The Imperial Navy is charged with the security of all space throughout the galaxy. These responsibilities include the elimination or deterrence of belligerence by spacegoing factions amongst the galactic citizenry: pirates, the underworld, corporate and guild powers, rebel forces and the navies of untamed sapient species such as the Mon Calamari and the Ssi-Rukh. Knowingly or unknowningly, the presence of the Imperial Starfleet deters incursions by covetous extragalactic barbarians like the Yuzhan Vong.
The Navy also plays important roles in support of the operations of the Imperial Army. It provides the Army with transport between worlds and orbital bombardments against troublesome ground-based enemies of the Empire.
The Imperial Navy is claimed the largest space naval force in the history of the galaxy, with large and small combat starships numbering in countless millions, including at least several dozens of tens of thousands of dreaded star destroyers, and lesser numbers of more powerful star cruisers, star battlecruisers, star battleships and star dreadnoughts.
[Refer to the Navy subsection of Summary of Uniforms.]