CT You know what seems odd to me...

In ROTJ other Vader and Palpatine arrive at Endor to visit the Death Star. For some reason Vader doesn't arrive in the Executor for a standard Star Destroyer. Why?

And I've always assumed that the Emperor would also have a Super Star Destroyer. Or perhaps something even bigger. Bigger was better when it came to the Empire, right? and you can't have the apprentice cruising around the galaxy in a better ride than yours...

BTW, does anyone happen to know the names of those two ships?

 

According to Wookieepedia:

Star Wars: Behind the Magic also identifies the Avenger as the Star Destroyer that launched Vader's shuttle at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.

Also, the two ships behind the Avenger have been identified as the Adjudicator and the Stalker - though I'm not sure what source says that.

 

One could say that all star destroyers belong to the emperor.

It's curious that Vader didn't arrive in the executor...
Of course, after the emperor's arrival, the executor was present.
Perhaps the emperor did arrive in it. I don't generally watch the special editions,
so if they show the emperor arriving in a regular star destroyer, I'm unaware of it.
All I know is that he boarded the Death Star from a Lambda Class shuttle.

 

They have access to the whole fleet so I imagine that when traveling they take whichever ship is heading nearest where they want to go. Or maybe Executor was too high profile to visit their secret project.

 

Executor is presumably the biggest baddest ship in the fleet. That's why it's Vader's flagship. But when Palps wants to travel, he takes the biggest baddest ship in the fleet cuz he's the big bad emperor.

Also, SSDs are generally considered to be slower than SDs, so Vader took a SD to get to Endor first and prepare for the VIP visit.

 

The ROTJ novel might shed some light on this: The Death Star's crew in the novel doesn't realize it's Vader on the Star Destroyer until his shuttle transmits his command code. Executor=Vader; random Star Destroyer=anybody. Basically his was a surprise visit.

 

That's the first thing that occurred to me regarding why Vader didn't travel to Endor on it.

As to why Palpatine didn't travel on the Executor - it was the flagship of the Imperial fleet, a military warship. Such a ship was used where it was needed for the purpose of warfare, which, most of the time, would have been as far away from the Emperor as possible. It certainly wouldn't have been used for transporting the head of state, for both practical and security reasons.
I would imagine there was a fleet of smaller Star Destroyers specifically equipped for when Palps was travelling, and they wouldn't have been designed for battle, rather to escape any threats as quickly and cleanly as possible.

 

Mmm....when FDR traveled to Yalta in 1945, it was on the USS Quincy:

http://donmooreswartales.com/2011/03/30/angelo-marinelli/]Linkie[/url]

And the Executor was a bit much for the Rebels to intercept, IMO, especially when they had all their ships massed for the Endor raid, which Palpatine of course knew of.

 

Good point about Vader's arrival at the Death Star being meant to be a surprise visit.

As for why the Emperor didn't arrive in a big ship of his own with its escort fleet, one has to recall that he was trying to lay a trap for the Rebels. Send a lot of warships at Endor, and you risk the Bothans or some other part of Rebel intelligence finding out and the Rebel leadership deciding that the operation is too risky. And even if the Empire managed to keep secret the deployment of so many warships to Endor, the Rebels might have spotted them when they arrived and fled, instead of moving in and committing themselves to the point where they could be trapped between the Death Star and the imperial fleet.

 

But when Churchill crossed the Atlantic, he took a battlecruiser. I'm trying to remember which one, Prince of Wales, maybe?

 

The battleship HMS Prince of Wales did take Churchill to the Atlantic Charter meeting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Prince_of_Wales_(53)

 

I wonder why they didn't dock inside the Death Star...

I've also found out that Palpatine's flagship was an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer called Majestic. After his resurrection he switched to the Eclipse.

 

Yup- though it ended up being delivered to Byss from Kuat still incomplete- and construction finished at Byss, where the Eclipse II was already being built.

 

YOU GUYS! Vader and the Emperor discuss exactly where the Executor and other ships are at. The majority of the Imperial fleet is massing near Sullust! Even the Rebels take note, DS2 "is relatively unprotected" "with the Imperial fleet spread throughout the galaxy in a vain effort to engage us". Sorry, Mothma, the fleet is in a holding position at Sullust waiting for your feeble attack.

It's very important that DS2 has a (false) image of vulnerability to lure in the Rebels. Having Executor there would foul that up.

 

The Executor was there when Han & company arrived in the Tydirium.

 

Yes. I believe it was the Rebel fleet "massing near Sullust," wasn't it?

 

Why would the Emperor need, or even want, a SSD? He's never on the battlefield, and is practically never on the move. Even with the wasteful and frivolous spending of the Empire, I can't see Palpatine constructing a personal SSD just for one trip to the Death Star. He could always just take Vaders. Heck, he'd actually probably enjoy taking the Executor more than he would like his own ship - it gives him a chance to show his dominance over Vader.

 

You're right! What's the dealio, Piett? And why didn't Vader remain on the command ship? Nobody listens to Palps.

 

For some reason I always assumed that the Devastator was destroyed while docked inside the Death Star I. But Apparently it wasn't.

 

Yeah, this...it was the Rebels massing near Sullust

 

This. I assume the Executor and the rest of the fleet was hanging out further away so they were not seen but still close enough in case there was a problem. Sometime after Luke and gang arrived and landed the fleet then moved in closer.

 

In the novel, the fleet's hiding behind the Forest Moon.

That's where they come from, when the Rebels detect them, and Ackbar yells "It's a trap".

 

A head of state generally wouldn't travel on board the biggest, baddest ship of war because that makes no sense. They usually have their own smaller, more luxurious transport, which also happens to be more mobile. When the President needs to go to Europe, he takes Air Force 1, he doesn't take the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.

 

Would have been cool if the Emperor had shown up in his personal Super Star Destroyer: The Overcompensator.

 

I could see people nicknaming the Eclipse-class Super Star Destroyer that- not in Palpatine's hearing, of course.