Imperial Navy History

The Navy has grown enormously since the decline of the Old Republic, but its mission has largely stayed the same: to free the system space of member worlds from hazards to profitable commerce, to assure the safety of member worlds from attack by outside forces, and to bolster the planetary governments in times of crisis. This last mission has grown more difficult since the rise of the New Order.

Under the Republic, the Navy could move and put down unrest in a system, secure in the knowledge that the majority of the governed species welcomed their intervention. The New Order has changed the attitudes on many of the constituent worlds. While the vastly increased firepower available to the Navy has so far been more than adequate to compensate for any increase in hostilities, the willingness of member worlds to resist the New Order is expected to be a greater problem in the future.

Planetary governments had the right to call upon the Navy of the Old Republic in emergencies. They would simultaneously petition the Senate if the forces were to be engaged for more than seven standard days (most actions could be concluded within that time). The only lengthy campaigns were against the pirates located on the fringe worlds, and these were the concerted efforts of several hundred worlds who at one time or another had found themselves prey for pirates.

Since the disbanding of the Senate, the Navy is no longer required to respond to the requests from planetary governments, including the planetary governors appointed by the Empire. Under the new doctrine, individual planets are too insignificant to allow them direct control over an asset as important as the Imperial Navy, even for short periods of time.

Civilian orders are now transmitted at the level of the Sector Group, from regional Moffs, Grand Moffs, or the Emperor himself. Smaller units are to receive their orders directly from officers in the proper chain of command. This is a definite change from the Republican Navy, when Senators or other politically powerful beings could directly commandeer naval vessels -- sometimes entire squadrons -- for missions without having the order come down through the chain of command.

This change has greatly boosted the morale of naval personnel. The officers now know that the strategy is being set at a level of authority which is best suited for seeing the whole picture. Naval commanders have the authority and responsibility to execute their orders in the best manner possible, and they know they shall be free from political interference while doing so.

The Navy has responded to its rapid growth by changing its command structure, introducing intermediate levels of command which did not exist in the Republican Navy. Most of the junior level officers were promoted to these intermediate levels, while the senior officers kept their ranks but had the scope of their command enlarged. An admiral in the Imperial Navy commands forces over 10 times as great as an admiral did during the Old Republic.

The Imperial Navy Order of Battle

The ship is the building block of Navy organization, much as the squad is for the Army. The problems each branch has in organizing these building blocks is quite different. The Army has millions upon tens of millions of squads, and its chief difficulty is in organizing these parts into an effective whole. The Navy has far fewer ships than the Army has squads, but the difference between ships is enormous. There is a greater difference in overall effectiveness between a Star Cruiser and a system patrol craft than there is between a squad and a regiment.

Organize 300 squads with a command and a support element and you have a regiment. Organize 300 system patrol craft and you still do not have the equal of a Star Cruiser. In some instances the 300 system patrol craft might be better than a single Star Cruiser. Usually they would not be.

Compounding the problem is the plethora of ship types, the variations by model within a single type, and the customization or modifications of individual ships throughout a standard year. Again in comparison, a squad is composed largely of young adults who have been trained so as to become more uniform, while a naval squadron may be composed of ships two years, 60 years, and 210 years old.

The key organizational problem for the Navy then is to create units which are consistent enough from fleet to fleet that general tactical theories can be applied, while recognizing the great difference in ship type and quality throughout the New Republic.

Line

Commanded by a captain of the line, the line is the most amorphous level of organization in the Navy. In theory a line should have four ships, but the percentage of lines which actually have four ships is about seven percent. Lines vary from as few as one ship to 20 or even more if circumstances warrant.

An attack line has from three to six ships; fewer ships if the line consists of heavy cruisers or larger ships, six if the line consists of light cruisers or frigates. An attack line's purpose is to engage enemy combat starships of equivalent size. If Star Destroyers or other top capital ships are present, the attack line is to engage the enemy within range of the Star Destroyer, making sure that the Star Destroyer is out of effective range of the enemy ships. If a Star Destroyer does not have to concentrate on its own defense it can make short work of virtually any enemy starship.

