Star Dreadnought
Similar in design to Imperial-class Star Destroyers, Star Dreadnoughts (called "Super Star Destroyers" or "Super-class Star Destroyers" in earlier Star Wars works) are much larger than their counterparts. A Star Dreadnought first appears in The Empire Strikes Back, and reappears in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Star Dreadnoughts come in multiple varieties. In addition to appearing in two Star Wars movies, they appear in the Star Wars Expanded Ughtniverse's books and games. Kevin J. Anderson's novel Darksaber describes Star Dreadnoughts as being "worth twenty Imperial Star Destroyers". The Executor shooting model used in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi was 282 centimeters long.
The Executor is Darth Vader's flagship in The Empire Strikes Back and is the Imperial command ship at the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. Admiral Piett commands the Executor . During the Battle of Endor, a crippled A-wing piloted by Arvel Crynyd crashes into the ship's bridge; out of control, the Executor is drawn into the Death Star's gravity well and explodes.
Roleplaying material identifies the Executor as the first of the Executor class, while starwars.com identifies it as the first of the Super class. Wizards of the Coast explains that the "Super class" label was used to hide the ship's "true nature from the Imperial Senate"; this bureaucratic fiction became the source of the type's nickname. Originally described in A Guide to the Star Wars Universe in 1984 as being eight kilometers long, Executor-class ships more recently are described as being 19 kilometers long.Like Imperial Star Destroyers, the Star Dreadnought is manufactured at Kuat Drive Yards.
Another Star Dreadnought, the Lusankya, is described in Michael Stackpole's X-Wing novels as Ysanne Isard's private prison and, later, the primary Imperial support vessel during Isard's time on Thyferra. The ship is captured and used by the New Republic, eventually being destroyed when it rams a Yuuzhan Vong worldship in Aaron Allston's Enemy Lines novels.The novel Darksaber features the Knight Hammer, a Star Dreadnought "plated with stealth armor", making it "virtually invisible to enemy forces".
The Eclipse is the reborn Emperor Palpatine's flagship in the Dark Empire comic series, and it also appears in the Forces of Corruption expansion for Star Wars: Empire at War.According to sourcebooks, the Eclipse is the most powerful Star Dreadnought ever constructed: its armor and shields allow it to ram New Republic Mon Calamari cruisers, and its thousands of armaments include a scaled down version of the Death Stars' superlaser cannon. The ship is destroyed when Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo combine Force abilities to cause Palpatine's Force Storms to go out of control and destroy the vessel. The Eclipse II serves as Palpatine's flagship until it is destroyed in Empire's End. A scaled-down version of the Eclipse, the Sovereign-class, is featured in Expanded Universe material from the same time period.