“The history of Sea Power is largely, though
by no means solely, a narrative of contests
between nations, of mutual rivalries, of violence
frequently culminating in war.
The profound influence of sea commerce upon
the wealth and strength of countries was clearly
seen long before the true principles which
governed its growth and prosperity were detected.
To secure to one's own people a disproportionate
share of such benefits, every effort was made
to exclude others, either by the peaceful
legislative methods of monopoly or prohibitory
regulations, or, when these failed, by direct
violence.”
So begins the pages of “The Influence of
Sea Power Upon History”, a history of naval
warfare published in 1890 by Alfred Thayer
Mahan.
Such was the impact of this book that it is
widely credited with sparking the naval arms
race between the United Kingdom and Imperial
Germany, transforming the doctrine of the
Japanese Navy and spurring the United States
to become a great power across the Pacific
and the World.
The core of Mahan’s argument was relatively
simple and familiar to anyone has studied
the UNSC’s struggle, against the Covenant,
the Dominion War, or the Clone Wars, : a great
navy is essential for national prosperity.
To expand into new markets, you need to look
overseas, to protect access to those markets
and deter foreign rivals, you need a powerful
fleet.
While Mahan could not predict every development
in Naval Warfare, what was true in the late
19th century holds true in the 21st and will
likely still hold true in 24th and beyond.
The success of any great power not bound to
a single planet but instead spread across
multiple star systems will depend upon its
ability to maintain its access to those planets
and develop its relationships with any foreign
interstellar nations, deterring foreign aggression,
if necessary
So, if we agree that an interstellar navy
is critical to any spacefaring civilization,
what kind of ships should it include?
How should it be organized?
What doctrine should it follow?
These are the questions we’ll be discussing
on this episode of “Incoming”.
And buckle up folks, grab some stroganoff
and vanilla coke, cause this is a long one.
But before we begin, it’s important to note
that space seems to work quite a bit different
depending upon which alternate reality you
find yourself in.
Sometimes space seems to be a lot like the
one we know and love, there’s gravity and
you need to worry about annoying things like
physics and mass.
Other times space is kinda like an ocean.
There’s an up and a down, and everyone just
seems to know which is which.
Ships can fly wherever they like and it’s
no big deal.
Sometimes space really is an ocean, there’s
treasure galleons and pirates and you need
to worry about your points of sail, so you
don’t luff your space spinnaker when your
ship is tacking against solar winds.
With that in mind, this guide might not be
relevant to every interstellar navy, but hopefully
this can be at least something of a starting
point.
And the most interesting place to start it
seems to me is ship type, now this usually
refers to a ships’ size and intended use
and should not be confused with a ship’s
class.
For example, in the case of a Constitution
Class Heavy Cruiser, heavy cruiser would the
ship type, and Constitution the ship’s class.
Now, while most interstellar navies across
alternate worlds have adopted maritime terminology
in describing their various ship types, these
designations are always evolving.
Even on our own world, Destroyers and Cruisers
used in the 19th century are very different
from Destroyers and Cruisers in 21st century
and their transition into interstellar use
would certainly bring about even greater changes.
There can even be a bit of overlap between
ship classes and they’re not always mutually
exclusive.
With that in mind, when discussing ship types,
they should be considered starting points,
and not rigid constraints on warship design.
We’ll be starting with the smallest ship
type’s, FACs, Corvettes, Frigates, all the
way up to Battleships and Aircraft Carriers
and then close with some more unusual designs.
Okay so, FACs Patrol Boats, Patrol Craft,
Patrol Vessels, whatever you call them whatever
is being patrolled, these are generally the
smallest ships you’ll see in any navy, but
they might also operate in a nation’s coast
guard, police force or even customs office.
These aren’t typically designed to engage
enemy warships, but rather, as the name suggests,
patrol their area of responsibility and undertake
various border protection roles.
You’d find ships like these involved in
anti-smuggling, anti-piracy, and immigration
law enforcement; they might also be called
upon to participate in rescue operations.
In an interstellar navy, I would except ships
like these to operate from terrestrial or
orbital facilities and rarely be included
in any major battle fleet.
They might not even be equipped with whatever
technology allows for travel between star
systems, and instead be confined to either
a planet’s orbit or its star system.
