Greater Ecumene Republic Navy

The Navy is tasked with a wide variety of jobs within the GER, chief of which is the defence of the nation and it's people against all forms of hostilities and aggression, both from external and internal sources. Whilst the Army handles the actual policing of worlds on the ground side theater, the Navy polices all GER space, from trade routes to inhabited systems and the borders.
== Backstory: ==
The navy of the Greater Ecumene Republic has been through a total of four iterations throughout its lifespan. The current form of the navy is simply dubbed the "Republic Navy" and is a reformed version of the "Ecumene Navy". The changes made are mostly minor, with the greatest of these being to the actual titles of enlisted personnel. Organisational structuring and the orientation of duties has seen little change.
The Ecumene Navy was the firs truly militarised form of the Navy, where true ranks, duties and a full chain of command were established after the initial settlement of the people of The Ecumene.
Before the Ecumene Navy came the Flotilla Security Fleet. This was a crudely organised fleet of re-purposed and then eventually purpose built vessels that were used to defend the newly settling population against pirate raiders; then eventually hunt down and eliminate the aforementioned pirates. This was not a professional navy by any means, but this was the true beginnings of what would become the proud Republic Navy.
The very first hint towards the forming of a naval power was simply called "The Watch". The Watch was a small group of volunteer ships from within the flotilla that would scout ahead of the migrant flotilla to ensure a safe route to travel. Only some of these ships would be armed and most of those that were were only equipped with the crudest of makeshift ship-to-ship weaponry. Simple slug-throwers and weapons designed to prevent mining vessels from being struck by asteroids. The only true hard-hitter of this pseudo-navy was a re-purposed mining ship that was equipped with a mining laser. The range of the laser was terrible but it was more than capable of tearing through a pirate ship should they dare to get too close.
== See Also: ==
* Ships of the Republic Navy
* Small Craft of the Republic Navy
* GER Civilian Ships
* The Ecumene Intelligence Office