Avenger

Manufacturer

Kuat Drive Yards (primary contractor)^[1]
Sienar Fleet Systems (secondary contractor)^[1]
Cygnus Spaceworks (secondary contractor; engines)^[1]
Taim & Bak (secondary contractor; weapon systems)^[1]

Product line

Star Destroyers

Model

Imperial II-class Star Destroyer^[2]

Type

Star Destroyer

Length

1,600 meters
- 1480 meters (overall beam)^[1]

Mass

359,000 mt (deadweight)^[1]
- 892,000mt/KPa/atm (displacement)^[1]

Engine unit(s)

Cygnus Spaceworks, Gemon-4 ion engines^[1]
Precise Vector, Class 2 Hyperdrive Booster Engines^[1]

Power plant

SFS 1a2b Solar Ionization Reactor Unit^[1]

Hull

34.29 Tapering to 4.11 (main)^[1]
34.29 (aft)^[1]
43.2 (turret faces)^[1]
18.4 (turret tops)^[1]
30.5 (turret backs)^[1]
23.5 (turret sides)^[1]
43.9 (conning tower sides)^[1]
24.4 (belt; Deck 12)^[1]
22.6-17.3 (barbettes)^[1]

Sensor systems

Classified^[1]

Complement

47,242 crew members^[1]
- 37,085 ship compliment^[1]
  - 27,850 enlisted^[1]
  - 9,235 officers^[1]
- 9,700 non-commissioned stormtroopers^[1]
- 457 flight wing crew members^[1]
  - 375 enlisted^[1]
  - 82 officers^[1]
48^[1] TIE/LN starfighters^[3]
- 302nd Flight Wing^[1]
- Obsidian Squadron^[3]
12 TIE/sa bombers^[1]
12 TIE boarding crafts^[1]
301st Flight Wing^[1]
- 8 Lambda-class T-4a shuttles^[1]
- 457 flight wing crew members^[1]
  - 375 enlisted flight wings
  - 82 flight wing officers
535th Assault Wing
- 12 landing crafts^[1]
- 20 All Terrain Armored Transports^[1]
- 30 All Terrain Scout Transports^[1]
15 Troop Transport Vehicles^[1]
5 Assault Gunboats^[1]

Role(s)

Present for battles/events

Affiliation

Galactic Empire^[4]
Rebel Alliance (briefly under Kalast)^[9]

Navy

Imperial Navy^[4]

Fleet

Owner(s)

Commander(s)

Captain Ferdas^[13]
Captain Lorth Needa^[4]

Crewmembers

For other uses, see Avenger.

^[2]Bothan technician, trying to escape while carrying the plans to the second Death Star

The Avenger, full name CVS 1401 Avenger,^[1] was a prestigious Imperial II-class Star Destroyer of the Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War.

History

Development

It was developed by Kuat Drive Yards, with Sienar Fleet Systems, Cygnus Spaceworks, and Taim & Bak providing secondary contracting elements to its design. Its basic blueprints, or SpecPlate, had been drawn up by Raith Sienar and designed by Louis Solis. It had been commissioned by Lorth Needa under special orders. It was developed by a team under the Imperial Navy Research, Development and Engineering Center, composed of the Chief Naval Architect Lira Wessex; Chief Project Engineer J. Johnston, Senior Structural Engineer C. Cantwell; Senior Construction Designer S. Gawley; Chief Design Engineer R. McQuarrie; and Systems Engineering Director D. Beasley. Its keel had been laid, with it undergoing a naming ceremony shortly thereafter. Afterwards, it underwent the stepping of the mast, and was launched. It eventually underwent christening of the name Avenger, and had a pre-commission crew man the ship to undergo various trials. It then underwent dock trials, fast cruises, space trails, and contractor fitting out. Eventually, it was delivered to Captain Lorth Needa, and was fitted with an active service crew alongside it undergoing a shakedown cruise before it underwent official commissioning. Upon completion and undergoing its official commissioning ceremony, it had a commemorative SpecPlate placed on the bulkhead until the event where it was stricken from the registry.^[1]

Imperial Period

Sir, we have a priority signal from the Star Destroyer Avenger."
"Right.An unidentified Imperial Officer and Firmus Piett

AvengerChaseFalcon-ST — The *Avenger* pursues the *Millennium Falcon*.

