The ships of Star Wars are an essential part of the galaxy far, far away. In some ways, they’re almost as important as the characters. Much of the story centers around dogfights, hyperspace jumps, and ace fighter pilots saving the day, making them some of the most defining aspects of the original trilogy in particular.
So many of the ships have unmistakable designs that are instantly recognizable. Whether it’s the Millennium Falcon negotiating the asteroid field, Luke piloting his X-Wing into the Death Star, or that unforgettable opening shot of the Tantive IV and Star Destroyer that started it all, some of the most iconic moments in the original trilogy feature these classic starships.
- Created by
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George Lucas
- First TV Show
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Star Wars The Clone Wars
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Storm IV Twin-Pod Cloud Car
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)
In The Empire Strikes Back, in order to escape from the relentless pursuit of Darth Vader and the Empire, Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon crew travel to the floating Cloud City, on the planet Bespin. The city is guarded by the Bespin Wing Guard, who pilot the iconic Storm IV, the ship one can most rapidly associate with Bespin as a whole.
This model of Cloud Car manufactured by Bespin Motors has the pilot in one of the twin pods and the gunner in the other. It’s slick and efficient, and its goofy look is unmistakable to all fans of the original trilogy. With the vehicle’s pilot controlling it from one side of the pod and the gunner defending it from the other, it may not sound particularly practical, but it sure looks cool.
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B-Wing
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi’ (1983)
A wide variety of ships were used by the Rebellion in their fight over Endor against the second Death Star from Return of the Jedi, prominently including the A/SF-01 B-Wing assault starfighters, heavily-armed bombers that proved useful in attacking a structure as massive as the Empire’s superweapon.
The B-Wing performs poorly in dogfights, but it was’t designed with them in mind. Instead, it was mainly engineered to be a blockade buster to aid in the destruction of capital ships. It isn’t particularly fast or maneuverable, but for the Rebellion’s purposes during the Battle of Endor, it was absolutely perfect. They did win, after all, in one of the sci-fi genre’s most exciting fights.
18
TIE Interceptor
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi’ (1983)
The Empire used a wide variety of TIE starfighters in its effort to keep their control over the galaxy and fight against the Rebel Alliance, including the menacing TIE Interceptor, which was most notably used during the Battle of Endor. With a sleek look that distinguishes it from the classic TIE Fighter, it’s a pretty sharp-looking ship—pun entirely intended.
Identifiable by its four arrow-shaped panels tipped with laser cannons, the Interceptor makes up for its lack of defensive capabilities with tremendous speed and terrifying firepower. It’s a far deadlier version of TIE than its basic counterpart, and its iconic yet strange design makes it a weird and much more easily recognizable Star Wars spaceship than most.
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TIE Bomber
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)
One of the most powerful TIE classes, the Bombers were the Empire’s main source of anti-emplacement air-support, powerful as a first line of attack to weaken capital ships before more agile TIE fighters take care of the rest. Though slow and terrible in dogfights, Bombers can easily hit targets from a standoff distance with their concussion missiles.
Characterized by having two cockpits—one for the pilot and one for munitions—the Bomber has a design that makes it stand out from other ships in the Empire’s fleet. It was present in some of Star Wars‘ most entertaining battles, which makes it unsurprising that it’s one of the most beloved ships among fans.
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Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope’ (1977)
Intimidating sci-fi villains need an equally intimidating ship, and seeing as Darth Vader is one of the greatest antagonists in film history, it’s only appropriate that his TIE Advanced fits the bill. A prototype of the Advanced series of TIE fighters, it was used by Vader during many battles of the Galactic Civil War until it was destroyed during the Battle of Endor.
Unlike other kinds of TIEs, Vader’s was equipped with a hyperdrive and powerful shield generators. What made it truly terrifying was the man aboard it, however, as Vader was every bit as skilled a starship pilot as Anakin Skywalker once was, as he proved especially while chasing Luke through the trenches of the original Death Star.
15
Lambda Class Imperial Shuttle
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)
The Lambda Class shuttle was one of the most common ships in the Empire; it was used by several high-ranking Imperials (including some of Star Wars‘ best villains), being a popular choice for ferrying officers between capital ships or down to the planet’s surface from their Star Destroyers.
Despite their prestige, Lambda shuttles were used for many other duties, including transporting troops and cargo. This made the shuttle a perfect choice for carrying the Rebel strike team undetected to Endor during the mission to destroy the second Death Star.
14
Snowspeeder
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)
In their struggle against the Galactic Empire, the Rebellion had to make all sorts of modifications to all sorts of ships and weapons. For the Battle of Hoth, they modified T-47 air speeders to make them suitable for combat on the gelid planet. A symbol of the Rebellion’s resilience and technical skill, it was essential to the Alliance not being crushed by the Empire on Hoth.
Made for low-altitude flights, the T-47s were the perfect vehicle for the Rebels to retrofit into the ground attack fighters that fans got to see in one of the most thrilling set pieces of the original trilogy. They may be small and not particularly intimidating, but any ship capable of toppling an AT-AT deserves as much respect as any bigger star ship.
13
Home One
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi’ (1983)
After losing their base on Hoth, the Rebels take to traveling in space with no permanent base. Assembling a large fleet, the Rebel Alliance prepares for its assault on the second Death Star (among the most epic action scenes ever). The fleet’s flagship is the cruiser Home One, an MC80 Heavy Star Cruiser, commanded by the Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar.
Designed by the Mon Calamari, the ship has an organic look, contrasting the angular Imperial vessels. Home One was among the largest and most capable ships in the Alliance fleet, being almost as big as a Star Destroyer and armed with heavy blaster turrets and ion cannons. It was the Rebels’ pride and joy, and one of the most iconic Star Wars spaceships.
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Executor Class Super Star Destroyer
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back’ (1980)
One of the biggest ships in Star Wars, the Executor Class is a class of Star Destroyer reserved only for a few high-ranking Imperial officers, including Darth Vader. The ship named Executor was used by Vader as his flagship, most notably during the Battles of Hoth and Endor. It’s quite natural that a ship of this whopping size is among the most intimidating in all of Star Wars.
The ships dwarfed the Imperial Class destroyers that escorted them and bristled with hundreds of turbolasers and squadrons of TIE fighters. They were a formidable enemy, greatly outgunning anything the Rebel Alliance possessed, but they could be destroyed if their shield generators were compromised—a weakness that the Rebels were sure to exploit on several occasions.
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Tantive IV
First Appearance: ‘Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope’ (1977)
The Tantive IV has the massive privilege of being the first ship to ever appear onscreen in a Star Wars movie, in the now famous opening shot of A New Hope showing a planet and two spacecrafts that has been echoed across all the subsequent films (and is still one of the best opening scenes in movie history).
Based on the CR90 corvette, the class was originally designed for use as diplomatic cruisers, but in its later life became known for its use by the Rebels. Nicknamed “blockade runners,” they were a popular craft for running the Imperial blockades set up around occupied planets. They were small and fast but possessed enough firepower to take on small capital ships.