Federal Navy

The ***Federation Navy***, also known as the ***Federation Starfleet, Federaton Battlefleet,***and ***Federation Fleet Service*** was the space warfare branch of the Federation Military of the Interstellar Solar Federation. As of now, it fields fleets of warships, logistics vessels and fighters, becoming one of the largest navies in galactic history and maintaining Federation control throughout Human Space.

The Federation Navy was formed from the Confederate Navy, as part of Federal unification under the new government during the rise of the Interstellar Federation. A reorganized command structure, eventually consisting of twelve Admirals, oversaw the rapid expansion of the fleet that had begun.

## Role

The role of the Interstellar Navy was the policing and control of known space in the name of the Federation. **Admiral Conan Antonio** identified four key functions of the Federal Navy, including blockading spaceports to cripple a planet's ability to fight, bombarding planets to destroy enemy infrastructure, guarding shipping lanes against pirates and smugglers to safeguard commerce as well as frighten criminals into conducing honest trade, and transporting and supporting other branches of the Federation Military from space and from the air, supplying them with space and aerial support upon disembarkation if necessary. In large part because of the requirement of traveling throughout the galaxy in the Navy, a tour of duty for naval officers often resulted in them encountering various unique people and visiting various exotic worlds.

The Federal Navy's doctrine was heavily influenced by the experience of the Succession War, and emphasized maximizing capital ship firepower rather than achieving starfighter superiority, and it subordinated its starfighters to this role. The Navy's earliest Capital Ship design, the *Excelsior*-*class*, had carried a substantial complement of 420 starfighters and had proved its worth as both a fighting ship and a carrier, but many Federation strategists came to think that it would have been more effective if designed for a single role. Subsequent Starship designs like the hangar-less *Nebula-class* were larger and were built around more powerful reactors, allowing them to carry heavier defenses and weapons and so lessen the effectiveness of starfighter attacks. After a period of experimentation, the Navy settled on the *Daedalus*-*class* Battleship as the backbone of the Fleet. It was heavily optimized for fleet combat, carrying only a single wing of 72 starfighters.

## Organization

### Headquarters

At Its establishment, the *de facto*of Federal authority, the highest organizational body of the Federal Military was the Federal High Command. Below this was Naval Command and the Admiralty, the organizing body that directed all operations of the Federal Navy. Naval Command took orders directly from High Command.

The highest body of officers within the Navy was the "Circle of Four", the cadre of Admirals appointed by High Command when the Federation was founded. The promotions were generally seen as an attempt by the Federation Council to solidify Its control over the Navy. Comprising respected naval strategists, researchers, and Federal partisans, they were assembled to be a leadership cadre for the entire Federal Navy.

### Administration

Within Naval Command, the Navy was administrated by four organizational branches: the Line Branch, the Flight Branch, the Fleet Support Branch, and the Support Service Branch. In addition, each of these organizational branches were divided into divisions that focus on specific areas in the Navy.

* **Line Branch -** The Line Branch was responsible for the Federal's warships, capital ships, and support ships, as well as their commanders and crew. It was also tasked with handling strategy, tactics, and administration within the Naval forces. It housed various divisions, the three largest being the Deck Division, the Logistics Division, and the Administration Division. Line officers commanded bridge crews, captained ships, and commanded fleets.
* **Flight Branch** - The Flight Branch was tasked with overseeing the operations of combat starships. It had various smaller divisions as well as one large division known as the Flight Division, which also held direct command over the Starfighter Corps of the Federation, including the Federation's starfighters, pilots, and support crew. In addition, the Flight Branch held purview over the Navy Order of Battle.
* **Fleet Support Branch -** The Fleet Support Branch consisted of officers responsible for maintenance and engineering duties. Within this branch were two divisions: Engineering Division and Technical Services Division. The former focused on maintaining various Navy ships' sublight and hyperspace engines, as well as the integrity of the ships' hulls. The latter was responsible for looking after power distribution, life-support, and other specialties outside the Engineering Division's jurisdiction.
* **Support Service Branch -** The Support Service Branch provided services to allow Navy personnel to carry out their duties. It had at least five branches: Ordnance, Gunnery, Communications, Biological, and Astrogation. Ordnance dealt with the installation and maintenance of various naval ships' weapons systems. Gunnery supplied personnel to man the weapons systems. Communications controlled traffic and handled information systems. Biological handled research and providing medical services, and Astrogation calculated hyperspace routes alongside other navigation-related matters.

In addition to these four main branches, there were also several divisions within the Republic Navy. One was the Federal Navy Intelligence, which dealt with intelligence-gathering activities. Another was the Navy's secret elite force, known as the Special Navy Force. The Federal Navy Research, Development and Engineering Center was responsible for developing new warships. The special forces carried out special operations for the Navy on foot. Navy Supply may have been a division in the Navy, due to the Regimental Navy Acadamies supplying training for both Merchant Services (the civilian auxiliary to the Navy) and the Supply Fleet. As a result, even though it was technically civilian in nature, the Merchant Services had indirect ties to the Navy. Although technically being support branches of the Military overall, the Astral Exploration Corps as well as the Federal Survey Corps also were attached to the Navy, with the Navy also utilizing both groups' studies to determine which worlds to colonize and exploit, although they generally did this without the knowledge of the actual members of both corps.

The Navy conducted itself by the Federal Naval Code, a set of martial laws and regulations created to guide the military organization. The Naval Code encouraged unquestioning obedience to orders and stressed a willingness to serve the Federation in all things.

### Tactical organization

The Federation Navy's tactical organization was defined by the Navy Order of Battle, designed to provide flexible resources for a commander's force requirements.

The Navy's largest formal organizational unit was the System Group, nominally composed of 70 starships, of which 9 were *Daedalus*-*class* Battleships and another 59 smaller vessels, under the control of a Admiral. The System Groups were split into multiple fleets of around 150 ships each led by Fleet Admirals, with the Group's combat elements being split between "Superiority" and "Escort". A superiority fleet was a space-combat force spearheaded by six *Daedalus*-*class* Battleship, each nominally accompanied by a battle squadron of eighteen smaller ships. While superiority fleets were officially assigned to fleet combat, in practice they were normally used as mobile reserves, projecting Federation power in response to local threats. Escort fleets, meanwhile, were composed of force escorts and were designated for combat against pirates and raiders, which in practice meant that they were the Federation first line of defense, protecting civilian freighters, attacking corsairs' hideouts, and guarding remote outposts. Additional fleet commands were established for the Fleet's logistics and support forces, including troop transport, bombardment, deepdock and support fleets.