Royal Caledonian Navy
The Royal Caledonian Navy is the military starforce of the Principality of Caledon, and the largest component service of the Military of the Principality of Caledon.
Affiliated Services: The following services are either affiliated with or controlled by the Navy:
- The Royal Caledonian Marines are a component service
- The Royal Caledonian Expeditionary Service is closely affilated with the Navy; Navy personnel are "seconded" to the RCES to serve as ship crews.
- The Royal Caledonian Naval Academy is the officer-training school.
- The Royal Caledonian Fleet Auxiliary is a fleet of support ships with naval officers and (mostly) civilian crews, including the Principality's subsidized merchant fleet, dedicated to providing logistic support to the Navy.
Description (Specifications)
The Caledonian Navy is small compared to mega-fleets like the Imperial Navy - but is relatively powerful for a fleet from a non-aligned power. The fleet has several missions:
- Trade Protection - guarding the principality's lucrative trade routes against the piracy, privateering and other forms of banditry
- Deterrence - prevention attacks from other smaller powers
Mostly constructed at the Principality's TL–12 class A starports, the fleet is a standard-setter among TL–12 Navies - largely due to its officer corps and Warrant Officer system. These systems - confusing to outsiders - are outgrowths of centuries of Caledonian naval tradition.
Mission
No information yet available.
Strategy & Doctrine (Operations)
Caledonian Naval Doctrine is based on several key tenets:
- Defend Caledonian space - Using its extended surveillance network, the Caledonian fleet will aggressively move to destroy any hostile invasions.
- Protect Caledonian trade - While recognizing that escorting commercial vessels and convoys is a vital part of protecting trade, the Navy also aggressively moves to pre-empt threats to commerce.
- Deter attacks on Caledonian interests - As a matter of policy, the Caledonian government believes the only good attack is the one that is stopped before it reaches Caledonian space. Intelligence, surveillance and aggressive pre-emption are all vital parts of ensuring no enemy attack reaches, much less damages, the Principality.
Grade & Rank Structure
Caledonian naval officers start as Midshipmen at the Royal Caledonian Naval Academy. Entry into the four-year program is highly competitive, and is open to applicants of all social classes. Being of a noble family can help in gaining admission - but is of no use whatsoever in surviving the program, which features ruthless weeding out of the 50% or so of applicants who start the program (washouts serve the remainder of their four years as enlistees)
Once the midshipmen graduate, the focus switches from weeding out to channeling; during their tour as Ensigns, they are separated by aptitude into career paths they'll follow for the rest of their naval careers; the ones judged to have great aptitude as aggressive leaders with great tactical aptitude are "Commissioned" by the crown as Sub-Lieutenants (O2); they are on the command track. Officers with other aptitudes are diverted into the Warrant Officer track (see below).
Caledonian officers are chosen for leadership skills - and are expected to exercise them constantly. They are judged by their accomplishments - and are expected to accomplish much. Aggressive leadership is called for (although not stupid or rash leadership - keen intelligence in the accomplishment of missions is the goal). Officer complements on Caledonian ships are lean - a 22,000 ton Light Frigate will have a Captain, a First Lieutenant, 3-4 Lieutenants, 2-3 sub-lieutenants, and a small number (6-12) of ensigns. Unlike in imperial navy practice, commissioned officers only obliquely deal with technical or administrative matters; these are delegated to the Warrant Officers.
Officers above the rank of "First Lieutenant" (O4) are either on the command track (commanding ships), with "Ship Command" ranks, or administrators with separate non-command ranks (as noted in the table above).
Officers (along with the ship's doctor/s, the ship's warrant Pilot and any commissioned Marine officers) have access to their ships' "wardroom" (on vessels large enough to have one - and most will have some sort of "wardroom", even a token space with a table, chairs and the ship's honorifics). The "Wardroom" is a combination dining room and social area, and is administered by the vessel's First Lieutenant (executive officer in Imperial rank); the Captain is allowed into the Wardroom by invitation.
See Royal Caledon Navy Officer Ranks and Titles for details.
Officers
| Royal Caledonian Navy Ranks | |
|---|---|
| Officers - see Officer Ranks and Titles | |
| Warrant | |
| WO4 » [Warrant Title - see "Warrant Officer" section] | |
| WO3 » [Warrant Title - see "Warrant Officer" section] | |
| WO2 » [Warrant Title - see "Warrant Officer" section] | |
| WO1 » [Junior Warrant Officer] | |
| Enlisted | |
| E7 » Leading [Rating*] | |
| E6 » [Rating*] | |
| E5 » Junior [Rating*] | |
| E4 » Able Crewman | |
| E3 » Crewman | |
| E2 » Crewman Apprentice | |
| E1 » Recruit | |
In Game Terms: Commissioned officers are expected to be battle leaders; technical skills may be of use, but are purely secondary, as the technical tasks are subordinated to the Warrant Officers, whose job is to become technical experts rather than generalists. Officer's specialty, focus, and goal is leading ships and men in combat. Characters expecting to serve as Caledonian commissioned officers should rack up all the Ship Tactics, Fleet Tactics, Leadership and Astrogation skills possible (with Piloting and Diplomacy as secondary priorities).