In wartime, they likely wouldn’t be used
in any direct battles, but instead intended
to defend important stations, or maybe ambush
larger vessels in groups, attempting to sward
their countermeasures with lots of expendable,
cheap munitions.
An example of a Patrol Craft would be the
Lewis & Clark, a Search and Rescue vessel
operated by United States Aerospace Command
and made famous by its investigation of the
Event Horizon.
However, as with most ship types, Patrol Craft
is a rather broad classification and can include
vessels that might be designated fast attack
craft, torpedo boats or missile boats.
These can be outfitted with faster engines
to accommodate high speed interdiction, an
increased armament through which many smaller
Patrol Craft could more effectively overwhelm
larger warships, or even be designed with
a small hanger meant to accommodate a shuttle
or starfighter.
Some of these vessels are large enough that
they might be considered the next largest
ship type, Corvettes.
A corvette is traditionally the smallest class
of vessels considered to be a proper or “rated”
warship as determined by the Royal Navy during
the Age of Sail.
They are fast, maneuverable, and easily produced,
but unlike the smaller Patrol Craft, are generally
equipped to operate further from friendly
ports.
Their main duty is protecting convoys, although
specific variants can be designed for minesweeping,
mine laying, anti-aircraft, or anti-ship duties.
Multi-role corvettes which incorporate all
these applications are increasingly popular
both here on Earth, and you’d expect across
alternate worlds as well.
The Polaris Class operated by the United Empire
of Earth would be a good example of an interstellar
multi-role corvette.
It’s fast, versatile, and suited to both
military operations, orbital security patrols
or search and rescue.
The Raider Class used by the Galactic Empire
and later the First Order is another good
example.
This class in particular was outfitted for
anti-starfighter duties and at times, assigned
as a dedicated transport to special forces
units.
I do have to question that later usage though,
a warship the size of a corvette with dozens,
even hundreds of crew seems oversized and
overpowered to allocate to a unit like “Inferno
Squad” which is comprised of only half a
dozen soldiers.
It seems to me to be more efficient to centralize
multiple Inferno Squad sized units on a larger
warship and have them deploy via shuttle.
Which brings us to Frigates.
Now, this might be the most ill-defined ship
type fielded within any navy.
Ship classes designated as frigates have at
times, more closely resembled, corvettes,
destroyers, cruisers, or even battleships.
There have been heavy frigates, super heavy
frigates, armored frigates, guided missile
frigates, anti submarine frigates, air defense
frigates, escort frigates, patrol frigates,
stealth frigates, 1st class frigates, 2nd,
class frigates, and probably at least one
laundry frigate.
Basically, whatever you need to achieve with
your navy, somebody has built a ship to do
it, and then called it a frigate.
And you might forgive them for that, frigates
are generally the most widespread ship type
in any navy and for good reason.
They’re large enough to be able to perform
a wide variety of roles, yet not so large
that upgrading them to specialize in a specific
area is not prohibitively expensive.
They’re typically easier and less expensive
to build and maintain, and don’t require
an excessively large crew to operate.
They can be deployed independently, in groups,
or serve as effective escorts for larger ships.
In my estimation, frigates are the best bang
for your buck.
On their own, a multi-role frigate can accomplish
pretty much anything you could reasonably
expect, although maybe not as effectively
or quickly as a purpose-built design.
In a fleet however, frigates are best used
as escort ships.
They would be deployed in a wide perimeter
around the larger and more expensive capital
ships, intercepting enemy fighters or munitions
before they can hit a target that might be
harder to replace.
In a major conflict, you might not want to
be assigned to a frigate if you have the option.
No Admiral of any worth would ever describe
a ship as “expendable”, at least not publicly,
but if faced with the choice of losing a frigate
or an aircraft carrier, or a frigate or a
transport ship loaded with material, the choice
is pretty clear.
The Stalwart-class, in service with the UNSC
is a good example of an interstellar frigates,
serving primarily as a fleet escort, but also
capable of acting independently.
I do take issue with its secondary use as
a troop transport though, but we’ll be that
addressing that a little later.
The Nebulon-B Escort Frigates used primarily
by the Rebel Alliance are another good example,
but their role within the Alliance fleet was
slightly problematic.
At least one Nebulon-B within the Rebellion
was described as a “Medical Frigate” and
there’s some issues here too.
