Difference between revisions of "Alliance Fleet"

Revision as of 05:08, 31 August 2010

Organisation

Name

Alliance Fleet

Purpose

Naval Operations
Logistics and Supply

Leader

-

Headquarters

Mon Calamari

Branches

First Fleet
Second Fleet
Third Fleet
Fourth Fleet
Fifth Fleet
Support Services

Affiliation

The Rebel Alliance

Members

See: Faction Roster

"Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!"

―Admiral Ackbar

The Alliance Fleet - also known as the Alliance Starfleet, Alliance Navy, and Rebel Fleet - represents the sum total of all spaceborne assets operated by the Rebel Alliance. Originally established as a guerilla force to stage hit and run operations against the Imperial Navy, it has grown in line with the expansion of the Rebellion, and now considers sector defense one of it's key objectives.

Vessels of the Alliance Fleet are a motley assortment of ships commendeered from and donated by other militaries, and craft converted for military applications from other functions, such as freighters and transports. However, in the wake of the Battle of Endor, and with shipyards on Mon Calamari and Sullust now available, the military capabilities of the Alliance Fleet have grown dramatically.

Though originally established as independent commands, the changing nature of the Rebel Alliance has led to the Alliance Starfighter Corps and Alliance Support Services being absorbed under the Fleet umbrella.

History

When the Alliance to Restore the Republic first formed, it was born out of small, insurgent forces - resistance movements from Alderaan, Corellia, Chandrila, Duro, and other worlds. While ships were available, they were mostly scattered, mostly outdated, and mostly in private hands. Often, they were frigates and transports that had been retrofit for combat, or were outdated designs from the Separatist armada of the Clone Wars: hardly a match for the latest Imperial technologies.

It wasn't until after the Battle of Yavin - and more importantly, after the Mon Calamari joined the Rebel Alliance - that the Alliance Fleet grew to a size where it deserved the title. First organised under Admiral Ackbar, the early Fleet was established with orders to avoid battle, and to focus on raiding and guerilla tactics.

The shipyards of Mon Calamari became a major boon to the Alliance Fleet, providing the Rebellion with Star Cruisers that were actually capable of at least causing trouble for the Imperials and their Star Destroyers. The Alliance also obtained a number of freighters from the bankrupt Gallofree Yards, Inc, who sold their entire stock to the Rebellion at an incredibly low price: these freighters ultimately formed the backbone of the Alliance Supply Services' logistics fleet.

Keeping true to it's mandate to avoid open conflict with the Empire, the Alliance Fleet spent most of it's time on the move and in hiding; particularly following the Battle of Hoth. It wasn't until the discovery of a second Death Star under construction at Endor that the Fleet was organised for a major engagement. Massing Rebel and allied forces at Sullust, the Alliance Fleet launched an assault that became the Battle of Endor. While they were able to strike a decisive blow against the Empire, killing much of it's leadership - and even Emperor Palpatine himself - the Rebels suffered extensive losses, including Admiral Ackbar himself.

Under new leadership, the Alliance Fleet was reborn. With the Mon Calamari Shipyards hitting its stride with Star Cruiser construction, with new allies defecting to the Alliance, and with SpecForce and the Ordnance and Supply Command growing increasingly proficient at commandeering ships from alternate sources, the Alliance Fleet was rebuilt as a more conventional navy. Rebel forces targetted strategic, sympathetic worlds: three years after Endor they had liberated Sullust and Bothawui, and added their local fleets - as well as the manufacturing power of the SoroSuub Corporation to their ranks.

Beyond operations to defend the Alliance homeworlds, there are two significant military operations currently ongoing. The Third Fleet is engaged in a series of campaigns to wrestle Kashyyyk from Imperial control. The Fourth Fleet meanwhile has deployed Task Force 42 to actively harass and disrupt Imperial operations in the Outer Rim, in the hopes of keeping the Imperial fleet unbalanced and unable to easily respond to its new conflict with the Independents.

Leadership

Fleet Command consists of several Admirals, each one commanding a Fleet or a major branch like Support Services. Because of the highly geographical nature of the Fleet, each Admiral is considered the authority in his designated area of operation; however, one Admiral is elected as senior to the others, serving as the Supreme Commander - sometimes called the Fleet Admiral - to provide oversight on operations that involve the entire navy.

Each Admiral-led Fleet is further broken down into Task Forces. As the name suggests, a Task Force is a naval unit established for a specific purpose, or task. Typically, a Task Force will be assigned to defend or patrol a specific subdivision of the Fleet's area of operations: Task Force 42 for example is a subdivision of the Fourth Fleet, patrolling a specific area of the Outer Rim Territories near Sullust. In some cases however, the role is more abstract, and can sometimes even be a purely logistical concern: in Support Services for example, medical frigates are organised under a single Task Force for admin purposes. Task Forces are led by a Rear Admiral, and are identified numerically; this number incorporates the Fleet's number as well, so the Fourth Fleet contains Task Forces 41, 42, and so on.

