The Imperial Navy, alternatively known as the Imperial Armada or the Imperial Fleet, functioned as the seagoing arm of the reconstituted Sith Empire's Imperial military. This naval force engaged the Galactic Republic in combat during the Great Galactic War and was maintained throughout the subsequent Cold War. Its construction spanned several centuries under the direction of Grand Moff Odile Vaiken, who fully understood he would not live long enough to witness even a small portion of its completion.
Following the fall of the original Sith Empire and the Sith's subsequent exile to the Unknown Regions, the navy diminished to a small collection of vessels used for travel by the remaining Sith. After establishing a new base on Dromund Kaas, the Sith, under the leadership of Grand Moff Odile Vaiken, initiated a massive military expansion. Vaiken commenced the construction of an enormous armada, a project that required nearly three centuries to finalize, fully aware that he would not be alive to see its completion. All non-Force-sensitive inhabitants of Dromund Kaas were drafted into either the Navy or the Imperial Army. Vaiken's life came to an end during the Navy's inaugural operation, Odile Vaiken's final campaign against an alien species.
During the Great Galactic War, the Navy demonstrated its critical importance to the military efforts. It facilitated the transportation of Army units to various planetary battlefields, engaging in numerous conflicts with the Republic Navy. These conflicts included the Assault on the Tingel Arm region, as well as the first and second Battles of Bothawui. The war's conclusion involved a massive fleet being deployed to sack Coruscant, the Galactic Republic's capital world. This event culminated in the Treaty of Coruscant, which brought the Navy's active operations to a halt.
The rank structure included:
Grand Admiral
Admiral
Commodore
Group Captain
Captain
Commander
Lieutenant
Ensign
Petty Officer
Sergeant
Corporal
Specialist
Private
- Note: It is important to note that certain ranks had variations or sub-categories, essentially creating two or three different designations for what was fundamentally the same rank. For example, Captain First-Class.
The order of battle included:
The Harrower-class dreadnought, a massive dreadnaught manufactured by Taerab Starship Manufacturing and exceeding 800 meters in length, served as the Navy's primary warship. The Harrower-class was operated by a crew of 2,400 and could accommodate an additional 7,300 marines. Commanders often selected the Harrower-class as their flagship, considering its widespread use and imposing size as a true representation of Imperial dominance on the battlefield.
Supporting the Harrower-class was the Terminus-class destroyer. More heavily armed than comparable Republic warships, it was designed to escort the larger Harrower-class vessels and conduct independent patrols.
The Sith Empire deployed several unidentified classes of shuttles and dropships. The Navy also employed a variety of starfighters, with the Mark VI Supremacy-class starfighter serving as the standard fighter and the B28 Extinction-class bomber as the standard bomber.
Support ships included the Delta-class carrier, the Keizar-Volvec bulk cruiser, the Gage-class transport, the Imperial shuttle, the Imperial assault shuttle, the Fury-class Imperial interceptor, the Dragonfly-class Imperial drop ship, the Imperial military transport, and the VT-22 light troop transport.
Starfighter bombers and bomber groups consisted of the B-4D Legion, the B-5 Decimus, the B28 Extinction-class bomber, the D-1Z prototype bomber, the G-X1 Onslaught, and the M-7 Razorwire. The IL-5 Ocula, the S-12 Blackbolt, the S-13 Sting, and the S-SC4 Bloodmark functioned as scout ships. Additional starfighters comprised the F-T2 Quell, the F-T6 Rycer, the FT-3C Imperium, the Mk. VII advanced interceptor, and the TZ-24 Enforcer.
Gunships contained the GSS-3 Mangler, the GSS-5C Dustmaker, the K-52 Strongarm, and the VX-9 Mailoc.