While I previously stated that frigates could
be used in almost any capacity, a dedicated
hospital ship is a bit of an exception.
In our own world, there are extremely specific
restrictions under international law related
to hospital ships.
They need to be clearly marked, not be used
for any military purpose, and not interfere
with enemy combatants.
Whether or not the Galactic Empire and Rebel
Alliance have their own version of the Hague
Convention, arming a hospital ships with guns
and then flying it into an enemy fleet is
a bad look.
That’s an easy propaganda victory for the
Empire if they can prove the Rebels were taking
cover behind the sick and wounded.
Next in line are Destroyers.
The difference in both size and use between
frigates and destroyers is increasingly blurred
and some navies don’t make the distinction
at all.
In theory, Destroyers are simply a more capable
frigate, with greater armament, protection,
speed and endurance.
While originally intended as specialized vessels,
they’ve mostly evolved into multi-purpose
warships.
They’re also the largest warships you’re
likely to see in service outside of major
naval powers.
The Algos Class, in service with the Gallente
Federation would be an appropriate example
of a destroyer.
Distinct enough from the smaller frigates
used by the Federation’s Navy yet not rivalling
the size or capabilities of larger cruisers.
The same cannot be said of the Omega Class
Destroyer used by the Earth Alliance.
By our current definitions, the Omega Class
resembles more so a battleship than a destroyer,
and was even designed to replace one, so its
designation is questionable.
Were it not for the presence of cruisers and
larger ship types in the Earth Alliance fleet,
I would have guessed that the definition of
Destroyer had expanded, or it had come to
encompass a wider variety of designs, but
there is no such easy explanation.
So now we arrive at cruisers.
It should not surprise you that cruisers too
have been built to serve in a variety of roles,
but at their basic level, most are designed
to balance speed, protection, and firepower.
Specialized variants exist across different
classes and navies, but often include, air
defense, surface bombardment, and anti-ship
roles.
They were initially intended to operate in
distant territories, participate in commerce
raiding, or scouting for the main battle fleet.
Modern designs are more jack of all trades.
Where modern cruisers differ from smaller
ship types is that they usually the smallest
type of ship to include some sort of flag
facilities suitable for an admiral and his
staff.
This allows a cruiser to serve as a flagship
for a flotilla or even replace a larger carrier
as the center of a battlegroup.
The Galaxy Class, while perhaps not technically
designated a cruiser by Starfleet, is nevertheless
a great example of an interstellar cruiser.
Their blend of speed, firepower and protection
made them suitable for long range exploration
missions during peacetime, while during major
conflicts they transitioned into command ships
and were deployed in immensely powerful “Galaxy
Wings”.
Hopefully, they evacuated all the civilians
on board before then.
The UNSC’s Marathon Class would be an example
of a more traditional cruiser.
The ship is mostly balanced in its characteristics
and sometimes formed the center of smaller
battlegroups while larger fleets would include
entire Marathon groups.
Now, as we move past cruisers, things get
a bit tricky.
In our own world, cruisers tend to represent
the largest warships outside of Aircraft Carriers,
with everything larger and more powerful rendered
obsolete, by changing tactics and technology.
However, there have been times in naval history
where larger ships have been useful and necessary,
and who can promise that in an interstellar
capacity, these types of ships might not be
needed once more.
Straddling the line between cruisers and battleships,
we have the aptly named battlecruiser.
While cruisers were a balance of speed, protection
and firepower, a battlecruiser emphasizes
speed and firepower at the cost of protection.
The theory behind these warships was that
they would chase down any ship with an inferior
armament and outrun anything that outgunned
them.
Battlecruisers are glass cannons, not really
meant to take a hit, but rather dish them
out and then quickly escape if necessary.
Yet, the battlecruisers in service in interstellar
setting don’t often reflect this.
The Battlecruiser used by the Hiigaran Empire
isn’t one of the fastest ships in the fleet,
but rather one of the slowest, meant to brawl
with other capital ships instead of chasing
down weaker targets.
The Resurgence Class Star Destroyer used by
the First Order has also been designated a
Battlecruiser but doesn’t appear to operate
like one.
Ironically, the First Order’s pursuit of
the Resistance is the exact situation that
battlecruisers were designed for, hunting
down slower, older cruisers.
And yet, these ships were unable to close
the gap.
