Imperial AstroNavy

The **Imperial AstroNavy**, known as the ***Navis Astra Imperialis*** in High Gothic, is the naval service branch responsible one of the primary armed forces of the Galactic Terran Imperium.

It is widely recognized as the most important and central element to Imperial military capabilities and the very continuity of the Imperium itself, for without the AstroNavy the Imperium is only a disunited and stranded worlds in the endless darkness of space.

While the Imperial Legions represents the Imperium's primary ground forces, the Imperial AstroNavy is responsible for the fleets of starships that maintain order between the stars and planets in the Imperium, for all space and air support provided to the infantry through its Aeronautica Imperialis branch, and for transporting the Legionaries across the galaxy.

**ANCOM**

ANCOM or AstroNavy Command describes both a sub-organization of the AstroNavy and the Location of the **Naval Command Center** in the Orbital Shipyards around Mars. It is centered around the Grand Galactic Admiral as Supreme Commander of the entire AstroNavy, his support staff and the Admiralty. ANCOM coordinates efforts of the entire navy, including anything from actively overseeing battle reports and progress over diverting forces from one area to another to managing supply lines, transports for Legionaries, usage of Starfighters and Battle Stations and much more.

**AstroNavy Chain of Command & Structure**

The Highest Commander of the Imperial AstroNavy is the **Grand Galactic Admiral**. Only one of the GGA exists at any time and he is selected by the Emperor himself. The Emperor ultimately is the Supreme Commander In Chief of the entire Imperial Military and can overrule the GGA at any time, but only takes direct command in special situations as he deems fit, and in such a case often directly command his personal Fleet or a Galactic Armada formed at his orders. In the normal case the Emperor would coordinate the general war effort including both the Legions and Navy while the Galactic Grand Admiral handles the proper execution of his orders as well as regular updates and reports, generally focusing on giving the Grand Imperator options to choose from.

Directly below the Grand Galactic Admiral are seven Grand Admirals who each command a Galactic Fleet and are typically assigned to different sections of Imperial Space or foreign/uncharted territories like expeditionary warzones.

The Fleets themselves are rarely fully assembled in one system as they are spread throughout their assigned section of Imperial Space or in foreign territories with varying tasks such as guarding a world, exploring a new system, responding to pirate attacks, hunting down smugglers, engaging enemy patrols, searching for foreign scouts and more.

**Flag Officers**

Flag Officers represent the Admiralty and Senior High Command Section of the Imperial AstroNavy. It includes all who hold the rank of rear admiral and above, also called "flag ranks".

 Grand Admiral
 High Admiral
 Vice Admiral

**Officers**

Junior Officers handle positions such as Navigator, Chief of Department, Reactor Chief, Engine Chief, Weapons Chief etc.

**Enlisted**

**Naval Units & Formation**

 Galactic Fleet
 Battle Group
 Ternion Division

Galactic Armada

A Galactic Armada is a temporarily formed banned of multiple Fleets for a particular instance for which it is deemed necessary, for example when battling a particularly large enemy fleet, or facing a threat on a vital strategicly important target such as Alpha Centauri, the Sol System or Terra itself.

Galactic Fleet

A Galactic Fleet, or just Fleet, is the largest Formation actively controlled by one Commander. Generally considered equal to a Imperial Legion.

Task Force

established to work on a single defined task or activity temporarily

Squadron

* Independent squadrons. In effect, these are formations that are too small to be called a fleet. Independent squadrons may be assigned to and named after a particular ocean or sea, and the admiral commanding the squadron may be the naval commander in chief in that theatre.
* Temporary sub-divisions of a fleet. In the Age of Sail, fleets were divided into van, centre, and rear squadrons, named after each's place in the line of battle. A temporary detachment from a fleet would also be called a squadron.
* Permanent battle formations. As warships evolved during the 19th century, larger warships began to be formed into and trained as permanent, numbered squadrons of the same class of warship such as the 5th Battle Squadron of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. U.S. Navy squadron types have included Battleship Squadrons, Cruiser Squadrons (CruRons), Destroyer Squadrons (DesRons), Escort Squadrons, Transport Squadrons (TransRons), and Submarine Squadrons (SubRons).

Flotilla

Formation of small warships, can be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, corvettes, light cruisers etc.

Ternion Division

Smallest warship formation, consists of 3 ships of equal class as dictated by the Ternion Doctrine.

**AstroNavy Positions**

Commodore - Commander of more than one Ship

Captain - Commander of one Ship

#### Conditions and Codes

the GDAN had several conditions and codes to refer to various statuses. The color codes from green to red were meant to represent the alert levels a ship could be at.

* Condition Green meant that the ship was not at alert. General quarters for all crew members and the shields could be lowered and weapons offline.
* Condition Yellow meant that the ship was on alert. Essential crew to battle stations and fighter crews to prepare the flight deck. The hangars would be closed and the shields raised, with fighters only to be launched on orders from the bridge. But the primary weapons would remain powered off, though smaller point defense weapons would be online. No non-essential transmissions would be made at this alert level or above.
* Condition Orange meant combat was imminent. Crew were to be at battle stations, the ship's bridge was sealed with the highest ranked officer assuming the role of active Captain. Very similar to condition yellow except the primary weapons would be powered up but only fired on orders from the bridge.
* Condition Red meant combat was ongoing. The ships' weapons could be fired at the discretion of the gunnery officers.

Additional color codes were used to specify other things.

* Condition Black meant the presence of cyberwarfare or powerful electronic countermeasures or an EMP had disabled the ship. When given this order crews throughout the ship would throw a number of manual breaker switches disabling all computer systems and converting the ship into a fully analogue system. This condition greatly reduced the range and accuracy of weapons and disallowed FTL travel but was preferable to being dead in space.
* Condition Blue meant the ship was in drydock.
* "Major Kia is visiting on the bridge/hangar/engine room/etc" meant that a suspected spy or infiltrator was in that section of the ship. This section of the ship would be locked down and all crew on that section of the ship would have their PIDs checked.

#### Tactics

* A "firescreen" was a term used to describe a coordinated wall of fire targeting the space around an enemy ship. This would require one or more ships volley firing in a coordinated way such that no matter how an enemy maneuvered they would be struck by at least a couple of shots. Doing so required calculating an enemy's profile and maneuverability. Ships could become locked in long range fire screen deadlocks for hours or days until one ship became too damaged to continue. Ships like Transgressor-Class fired smart rounds which could end deadlocks quickly by negating an enemy's range advantage and destroying them with a single shot.
* A "knife fight" was a term used when ships got into close quarters (visual range). Ships tended to engage heavy weapons fire while maneuvering around one another, but it was impossible to dodge shots at this range.