Grand Alliance Fleets

A thread about Scotty got me thinking (weird tangent, I know).. What will the Grand Alliance fleets be called? I mean, currently you nominally have '3' (4, with Beowulf) 'Home Fleets', 2nd fleet, 8th fleet, 10th fleet, etc...

Personally, I could potentially see the GA settling on a naming convention so as to avoid any possible confusion.

Each fleet would be named after its HQ system, with the main attack force (under Harrington) would simply be called the Grand Fleet.

Bolthole Fleet
Haven Fleet
Manticore Fleet
Sidemore Fleet
Grayson Fleet
Lynx Fleet
Spindle Fleet
Beowulf Fleet
Protector's Own

Thoughts?

Erls wrote:A thread about Scotty got me thinking (weird tangent, I know).. What will the Grand Alliance fleets be called? I mean, currently you nominally have '3' (4, with Beowulf) 'Home Fleets', 2nd fleet, 8th fleet, 10th fleet, etc...

Personally, I could potentially see the GA settling on a naming convention so as to avoid any possible confusion.

Each fleet would be named after its HQ system, with the main attack force (under Harrington) would simply be called the Grand Fleet.

Bolthole Fleet
Haven Fleet
Manticore Fleet
Sidemore Fleet
Grayson Fleet
Lynx Fleet
Spindle Fleet
Beowulf Fleet
Protector's Own

Thoughts?

Could do, but probably not likely based on Military Traditions. The Army of Northern Virginia didn't fold into the Confederate Army, etc.; current US wise, we've always got the Big Red 1 plus the designated 82nd and 101st as elite Airborne. Recently they gave the Rangers back an older unit number to reestablish continuity with their history as well.

Honorverse wise, Eighth Fleet has battle honors earned in Buttercup, Cutworm, etc. as well as the Battle of Manticore, etc. as does Manticore's 10th Fleet at Spindle, Meyers, and likely Mesa, etc. Manticore's Home Fleet deserves it's well earned battle honors as well.

Haven's "main" fleet is Capitol Fleet, 12th Fleet (Haven) has won battle honors, although the destruction of much of that fleet at the hands of 8th Fleet messes with that some. 2nd Fleet (Tourville's) has battle honors from the B of M though they ultimately had to surrender, but are well redeemed by their reconstitution and assist at Filereta's Folly.

Thoughts?

I'm not sure Beowulf called their fleet 'home fleet', and Sharks right Haven called it Capitol Fleet. So only two Home Fleets (Manty/Grayson)


2nd
3rd
8th
10th
12th
Protector's Own

Definitely all fleet names that earned their spurs, 3rd fleet needs to be built back up, assuming it wasn't already.

Eighth fleet will likely be maintained as the "precision" fleet where total numbers aren't really necessary. Emphasis on the podnoughts chock full of Apollo birds, tasked whenever large numbers of hostiles are expected and you want to ensure you mission kill what you shoot at.

Second, Tenth and Twelfth fleets to be large mixed fleets, less emphasis on the podnoughts, more on CLAC's and battlecruisers with large screens. Good for shaking a unit off to handle any Verge and shell planet that calls for manticoran fleet units.

Third fleet might get re-tasked to "guard" Talbott, rather than Trevor's Star, which covers what Michelle Henke left 'unguarded', if you discount the local system LAC wings. Probably no more than a squadron or two of waller, possibly older variants like pre-podnoughts still in commission. Then battlecruisers, and Sag-C's.


And thinking about it, what was the fleet designator for the local Silesian fleet? That probably won't change at all.


And Protector's Own would basically become a roving 'reserve' that gets used before slicing units off the various Home & Capitol Fleets.

I am not quite sure what the Grand Alliance will name or call their many fleets; my only fear is that they will wait too long to call them off from trying to take out the Sollie league.

Perhaps what might be more important, (and maybe not either) is what the Sollies will call their own fleets? New construction. Procured or stolen plans. There own version of whatever is needed.

