Trade Federation Cruiser

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This article is about a fictional Star Wars spacecraft, for Adam Smith's metaphor, see "Invisible hand".

The Providence-class carrier-destroyers, also colloquially known as Trade Federation cruisers, are fictional starships in the Star Wars universe. They were capital ships produced and used by the Trade Federation during the Clone Wars. Designed by the Quarren Free Dac Volunteers Engineering Corps, the rounded, pseudo-organic aesthetic echoed the influence of Dac upon the design of the later produced Mon Calamari Star Cruisers. The ships were operated by 600 droids although commanded by sentient officers.

When the Quarren allied with the Confederacy, Providence-class ships became the heart of the Separatist starfleet, using their firepower to combat Republic cruisers and acting as point ships for planetary blockades, bombardments and invasions.

1 Specifications
2 The Invisible Hand
3 Other known ships
4 Appearances
5 Behind the Scenes
6 External links

[edit] Specifications

Providence-class ships were massive, cylindrical 1088-meter-long warships with a pointed nose that tapered towards the superstructure. The surface of Providence-class ships were covered with heavy weapons emplacements including fourteen turret-mounted quad turbolasers, thirty-four dual laser cannons, two capital-scale ion cannons, twelve point-defense ion cannons, and 102 proton torpedo tubes. Along with thick hull plating and heavy combat shields, the ships relied on four Creveld-4 radial ion drive units for sublight propulsion and featured an advanced Class 1.5 hyperdrive.

While a destroyer in firepower, the Providence-class was also a carrier with a compliment of 120 Droid Tri-Fighters and 120 Vulture starfighters, along with 1.5 million deactivated battle droids, 160 Multi Troop Transports, and 280 droid vehicles including Armored Assault Tanks, Hailfire droids, OG-9 Homing Spider Droids, LM-432 Crab Droids,Persuader Droid Enforcers, and NR-N99 Tank Droids.

[edit] The Invisible Hand

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

One Trade Federation cruiser that played a central roll in the Clone Wars was the Invisible Hand. Shortly before the Battle of Coruscant, the head of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Count Dooku, had the main communications and sensor pod of the Invisible Hand refitted as a lofty sanctum for his personal use. Sith cunning and Jedi wisdom made Count Dooku appear like a simple and saintly leader and is called "Gentle Hand" by primitive folk on remote worlds. From the communications tower, Dooku transmitted Separatist propaganda throughout the galaxy. If the evil Separatist leader had not been stopped, he would have broadcast the holo-image of the captive Supreme Chancellor Palpatine around the galaxy to crush Republic morale.

Under the command of General Grievous, Invisible Hand played a key role in most of the Separatist cyborg's raids into the Galactic Core. These included the release of the Loedorvian Brain Plague that killed entire Republic Clone armies and almost every human in the Weemell Sector. The Invisible Hand also terrorized 26 important Loyalist worlds including the hour-long orbital bombardment that depopulated and melted the crust of the former city world Humbarine, an ancient founding member of the Republic. Loyalist agents tried to track the ship's movement, but unfortunately, the crafty Grievous frequently swapped Mid Rim patrols with her sister ship Lucid Voice to confuse the Republic.

When Palpatine was captured by Count Dooku and the General, the Battle of Coruscant started and it was up to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to rescue him. The two Jedi managed to land in the main hangar bay and make their way to the Chancellor's signal. Anakin then defeated Dooku and saved Palpatine right when the ship was engaged by the Venator-class Star Destroyer Guarlara, starting a confrontation in which both ships were critically damaged. However, the former of the two was much more severely damaged than the latter. Due to the Separatist sabotage of the Republic communications grid, the Guarlara was unaware of the rescue operation to retrieve the chancellor. A lucky shot from the Guarlara started a chain reaction in the Invisible Hand's point-defense cannon bays that almost destroyed the ship. Weakened, the cruiser began to plummet towards Coruscant. Eventually the crew managed to regain control of the ship and prevented a deadly crash.

Once the ship was stabilized, Ray shields captured Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Palpatine. The trio were brought to the main bridge for the awaiting General but the Jedi freed themselves with the help of R2-D2 and engaged Grevious. Outnumbered, the General fled by smashing the protective windshield then making his way to the escape pod bay, which was situated behind the bridge. After entering the escape pod bay via an external airlock hatch, Grevious managed to jettison all the pods leaving the Jedi stranded. At this point the crew began escaping, leaving no-one in control of the ship. Anakin then took control of the ship, and began making a steady re-entry into Coruscant but the damage sustained from the battle with Guarlara caused the cruiser to break into two large chunks in the atmosphere. Anakin was able to crash land the front half of the ship on a landing strip with Obi-Wan Kenobi exclaiming, "Another happy landing".

[edit] Other known ships

Colicoid Swarm
Lucid Voice

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Behind the Scenes

In Star Wars: Clone Wars and Battlefront II game, it appears that the Separatist Coruscant invasion fleet included thousands of Providences. The movie only showed one Providence destroyer clearly the Invisible Hand.

This would indicate that most or all of the other Providences were destroyed or had retreated earlier on in the battle, leaving the Invisible Hand with an escort of lesser ships towards the end.

However, this is disputed, as there is no other source that shows that there were thousands of other Providence cruisers at the battle in addition to the Invisible Hand.