The Fondor Shipyards, also known as the Starship Yards of Fondor and as the Fondor Construction Yards, were massive starship construction facilities orbiting the planet Fondor, in the Tapani sector. Operated by the Fondor Guild of Starshipwrights, the Fondor shipyards were among the three largest ship manufacturers in the galaxy, producing both civilian and military vessels. The Starship Yards of Fondor had served all galactic governments throughout the millennia of their existence. The yards were nationalized by the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War by it regained its independence years later as the Fondor Independent Shipyards. The Fondor Shipyards were ravaged by the Yuuzhan Vong during the Yuuzhan Vong War but later rebuilt by the Galactic Alliance.

Description[]

The Starship Yards of Fondor orbited and necklaced the planet Fondor, a world located in the Freeworlds portion of Tapani sector.^[1]

The Fondor Shipyards were among the oldest, largest and most sophisticated shipyards in the galaxy.^[12] The shipyards of Fondor were the third starship-building place in the galaxy after the Kuat shipyards and the Corellian shipyards. Rather than emphasizing on mass-production, the Fondor Shipyards were renowned for their high-quality production. The Fondor Guild of Starshipwrights, that ruled both the planet and the shipyards, exercised tight control over every step of ship production to maintain its high quality standard.^[13]

The shipyards of Fondor had a varying layout, including large and various space stations and construction devices.^[7] The shipyards were operated by thousands of orbital workers who performed their tasks wearing g-suit.^[12] The ship-building facilities supplied by the rich mineral resources extracted in a nearby asteroid belt.^[11] Materials were also provided by neighboring worlds such as Vandelhelm^[3] and Gandeal.^[14] Millennia of starship construction had left the planet surrounded by a ring of debris that made space travel in the area very complicated.^[13]

History[]

Old Republic[]

The Fondor Shipyards were major Republic shipyards during the Old Sith Wars. However, the emergence of a Sith cult in the Tapani sector led the sector, including Fondor and its shipyards, to join Exar Kun's Sith Empire during the Great Sith War and, decades later, Darth Revan's Sith Empire during the Jedi Civil War.^[1]

Clone Wars[]

The Jedi mission to Fondor during the Separatist Crisis foiled a scheme by Groodo the Hutt to destroy the Fondor Shipyards using a counterfeit Sun Runner transport. Before the drifting derelict could collide with the shipyards, an 18-year-old Anakin Skywalker was able to destroy it through a combination of planting a proton grenade to the vessel's hypermatter reactor and demolishing its sensor-guided missile silo with the concussion-missile launcher of a borrowed CloakShape fighter—the shock waves of these explosions, however, forced Skywalker to crash-land on the Fondor jungle-moon of Nallastia.^[6]

At the time of the Clone Wars, the Fondor Guild of Starshipwrights was a minor member of the Techno Union but much guild members did not support the Separatist Alliance so the shipyards contributed marginally to the Separatist war effort.^[1] Fondor and its shipyards remained affiliated with the Republic during the conflict. In 22 BBY, during the Clone Wars, a small Republic/Jedi taskforce battled and captured Dool Pundar's pirate battleship, the Profit, in the shipyards of Fondor.^[2]

Imperialization[]

The Galactic Empire nationalized the Fondor shipyards around the time of the Battle of Yavin, during the Galactic Civil War.^[1] Although the Kuat shipyards were the primary manufacturers of Imperial Star Destroyers, Fondor was unexpectedly chosen to build the Super Star Destroyer Executor, the fist vessel in a new line of gigantic warships. The Empire enforced total secrecy for this project and closed the entire star system to all non-military traffic. The Fondor executives were outraged as they consequently lost all their clients and on-going contracts.^[12] The Guild of Starshipwrights nonetheless complied and was allowed to remain in power to oversee the construction of the Executor.^[1] In fact, the gargantuan project took up nearly all the resources of the shipyards.^[12] To support the project, the Empire blazed a secret hyperlane to connect Fondor with the Corellian Run at Gandeal, a checkpoint for bulk freighters transporting raw marerials.^[1]

In addition to the infuriated Fondorians,^[1] the Executor project also irritated numerous Imperial Navy officers. As the ship was intended to become Darth Vader's flagship, they considered the project was a huge waste of resources that could be used by the Navy rather than creating a new toy for Vader. In the months following the Battle of Yavin, a group of admirals plotted against Darth Vader and decided to permit the Rebel Alliance to sabotage the Executor.^[12] Luke Skywalker accepted to travel to the Fondor Shipyards to meet the Imperial officers. However, one of them, Admiral Griff, had remained loyal to Vader and eventually betrayed the Rebel hero and the traitorous officers. The officers were arrested but Skywalker managed to escape in extremis.^[7]