A heavy attack line has from four to eight ships, none smaller than a light cruiser. A heavy attack line is designed to come out even against any like number of enemy combat starships. The heavy attack line is an independent element of maneuver, one which an Imperial commander would be unafraid to commit to a conflict which was out of range of his sensors.

A pursuit line has four to 10 ships, usually light cruisers or occasionally lighter ships such as corvettes. Their mission is to maintain contact with a retreating enemy. As virtually every combat starship has hyperdrive, pursuit lines are most often employed against starfighters which are not hyperspace capable, or to follow escaping craft long enough to calculate their jump coordinates.

Pursuit lines are also commonly used on missions which the crews call "beambaiting." Pursuit lines track Rebel starships to a base or a planet known to house well-organized Rebel sympathizers. They engage the starships and see if any Rebel units come to their aid. Then they employ a fighting retreat to a point where a heavier element of the fleet can jump in from hyperspace. The Empire enhances this tactic by sending pursuit lines on such missions without any backup, so the Rebels can never be sure whether or not the line is part of a trap.

Recon lines contain two to four ships, operating in pairs or individually. Reconnaissance ships are usually light cruisers modified for even greater sublight speed, trading in about half of their laser cannons for a full complement of sensors with greater range and sensitivity than the Imperial average. Recon lines are to find the enemy, retreat without engaging in combat, and return to report on the disposition of the enemy.

Recon lines are more common now as the Empire equips more of its large capital ships with improved hyperwave signal interceptors (HSls) capable of detecting flux shift. This technology allows the Imperial Navy to actually project a ship's destination once it jumps to hyperspace with greater accuracy than the old method. Enemy ships can no longer just jump out of trouble; the odds that the fleet will follow are getting better. So enemy ships often try to lie quietly in the sensor penumbra of an asteroid or similar body in order to avoid detection. Recon lines are sent into the dark places of a system to see what they can find.

Skirmish lines contain four to 20 small combat starships, corvettes being the most common sort of ship. Skirmish lines are meant to harass larger starships or else engage in a coordinated action against enemy starfighters. The emergence and prevalence of TIE fighters temporarily diminished the role of skirmish lines, but they have regained favor as the Rebellion has become better armed. TIE fighters often use available skirmish lines as mobile cover, and skirmish lines try to provide cover fire for the TIEs.

Torpedo lines usually have two torpedo spheres. The cumbersome nature of the spheres makes them useful only for their primary mission of planet bombardment. The dream of a more mobile platform with even greater fire-power has tantalized Imperial planners for years, but the torpedo line remains a staple of the Navy.

A troop line consists of two Evakmar-KDY transport vessels and two escort vessels - frequently two strike cruisers. As a troop line's function is intimately connected with that of the Army, troops lines vary less than other lines. The Army considers consistency a virtue. A single transport is designed to carry a corps, but often carries less than a full corps as subordinate elements are assigned to other vessels. It is not unusual for a ranking admiral to oversee an important surface operation, as captains of the line are accused by Army officers of being far too concerned with just the safety of their line rather than with the success of the mission. There are other types of transports, most of them left over from the days of the Old Republic. Some, such as the Delta-class troop transport, have been converted from true transports to glorified attack shuttles, but many remain in service as intersystem transports as the Army grows.

A Star Destroyer is considered a line in itself. A naval staff study concluded that a Star Destroyer was the equivalent of at least the squadrons of the time, and would be more properly categorized as such. The Admiralty agreed with the analysis, but disagreed with the conclusion. The Admiralty felt that as there were more lines than squadrons, designating the Star Destroyer as a line unit would get them more Star Destroyers. The Admiralty's thinking prevailed.

Squadron

An admiral runs a squadron, which has from 14 to 60 ships on average, depending upon the composition of the lines in the squadron. The admiral is served by an adjutant who holds the rank of captain of the line. The adjutant acts as liaison with the other staff officers and is the admiral's second-in-command. A squadron is the largest concentration of ships which is normally assigned to a single system. A direct order from a Moff, Grand Moff or the Emperor is necessary to gather more ships in a single system.

