One year, four days after the Battle of Endor, the nascent New Republic launched in all-or-nothing attack on an Imperial fleet massed at
Jakku. The subsequent battle would result in a debilitating but planned a loss for the Empire. how did it all happen?
That's what we'll discuss today.
The Battle of Endor saw the death of Palpatine and the fracturing of Imperial power
throughout the galaxy. Unlike in the old expanded universe, in
canon the remnants of the Empire more quickly and drastically weakened, as the New Republic aggressively hunted down Imperial fleets and
fragmented Imperial factions were bogged down by infighting. However, the Empire's quick demise was also planned.
First of all thousands of ships were hidden out of sight by the mysterious
Admiral Rax. Some of these ships would re-emerge in time for the Battle of Jakku while others would disappear permanently,
making their way to a secret rendezvous in the Unknown Regions.
Rax was enacting Emperor Palpatine's
"Contingency" plan: a concentrated effort to purge the Empire of the unworthy, which Palpatine believed, in the case of his death, would be almost
everyone. Besides for hiding
resources, Rax also ordered a large portion of the Imperial Fleet to
rendezvous at Jakku. How many ships actually show up and what portion of the Imperial fleet is it, I'm not sure.
Some have suggested that almost all of the Empire was there. I don't think that's the case;
Rax talks about several
nebulas, each of which are housing hundreds of star destroyers and thousands of support ships. I think most, if not all of those were hidden
away in the Unknown Regions
while much of what was left is what was summoned to Jakku. The New Republic, of course, learns of the massed fleet and
after some political maneuvering,
sends a very
large portion of their navy to deal with it. Before we look at the battle itself let's talk a bit about the New Republic
starfleet. Now, the New Republic is famous for its
demilitarization, but that didn't occur until long after the Battle of Jakku.
After Endor it seems like the New Republic actually militarized quite heavily, and they were spread out across the galaxy
fighting the Empire. We know for instance that they were able to capture
three Super Star Destroyers and destroy five others. Most of the navy was present for Jakku, likely
including hundreds of capital ships, including three new
Starhawk cruisers. Starhawks were made out of the parts of old Star Destroyers; however, [they] were augmented with the best available
technology, providing them with
bleeding-edge turbolaser, tractor beam and shield technology, better than anything else in the New Republic fleet and far better than any old
Imperial designs. Upon arriving at Jakku the New Republic fleet was met by the forces of the Empire. It's
impossible to cover all battles that took place; the fighting was extensive both in
atmosphere and above the planet, so we'll instead focus on the Ravager: the Empire's only available Super Star Destroyer.
According to early scouting, the Ravager was accompanied by dozens, if not more, Star Destroyers. The New Republic fleet actually had a numbers advantage
for once but had a very hard time taking the ship down itself. The Empire used a fairly intelligent
strategy. First off, both fleets launched fighters: the New Republic was likely able to gain the advantage
and push towards the Imperial Fleet. However, a large flotilla of Star Destroyers were grouped around
the Ravager using their overlapping shields as well as sheer firepower to protect the dreadnought. The protective circle
occasionally opened up so the Ravager could fire off
salvos of proton torpedoes and turbo lasers. This effectively
blunts the New Republic attack and the Ravager can destroy most ships in a single volley. Instead, the New Republic
circles the formation and slowly chips away at the Star Destroyers.
Notably, the three Starhawks that I mentioned earlier (and we don't really know whether these were the only Starhawks at the battle or just
one battle group) is over working away at a set of Star Destroyers. A
captain of one of the Imperial Star Destroyers panics due to the firepower and we get the following, and this is a direct quote from
Aftermath: Empire's End: "One of the Star Destroyers, the Punishment, turns its nose
drastically starboard: it turns right towards the Starhawk Amity. The Amity has little room to maneuver given its proximity
to both Agate's
Concord and to the battle raging all around it. The Punishment's nose is like a sweeping blade. and it crashes into the blunt force of
the Amity, shearing through it. Fire blooms in space, bodies drift and the Punishment keeps going." So the Punishment
rams one of the Starhawks, perhaps trying to take out all three, and in its destruction, is actually effective in injuring one of the
other ones, the Concord. However, with that, the defensive perimeter around the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer is
breached. The Concord, under the control of Commodore Kyrsta Agate, pushes towards the Ravager,
firing its weapons. Now, although this is a very high-tech ship, it certainly can't compete with the Ravager in a one-on-one contest.
It does cut through however, a portion of the shield's and
even destroys some of the Ravager's hull, but the Super Star Destroyer orders all available weapons in that direction to fire, easily
disabling the Concord. However, this was all part of the plan:
by now the gravity of
Jakku has started pulling on the Starhawk, which now can no longer fight it without full engine systems. Agate pleads with
Ackbar to order his fighters to target the Ravager's engines. He doesn't understand, the Ravager is just sitting there so it has no need for
engines, but he takes a leap of faith and
complies. As this is happening and the Concord continues to fall towards the planet it grabs the Ravager with its top-of-the-line
tractor beam. Blade Squadron, along with many other Rebel ships, makes a run against the Ravager's engines and
manages to disable them. With that, the Super Star Destroyer has nothing keeping it into position and the Concord is now pulling it too
towards the planet's surface.
Before long, physics takes over and there's nothing that can be done: the Ravager is
completely doomed. As the ships fall to the planet, raining debris on Rebels and Imperials alike, the other Star Destroyer has become completely
disoriented and through a lack of central command are
overwhelmed by the New Republic.
The final Starhawk, Unity, leads an attack on the other Star Destroyers, now without the
Executor star destroyer to back them up, and the New Republic's overwhelming numbers allow them to gain the advantage.
This would be the beginning of the end, although the battle would rage on for months.
Imperial forces on both the ground and in orbit would eventually fall as
planned by Gallius Rax. This would spell the end of the bloated, inefficient Empire; however it would soon be reborn in a new,
pure form.
Thank you guys so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed this video. As always if you, did make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you haven't already
If you want to see more videos of this type check out my Battle Breakdowns playlist which I've linked in the upper right hand corner, and also the
comments. Until next time guys this has been Eckhart's Ladder: May the Force be with you.