One of the Avenger's earliest missions was the attack on the CR90 corvette Karinne, carrying a Twi'lek delegation to the Rebel Alliance. The Avenger launched three flights of TIE/sa bombers against the Karinne, and entered hyperspace. The intervention of two Alliance BTL Y-wing starfighters saved the diplomatic vessel.^[7]

In 0 BBY, the Avenger was under the command of Moff Kalast. When he betrayed the Galactic Empire, the Moff used his ship to secretly support the Rebel Alliance. But after giving secret informations about the Death Star to the rebels, his identity was discovered. Darth Vader tracked Kalast to Thyferra, Atzerri and other systems in the galaxy but the Moff and the Avenger always escaped. Eventually Vader managed to capture the Avenger thanks to an Immobilizer 418 cruiser. The ship was severely damaged in the battle and Kalast forced to surrender. The Avenger was subsequently returned to Imperial service.^[9]

At an unknown point, the Avenger was presented with the Superior Service Award, the Legion of Merit, the Valor Under Fire Citation, the Combat Victory Accreditation, and the Meritorious Service Award by the Commander Fleet Operations.^[1]

As early as 0 ABY, the Avenger was commanded by Captain Lorth Needa. Under Needa's command, the Avenger earned a reputation for subjugating planets in the Outer Rim Territories, participating in the subjugation of over 436 worlds.^[8]

After the discovery of an Alliance intelligence facility on Dankayo, the Avenger participated in the brutal subjugation of the world. Alongside the Imperial I-class Star Destroyers Devastator and Relentless, the Avenger executed Base Delta Zero against Dankayo, incinerating its atmosphere and reducing its surface to slag.^[10]

Eight months after the Battle of Yavin, the ship fought Warlord Nuso Esva's forces in the Poln system as part of Death Squadron.^[11]

In 1 ABY, Rebel agents destroyed an Imperial depot that contained a large number of space mines intended for shipment to the Avenger.^[16]

AvengerLooms-ESB — The *Avenger*, pursuing the *Millennium Falcon* out of the Hoth asteroid field, a task which gained it and its crew a reputation for persistence.

The Avenger was later reassigned to Death Squadron. It was one of the ships of the Squadron that launched groups of Viper probe droids into remote reaches of space, carrying out Darth Vader's orders to find the new Rebel Base, Luke Skywalker, or the Millennium Falcon.^[17]

The starship's functions had been restored by the time that the Millennium Falcon departed from the planet during the Rebel evacuation.^[18] The Avenger unsuccessfully pursued Han Solo's fast freighter, a failure which resulted in Needa's execution by Vader. Nevertheless, despite Needa's failure, the Avenger gained a reputation from the chase as it managed to continuously pursue the Millennium Falcon past the Hoth asteroid field while other ships in Death Squadron lagged far behind.^[4]

During the Battle of Kothlis, the Avenger arrived alongside the Executor to disrupt a Rebel transfer with Bothan agents to acquire the Death Star II plans. The Avenger captured the CR90 corvette Razor, which held the battlestation plans. However, the Avenger's attempt was in vain, as the crew escaped with the plans and delivered them to the Alliance.^[2]

The Avenger remained with Vader's Death Squadron and served as a communications ship during the Battle of Endor.^[6] When Vader arrived at the Death Star II to put its construction back on schedule, his personal shuttle was launched from the Avenger.^[19]

Operation Shadow Hand

The Avenger has achieved hyperspace terminus, sir. The fleet is assembled. We are ready to annihilate the planet on your command!An Imperial gunner to Executor Sedriss QL

The Avenger survived the Battle of Endor and later fought during the Operation Shadow Hand. Under Executor Sedriss QL, the ship led the Imperial fleet in the Battle of Balmorra.^[5]

Behind the scenes

Although first seen in 2 BBY, the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer wasn't introduced until 0 BBY.

The Industrial Light & Magic model of the Avenger used in The Empire Strikes Back was 2.59 meters long and detailed with thousands of parts from model kits.

"Freedom's Winter" (1983), the first episode of The Empire Strikes Back radio drama, depicted Captain Needa aboard the Avenger overseeing the launch of the Viper probe droid that discovered Echo Base.^[17]^[20] Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back (1989) followed the radio drama, identifying the Avenger as the Star Destroyer that launched the Hoth probe. A Hoth Limited card in the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (1996) later contradicted this, introducing the Stalker as the Star Destroyer that carried out the operation. The Star Wars Encyclopedia and the PC program Star Wars: Behind the Magic (both 1998) followed the card game and named the Stalker. Further adding to the confusion, Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary (also 1998) identified the ship as the Avenger. Attempting to clarify the discrepancy, The Essential Atlas (2009) states that both ships were responsible for deploying probe droids, without stating with certainty which ship is seen in the film.^[12]

Star Wars: Behind the Magic also identifies the Avenger as the Star Destroyer that launched Vader's shuttle at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.

In the 6th mission of Battle 4 of Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance, "Protect Imperial Computer", one bonus objective is to destroy the Avenger.