Planetary Navy

Every member world of the Imperium is entitled to maintain its own naval forces for the defense and security of the world's home system. These forces can be largely divided into two broad categories: non-Jump capable System Squadrons, or "Blue-sky fleets" in naval parlance, whose primary mission is the local defense of the star system of the mainworld, and jump-capable Starfaring Navies, often referred to in naval parlance as "Black-sky fleets". Not all worlds choose to (or are able to) maintain a Starfaring Navy of their own, but most have some form of local system defense in the form of a System Squadron.

Description (Specifications)[edit]

"An interstellar community operates under many unique restrictions, most notably the fact that it consist of many island-planets set in an ocean of vacuum. Such a society must take control of that ocean. Its instrument is the Navy.

The Imperium is a remote, centralized government possessed of great industrial and technological might; but due to the sheer distances and travel times involved within its star-spanning realm, the Imperium is unable to be everywhere at once. As a result, the Imperium allows a large degree of autonomy to its subject worlds, calling only for some respect for its overall policies, and for a united front against outside pressures.

To monitor the space lanes, the Imperium maintains a Navy. Because these forces can never be everywhere at once, local provinces (subsectors) also maintain navies, as do individual worlds. This three tiered structure of Imperial, subsector, and planetary navies produces a flexible system for patrolling space, while putting the limited resources of the Imperium to best use."

- Grand Admiral Marc William Miller from the Master Naval Manual, in the introduction to Book 5 High Guard (pg. 1), written in 1110 (paraphrased).

Mission (Goals)[edit]

No information yet available.

Doctrine & Strategy (Operations)[edit]

No information yet available.

Rank & Grade (Hierarchy)[edit]

Imperial/Subsector Navy Ranks
(Note: Local rank names may vary based on individual worlds' cultures and traditions, but are standardized in the Colonial Navy system for purposes of interstellar consistency and clarity)
=== Imperial Standard [comparison] ===
Commissioned Officers
[O7c] »
O7 » Commodore
[O7a] »
[O6a] »
O6 » Captain
O5 » Commander
O4 » Lieutenant Commander
[O3a] »
O3 » Lieutenant
O2 » Sub-Lieutenant
O1 » Ensign

O0 » Cadet / Midshipman
Enlisted (Ratings)
E9 » Master Chief Petty Officer
E8 » Senior Chief Petty Officer
E7 » Chief Petty Officer
E6 » Petty Officer First Class
E5 » Petty Officer Second Class
E4 » Petty Officer Third Class
E3 » Able Spacehand
E2 » Spacehand
E1 » Spacehand Apprentice

E0 » Spacehand Recruit

Planetary Navy Ranks
(Note: Local rank names may vary based on individual worlds' cultures and traditions, but are standardized in the Colonial Navy system for purposes of interstellar consistency and clarity)
=== Alternate Rank Names [examples] ===
Commissioned Officers
[O7c] » [Fleet Commodore] / [Fleet Flag Officer]
O7[b] » Commodore / Flag Officer
[O7a] » [Vice-Commodore]
[O6a] » [Fleet Captain]
O6 » Captain (1st Rank) ("Senior Captain") / (Captain-Colonel)
O5 » Captain (2nd Rank) ("Frigate-Captain") / (Captain-Major)
O4 » Captain (3rd Rank) ("Corvette-Captain") / (Captain)
[O3a] » [Captain-Lieutenant]
O3 » Lieutenant (First Lieutenant)
O2 » Lieutenant, jg (Second Lieutenant)
O1 » Ensign / Sub-Lieutenant (Third Lieutenant)

O0 » Cadet / Midshipman
Warrant Officers & Enlisted (Ratings)
E9 » Chief Warrant Officer (Master Chief)
E8 » Warrant Officer (Senior Chief)
E7 » Chief Petty Officer / Chief Mate
E6 » Petty Officer First Class / Senior Mate
E5 » Petty Officer Second Class / Mate
E4 » Leading Spacer
E3 » Able Spacer
E2 » Spacer
E1 » Spacer Apprentice

E0 » Spacer Recruit

The highest rank found in any planetary navy is Commodore, who (in a small defense squadron) will probably command from a local naval base as supreme squadron officer. Large planetary navies may locally subdivide their "Captain" and "Commodore" ranks with such titles as "Fleet Captain", Vice-Commodore", or Fleet Commodore", etc., as the command structure needs of a given planetary navy may dictate, the variety dependent only upon the local culture and traditions of the homeworld. In fact, local planetary navy ranks and flotilla structure as a whole may derive from many different and divergent historical traditions. The varieties are almost endless. Nevertheless, all planetary navy ranks are officially rated by comparison to the Imperial Navy standard ranks for the purposes of precedence and protocol when dealing with worlds outside the local star-system.