And I think the misappropriation of the battlecruiser
name has a lot to do with a type of stigma
related to the next ship type on our list,
the Battleship.
On our own world, battleships were the queens
of the sea, slow moving but immensely armoured
and unrivaled firepower.
They were to be the deciding factor in any
major fleet action and a major asset in surface
bombardment.
Ultimately however, as air power advanced,
and other technologies changed the nature
of naval warfare, battleships were rendered
obsolete.
Even when upgraded with better engines that
gave them the speed previously reserved for
battlecruisers, without the sacrifices to
armor, these “fast battleships” were just
no longer cost-effective.
I think the designation of “battleship”
has become so associated with antiquated and
obsolete technologies that nobody wants to
call their new modern ship a battleship.
Even if it has all the qualities of one, like
the Resurgence or the Higarrian Battlecruiser.
The Imperium of Man doesn’t care though,
the Retribution Class is the quintessential
battleship design.
Slow, cumbersome, but absolutely enormous
with overwhelming firepower based around plenty
of heavy guns.
The Retribution is something of an outlier
though, instead, many interstellar navies
seem to have invented or adopted new terms
to describe their super-heavy warships.
Dreadnought is the most popular of these but
I’m not entirely sure if that makes sense.
The namesake of this ship-type was the HMS
Dreadnought, a battleship with a revolutionary
design that made all others obsolete overnight.
Every battleship was thereafter known as either
pre-dreadnaught or post-dreadnaught, until
eventually every battleship in service shared
the characteristics of the HMS Dreadnaught
and there was no longer any point to distinguishing
them.
So, does it make sense for the Executor Class
Super Star Destroyers of the Galactic Empire
to be officially designated as “Star Dreadnoughts”.
Well, the term doesn’t fit perfectly, but
that’s true of any ship type, so I don’t
really have a problem with it.
I’m not sure how the Galactic Empire came
to be influenced by the Royal Navy, but that’s
a question for another time.
It makes a bit more sense when the Systems
Alliance has ships called Dreadnoughts though.
While their role within the Alliance Navy
is remarkably similar to that of a Battleship
or even Battlecruiser, I can understand not
wanting to have those terms associated with
it.
Ulike the Empire, they do exist in a universe
where the HMS Dreadnought influenced ship
names and design.
So, moving on from the battleship and the
battleship by any other name, we come to the
ship type that made them obsolete.
The carrier.
On Earth, these are the largest warships ever
to have been built, and are typically designed
to fulfill a single role, that of a seagoing
airbase.
A modern fleet carrier is not meant to attack
enemy ships directly, or even be fired upon.
Rather, it is the armament of its aircraft
that forms its striking power, and this has
become so devastating over the decades that
the role of most ships in any fleet will just
be to protect the carrier.
In an interstellar navy, you would expect
carriers to be used the same way.
They would carry a host of starfighters, but
generally not be found in the thick of the
fighting.
But building a ship for an interstellar navy
isn’t quite the same as building a ship
for a maritime navy, and it allows for some
interesting innovations.
The concept of a battleship-aircraft carrier
hybrid, or “battle carrier” has been around
for a long time but never really gained much
traction.
When you take all the ship infrastructure
needed to support batteries of heavy guns,
and all the ammunition needed to keep them
firing, and then combine that with all the
infrastructure needed to host an air wing,
hanger decks, jet fuel, a flight deck, you’d
probably end up with a giant mess.
A battleship that can’t take a hit, and
an aircraft carrier that can’t launch fighters
very efficiently.
In space though, a few of these problems have
solutions.
The first is that in space, you can make your
warship as big as you want, with as much armor
as you can slap on without worrying if the
thing is just going to sink.
And depending on the technology used by the
navy operating it, you might not even need
a full flight deck.
Your Tie Fighter, Star Fury, F-302 or whatever,
doesn’t need to worry about achieving enough
lift to make it into the air.
Which brings up a whole host of possibilities.
By their traditional definitions, of all the
ship types I’ve talked about, only the carrier
can host a dedicated air wing.
But with advanced technology, might come the
opportunity to add air-wings to battleships,
cruisers, or maybe even frigates and destroyers
without impacting their primary role.
It could be that having a squadron or two
on board a warship becomes as ubiquitous as
making a ship out of metal instead of wood,
to the point where you don’t even need a
special designation for it.