A measure of the extent of Imperial military growth is the squadron. Under the Old Republic, units of identical configuration were called fleets, and were sometimes the total Naval presence in a sector. The usage "fleet" is still common among senior officers for ship groups of squadron size and up. Recent recruits and junior officers are more likely to use the terms listed in the OB.

A full troop or battle squadron packs enough firepower to subjugate any system not protected by a equivalent fleet; no ground defense yet devised is sufficient to hold off a determined attack from these elements of the Navy.

The average sizes below assume the average size for the lines which make up the squadron. Larger than normal lines or more lines than normal can easily double the size of a squadron.

Light squadrons consist of at least two attack lines, a skirmish line and a recon line, averaging 20 to 30 vessels of all types. A second common configuration of a light squadron is two recon lines, a skirmish line and a pursuit line, averaging 25 to 35 vessels. Both are deployed in areas where it is believed there are no enemy capital ships. With the first squadron configuration the Navy is playing it safe; such a light squadron can survive more punishment should the intelligence estimates prove to be wrong.

Heavy squadrons are made up of at least two heavy lines, an attack line, and a recon line for an average of 18 to 24 ships. Alternate configurations include at least three heavy lines and a skirmish line for an average of 28 to 36 ships. The first type of heavy squadron is employed when the enemy is known to be in a system, but his exact location and force composition is unknown. The second is employed when enemy ships are in a system defending an asset, so a fight is expected rather than Rebel flight. It is common to assign Victory-class Star Destroyers to the latter type of heavy squadron.

Battle squadrons contain an Imperial-class Star Destroyer. There are other ships, but they matter little in the configuration. In addition to the Star Destroyer there are at least three lines, two attack and one pursuit line, for an average of 18 ships. If there is some system in the Empire that must be repressed, some force which must be run down, a battle squadron is the force of choice. Sending a battle squadron on a mission is the Navy's way of showing that the job is of utmost importance.

Troop squadrons have two troop lines, an attack line, and a skirmish line for an average of 25 to 30 vessels. A troop squadron is most often used as a transfer point for Army units, reinforcing or reorganizing the Army complement of other squadrons. These transfers are usually conducted in deep space where there is little chance of interference. If a troop squadron shows up within a system, there is certainly something big happening.

Bombard squadrons have two torpedo lines, a skirmish line, and a pursuit line, for an average of 20 to 28 vessels. Bombard squadrons are assigned to worlds which have rebelled successfully and have organized a large surface military which would take far too long to defeat. Imperial commanders, pressed on so many planets, often deploy bombard squadrons in less severe circumstances.

The vessels which escort the bombard squadron are considered sufficient to deal with any starships which might resist. Any force larger than what a bombard squadron can handle would draw the attention of the Imperial Navy, who would deal with it prior to the appearance of the bombard squadron.

Systems Force

A systems force is commanded by a systems admiral, also known as a commodore. A systems force is responsible for several systems, the admiral being in charge of organizing and coordinating all of his ships throughout a sphere of command spanning hundreds of light years and dozens of worlds, the normal method of communications being no faster than the ships themselves. It requires extensive planning and preparation. It often goes wrong.

It is a tribute to the staff officers that things do not go wrong more often. The commodore is left to manage by exception, to handle those situations which have gone wrong or which have the greatest potential for going wrong.

A systems force is organized along force pools, available resources categorized by general mission type. While they have a set organization on the OB, a commodore is expected to reform the constituent elements of a pool to tailor the detail to the mission.

Force superiority contains ships expected to perform space superiority missions, which the Navy still considers to be its primary objective. Space superiority is defined as "the complete absence of hostile craft within the orbital space of controlled worlds, and no chronic enemy ship activity within the entire system." The Navy has striven for that goal ever since the inception of the Empire. The goal is even farther away now than it was at the beginning, but the gigantic increase in Naval resources is expected to reverse the trend. Force superiority, at a minimum, has three battle squadrons and a full-strength light squadron, with total ship strength around 90 (three of which are Imperial Star Destroyers). A commodore will make some attempt to use force superiority in squadron increments as these missions assume stiff resistance or urgent importance.

