Admiral Ozzel
Ozzel was born on the planet Carida. Because he was clumsy, many fellow
officers are puzzled by how he became an
admiral. For a short time, Captain Ozzel served as an instructor at the Imperial Academy on Coruscant. He was the presiding officer at
Han Solo's court-martial for saving
Chewbacca. Han took a fairly low view of his intelligence.
Captain Ozzel became the commander of the Super Star Destroyer
Executor when it was launched, with
Firmus Piett as his second-in-command. A massive power vacuum was created after the destruction of the Death Star and the death of
Admiral Griff six months later. When Griff was killed, Ozzel was promoted to admiral and commander of the
Death Squadron, despite whispered rumors that he had
Rebel sympathies. Piett became the captain of the Executor.
Shortly before the
Battle of Hoth, Piett and his staff received a transmission from a probe droid that suggested the new Rebel base was located on
Hoth. While Ozzel dismissed it,
Darth Vader ordered his fleet to the Hoth system on that information.
|
Admiral Ozzel comes to an end. |
A miscalculation brought the Imperial fleet out of hyperspace too close to Hoth, alerting the Rebels and giving them time to activate a planetary defence shield. A simple bombardment from space was thus useless against the Rebel's energy field and the operation became a costly surface invasion led by
General Maximilian Veers. Ozzel was swiftly choked to death by Vader for incompetence and (as Vader put it) "being as clumsy as he is stupid." Piett was in turn, promoted commander of the fleet.
*George Lucas remarked that Sheard produced "the best screen death I've ever seen" [
1].
*
Star Wars Databank entry