Six months after the Battle of Yavin, the construction of the Executor reached completion. Dark Vader traveled to the Fondor shipyards to take command of his new flagship and used it against the Rebels blockaded at Yavin 4.^[17] The Fondorian Starshipwrights expected that this success would allow them to obtain lucrative Imperial military project grants from their rival, Kuat Drive Yards.^[12] However, to their anger, Kuat Drive Yards ended up gaining all rights to future models of Super Star Destroyers.^[1]

Despite this setback, the Empire somehow allowed Fondor to develop an Executor-class Star Dreadnought variant possessing cloaking capabilities. A giant shield was enveloped requiring at least 18 shield stations to maintain, and the destruction or otherwise disabling of one would result in the shield collapsing. In addition, the shipyards were also guarded by a complement of Imperial Storm commandos as well as several Imperial escort carriers. Nevertheless, the Rebel Alliance, learning of this development. Rogue Squadron made an attack against the orbital shipyards in year 3 ABY, which resulted in the destruction of the vessel before it was ever completed. In actuality, the Empire, under the Emperor's orders, deliberately leaked the intel of the ship's construction to the Rebel Alliance to grant them a victory as to ensure that they grow overconfident enough to be drawn into a trap.^[9]

Overall, the Fondor shipyards were raided by the Rebels twelve times prior to the Battle of Endor.^[10]

New Republic[]

After the death of Emperor Palpatine at the Battle of Endor, the Empire began to collapse and the Rebel Alliance was reorganized in the Alliance of Free Planets.^[1] In the weeks following the Battle of Endor,^[3] Fondor was seized by the Alliance of Free Planets, with the complicity of the Guild of Starshipwrights.^[1] The shipyards were renamed the Fondor Independent Shipyards,^[18] and were used by the Alliance of Free Planets. Prior to the Nagai–Tof War, Generals Han Solo and Lando Calrissian commanded the Alliance fleet stationed at the Starship Yards of Fondor. While there, Han Solo solved the yards supply problem by escorting the two Venerated Ones of Vandelhelm to their home planet and securing an alliance with the Metalsmiths Guild of Vandelhelm.^[3]

In the next years, the Fondor Shipyards became a major New Republic shipyard.^[1] Part of the yards were converted to the construction and repair of civilian transports while the rest was dedicated to construction of New Republic warships designed by the Republic Engineering Corporation.^[19] The shipyards remained a major New Republic shipyard during the rest of the Galactic Civil War, in particular during the Hunt for Zsinj and the Thrawn campaign,^[1] but suffered damages during the final stages of the war.^[19]

The Fondor Shipyards were still a crucial New Republic shipyard during the Yuuzhan Vong War and thus a target for the Yuuzhan Vong. Having been deceived by the Vong, the New Republic was caught fatally off guard by the attack at Fondor. Orbital Shipyard 1321, one of the orbiting shipyards, was rammed by several Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers during the battle, and destroyed. Eventually, many Republic vessels were lost, most vaporized by an overly hasty firing of Centerpoint Station.^[4] After the battle, the shipyards were largely in ruins.^[19] Later in the war, the New Republic, now the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, retook control of Fondor. General Garm Bel Iblis immediately began repair work of the shipyards but he did not expected the facilities to produce any ship before months.^[20] The Fondor shipyards were eventually rebuilt by the Galactic Alliance.^[21]

Second Galactic Civil War[]

In 40 ABY, during the Second Galactic Civil War, Fondor seceded from the Galactic Alliance and allied with the Confederation.^[5] The Fondor Shipyards became the first provider of warship of the Confederation, and therefore a major threat for the Alliance.^[22] Fondor and its shipyards were soon targeted by Galactic Alliance's Chief of States Jacen Solo and Cha Niathal, supported by Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon of Imperial Remnant. During the battle, one of the docks repelled a GA boarding party. Others sustained heavy fire from Imperial and Galactic Alliance ships. It was revealed that the Fondorians had hidden large numbers of ships in the docks by making it appear that the ships were under construction. Eventually, the attempt to take the planet, including the yards and other assets, intact, failed, causing Solo to order the bombing of Oridin, a major Fondorian city, with the result being Cha Niatha splitting her forces from the GA and the assassination of Gilad Pellaeon.^[11]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

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