Some of the organizational ranks and grades used by this force are included in the table to the right.

History & Background (Dossier)[edit]

As a world, system, and technological civilization develops, the need for a space navy eventually arises and a Planetary Navy is typically founded.

TO&E (Organization)[edit]

Planetary navies range through a broad range of sizes, from small local defense squadrons all the way up to multiple "flotillas" rivaling the size of a proper battle fleet. Size will largely be dependent upon the resources available to a given world, combined with a world's perceived need for a fleet for the purpose of either defense or prestige.

Starfaring Navy: the "Black-sky fleet"[edit]

Not all planetary navies choose to maintain a star-faring navy. Those that do (usually as a matter of prestige) come generally under the ultimate oversight of the Imperial Colonial Office when outside their home-system during peacetime, and are seen as complementary forces to the local Subsector Navy under the authority of the local Subsector Duke, to whom those worlds are subject concerning issues of interstellar government. Planetary navies, as navies of member-worlds of the Imperium, have the right to stop and detain other vessels found to be in violation of Imperial law, and exercise this authority under the regulations governing the operations of Colonial Navies.

The majority of Planetary Starfaring Navies field vessels in the Frigate and Corvette size categories, mostly engaging in patrol and escort duties. A few of the more prestigious do however field some small Colonial Cruisers in the Very Light "Auxiliary Cruiser" size range. During wartime, planetary navies (along with their local Subsector Navy), become Imperialized, and are transferred to the ultimate oversight and authority of the Imperial Navy Command overseeing the prosecution of the conflict.

System Squadron: the "Blue-sky fleet"[edit]

System squadrons are largely comprised of non-jump capable vessels in a variety of tonnage-ranges, depending on the importance of and finances available to a given world. System Squadrons will sometimes employ a few Jump-1 capable elements in the Corvette size range for the purpose of rapid-response and patrol in a system's outer-reaches and/or cometary belts and clouds. Heavy elements of the system squadron are usually referred to as "Monitors" and are typically armed with some form of spinal mount or main-weapon bay. Elements without such heavy armaments are generally referred to as "System Defense Vessels" or "System Defense Boats".

System Monitors are similar in form to Imperial Navy Battle Riders (and in fact many of them are battle riders that have been retired from Imperial service). Some Monitors, on the other hand, are purpose-built for their system defense role, of which some are built using hollowed-out buffered-planetoids for their primary hulls. Monitors are designed for system-dominance, and generally have both heavy weapons and heavy armor. Sub-classes of monitor include the Patrol Monitor, Light Monitor, Heavy Monitor, Strike Monitor, Cruiser-Monitor, Battle-Monitor, Capital-Monitor, and Supermonitor, all of which can range anywhere between 5,000 dton and 50,000 dton on average, although Supermonitors can range much larger than this.

System Defense Vessels (SDVs) or "Defenders" are smaller (< 3000 dton) and faster support and patrol vessels as compared to System Monitors and are generally equipped with good armor. Whereas System Monitors may have a fairly low maneuver rating since they tend to stick close to a specific point of defense, System Defense Vessels will often be faster and more maneuverable so as to be able to respond to and engage enemy combatants at a distance from the primary defensive mission objective with which they are charged. They are usually divided into the sub-classes of "Heavy" or "Light" depending on both vessel size and the presence or lack of large weapon-bays among its range of armaments.

Heavy SDVs include such craft as Rapid Response Vessels (RRV/RDV), Point-Defense Vessels (EDV/DVG), System Defense Cruisers (SDC/SDV), and Heavy System Defense Boats (HDV/HDB/DSV).

Light SDVs (< 1000 dton) are typically in the Gunboat or Torpedo Boat category, favoring barbettes over light bay weaponry as primary weapon systems, and are typically known as System Defense Boats (SDB/HSB). SDBs are small and fast support and patrol vessels, generally with substantial armor. SDBs are often deployed in deep cover beneath world-oceans or gas-giant atmospheres in addition to standard orbital and system patrol.

Escort Vessels (EVG/EVF) are small (< 800 dton) Corvette-size vessels that are used to escort and defend other vessels (both commercial & flotilla) and provide both communication and reconnaissance. They include both jump-capable Escort Corvettes (EG) and non-jump capable System Escort Vessels such as Gun-Brigs (EBG) and Gun-Sloops (ESG).

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)[edit]

These forces are known to operate across most of Charted Space.

World Listing: 1105[edit]

These forces is known to regularly operate across many systems and worlds:

References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]

This article is missing content for one or more detailed sections. Additional details are required to complete the article. You can help the Traveller Wiki by expanding it.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

High Guard (book)
Adventure Class Ships Volume 1
MegaTraveller Avenger Enterprises Grand Fleet
Mongoose Traveller Sector Fleet
Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science