Force escort always has at least two heavy squadrons and two light squadrons, for an average of 108 ships. Force escort has the job of protecting commercially valuable orbital spaces or installations, as well as tracking down pirates or small bands of renegades. The Navy considers force escort to be a malleable organization, and the admiral and his staff create mission details which fit the known mission as precisely as possible. Force superiority is given the maxim "always send enough." Force escort is given the maxim "never send too much."

Transport force contains two troop squadrons, a heavy and a light squadron, for an average of 80 ships. Troops and ships are assigned to mission details as needed, the troop squadrons being used as a command center for coordinating ongoing surface operations.

System bombard contains an average of 100 ships divided between three bombard squadrons and a light squadron. If an admiral feels that force superiority has done less than a thorough job of removing hostile craft from the system, a system bombard squadron will be augmented with ships from the light squadron. The new unit will still be called a bombard squadron to avoid the need to consult with a Moff or higher authority. Such actions are not approved of when they are discovered.

Force technical services (FTS) contains technical and mechanical specialists who are organized by single ships. FTS has eight vessels (often Evakmar-KDY transports) devoted to getting the techs where they are needed the most. Two escort frigates accompany each FTS ship. While Naval vessels have a large number of competent specialists aboard, these are trained and equipped to maintain existing ships' systems. If a system needs to be completely replaced, or a significant modification needs to be done, FT'S is called in.

FT'S cannot repair hulks which are dead in space, but they are equipped with tractor beams to return such vessels to deepdocks where they can be repaired. If the techs believe the vessel to be a complete wreck, FTS has salvaging equipment on most vessels.

Each force support has over 100 vessels of all sizes, and maintains depots on a handful of worlds. Munitions, consumables, spare parts and equipment for FT'S, medical ships, and droid services are all handled by force support. Unlike FT'S, force support has no escort vessels dedicated to it. If the vessel is traveling into a combat zone it is given an escort, otherwise it usually must go it alone. As the Rebels have gotten bolder, the Navy has gone to elaborate rancor-and-sath games in which force support vessels are the bait.

Fleet

A fleet is designated as a "sector resource," which means it should be available for action anywhere within the sector. A fleet is the smallest unit transferred between sectors. All fleets have a force technical service and force support under their command.

Superiority fleets comprise as least four system forces, two force superiority and two force escort. With six Star Destroyers and an average of 390 other combat starships, a superiority fleet is presumed to be a sufficient force to maintain space superiority in calm sectors (those with four or fewer worlds confirmed hostile to the New Order, with no more than 16 additional worlds with confirmed significant hostile elements).

Assault fleets comprise at least two transport forces and two force escorts, an average of 376 ships. Assault fleets are built to sustain what is called the "1/4/16/64 Plan." The fleet is expected to be coordinating and sustaining four types of efforts: one corps-level continuous mission on a surface, four continuous operations at the battlegroup level (occasionally shifting troops from other theaters to temporarily reinforce one mission to corps level), 16 continuous missions of regimental level (with potential for shifting troops to temporarily reinforce one area to a battlegroup), and 64 missions of irregular duration at the battalion level or lower. The ability to sustain these missions is predicated upon absolute space superiority. If superiority is contested in many systems within the sector, the number of missions for which an assault fleet is responsible is reduced in direct proportion to the percentage of contested systems.

Bombard fleets contain an average of 416 ships, allocated between two system bombards and two force escorts. Bombard fleets are assigned to sectors where the Empire has determined the probability of repressing the Rebellion in the sector to be less than even. System bombards are used when the Empire would rather completely destroy a world rather than see it fall into Rebel hands.

Deepdock fleet has a average of 280 support vessels, plus a force escort to protect the deepdock assets. Deepdock contains two deepdock complexes, the engineering corps, plus two force technical services.

Deepdock complexes are huge structures, and the ones planned are becoming larger all the time. Deepdocks are floating shipyards, able to make extensive repairs and modifications. When not repairing vessels they are building new ones to join the fleet. The smallest deepdock complex still in service has three work bays, the largest of which can hold a Victory Star Destroyer with the other two able to accommodate any ship smaller than a carrier. Such deepdocks have huge tractor beam generators which put up to eight damaged ships on hold while waiting for a work bay to open.