Warrant Officers
Warrant Officers - named because they are given a "warrant" by the Navy, as opposed to the Crown - are officers in terms of responsibility, but will as a rule never command a vessel. They are experts in their technical fields, responsible for carrying on both the technical excellence and the traditions of the Navy. The vast majority of warrant officers serve 20-30 years and retire - but the depth of their technical skill makes them highly in demand by the fleets of the various merchant firms (as well as less-reputable employers).
There are two routes into a Warrant Officer rank; selection from among Ensign graduates of the Royal Caledonian Naval Academy, and enlisted personnel who work their way up through the enlisted ranks (providing a second set of ranks through which a talented enlisted sailor's career can progress; upon being promoted past "Leading [Rating]" (E7), an enlisted sailor joins the ranks at "WO1" in the list below.
For further information, see Royal Caledon Navy Warrant Officer Roles and Titles.
Other Ranks
Enlisted ranks have generally the same titles and progression as in the Imperium.
- On reaching "Leading" (E7) rating status, the character joins the "Warrant Officer" progression as a "Junior Warrant Officer", above.
How "Ratings" Work: Petty Officers ranks - E5 through E7 - are a combination of the rank and the "Rating", or key skill. For example, an E6 whose primary skill was "Gunnery" would be a "Gunner's Mate"; an E7 whose main skill is "Steward" would be a "Leading Steward", and so on.
History & Background (Dossier)
No information yet available.
Tables of Organization (Organizational Structure)
Organization: The Navy is organized as follows:
- Four "Stations", each responsible for a strategic direction surrounding the Principality.
- To the stations are attached "Task Forces". In peacetime, a task forced is based on or around each of the Principality's Starports. Task Forces are transferred between Stations to reflect the current naval situation .
- The Stations also maintain control over the various "Forward Operating Bases", each located outside Principality space.
- The Navy maintains an extensive early warning network of surveillance ships and dispatch boats covering all vacant space within the Principality, as well as all space within two parsecs of the Principality's generally-accepted border. This is in addition to the extensive scouting done within and outside this space by the Royal Caledonian Expeditionary Service.
- The Navy's "Fleet Train", or expeditionary logistics establishment, allows Caledonian ships an unprecedented degree of strategic mobility.
Stations
The following "Stations" - each commanded by an Admiral - have different missions, some of which have been ongoing for centuries.
- Spinward Station - Headquarters Caithness
- Driftward Station - Headquarters Victory
- Coreward Station - Headquarters Cuillin
- Rimward Station - Headquarters Douglass
Each "Station" also controls 1-4 "Forward Operating Bases" - bases outside the Principality, in neutral or friendly space, to support operations well outside the Principality. These bases are listed with their stations.
- Each of these stations serves as the command center for major operations in their sector.
- See related article Royal Caledon Navy Stations
Task Forces
The bulk of the combat power of the Caledonian fleet is in its 22 numbered Task Forces, each based around one of the Principality's systems.
- Each Task Force is commanded by a Vice Admiral.
- See the related article, Task Forces of the Royal Caledonian Navy.
Surveillance Zones
The Caledonian Navy (with considerable help from the Royal Caledonian Expeditionary Service) maintains a network of surveillance ships and dispatch boats in every non-system parsec (hex) inside the Principality, and for two parsecs in every direction. This huge belt of stealthy surveillance bases provide the Navy and the Principality with a warning "tripwire" for enemy activity, whether Reaver raids or Aslan incursions.
Representative Equipment & Classes
No information yet available.
Fleet Train
One of the Royal Caledonian Navy's great strengths is its focus on effective logistics. The Caledonian Fleet Train allows Naval units to operate away from friendly bases more effectively than nearly any fleet in known space.
- Based at Dumbarton, the Fleet Train is the large force of tankers, supply ships, repair ships and other support and logistics vessels from the Royal Caledonian Fleet Auxiliary that support the fleet. In wartime, the Train also incorporates the Principality's fleet of subsidized merchants, whose load-hauling capabilities greatly augment the fleet's own capabilities in emergencies and at war.
Intervention Force
Comprising mostly transports and escorts, the Intervention Force brings Marines to trouble spots where rapid ground or orbital intervention is needed.
Ships
The Royal Caledonian Navy is the largest military force between the Imperium and the Aslan Hierate. It is called upon to carry out a wide range of missions - and has a wide range of ships to do the job with.
Design Doctrine: Caledonian naval design has eschewed the "Battle Rider" concept. This was as a result of a few battles against fleets that used riders heavily; they noticed that fleets dependent on riders were forced to win or die; even light damage to a carrier would maroon the entire fleet in harm's way (and retreating under fire, which would involve trying to moor to the carrier under fire, was either suicidal or would require a number of riders to fight suicidal holding actions to allow the rest of the fleet to escape).
- Caledonian naval architects have also opted not to mix carriers and battleships, believing that having a battleship serve as a carrier leaves the fleet with excessively large vessels that do neither job optimally for the size and expense of the individual ships.
Ship Classes
See Ship Classes of the Royal Caledonian Navy for details.
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)
This fleet can be primarily found in the following areas:
Charted Space:
Headquarters Data: 1105
The following mainworld is the primary headquarters of this fleet:
World Listing: 1105
This fleet often patrols the following systems and worlds:
References & Contributors (Sources)
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- Author & Contributor: Mitchberg