A very rough parallel would be the early success of the WW2 Japanese Imperial Navy in the Western Pacific. Second largest navy in the world. Worlds largest hi teck avaition carrier navy.

They lasted less than 4 years. In 3 years it was all over. The USA, (and others kinda) simply outbuilt the Japanese 25 to 1. Parallels to the Sollie league and the GA? About the same?

I for one only give the GA a short period of time before the Sollies overwhelm them. Yep. Just me. Quantity has a quality of its own. Over 2000 HEAVILY DEVELOPED WORLDS! Do the math.

Naming all the various potential GA fleets might make a policy and planner feel good, but just me here, I would be more concerned about trying to wage PEACE with the Sollies while one can!

Reason why? All the Sollie Battle and Frontier Fleets need to do is split up into small task forces /groups /squadrons and conduct many nasty kinetic strike missions against the GA. Very cruel.

It may not even be legal but who gives a rats bottom. You fight to win. Give the Sollies a little time for new stuff, then nose to nose it will be all over for the GA. Short term, fight nasty.

Long term, overwhelm and destroy the GA fleet. Make the GA go on the defensive, spread them out, then go for local superiority. We should be naming the future Sollie fleets. All 100 of them!

Just me. I love this forum. Respectfully. HB of CJ (oldest coot) Post Captain.

Edited and added by HB. Again I have hijacked a valid post. Not appropriate. My apologies. No spell check.

HB of CJ wrote:I am not quite sure what the Grand Alliance will name or call their many fleets; my only fear is that they will wait too long to call them off from trying to take out the Sollie league.

Perhaps what might be more important, (and maybe not either) is what the Sollies will call their own fleets? New construction. Procured or stolen plans. There own version of whatever is needed.

A very rough parallel would be the early success of the WW2 Japanese Imperial Navy in the Western Pacific. Second largest navy in the world. Worlds largest hi teck avaition carrier navy.

They lasted less than 4 years. In 3 years it was all over. The USA, (and others kinda) simply outbuilt the Japanese 25 to 1. Parallels to the Sollie league and the GA? About the same?

I for one only give the GA a short period of time before the Sollies overwhelm them. Yep. Just me. Quantity has a quality of its own. Over 2000 HEAVILY DEVELOPED WORLDS! Do the math.

Naming all the various potential GA fleets might make a policy and planner feel good, but just me here, I would be more concerned about trying to wage PEACE with the Sollies while one can!

Reason why? All the Sollie Battle and Frontier Fleets need to do is split up into small task forces /groups /squadrons and conduct many nasty kinetic strike missions against the GA. Very cruel.

It may not even be legal but who gives a rats bottom. You fight to win. Give the Sollies a little time for new stuff, then nose to nose it will be all over for the GA. Short term, fight nasty.

Long term, overwhelm and destroy the GA fleet. Make the GA go on the defensive, spread them out, then go for local superiority. We should be naming the future Sollie fleets. All 100 of them!

Just me. I love this forum. Respectfully. HB of CJ (oldest coot) Post Captain.

Ok A: The Solarian League needs the tech to be able to hur or numbers are meaningless and barring a miracle they will not be getting that tech anytime soon. B: The GA knows it needs to go on the offensive and that delaying their offensive will only help the League. C: It will take the League a long time to build a new fleet even if it magically gets blueprints for all the GA's hardware the day after Shadow of Freedom ends.

HB of CJ wrote:I am not quite sure what the Grand Alliance will name or call their many fleets; my only fear is that they will wait too long to call them off from trying to take out the Sollie league.

Perhaps what might be more important, (and maybe not either) is what the Sollies will call their own fleets? New construction. Procured or stolen plans. There own version of whatever is needed.

A very rough parallel would be the early success of the WW2 Japanese Imperial Navy in the Western Pacific. Second largest navy in the world. Worlds largest hi teck avaition carrier navy.

They lasted less than 4 years. In 3 years it was all over. The USA, (and others kinda) simply outbuilt the Japanese 25 to 1. Parallels to the Sollie league and the GA? About the same?

