cthia wrote:The SLs industrial might was not hurt. They have been doing this a long time. Most of the League's naval industry is located in his back yard within the Core. No navy needlessly spreads their military industry too wide. Beowulf was a special case whose junction places her essentially within the radius of the Core. Heck, she was cheating and smuggling tech out the back door of the business for years. She wasn't any real industrial use to the League anyway.
I agree the shipbuilding systems aren't spread far and wide. They are somewhat spread, probably the most of any Navy, but not pulverised all over.
Which is all the more reason one or two of those seceding from the League does cause them a significant loss of capabilities. We don't know if Beowulf was one of those, I doubt it. But we do know Sol most likely was, so there goes at least 15% of your military shipbuilding resources.
How many shipbuilding systems have been closed down in the League since the height of its war machine? How many bases have been closed that can now be restarted? Do recall how easily the US repurposed factories for the war effort. In the HV it should be melted down to a science. And there is no shortage of warm bodies in the SL.
Important keywords here are "height" and "war effort." Starting with the latter: the SL is no longer at war and the new constitution will actually empower politicians. How will they justify war-time shipbuilding effort? And how will they justify War-Powers Act conversion of civilian industries? My answer: they won't.
As for the height... how long ago was that? Is it possible that happened before the SD era? The first Manty SD was built in 1750; the SLN probably preceded that by decades, so let's say the SDs started rolling out at the turn of the 18th century. We know that the SLN hadn't fought a war at all in this period, so the entire SD-building period was done at peace. They did build 10000 SDs in that period of about 250 years, so a mighty 40 / year, though that distribution had a bulge in the middle.
The only thing the League needs is one hell of a Project Manager/Director. Kingsford should fit that bill perfectly to rebuild the League. In the meantime, nobody in the GA or the galaxy is coming across the hyper wall.
Not Kingsford, he's the Commander in Chief and a politician. But he can appoint someone.
And he well should. Regardless of whether the industrial might can be there or not, he does need to rebuild his entirely obsolete Navy right now before some adventurous warlord gets improved tech.