I don’t see any reason why an interstellar
fleet couldn’t have almost every warship
carry varying amounts of starfighters, and
then maybe a few dedicated, traditional carriers.
The Galactic Empire seems to at least party
agree with me.
Imperial Star Destroyers carry heavy turbolaser
batteries alongside wings of Tie Fighters.
Same with the Battlestars used by the United
Colonies of Kobol.
Even smaller ships within those two navies,
and many others, have demonstrated the ability
to carry starfighters.
Even on our own world, we’re beginning to
see these types of hybrid warships enter active
service.
Assault ships are a combination of aircraft
carrier and troopship.
While they can usually only deploy helicopters
or VTOL aircraft, and can’t carry as many
troops, tanks and supplies as a dedicated
transport, they can be especially effective
during amphibious landings and a great part
of a rapid reaction force.
Additionally, during the Cold War, the Soviet
Union followed a different type of naval doctrine
entirely which we’ll discuss in detail later
on.
Rather than building dedicated Fleet Carriers
like the United States, it built our worlds
equivalent of a star destroyer, or what they
termed a Heavy Aircraft Carrying Missile Cruiser.
Not only could it carry fixed wing aircraft,
but it also had 12 long range anti-ship missiles.
Okay, so if the idea of putting a bunch of
starfighters on every ship type might make
a bit of sense, and carrier troopship hybrids
exist in our own world, would it make sense
to stick a marine brigade or company on every
interstellar warship just in case ya need
them?
A destroyer that for example could jump into
an enemy star system, shoot at some ships
and then land its troops.
Well, I don’t think this is a great idea.
Adding fighters to ship designs make sense,
because regardless of ship type, those fighters
supplement its capabilities.
But troops and tanks don’t.
In space combat, they’re not useful at all
and just going to be sitting around.
Let’s look at the Pillar of Autumn.
When it crashed on Installation 04, it was
loaded up with a ton of marines and tanks
and all terrain vehicles, and those came in
really handy.
In that instance, it was beneficial.
But the Pillar of Autumn was a light cruiser,
if it had been performing the role for which
it had been designed, all those tanks and
troops would have just been a burden.
It was only a minor miracle 
that they were useful at all.
I don’t think it makes sense for the UNSC
to include an infantry brigade hope that when
they’re shot down they’ll find a planet
or something to land on and then continue
fighting the Covenant.
What might make sense instead is to include
giant hanger or cargo facilities on warships
that are able to carry Marine or Army units
when necessary.
They’re only used during operations that
would involve a planetary assault.
And for all I know, the marine units aboard
the Autumn we’re not a permanent garrison
aboard the ship, but maybe just being ferried
off Reach.
But the best solution in my mind is something
like the Acclamator class.
This is a troopship first and foremost.
It has enough guns to not leave it totally
defenseless, but it’s not pretending to
be a cruiser or battleship.
But some Navies ignore this idea and put everything
imaginable into one giant ship.
These have no real point of comparison in
maritime history here on Earth.
They are sometimes called, Titans, Juggernauts,
Colossus, but the general idea is that it’s
just a really big ship.
They can’t be built in large numbers, but
will always be the flagship of even the largest
battlegroup and sometimes even a type of mobile
capital.
I’m not sure I understand the point of these.
While certainly capable of destroying any
other ship in the galaxy, the idea of concentrating
so much firepower in a single ship seems inefficient.
No matter how powerful the ship, it can still
only be in once place at a time.
Which is really more useful, a single First
Order Mega-Class with I dunno, 150,000 turbolasers,
or 100 Resurgence Class with 1500 turbolasers.
And with crew compliments running into the
millions, what they’ve really built here
isn’t so much a warship, as a mobile city.
Unless it’s somehow entirely self sufficient,
you probably wouldn’t even need to destroy
it, just intercept all the food, supplies,
and whatever else it needs to operate.
The idea might make sense if it was used as
a kind of mobile fleet base and headquarters,
intended to support the rest of the fleet,
but in that case, you wouldn’t want it anywhere
near combat, and it wouldn’t need such overwhelming
firepower.
So with that, we’ve covered the basic ship
types you’re likely to see in any interstellar
navy, but we’ve barely scratched the surface
of what’s possible.
