Romulan Star Navy

The Romulan Star Navy (or RSN) is the main state military organisation of the Romulan Star Empire. The Star Navy came into existence in 2165 following the disastrous Romulan defeat at the hands of the Confederation of Planets during the Earth-Romulan War. The former Imperial Romulan Navy, disgraced by their wartime performance and disbanded and outlawed in 2161 by the terms of the treaty, was reborn as essentially a defence force for a much reduced and humbled Romulan Star Empire. However, this attempt to curb Romulan Imperial ambitions was not to last long, with the new RSN expanding rapidly and becoming a significant threat to Klingon territorial ambitions by the 2190s.

In addition to the RSN, operating in almost direct competition to it many would claim, are the forces of the Tal-Shiar, the Romulan Intelligence Service and Secret Police. Unlike in the political organisations of their two main rivals, the Federation and the Klingon Empire, these two organisations wage war almost entirely independently, with the RSN operating as the military arm of the Romulan Senate and the Praetor, and the Tal-Shiar operating under their own, shadowy purposes for the "good of the Romulan state and her people", the two often vastly at odds with each other. Despite her seemingly overwhelming forces, this near constant internal power struggle keeps the Romulan Star Empire from being able to bring her considerable forces to bear except under extreme circumstances.

The RSN also trains and operates ground forces, from humble garrison troops to the infamous Legionaries, highly trained assault troops skilled in all manner of offensive operations. The RSN does not deploy heavy ground forces favoured by some other powers, preferring surgical precision to blunt force.

Rebuilding from the shattered remains of her Imperial predecessor, the fledging Star Navy was formed around a core of Cruisers, initially pre-war designs to comply with treaty limitations. The first new design, although little more than an interim step, was the Cataract Class of 2175. The primary offensive weapon used by the RSN, like her predecessor, was the Cohesive Fused Deuterium Irradiation Cannon or CFDIC, backed up with fusion-tipped missiles. This combination remained the staple of Romulan shipborne arsenals right up until the 2240s, seeing service on successive classes of Cruisers, such as the Cracker and Capsize Class.

All these early designs, including the infamous Cricket Class also known as the "Romulan Bird of Prey" were powered by traditional fusion power. Although both Starfleet and the Klingon Defence Force had adopted Matter/Anti-Matter power generation as early as the 2150s (with the KDF following suit in the decades that followed), the Star Empire suffered a number of setbacks when experimenting with this power source. The first was an ethical dilemma; The division of material existence into matter and antimatter and their mutual annihilation reflects a duality of nature that Romulans refuse to accept. Instead, the Romulans are believe in the unity of all nature, existence, and experience; this is supposedly a reaction to the Vulcan belief that portions of one's mind and personality can be neatly walled away and ignored. Secondly, wartime efforts to copy the primitive M/AM reactors employed by the United Earth Star Navy ended in disaster, poisoning the atmosphere of Remus, destablising it's orbit and destroying much of it's farmland. In the aftermath of the Remus Disaster, Praetor Kaiseus outlawed all experimentation with antimatter. This edict, in typical Romulan fashion, was taken literally, with theoretical research continuing but no actual experiments taking place. Regardless, the effect was long lasting, with no successful Romulan M/AM reactors being produced until the 2270s.

This lack of power hindered Romulan warships massively in the intervening years, and Romulan battle tactics became centred around a lethal Alpha Strike. In such an attack, power reserves could be stored up gradually, and the overall lack of available power less of a hindrance. It also favoured the economic situation the Star Empire found herself in, with a small number of stealthy, powerful warships being far more economical to build and operate than a conventional fleet. However, the CFDIC was increasingly ineffective as a first strike weapon against modern warships employed by the Klingon Defence Force, and a new weapon would be needed if the Star Empire was ever to seek revenge on her hated enemy, the Federation.

In 2264 a devastating new weapon was perfected by Romulan weapon scientists; the Plasma Torpedo. Whilst requiring even more power reserves than the CFDIC, this weapon could cripple any known starship in a single shot, and soon Romulan tactics revolved around it's deployment and use. The Cricket Class was the first warship to be fitted with the new weapon, albeit requiring the removal of almost all other weapons systems for it to operate.

At the same time however, the RSN was fighting repeated border conflicts with the Gorn Confederacy, long rivals of the Star Empire. Such conflicts required small patrol ships, pickets, Light Cruisers and the like, and on the occasion they erupted into full scale wars (as occurred in 2190, 2230, 2248, 2282 and 2284), the RSN required a war fleet to face the Gorn Royal Navy. To make up for shortages of these warships, along with the widening technology gap, in 2248 the Romulan Star Empire signed an alliance with the Klingon Empire, the terms of which included a technology exchange, filling the ranks of the RSN with Klingon warship designs. These designs were eventually modified to include native Romulan technology, and became known as the KR Series. These were followed up with native Romulan designs including first generation Romulan M/AM technology, known as the Ornith Series, entering service throughout the 2270s and 2280s, taking part in the 4th‏‎ and 5th Gorn-Romulan War‏‎.

In Mid-2287 the Star Empire chose to enter the Organian Conflict in support of her Klingon and Lyran allies in an event known as the Day of the Eagle. The RSN debuted a terrifying new warship, the War Eagle Class during this conflict, with three of the gargantuan "Warbirds" entering service by the wars end. After initial successes, the war dragged on into bitter attrition, with the RSN unable to fully replace their obsolete vessels before the next stellar conflict.

Beginning in 2289, the War of Pacification once again saw the dichotomy of the RSN called into question, with the giant War Eagles being one of the few Alpha power ships able to go toe-to-toe with Interstellar Concordium Type DN-III Dreadnoughts, but the rest of the RSN Fleet unable to fight ISPF Eschelons effectively.

As of 2292, fleet reforms continue, with the RSN being a mix of the ultra modern (such as the Senator Class Command Cruiser and Preax Class Escort ) with the elderly and increasingly obsolescent KR Series (and refits such as the War Bird Class Destroyer and Centurion Class Heavy Cruiser). The strength of the RSN is their ability to project withering firepower from unexpected directions due to their unparralelled command of stealth, sensor technology and espionage.
In 2293 following the Khitomer Accords, the Romulan Star Empire began to withdraw again from interstellar politics, fully isolating after the disastrous Tomed Incident in 2311. Following this, the RSN fully committed to her "big ship" policy, experimenting with new powerplants in the form of Artificial Quantum Singularities.

## Current RSN Starship Classes (2292, descending class order)

### Capital Ships

Imperial Hawk Class Battleship

War Eagle Class Dreadnought

Condor Class Dreadnought

Imperium Class Heavy Battlecruiser

Raven Class Battlecruiser

### Heavy Screen Ships

Senator Class Command Cruiser

Tribune Class Escort Carrier

Peregrine Class Torpedo Cruiser

Centurion Class Heavy Cruiser

Stormbird Class Heavy Cruiser

### Light Screen Ships

Legion Class Light Cruiser

War Bird Class Destroyer

Gladius-S Class Scout Frigate

Finch-S Class Scout Frigate

Gladius Class Frigate

Finch Class Frigate

Preax Class Escort

Kite Class Escort

### Support Ships

Kestrel Class Assault Transport

Talon Class Fleet Repair Tender

Patrician Class Cargo Freighter

Osprey Class Mining Freighter

Sparrow Class Colony Ship

Merlin Class Construction Tender

### Shuttlecraft and Fightercraft

Shadowblade Cloakshape Fighter

Blade Cloakshape Fighter

Eaglet Work Bee

## See also

Starfleet

Klingon Defence Force

Interstellar Pacification Force