The largest deepdock now in operation is the Rendili R/M Facility Number Four, currently in the Mahrusha sector. It has 125 work bays, each of which is large enough to hold a strike cruiser. These work bays are modular, each segment joined to the other by attraction-variable Akinetic fields produced by Voorson generators larger than the drives on most combat starships.

This allows the work bays to be combined to form larger work bays; four work bays can be joined to repair or manufacture a Victory-class Star Destroyer, 15 can be combined to work on an Imperial Star Destroyer, and 18 can be reconfigured to produce a torpedo sphere. Work bays are being added as quickly as Rendili can manufacture them.

Deepdock facilities, while not as efficient as the shipyards of the major starship manufacturers, have the advantage of being hyperspace capable. This not only shortens the time required to get damaged combat starships repaired, but makes deepdocks more difficult targets for Rebel attacks.

Engineering corps is the research and development arm of the fleet, as well as the branch containing the most esoteric technical specialists. Engineering works on construction projects involving unproven technology, develops and refines new manufacturing processes (such as deepdocks), and works feverishly to keep Imperial starship technology on par with or ahead of that of the Rebellion.

Support fleet has at least 500 vessels, a quarter of which are corvette class or smaller, while a quarter of them are the huge Loronar FSCVs (Field Secured Container Vessels). FSCVs always travel is pairs, their main ion engines faced in opposite directions. On the side opposite the ion engines are gargantuan Prexton doublefield generators; these create force fields which are then surrounded by a hyperspace field when the ships make the jump to lightspeed. Each force field sphere is about 800 meters in diameter for over 250 million cubic meters of cargo space. Cargo containers are held in place by the force fields. The force fields may be bubblechained if enough power is available, and 20 or more field spheres are not uncommon.

As the vast majority of an FSCV's power is going through the Frexton, it is no surprise that the ion engines are underpowered. FSCVs at full throttle can take 35 hours and over 600,000,000 kilometers to come to a stop from normal sublight speed, and a like time to accelerate the ships again. FSCVs are therefore flown on paths tangent to the orbits of planets whose depots are being resupplied. Smaller ships unload and reload the cargo as the FSCV flies by, never losing more than a third of their sublight velocity.

Fleet ordnance is responsible for equipping all Navy and Army units with needed weapons and ammunition. Ordnance will use a ship as dangerously insecure as the FSCV only if a huge operation has been ordered suddenly by High Command, not giving ordnance sufficient time to resupply ships and depots. Ordnance usually conducts resupply operations by using available cargo space on more secure vessels, and has priority of the use of such space.

Biological section does medical research for the Navy and Army. Maintaining a presence on tens of thousands of different ecosystems exposes troops and crews to millions of microbes to which their bodies are not accustomed. Biological tries to assess the danger, prevent the transmission, cure or remedy the symptoms of all of these. In addition they experiment with new methods of wound treatment and rehabilitation. They are directly responsible for the health of stormtrooper units.

Every starship in the fleet has navigational computers which plot coordinates for a safe jump to lightspeed. Astrogation's job is to coordinate these jumps in as advantageous a way as possible, plotting arrival times in myriad systems for strategic advantage, and even plotting the arrival of mission details for tactical advantage. Astrogation does as close to a flawless job as possible with fleets so large.

Sector Group

A Sector Group is the sum total of Naval strength which the Empire expects to commit to a normal sector. A Sector Group is commanded by a high admiral, usually a title granted to the Moff who heads the sector. If the sector is involved in constant and severe naval actions, the high admiral is a man distinct from the Moff, so the Moff does not have devote all of his time to the naval conflict.

A Sector Group HQ always has a squadron under the personal command of the Moff. If the Moff is particularly competent or politically well connected, they can have many more squadrons at their disposal. Men such as Grand Moff Tarkin and Moff Carlinson could easily have 15 additional squadrons attached to their Sector Group HQ.

A Sector Group can be expected to contain at least 2,400 ships, 24 of which are Star Destroyers, and another 1,600 combat starships. Thousands of Sector Groups are at the Emperor's command as he seeks to bring the galaxy firmly under his control.

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