The enormous Sith fleet we saw in The Rise of Skywalker was impressive, and not just for its intimidating presence. The fact that it existed at all was a construction miracle. Just how did Palpatine manage to build this fleet at Exegol? His planning was robust, thorough, and supported by devoted followers.
The Sith Fleet, Shipyards, and a Trusted Manufacturer
The prospect of the Sith Eternal building the Exegol fleet, “each one capable of destroying a planet,” raises many questions, such as how did they get the worker, material, and logistic support to carry this enormous feat off? Given the isolated location of Exegol, many challenges were presented.
The top-line answer to how the Sith Eternal and Palpatine managed to build the fleet is that the ancient Sith had previously established “secret subterranean shipyards” on Exegol. These shipyards were located in the Forbidden District and originated during the Sith wars. So, Palpatine could draw on them to forge the Final Order fleet.
In Secrets of the Sith, Palpatine himself confirmed how vital the cult was to his plans: “My Sith Eternal would provide me the tools I needed. It was they who constructed a fully operational armada on Exegol at my command. It was they who trained their offspring to operate those vessels with deadly efficiency.”
Palpatine modernized these shipyards as part of his contingency plan to bring about the First Order and then the Sith Empire. He arranged for materials to be shipped in through “corporate allies” to update the shipyards and produced Xyston-class Star Destroyers and TIE/dg starfighters.
But that was just the beginning. Exegol’s isolation actually provided the advantage of secrecy and allowed Palpatine to focus on fleet construction. The Sith Eternal cult had selected Exegol for this very reason. By the time the Empire arose, Sidious planned for Exegol to be his base of power, where he conducted his cloning experiments and built Star Destroyers.
Sidious likewise developed shipyards in other parts of the Unknown Regions, along with laboratories and storehouses. These secret locations were first used by the First Order and then were ready for the Final Order. By expanding his shipyards, Palpatine could produce the vast array of ships he sought.
Moreover, Palpatine had the advantage of drawing on an established manufacturer. Kuat-Entralla Engineering had proven itself by having constructed the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer and the Mega-class Star Dreadnaught. Now this trusted manufacturing company was enlisted to build the Xyston-class Star Destroyers.
The Sith fleet consisted of 1,080 of these Xyston-class, planet-destroying ships. Since it represented “the culmination of an agenda over a thousand years and a conspiracy decades in the making,” we should also credit the time factor for how Sidious and the Sith Eternal could complete this massive undertaking.
Challenges Remained but Were Overcome
The above explanation helps us understand the construction of the fleet, but still leaves some crucial questions unanswered. With over 1,000 ships carrying a crew of almost 30,000 each, how was the fleet maintained?
We can infer that maintenance for the ships and crew was provided by both Kuat Entralla and Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems. This video explains how materials were shipped by the merger of these two companies that supported the First Order and the Republic. Sith loyalists in these companies provided material for production and most likely supplies to keep the fleet up and running.
Pressing further into the workforce issue, this Syfy article reveals how the crews of the Star Destroyers were the “children of the Sith Eternal faithful.” These young personnel members were brought up to have “a fantatical devotion to the Dark Side” and to support it at whatever cost. They also had the help of automation systems that didn’t require large crews.
The above article and this one base their insights into the crews on The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary. They were raised as children to “devote their lives to the Final Order.” In addition, as we saw briefly in the movie, Sith cultists lived on Exegol and maintained cloning and whatever operations that Sidious desired.
These multifunctional roles help explain how the Sith fleet was operated and maintained.
Another source relays how children were both raised in isolation on Exegol or the Unknown Regions and taken from the First Order in other parts of the galaxy. Many of these outsiders became Final Order officers, while others worked on various ways to support the fleet.
The Sith Eternal also benefited from enslaved labor for production and ongoing needs. Further, they were fueled by Sidious’s quest for domination, and his will drove the fleet into existence and into combat.
The Sith Fleet
The personnel element goes a long way toward explaining both the construction and maintenance of the Sith fleet. Having manufacturing companies and an available shipyard certainly helped too. We shouldn’t underestimate Sidious’s influence either.