TADJ66

==Chapter 65 - The Adjudicator==
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===Overview of 3161 for the Lyran Commonwealth Navy (LCN)===
====Shipyard Production for Boojum Naval Yard====
Production Timetable averages, Boojum Naval Yard, Kowloon system:
Production method: Assembly line, floating.
Null-Gee fabrication facility, with null-gee/vacuum forging and casting capacity.
Each cutter is 18 months from core forging to finished product.  There are 30 slips in production and cutters are produced in staggered batches.
Separation between hulls is one week, (based on the speed with which cutter cores can be processed from raw germanium.)
The Boojum yard foundry is capable of turning out one cutter core every three days.
In the 10 years from 3143 to 3153, the Boojum Yard alone was running three eight standard hour shifts per 24 hour standard day, six standard days out of 7, making it NOT the most productive naval yard in the Commonwealth, as the Sabbath is observed at the Boojum Yard strictly.
So, how many cutters have left the Boojum Yard alone in that ten years?
Second math problem:  Boojum Yard's secondary line is 12 slips, capable of producing the Landmark class destroyer.  From keel-to-commission is 24 months.  Foundry 2 can produce a Destroyer sized compact core at a rate of 1 every 3 days from raw ore to structural encasement as the keel of a vessel.  The Landmark class has been in continuous production for the LCN since 3143 at Boojum, running the same line schedule and per-man production schedule as the cutter line.
Assuming a 10 year block of time, (3143 to 3153) how many Landmark class destroyers have left the Boojum Yard for LCN service?
Cutters and Destroyers are also produced at at Buena (since 3147), Kaumberg (3148), Tharkad (since 3145), Duran (since 3143), and Winter (since 3085 for Cutters, and since 3143 for the Landmark class destroyer)  These other production sites run 7 day work weeks and vary somewhat in slip count and therefore, output.
===Production Numbers===
Highest slip count Cutters:
Tharkad: 240
Duran: 120
Boojum(Kowloon):30
Winter NSY (Winter Key): 21
Buena Yards: 18
Kaumberg: 6
Highest slip count, Destroyers:
Tharkad: 90
Duran: 48
Boojum: 12
Winter Key: 9
Buena: 3
Kaumberg: 1
===Ground Forces Information===
There is a massive difference between Kowloon, and, well, almost everyone else.  Kowloon was building cutters since the sixties, while some of those systems with larger production have a much shorter experience building anything with a maneuver drive (or didn't exist except as spinnning relics for the last 300 years.)
The above list isn't even comprehensive-I just didn't feel like listing yards that don't have more than single-slip capacity (except Kaumberg).
There are also the usual, more traditional ship-builders, but they're going balls-out building the logistics ships.  (Standard jumpships for dropship haulage), a portion of which are also earmarked for the LCN, because running out of supplies far from home sucks.
In total 'throw weight' the LCN isn't up to, say, the SLDF or pre-1st Succession War great house fleets, but in terms of mobile tonnage?  The "Trillian Reforms" of the 3140s and 3150s have resulted in an LCN that is significantly larger than peer forces, and if you ONLY count jump-capable units, (and include the Reserve forces and coast guards) well...it's significant enough to be considered the strongest pure navy in the Inner Sphere, edging out the Snow Ravens by a hair in terms of dedicated martial hulls.
(The Logistics fleet doesn't really count, as the bulk of that organization is divided in responsibilities between LCN and LCAF branches.)
A quick check shows that LCN doesn't own a single assault dropship. Those are exclusively the province of the LCAF or 'Ground' forces, a result of a 3148 status-of-forces agreement written up at Mount Asgard when it became clear that the LCN wasn't configuring to be little more than a transport and logistics network for the army.
This division of labor saw the formal LCAF releasing "Marine" duties to the LCN (and subordinate Coast Guards), allowing the LCN to define the roles and equipment for shipboard infantry formations that sometimes conduct surface operations, but mostly exist to conduct boarding actions and similar operations in the deep black and deeply hostile environments (said environments being defined as "Hostile even when nobody is shooting at you.")
Perhaps one of the most distinctive changes in the LCN/LCAF divide, is found in the LCN Marine Corps.  This organization has been quietly configured to follow the general training and operational guidelines of the Kowloon Coast Guard Marines, and as a result, has one of the longest training cycles from enlistment to deployment of any service in the Inner Sphere, with one of the slowest promotion cycles of any service in the Commonwealth.  Despite (or because) of this, LCN Marines developed a reputation that is quite enviable, falling somewhere between 'special forces' formations like Loki, and elite Infantry formations.  LCN Marines have access to humanoid battlesuits standard, and operate in four man 'fireteams', nine man 'Squads', and 27 man 'Platoons'.
Their equipment is vacuum and hostile environment rated, with some fire-resistance.  Standard small-arms used are a copy of the Antipersonnel Gauss rifle and the Blaser carbine, however marine troops are also extensively trained in operations without their powered armor suits.
As with LCN officer candidates, LCN Marines are a service that you have to qualify for.  Psychological factors are emphasized over raw physical ability, with an emphasis on things like learning and retention being key selection elements. The logic of this being "physical weaknesses can be fixed, educational shortcomings can be overcome with study, but by god you can't make someone Smarter.
Training sites for LCN Marines include: 
Giap island/Spider Moon in the Kowloon system, La Casella on Arluna, Mandaoaaru Key, and several other sites in the Commonwealth.  All marines are volunteers, and as with the reformed LCN, birth-rank and birth-order are not considered for selection.  Recruits are given a service number and sent to training, with names not officially revealed or acknowledged until month 19 of training, or upon being washed out of the program.
Typically washouts are snapped up by LCAF regulars before they can be found by a mercenary recruiter.
LCN Marine equipment is all rated for vacuum and hostile environments first, and as combat equipment second.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, the LCN does not field Battlemechs, those being the exclusive province of the LCAF Ground arm proper.
Discussions regarding a possible development of a LAM program are ongoing at Mount Asgard, however the strongest resistance to this being in the LCN hierarchy. This is including both former LCN Chief of Naval Operations Sharon Ngo, and her successor, Fleet Admiral Emily Falcone, which is a nice show of solidarity with LCAF Chief of Staff Roderick Steiner.
The Archon herself quite LIKES the idea of flying Battlemechs, but thankfully, not so much that she'll override her senior officers..yet.
*Wiki Editor Note: This is the Author's figures for the AU's protenant Naval Shipyard for the story. 
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FINI
The Adjudicator has finished, the next major story arc continues with the The Silent Black Ocean.
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