CT Was the Nebulon Escort Frigate a civilian ship?

I've tracked down the name of the ship but I don't know if it was civilian or military. It was seen in the Empire Strikes Back and in Return of the Jedi we see a medical ship so I am unsure of the various star ship types that were featured the sequels. I do know the Blockade Runner in Star Wars was a Corellian Corvette and many of the other ships in the battle of Endor were Calamarian ships.

 

In Legends it was an Imperial designed military ship. Some were stolen by the Rebels. In the new canon it was a Rebel design. It was never a civilian ship in both canons.

 

First things first, if I may.

"Corellian Corvette" for vessels like the Tantive IV is a West End Games EU conjecture. According to the ROJ screenplay it's a "Corellian battleship"

52 EXT SPACE - REBEL FLEET
The vast Rebel Fleet stretches as far as the eye can see. Overhead a
dozen small Corellian battleships fly in formation. Fighters and
battlecruisers surround the largest of the Rebel Star Cruisers, the
HEADQUARTERS FRIGATE.

Other than that we see Rebel "Gallofree" transports (that would be used as "fireships" according to the ROJ novelization later) and Rebel "Nebulon" Star Cruisers (the original designation for the "Nebulon" ship was "Rebel Star Cruiser" in the ESB Artbook and "Rebel Cruiser" in the ESB sketchbook).

Since the screenplay refers to "battlecruisers" and there are no candidates left except for the "Nebulon" ship, the logical conclusion then is that it's actually a "Rebel battlecruiser" ("Medical Frigate" is the unfortunate result of editing changes and a misnomer. If you look up the actual chronology of scenes and dialogue in the ROJ novelization, reflecting the original screenplay, then the "Medical Frigate" would have actually been the other large Rebel Star Cruiser with wings, like the Liberty that got destroyed by the second Death Star).

IMHO, the question whether it was a civilian ship converted into a battlecruiser or a military vessel from the start is a valid one.

One unique feature of this design is the obvious number of smaller ships welded together below the bow section of the ship. For what purpose? Do these feature unique and exotic weapon systems that could serve the ship in combat or are these living modules with different kind of atmospheres for different kinds of aliens?

And how did the Rebels get these large energy generators to the surface of Hoth? I can rather well imagine that the Nebulon ship started out as a transport vehicle for large components and then was upgraded with weaponry for protection, eventually enabling this ship to perform multiple functions.

 

And before that, Star Wars Poster Monthly called it a "Rebel Blockade Runner"

STAR WARS: OFFICIAL POSTER MONTHLY #6
Published March 1978 by Galaxy Publications. Text writers Michael Marten, Jon Trux, John May.

http://www.theforce.net/image_popup/image_popup_global.asp?Image=timetales/misc/arcana/post6-03.jpg

"Battleship" in this context may be very loosely used - for any spacegoing warship.

As for the TESB ship - it seems perfectly reasonable conjecture that it's a medical ship, from its role at the end of TESB.

Thus, when in ROTJ somebody says "They're heading for the medical frigate" and then we see the TESB-type ship - it made sense for WEG to use that term - and thus, for the ships a bit smaller than frigates, to be corvettes.

Sometimes , EU conjecture, is perfectly logical conjecture.

 

@Iron-Lord wrote

As for the TESB ship - it seems perfectly reasonable conjecture that it's a medical ship, from its role at the end of TESB.

With all respect, that's a rather simplistic approach. Just because any ship has a medical section, does it automatically make the ship a "medical ship"?

Add to this that the particular section we saw at the end of ESB looks like it has been retrofitted and originally belonged to a Rebel Blockade Runner / Corellian battleship / Corellian corvette. The curvature of the interior walls seems to suggest that: http://starwarsscreencaps.com/star-wars-episode-v-the-empire-strikes-back-1980/80/

Thus, when in ROTJ somebody says "They're heading for the medical frigate" and then we see the TESB-type ship - it made sense for WEG to use that term - and thus, for the ships a bit smaller than frigates, to be corvettes.

That's what the final edit of the live and VFX footage seemed to suggest, but maybe we should wonder first, what a "medical ship" is good for in a space battle.
Apparently it's supposed to take care of pilots that have either been exposed to pressure loss or radiation or other injuries you could possibly suffer in a space battle. Yet, the "Nebulon" ship is devoid of any features that resemble hangars or the like to take fighters and pilots in (I studied the model extensively in 1988 to look for such clues).
In contrast the "winged" Rebel Star Cruiser had several features like slots or openings that could be used to accomplish such tasks.

Like I said, had the original edit of live and VFX footage remained (as hinted in the ROJ novelization) the ship the TIE fighters were heading for would have revealed the "winged" Rebel Star Cruiser: http://starwarsscreencaps.com/star-wars-episode-vi-return-of-the-jedi-1983/66/

 

Conservation of detail - once we've already been told that there is a "medical frigate" - why make it any ship other than that one?


Maybe that's exactly why they cut those shots - to avoid implying it was a different ship?

 

The old WEG sourcebooks claimed it was an Imperial naval vessel and that some had defected from the Empire to the Rebels, so it would have been seen on both sides of the war. But that would be very confusing for the casual movie goer to see. WEG also featured it as a rebel privateer in another supplement, which makes you wonder if they could be picked up at surplus yards for cheap.

