Sovereign (HDt)

The Sovereign was the lead ship of the Sovereign-class Star Dreadnought and the supreme flagship of the Galactic Empire's Royal Navy from 12 ABY. It also served as the personal vessel of Emperor Maximilian Palpatine and was one of the largest warships in active service in for much of its existence. The Sovereign was incomplete by the time of the, but was capable of moving and was used to evacuate the doomed world. It became a key tool for Maximilian to assert his authority over the Imperial s and later played a role in the Imperial Blitzkrieg against the. By the time of the, it underwent a refitting which upgraded its systems.

General characteristics
The Sovereign was a smaller cousin of the, which had been destroyed during. The new class was smaller, possessed a slower hyperdrive, and had less crew. However, it was still far larger than most other warships that it encountered and served as a symbol of the Emperor's power. The mere presence of the vessel in many cases was enough to get enemy forces to surrender. In terms of scale, the Sovereign was meant to be a successor to the previous designs.

Armament
The Sovereign boasted 500 heavy cannons, 500 turbolaser batteries, 75, 100 s, and 5 s. It was also equipped with an axial  designed to devastate a world, penetrating even the strongest planetary shields and capable of destroying most ships instantly. By the Yuuzhan Vong War, the ship underwent a refitting and was upgraded with more advanced weaponry by the Royal Navy.

Crew
This class originally needed 605,745 individuals to crew each vessel, which caused problems prior to the Empire's initial victory over the New Republic during the Blitzkrieg as there were simply not enough personnel on hand to crew the ship. However, after Maximilian returned and expanded the Empire, new recruits brought the crew up to the necessary amount.

Appearances

 * Heart of Darkness trilogy