of Starfighters and Other Vehicles.
The DVD commentary for The Phantom Menace revealed that a physical model was used to represent the Vuutun Palaa, while the battle was created using computer graphics. The core explosion was filmed using a smaller sphere and superimposed onto the real sphere.
A mistake occurred on page 49 of the 2018 reference book Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition, where the Vuutun Palaa was incorrectly referred to as the Saak'ak.