Ryloth blockade

The Ryloth blockade was a fleet that served within the Confederacy of Independent Systems' naval forces during the Clone Wars, under the command of Neimoidian Captain Mar Tuuk in orbit of the planet Ryloth. In 22 BBY, Ryloth was invaded by the Confederacy, in which a fleet of the government's warships engaged a Galactic Republic relief supply fleet in orbit, while the Separatist Droid Army fought against and destroyed a small clone trooper garrison on the surface. After the engagements, which resulted in the destruction of the Republic fleet, the Confederacy established a blockade in the planet's orbit under Tuuk's leadership.

Later, in 21 BBY, the blockade was assaulted by a Republic task force led by Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, who was drawn into a trap designed by Tuuk following his arrival in the Ryloth system and forced to retreat after the arrival of additional Separatist reinforcements. Soon after retreating, Skywalker returned to the blockade aboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Defender and offered his false surrender to Tuuk, in which the Jedi Knight was able to destroy the blockade's Lucrehulk-class Battleship as he crashed the Defender into it. With the command ship's loss, Skywalker's Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, arrived shortly after and led the destruction of the remaining Munificent-class star frigates.

Description[]

The Ryloth blockade was a fleet within the naval forces of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. It was flagged by a single Lucrehulk-class Battleship, which was supported by six Munificent-class star frigates, including Battlecruiser 17 and Battlecruiser 19. In addition, the blockade also consisted of several Vulture-class droid starfighters^[1] and multiple other Separatist cruisers.^[2]

History[]

When the Separatist Droid Army invaded Ryloth, the Separatist fleet established a blockade. The blockade was able to destroy Admiral Dao's Republic fleet. However, three blockade runners under the Senator of Alderaan, Bail Organa, were able break through the blockade and drop off food and medical supplies to the Twi'leks and their Resistance forces under General Cham Syndulla.^[3]

When the Republic Navy and the Grand Army of the Republic answered the Galactic Senate's plea to liberate Ryloth, the blockade was under the command of Captain Mar Tuuk. The blockade came under attack by Jedi General Anakin Skywalker's task force. A squadron of V-19 Torrent starfighters under Commander Ahsoka Tano attacked the blockade and were able to break through his line of vulture droids. However, Tuuk summoned reinforcements in the form of four additional frigates and more vulture droids. The blockade's vulture droids surrounded Tano's squadron and took them out one by one. The vulture droids also made suicide runs on the Resolute, Redeemer, and the Defender. When a vulture droid crashed into the Resolute's bridge, Skywalker ordered his taskforce to retreat. The Redeemer and most of Tano's Squadron were lost in their first attack.^[1]

Following the attack, Tuuk studied Skywalker's tactics and prepared for his counterattack. The blockade was approached by the Defender under Skywalker. Skywalker offered to surrender himself and his ship to Tuuk in exchange for delivering supplies to the Twi'leks. Tuuk considered his offer until his battle droids informed him that only Skywalker was aboard the Defender. Tuuk, upon learning of this, told Skywalker that he had nothing to bargain with. However, Tuuk realized his mistake and tried to destroy the Defender before it could crash into his control ship. Tuuk abandoned his post and went to a escape pod as the Defender destroyed the ship. The rest of the blockade stood their ground as the Resolute arrived. When the Resolute angled its hull towards the blockade, the battle droids attacked the ship. Tano was able to launch a flanking maneuver and destroy the remaining ships. This allowed Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu to start their landing.^[1]

Commanders and crew[]

The Ryloth blockade served under the leadership of Mar Tuuk, a Neimoidian captain in the Confederacy navy. Furthermore, the blockade was also operated by a number of OOM command battle droids, all of which answered to Tuuk's orders relayed from the command ship to the frigates, as well as multiple B1-series battle droids who operated the weapons and communications systems aboard the Lucrehulk-class Battleship and Munificent-class star frigates.^[1]

Behind the scenes[]

The Ryloth blockade was introduced in "Storm Over Ryloth,"^[1] the nineteenth episode of the first season of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, which aired on February 27, 2009. It was identified in the corresponding episode guide released on StarWars.com.^[4]