There’s still all the various transports,
and auxiliary ships, hospital ships, depot
ships, replenishment ships, ammunition ships,
amenities ships, which were just loaded up
with movie theaters and beer, and I haven’t
even touched on submarines and what their
counterpart might look like in space.
But before I move on, there’s one last type
of ship I think could make a lot of sense
in space, the Arsenal ship.
The idea behind an arsenal ship is really
simple, it doesn’t need to go very fast
or have a lot of armor, it’s only job is
to carry as many missiles as possible.
It might not even have a crew, instead being
controlled remotely by an accompanying cruiser
or even an AWACS aircraft.
In my mind, this is the perfect counter to
the giant Juggernauts so loved by the First
Order and others.
When the Supremacy shows up, it’s not met
by an enemy fleet intending to duke it out,
but just a few drone ships each packing a
few thousand proton torpedos.
For an organization like the Rebel Alliance
that can’t afford to fight a giant war of
attrition, that seems like a great solution.
Hopefully, I’ve made the point that ship
types can be nebulous and vague and the differences
between them can be subtle at times or even
non-existent.
What’s interesting to me though, is in the
way that politics can sometimes interfere
with how ship types are designated.
For example, let’s say your country lost
a major conflict, and as a result of that,
forever renounced war as a sovereign right
of the nation.
Instead, it agreed to maintain only a small
and limited Self Defense Force.
It would be hard to argue that its navy would
be allowed to have an aircraft carrier for
example.
But what if the years go by, the international
situation starts to look a little different,
and you decide you really, really, want an
aircraft carrier.
Well the solution is simple, build one but
don’t call it that.
If anyone complains, all you have to say is
“well that’s not an aircraft carrier,
you can clearly see it is a helicopter destroyer,
completely different”.
Or what if a foreign power controls an especially
important navigational route that your country
really wants to use.
And what if they’ve imposed some kind of
convention on the use of that route, say,
prohibiting the transit of warships larger
than a certain size, and locked it off to
aircraft carriers altogether.
Well the solution is easy, throw a few cruiser
missiles onto your aircraft carrier, and if
anyone complains, all you have to say is “well
that’s not an aircraft carrier, you can
clearly see it is an aircraft-carrying cruiser,
completely different.”
I find the politics surrounding how ships
are designated to be really interesting and
yet I can’t find many examples of this in
Interstellar Navies.
One I did find however was in the rearmament
of the New Republic.
When their navy began building warships comparable
in size, power and role to the Star Destroyers
used by the Galactic Empire, many in the Republic
were understandably concerned.
And Navy’s solution was actually pretty
great, all they had to say is “well that’s
not a Star Destroyer, you can clearly see
it is a Star Defender, completely different”.
I love those kind of details, so if you’re
aware of any others, let me know.
Okay, but even though ship types are kinda
nebulous, and politics can interfere with
them, that shouldn’t give interstellar navies
license to call ships anything they want.
If some navy built a battleship and called
it a corvette, there should be a really good
reason as to why.
Likewise, navies need to avoid the temptation
to just throw on a bunch of verbs or adjectives
to make things sound cooler.
On our world, the word “Assault” typically
indicates an aircraft carrier geared towards
amphibious landings.
Yet I feel like some Interstellar Navies that
shall remain nameless have taken this as evidence
you can just throw the word “Assault”
on any ship to make it sound like its better
at attacking stuff.
The same goes for terms like “strategic”,
“tactical”, “support”, “advanced”
and “command”.
Any navy with an Advanced Ultra-Heavy Tactical
Assault Dreadnought has gone too far.
Okay, enough about ship types.
Let’s talk about how they’re organized
and what doctrines they can follow.
Now the purpose of naval doctrine is to enhance
the operational effectiveness of naval forces,
it guides the actions of naval branches in
supporting national objectives.
Depending on those national objectives, those
doctrines can vary wildly.
The national objectives of the United States
and its naval policy seem the most applicable
to interstellar warfare.
The American Navy’s main purpose is that
of power projection.
It can operate huge fleets basically anywhere
in the world.
The most powerful of its Task Forces are known
as Carrier Battle Groups.
These fleets are centered around one or more
aircraft carriers and then escorted by cruisers,
destroyers, frigates, submarines etc.
