The Sith Imperial Navy is remembered as one of the impressive starfleets in galactic history,
and this renown is due in no small part to its high level of streamlining and adaptability.
The brain-child of the legendary Grand Moff Odile Vaiken, the Imperial Navy was assembled
during the Sith Empire’s exile in the unknown regions, and intended to fit as much versatility
into as few separate starship designs as possible, so as to streamline repairs and simplify fleet
cohesion, when the invasion of the Republic finally came.
Filling the primary capital ship role within the fleet, the Harrower Class Dreadnought
serves as the backbone of the Imperial Navy.
Combining the functionality of a carrier, battleship and a command vessel into a single
frame.
The Harrower is valuable in almost any engagement, and a popular choice for high ranking military
officials and members of the Sith order.
Though indeed powerful and strategically crucial, the Harrower’s size makes it typically less
manoeuvrable at Sublight velocities, and as a result the ship is best employed as part
of a flotilla, including several support vessels and destroyers.
Serving as the primary Destroyer of the Imperial Fleet, the Terminus Class is smaller and less
resilient than the harrower, but substantially faster and surprisingly well armed for its
size.
Intended to engage much larger vessels and partake in wolf-pack tactics alongside other
ships of its class, the Terminus is by far the most common warship in the fleet.
The vessel serves as the mainstay of most battlegroups, compensating for the few shortcomings
of the fleet’s larger dreadnoughts, and working in a powerful tandem to pose a deadly
threat to any would-be adversary.
Though generally less effective on a ship-to-ship basis than the Starfighters of the Galactic
Republic, the Sith Empire’s fighter wings are nonetheless highly impressive in combat.
As would be the case with many other Sith-inspired political powers for millennia to come, the
Imperial Navy preferred to employ vast swarms of cheaply constructed and easily replicable
fighter craft, with their primary example of this being the Mk 6 Supremacy Class Starfighter,
a lightly armed interceptor equipped with minimal shielding, but boasting a high rate
of fire and powerful engines, so as to best serve the complex swarm formations they would
so often participate in.
A frequent task of the Empire’s Supremacy Class Fighters, would be the escort of the
fleet’s primary bomber craft, the B28 Extinction Class Bomber.
Naturally slower and less effective in dogfights than their Starfighter counterparts, the Extinction
was designed for attacks against surface based targets and spaceborne warships.
Whereas the Republic preferred to employ larger bomber formations using their PT-7 Raven Light
Bombers, the Empire’s Extinction Class was built to be used in smaller groups or individually,
carrying a far greater loadout of proton bombs and torpedoes, but requiring an even greater
fighter escort, to reach its target unscathed.
In the Support Role the Sith Empire again shows its preference for streamlined designs.
The fleet’s primary transport vessel, the Gage Class Transport is a conversion of the
Terminus Class Destroyer, stripping away the majority of the ship’s weapons systems and
internal compartments to make space for large amounts of cargo, but maintaining the original
frame’s heavy armor, so as to help withstand any hostile action during cargo runs.
Though the Sith Empire rarely breaks from its tradition of multipurpose vessels, on
some occasions craft have been commissioned to fill highly specific roles within the Empire.
The most prominent examples of this are the X-70B Phantom, an expensive and uncommon stealth
vessel intended for use by agents of Imperial Intelligence, and the Fury Class Interceptor,
a powerful gunship and personal transport vessel intended for members of the Sith Order.
Though only produced in small numbers, both of these vessels proved highly successful
across the Great Galactic War, serving as effective pursuit vehicles, as well as transporting
officials and supporting small-scale fleet operations.
Renowned and feared thorough the decades of its existence, the Sith Imperial Navy served
as the inspiration for many of the designs and styles employed by Palpatine’s Galactic
Empire several thousand years later, and the fleet is remembered as one of the most impressive
and successful war machines in galactic history.