 

Lt Hija a possible explanation for a medical frigate being in a space battle is that it is part of fleet. It accompanies the space fleet everywhere they go. The battlecruiser and fighter pilots don't drop off on any planet for medical treatment instead staying as part of the fleet and are treated on the medical ship.

 

Never understood why some people didn't want this called the "Medical Frigate"? This was the same ship that Luke got his new hand.

 

Eh, Nebulon B Frigate sounds cooler

 

Newcanon has it as a KDY design, like the ISD

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/EF76_Nebulon-B_escort_frigate

- and it makes sense that the basics of that backstory would have been kept - we see a stolen Imperial ship on the Rebel side in the Rebels TV series too, only it's a carrier.

 

Darth Basin

Never understood why some people didn't want this called the "Medical Frigate"? This was the same ship that Luke got his new hand.

Perhaps because the ship's official designation (ESB Artbook, ESB Sketchbook) was "Rebel Cruiser" and we just saw the medical section of this cruiser?

Perhaps because the ROJ screenplay refers to it as a Rebel "battlecruiser" (with no other candidates around in the film scene that could possibly match the description)?

Perhaps because it is merely an assumption based on the visual footage in the final film that was edited differently than in the actual script?

Perhaps because "Headquarters Frigate" for Ackbar's ship ("Home One") suggested that "Medical Frigate" would be another ship of similar size (like the "winged" Rebel Star Cruiser, illustrated above)?

 

Once the "standard ship sizes" started getting established though, in both the EU and TCW - it makes sense that something as big as the Liberty would not be a Frigate.

And since "Headquarters Frigate" is never used on-screen - there's no reason to treat it as an official in-universe designation. Sometimes novelizations, screenplay references, etc, end up becoming out of date.

 

52 EXT SPACE - REBEL FLEET
The vast Rebel Fleet stretches as far as the eye can see. Overhead a
dozen small Corellian battleships fly in formation. Fighters and
battlecruisers surround the largest of the Rebel Star Cruisers, the
HEADQUARTERS FRIGATE.

It's in the screenplay and that's as official and accurate as it can possibly get.

Everything else then is the headcanon of some EU contributor who didn't like that. And now we reward that attitude by declaring the official stuff as myth and in its place the conjecture becomes "fact"?

 

Small battleships? Largest cruiser is a frigate? Sigh...

Scriptwriters sometimes have no clue about ship designations. IRL, battleships and cruisers are bigger than frigates, much bigger. That part of the script reads like someone was throwing in some naval-sounding terms with no real comprehension of what they mean. IMO, it's best to ignore the unspoken terminology and interpret the visual and spoken evidence in a way that makes sense.

 

What I have been able to piece together is that the Liberty was a star cruiser operated by the Calamarians. The Corellian Corvettes were Battleships depicted as Ambassador Leia's ship. The Medical ship was the rest and recuperation ship seen when Luke was being treated.

In that case where was the location in which Mon Mothma was given the instructions for the upcoming battle? Was that on the Nebulon Frigate or was Admiral Ackbar on a separate command ship?

My interpretation, correct me if i'm wrong is that the medical ship/Nebulon Frigate served as Head Quarters and that is where the officers meet to discuss the battle while during the battle the fleet is led by the Falcon and another ship.

 

Such a confusing mess. Look at the Story groups direction on the Nebulan B. OK so it's no longer a Imperial ship. Fine, it never looked like a Imperial or b4 that a Republic design anyway. But look it's still made by KDY! It doesn't look like a KDY design. Not only that but KDY is loyal to the GE. No way they'll make ships 4 sum Rebel Scum!

 

I always thought it was coolest looking rebel cruiser design. Still thought it was unfair it could never match an ISD with its relatively smaller size and scrawny 2001 space odyssey "neck".

 

Sarge wrote

Small battleships? Largest cruiser is a frigate? Sigh...

Scriptwriters sometimes have no clue about ship designations. IRL, battleships and cruisers are bigger than frigates, much bigger. That part of the script reads like someone was throwing in some naval-sounding terms with no real comprehension of what they mean. IMO, it's best to ignore the unspoken terminology and interpret the visual and spoken evidence in a way that makes sense.

Essentially I concur, but we are applying biased standards based on real life for the GFFA. If I were to say that a ship like the Executor which is 11 miles long qualifies as a battleship or dreadnought, a ship like Ackbar's "star cruiser" would - indeed - look like a much smaller frigate.

Bob the X-Winger

IIRC, the screenplay and onscreen suggestions made it clear that the Rebel briefing took place aboard Ackbar's big star cruiser ("Home One").

For the record, I don't buy into this "monotheistic" approach that the winged star cruisers like the Liberty were of Mon Cal origin, too. A detailed analysis of both star cruiser designs reveals a couple of design differences.
The fact that the first character reacting to the Liberty's destruction was a Sullustian always conveyed to me the impression that the Liberty was of Sullustian origin, same applies for the third star cruiser variation in ROJ (i.e. Liberty without wings!)

 

Personally I think it was just a civilian ship that was retrofitted and modified to be a combat medical ship, as that is something ragtag rebel groups do. The ending of TESB suggests it is the only ship of that size the Rebel fleet has until the Mon Calimaries joined up with them sometime after TESB. Looking at the model there doesn't appear to be any weapon emplacements, except maybe for that one large cylinder on the arm sticking below the bow. Maybe a stationary anti capital ship cannon like some of the CIS ships had, but I doubt it.