The primary offensive element is not necessarily
the ships themselves, but rather the air wing
stationed aboard the carrier.
This should sound very familiar as it’s
also how most Interstellar Navies seem to
be organized and operate.
There is a core group of capital ships hosting
hundreds if not thousands of fighters, escorted
by smaller, support vessels.
They screen the capital ships from fire, allowing
the fighters to do most of the offensive action.
And this makes nothing but sense.
If your nation is spread across various planets
and star systems, having a navy with the ability
to project power across that territory is
a necessity.
The American doctrine of power projection
and fleets organized around carrier groups,
in my opinion, should be the default, standard
organizational structure of most interstellar
navies.
But there are other options, and some might
even make more sense for specific organizations.
The main counterpoint to American power projection
during the Cold War was the Soviet strategy
of area denial.
Unlike the United States, the Soviet Union
was largely self sufficient.
During wartime, it wouldn’t need to protect
trade convoys at the same scale as NATO, nor
would it need to ship tens of millions of
troops and all the associated supplies and
equipment across an ocean, their major targets
were just a tank ride away.
Because of this, enormous fleets of warships
projecting power across the globe weren’t
a huge priority for the Soviet Navy.
That’s not to say they totally abandoned
the idea, Soviet carrier groups did exist
and were deployed to ports across the world,
but there was little chance they would pose
a credible threat to their American counterparts
during wartime.
Instead, Soviet naval strategy and doctrine
was centered around a primarily defense force.
It’s ships and aircraft wouldn’t engage
enemy fleets in direct face to face attacks,
but rather lure them into range of friendly
ground based airfields and bases.
American carriers could then be attacked by
a swarm of cruise missiles launched from warships,
ground silos, and aircraft launched from both
Soviet carriers and Soviet air bases.
So could this work in an Interstellar setting?
I think so.
Imagine a nation that exists only in a single
star system or planet, or maybe in a really
well centralized cluster of stars.
If it didn’t intend to project power somewhere
far across the universe, only operating a
smaller collection of ships supported by surface
installations could make a ton of sense.
It’s mentioned that the Systems Alliance
Navy rarely engages in battles situated in
open space because either side can almost
always just retreat.
In that case, if a nation can’t compete
with the Alliance Navy directly, I think adopting
that Soviet style of interstellar warfare
is a great solution.
The final Doctrine distinct enough from the
American and Soviet approaches, is probably
that used by the Kriegsmarine in WWII.
Unable to compete directly with the British,
French or American navies, the Germans instead
found the most success in using groups of
submarines organized into wolfpacks to target
enemy supply convoys.
While the Kriegsmarine did operate larger
surface warships, these were more often than
not a drain on the overall war effort, and
not of any major consideration to the Allies.
Ironically enough, the Rebel Alliance could
learn a lot from the Kriegsmarine.
Capital ships really have no place in the
Rebellion.
They are expensive to build expensive to maintain,
and expensive to keep fully crewed.
The Rebellion is far too limited in both manpower
and resources to justify putting so much of
both into a giant target.
When the Galactic Empire is capable of always
fielding greater numbers and greater firepower,
being able to hit your targets and get the
hell out is much more important than the associated
prestige of operating a Capital Ship.
The Romulans might also take a few notes from
the Kriegsmarine.
A cloaked ship is essentially the U-Boat of
space, why engage the Dominion or Federation
directly when you can fire some torpedoes
and then literally disappear into space?
As we near the end of this mammoth look at
Interstellar Navies, we finally reach the
most important part.
What do you name your ships?
I am a sucker for clearly defined naming convention.
Not every Navy uses them, but why wouldn’t
you.
And as with most things, a lot more thought
goes into what to name a warship than you
might think.
So let’s start with the Americans.
Their naming conventions have changed a bit
over time and like everything there’s plenty
of exceptions, but traditionally it goes something
like this.
Aircraft Carriers are named for historical
events, mainly battles, or increasingly for
US Presidents.
Battleships are named for US States.
Cruisers were named for cities.
Destroyers and Frigates are named for Navy
and Marine corps heroes.
Next, the Imperial Russian Navy.
They had no carriers, but Battleships were
named after Russian Royalty, Saints, Generals,
and Battles.
Cruisers were named for Mythical figures,
Admirals, or Gemstones.
Destroyed were named after adjectives, like
Valiant.