I for one only give the GA a short period of time before the Sollies overwhelm them. Yep. Just me. Quantity has a quality of its own. Over 2000 HEAVILY DEVELOPED WORLDS! Do the math.

Naming all the various potential GA fleets might make a policy and planner feel good, but just me here, I would be more concerned about trying to wage PEACE with the Sollies while one can!

Reason why? All the Sollie Battle and Frontier Fleets need to do is split up into small task forces /groups /squadrons and conduct many nasty kinetic strike missions against the GA. Very cruel.

It may not even be legal but who gives a rats bottom. You fight to win. Give the Sollies a little time for new stuff, then nose to nose it will be all over for the GA. Short term, fight nasty.

Long term, overwhelm and destroy the GA fleet. Make the GA go on the defensive, spread them out, then go for local superiority. We should be naming the future Sollie fleets. All 100 of them!

Just me. I love this forum. Respectfully. HB of CJ (oldest coot) Post Captain.

Well, ok on your numbers... but have you been watching the story arc? No way is the League going to hold together long enough for it to work out your way.

Don

I kinda hijacked the thread. The topic was GA fleet names and I got carried away in a different direction. I am sorry. But ... to answer your question, consider how Kernal Custer felt at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 in the USA.

Yikes! "Look at all of those #%&!!XX Indians". Only a few percent of the engines had firearms. It did not matter. We walked the battlefield over a 3 day period. A horrible place to die. Tactically the Indians overhelmed the soldiers. My misguided point is that the Sollies can and will overwhelm the GA.

Yikes again! HB My speel check with Lenix Mint 17 Firefox Mozilla does not work with this excellent forum. I can not spelll. The house cleaner hid the useless dictionary which I can not read anyhow because the font is too darn small. Slight TIA a while back. Bear with this Old Coot.

I told you they would promote anybody. POST CAPTAIN!

My reply was kinda in the direction Old Coot was going. First, you aren't the only one who thinks the Sollies may give the GA a run for their money. Don't forget all the SDFs and the fact that they were paying attention to the Haven quadrant.

But to put this back on track. Why should the GA rename anything. The Solarian League is so big and the space to search for the MAlign is even bigger, so are you going to combine fleets? I think they will run off on their own and only coordinate for bigger events. Keeps the chains of command simpler and they have soo much to do anyways.

Manticore and Grayson have both had their own Home Fleets for a while now without any difficulties(unless the long unmentioned RMN Second Fleet is where the Grayson Home Fleet sits in the Manticoran Alliance organisation).

Manticore has named formations after the locations they were assigned to in the past. Task Group Hancock-001 for instance.

How the GA will name its forces will depend on how they organise it. The RMN in particular has long experience telling it to keep its squadrons as homogenous as possible - but the combined political will of Elizabeth and Eloise seems to be pushing for a high degree of integration.

I doubt that's going to result in Mars-Ds running alongside Sag-Cs or Warlords joining RMN battlecruiser squadrons. More likely they'll try to keep squadrons together but use mixed task groups and task forces - at least, until and unless they all start using similar/identical future ship designs.

Somtaaw wrote:Third fleet might get re-tasked to "guard" Talbott, rather than Trevor's Star, which covers what Michelle Henke left 'unguarded', if you discount the local system LAC wings. Probably no more than a squadron or two of waller, possibly older variants like pre-podnoughts still in commission. Then battlecruisers, and Sag-C's.

In that spirit, Third Fleet could be a permanent formation tasked with guarding the far end of the most threatened terminus at a time, as a reserve for Home Fleet, and as a reserve for whatever fleet operates from that terminus system or at least out that way.

And thinking about it, what was the fleet designator for the local Silesian fleet? That probably won't change at all.

Ninth Fleet, and right.

To the original point: I'd dearly love GA fleets to have some different naming scheme for the sake of variety and clarity, but judging from Starfire and Honorverse history, numbered fleets - specifically, ordinal numbers, not far from one - are some sort of natural law for RFC. The Gorm, bless them, managed an alternative, but that may be it.