The Executor serves as Darth Vader's flagship during the events of The Empire Strikes Back, leading the Death Squadron against the Rebel Alliance on Hoth and in pursuit of the Millennium Falcon.
After the Empire destroyed three floating cities to pacify the planet, the peaceful Mon Calamari converted their passenger liners and deep space exploration cruisers into warships, driving the Imperials from their homeworld prior to the Battle of Yavin.
[8] Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) created two Mon Calamari cruiser designs: the cylindrical "flying cigar" Home One command ship and a "winged" model identified in the Expanded Universe as the Liberty.
[27] According to reference material, Lambda-class shuttles are one of the most common vessels in the Imperial navy and can be configured for a number of roles, including cargo transport, troop carrier, or diplomatic courier.
The Millennium Falcon is a highly modified YT-1300F light freighter captained by smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his Wookiee first mate, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) receives a prosthetic hand aboard the Redemption, a modified Nebulon-B escort frigate, at the conclusion of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back.
Industrial Light & Magic's Nilo Rodis-Jamero and Joe Johnston created the frigate late during work on The Empire Strikes Back, with the design following a suggestion by George Lucas that it be based on an outboard motor.
[30] The model was produced in a short time with limited financial access; it was primarily built from components left over from previous kitbashing exercises, including battleship hulls and artillery pieces.
[30][31] Following the completion of filming, Lucas decided to revisit the end of the movie to better establish the characters' final locations, requiring a section of the frigate to be built that corresponded to the scale of the 2-foot (0.61 m) Millennium Falcon model.
Only 90 m (300 ft) long, these ships are described in Star Wars sources as largely consisting of a thick outer hull with its interior entirely open for modular cargo pods.
[36] However, the actual inspiration for the shape of the ship was a radar dish, according to Nilo Rodis-Jamero, the assistant art director and visual effects creator on The Empire Strikes Back.
[40] Jango Fett chose the vessel for, among other reasons, its anonymous appearance, but heavily modified it with additional weaponry, expanded crew quarters and more secure (and less humane) prisoner cabinets.
[42] Her adoptive father Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) is seen using a similar vessel during the prequel movie Revenge of the Sith, identified in source material as the CR70 model Tantive III.
Unused Joe Johnston designs of Rebel ships from Return of the Jedi were used as inspiration by Revenge of the Sith concept artists in creating the Banking Clan frigate and other vessels.
[48] Officially referred to as Recusant-class light destroyers in background material, their in-universe origin comes from Mon Calamari plans that were stolen by Quarren Separatists and jointly manufactured by the Commerce Guild and Techno Union.
[47] Darth Tyranus, also known as Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), reaches Coruscant near the end of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones aboard a Punworcca 116-class interstellar sloop, better known as a "solar sailer", built by the Huppla Pasa Tisc Shipwright Collective.
With the Invisible Hand crippled in the battle, General Grievous flees aboard an escape pod as Anakin and Obi Wan successfully guide half the ship to an emergency landing on Coruscant.
[59] While the cruiser was entirely CGI, for filming purposes a full-size set of the landing pad was built for the actors with a digital matte painting inserted to create the background.
[69] Star Wars lore refers to these vessels as Sheathipede-class transport shuttles built by the insect-like Charrian species, especially popular with the Neimoidians but used by many worlds associated with the Separatist cause.
A 500 m (1,600 ft)-long flight deck is built directly into the ship's prow with bow doors, allowing a quick exit for the vessel's complement of 420 starfighters, forty LAAT gunships and twenty-four AT-TEs.
Jedi knights Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) travel aboard the Radiant VII on their mission to end the Trade Federation's blockade of the planet Naboo.
The Scimitar also incorporates an experimental high-temperature ion engine system which necessitates large radiator panels that fold inward for landings, and is well-armed with six low-profile laser cannons and a proton torpedo launcher.
[91] In-universe, these vessels were originally Lucrehulk-class LH-3210 cargo freighters manufactured by Hoersch-Kessel Drive Inc. that the Trade Federation secretly modified into warships to build up their armed forces.
[92] To destroy enemy starfighters trying to attack its transports, each converted battleship is equipped with 42 quad laser emplacements on rotating mounts to hide the ships' military nature.
[51] Formally known within the setting as a C-9979 Landing Craft, this vessel has an imposing wingspan of 370 m (1,210 ft) which is used to store a tremendous number of vehicles: 114 Armored Assault Tanks, 11 Multi-troop transports and 28 troop carriers.
Owned and piloted by the gifted Twi'lek, Hera Syndulla (voiced by Vanessa Marshall), it serves as "home base" for a small band of Lothal rebels during the Age of the Empire.
Named for its ability to travel past Imperial sensors without detection on numerous missions and skirmishes, the craft included many hidden surprises that aided the crew in their fight against the Empire.
Reliable and adaptable, these corvettes are 116.7 m (383 ft) long and armed with two forward and one rear dual laser cannons, but can be modified with additional sublight engines and add-on modules.
Reference material describes Gozanti-class cruisers as being used by a variety of factions, but those in Imperial service have stronger deflector shields, quicker engines and better weaponry to deter pirates and rebels from stealing their cargo.
Armed with four double-barrel turbolaser batteries and four quad laser turrets, Arquitens-class ships can absorb a surprising amount of damage thanks to their armored hulls and layers of energy shielding.