Grand Fleet

The Grand Fleet was a large operational unit of Havenite, Manticoran, and Grayson warships, created as a result of the formation of the Grand Alliance and as a direct response to the threat of a full-scale war with the Solarian League.
== Name ==
The designation "Grand Fleet" was suggested by Havenite President Eloise Pritchart as a way to avoid submerging any of its constituent fleets into subunits of some foreign fleet. ()
== History ==
The Grand Fleet was established shortly before the Solarian League Navy's Eleventh Fleet arrived in Manticoran territory in June 1922 PD. Fleet Admiral Honor Harrington was assigned as its first commanding officer.
Almost seventy percent of the Havenite Capital Fleet's wall of battle was reassigned to the Grand Fleet, which soon saw action in the Second Battle of Manticore. In that engagement, it destroyed 296 Solarian League Navy superdreadnoughts and damaged over a hundred more, killing about 1.2 million SLN servicemembers, while its own losses were limited to eleven damaged ships, a number of destroyed light attack craft, and about 2,000 dead. ()
Following the Beowulf Strike, Fleet Admiral Harrington took the Grand Fleet to the Sol System, overwhelming its defenses and wiping out most of its orbital industry. The threat of the fleet going from Core system to Core system repeating this maneuvre encouraged Fleet Admiral Winston Kingsford and forces loyal to him to overthrow the Mandarins and surrender. The Battle of Sol thus brought an end to the war and left the League's capital system economically devastated. ()
In 1923 PD, with the surrender of the Solarian League to the Grand Alliance, many of Grand Fleet's cruiser squadrons and destroyer flotillas were reassigned to peacekeeping responsibilities in the former Office of Frontier Security protectorates on nation building missions. A detachment of three or four dozen pod superdreadnoughts and support elements remained in the Sol System under Admiral Pascaline L'anglais however.
In May 1924 PD, with the departure of its Beowulfan contingent and the addition of an Andermani contingent, the Grand Fleet was dispatched to the Galton System when it was discovered to be a central node of the Mesan Alignment, resulting in the subsequent Battle of Galton. ()
== Personnel ==
* Commodore Mercedes Brigham, Chief of Staff
* Captain Andrea Jaruwalski, Operations Officer
* Captain George Reynolds, Intelligence Officer
* Captain Rafael Cardones, CO HMS Imperator and Flag Captain
* Lieutenant Commander Ona Eriquez, Communications Officer (1924 PD)
* Lieutenant Commander Brock Justinian, Flag Lieutenant (1924 PD)
* Lieutenant Kondrad Chudrik, Public Relations Officer (1924 PD)
== Organization ==
As of 1922 PD, known components included:
* Task Force 1 - the Manticoran component of the Grand Fleet, commanded by Admiral Honor Harrington
* Task Force 2 - the Havenite component of Grand Fleet, commanded by Admiral Lester Tourville and later Admiral Pascaline L’anglais
* Task Force 3 - the Grayson component of Grand Fleet, commanded by Admiral Alfredo Yu
* Beowulfan componentBattle of Sol only
== References ==
Category:Fleets
Category:Havenite Fleets
Category:Manticoran Fleets
Category:Grayson Fleets