Frigates were named after birds, or animals.
Now that Imperial Russian Navy makes for a
great example because you can see how these
conventions changed when the Soviets took
over.
The new regime was a bit more eclectic with
their naming over their history, but it ended
up looking something like this.
Aircraft Carriers were named after cities.
Battleships and battlecruisers named or revolutionary
heroes.
Cruisers were named after admirals, generals,
or cities.
Destroyers were named after adjectives.
And frigates named for animals and weather
phenomena.
Now onto the Japanese
Carriers, I’m sorry, I mean helicopter destroyers,
are named for traditional provinces and mountains.
Destroyers are named for mountains and weather
terms, like hurricane.
And frigates and named for rivers.
Now, it’s unfortunately very difficult to
find naming conventions used in Interstellar
Navies.
Most ships in the Imperial Navy of the Galactic
Empire, and the United Federation of Planet’s
Starfleet, seem to follow no protocol whatsoever.
But there are two great exceptions to this.
The UNSC fleet is the first.
It’s fleet Carriers are named for provinces
on Earth.
Its light carriers, for predatory aquatic
animals.
Battleships are named for historical wartime
leaders.
Cruisers are named after adjectives.
Destroyers are named after famous aircraft
and mythical warriors.
Frigates are named after lines from famous
poems or songs, and typically limited to just
three words.
Next we come to the second great example,
the Systems Alliance navy.
Here, dreadnoughts are named for mountains.
Cruisers named for cities.
Frigates named for battles.
And carriers named for famous scientists.
Now I don’t think there’s any wrong way
to do this, but as with everything, sometimes
politics gets in the way.
There have been stories that ships have been
named for people or ideas favored by the current
government administration and maybe showing
a little bias.
There’s also been a few cases where Naval
ships have been named for people in different
branch, which can sometimes piss off both,
or for people who were vocal in their dislike
of the navy.
You have to wonder what Albert Eintstein,
a lifelong pacifist, would feel about a fleet
carrier being named for him by the Systems
Alliance.
Sometimes ships are named before they’ve
even been built or approved, as a way to shore
up support.
I don’t know if any examples of this exist
within Interstellar Navies, but I get the
sense it might be a lot easier in the Galactic
Empire to win support for your new ship class
if you name it after Palpatine or somebody
important.
But that’s where I differ from the Galactic
Empire.
In my opinion, Capital ships, aircraft carriers,
the most prestigious warships in the fleet,
shouldn’t be named for people.
I think it’s almost an act of vanity, to
name something that requires the skill of
thousands of sailors to operate, after a single
person.
But that’s really my only thought on the
subject, aside from that, anything goes.
Oh, except never give a ship a name that might
be seen as a challenge to the sea, or space,
that’s bad luck.
Ship naming conventions might seem less important
in the grand scheme of things, and I won’t
argue against that.
But pride in one’s ship and fleet can be
an important part in maintaining the morale
of any navy.
In 1988, the USS Samuel B. Roberts, an American
frigate, hit a mine in the Persian Gulf.
In one of the ship’s passageways, was a
Plaque dedicated to the ship’s namesake,
a destroyer that fought bravely and was sunk
during the Battle off Samar in 1944, that
was itself named for Samuel Booker Roberts,
Jr, a US Navy sailor killed a year earlier
in the Guadalcanal campaign.
It is said that in 1988, even as sailors raced
to save their vessel, any who raced by that
plaque would touch it to honor the memory
and legacy of their ship.
A ship's name should give embattared crews
that level of inspiration.
So, that I hope, covers the basics on how
to build your Interstellar Navy.
If you are an up and coming despot looking
to take over a slice of the galaxy, or an
established lord of the admiralty brushing
up on the basics, I hope you found it useful.
And if you did, name a ship after me, one
of the smaller ones.
And even though I am this generation's Alfred
Thayer Mahan and all my opinions and explanations
are flawless, and certain to influence interstellar
naval doctrine for the next few centuries,
I’d like to hear your thoughts.
Is there a type of ship that you think might
transition to use in an interstellar navy
differently from how I described it?
Should the Rebel Alliance have embraced capital
ships simply because they look cool?
And was the Mega Class Star Destroyer just
a giant waste of material?
Let me know in the comments below, and until
next time, this has been incoming.
