Trade Federation Droid Control Ship

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Size:
  3,170 meters diameter

• Affiliation:
  Trade Federation

• Type:
  Droid Control Ship (Converted freighter)

• Manufacturer:
  Hoersch- Kessel Drive

• 

From the Movies

The most important battleship in the Trade Federation blockade was the Droid Control Ship. Appearing very similar to the standard battleship -- a flattened ring shape with engines at the aft, docking claws at the fore, and a large detachable sphere in the center -- the Droid Control Ship was easily distinguished by the clustered array of transmitters and receiver antennae on its dorsal surface.

This array transmitted signals to the battle droid army on the surface of Naboo. The battle droid infantry, droidekas, and droid starfighters all drew their commands and actions from the control ship high in orbit. The heavily armed craft was a prime target for the Naboo starfighter squadron that defended the planet.

The Force was with rookie pilot Anakin Skywalker as he landed his N-1 starfighter in the control ship's hangar bay and fired twin proton torpedoes into the ship's unprotected reactor. The resulting explosion crippled the droid army, and ensured victory for the besieged Naboo and Gungan forces.

During the Battle of Naboo, Captain Daultay Dofine helmed the Droid Control Ship. He perished aboard the vessel when the main reactors exploded.

From the Expanded Universe

Built around the frame of a Hoersch-Kessel freighter, the Droid Control Ship was further modified beyond the other battleships of the Trade Federation. The tall transmission towers tapped directly into the ship's main reactor to boost broadcast power. To compensate, the Droid Control Ship had a number of additional reactors chained together -- a design feature exploited by Anakin Skywalker's fortuitous proton torpedo volley.

Along the perimeter of the ship were 16 droid signal receivers, which picked up the many thousands of signals sent for processing by the control ship's main computer. These tremendous computer banks housed the Central Control Computer, which kept the droid army functioning.

The Droid Control Ship had a diameter of 3.17 kilometers. A set of Rendili StarDrive proton 2 and proton 12 sublight drives provided the ship propulsion in space.

Behind the Scenes

Although parts of the Droid Control Ship bridge were built as sets and shot with human actors, much of it was built in miniature and shot as a model at ILM.