Smaller than Task Forces are Task Groups. Unlike Task Forces, which are effectively a fleet in microchosm, a Task Group typically focuses on a central command ship, and the associated support vessels. Thus, Task Groups are often identified by the role of that command ship: Carrier Groups, Destroyer Groups, and so forth. Size varies: a Group can be as small as three or four ships (a Line in Imperial terminology) or as many as a dozen. Because of the heavy focus on a single ship, Task Groups are named after the command vessel; they are typically led by either a Commodore or a Captain, depending on the unit's size.

Fleets

Originally, the Alliance Fleet was a single fleet, kept constantly in motion to avoid being targetted by the Imperial Navy. With the membership of Mon Calamari however the Fleet began to grow, and was divided into multiple Fleets - some assigned to defend Alliance homeworlds and sectors; others deployed to harass and combat the Empire.

• First Fleet - the remnants of the original Alliance Fleet. Granted, it is like a fisherman's knife with a dozen new blades and several new handles - very few of the original ships or personnel remain, most having been killed during the Battle of Endor - but it is still proud of it's heritage.

• Second Fleet - established soon after Mon Calamari joined the Rebellion, the Second Fleet is the defense force assigned to protect the Mon Calamari Sector.

• Third Fleet - after constructing ships to defend their homeworld, the Mon Calamari turned their attention to more offensive objectives. Commanded by Admiral Reshmar, the Third Fleet has been involved in every major engagement since Endor, including the liberations of Sullust and Bothawui, and the ongoing military action at Kashyyyk.

• Fourth Fleet - originally a flotilla of reserve ships left at Sullust after the liberation, the Fourth Fleet has been expanded - in no small part due to the efforts of the SoroSuub Corporation - into a full fleet. Part of its role involves the defense of Sullust itself, but more recently it - Task Force 42 in particular - has become involved in the harassment of Imperial forces in the Outer Rim south of the Core.

• Fifth Fleet - though bolstered by Rebel forces after the liberation of Bothawui, the Fifth Fleet largely consists of what used to be the naval arm of the Bothan Defense Force. As one might expect, it's primary responsibility is the defense of Bothawui, and the Bothan Sector.

Support Services

Created as a separate branch when the Alliance was a fragmented and scattered organisation, Alliance Support Services encompasses everything needed to support and aid the efforts of the Rebellion. Originally, Support Services provided the personnel who operated and maintained Rebel strongholds such as Echo Base, and the facility on Yavin IV; with the Alliance now boasting numerous homeworlds from which to operate however, many of those bases are now operated by the local Sector Forces.

Currently, the bulk of Support Services is focussed in three key areas: logistics, medical, and construction. Support Services maintains a fleet of freighters and transports, used to distribute supplies between Alliance worlds, and to support the efforts of the Ordnance and Supply Command. That same fleet also includes a number of medical frigates, which are often deployed to support military operations on the front lines of the Galactic Civil War.

Lastly - but by no means least - Support Services also coordinates with various groups to ensure that the Alliance Fleet is equipped with the starships and starfighters it requires. Much of the actual construction of vessels is outsourced to private companies like the SoroSuub Corporation, Mon Calamari Shipyards, and Slayn & Korpil, though the agency does maintain direct oversight of Alliance Underground Engineering, which supervises the current operations on Mustafar.

Starfighter Corps

Originally, the Alliance Starfighter Corps was established as an independent entity within the Alliance High Command. In the early days of the Rebellion, starships were few and far between, and so the Alliance was forced to rely on starfighters capable of hyperspace travel to conduct it's attacks against the Empire.

As the Fleet grew however, the need to isolate the Starfighter Corps reduced; and in fact, that isolation became counterproductive. In order to streamline the interaction between navy and starfighter personnel, the two were brought under the same operational banner.

Despite this unification, the Starfighter Corps is still retains its unique rank structure, and continues to train and administer it's personel independently. Like Support Services, it can effectively be considered a pseudo-fleet; though unlike Support Services, it does not retain any starship assets for it's own use, relying entirely on either naval carriers, or hyperspace starfighters.

The Wheel

A highly classified and secret component of the Alliance Fleet, The Wheel is a rag-tag, fugitive fleet of transports and freighters that contains the exiled survivors of the Jedi Order. Forced to evacuate their enclave on Vortex by the Empire, they now remain constantly on the move, employing the same sorts of tactics that were used before Endor to keep the Alliance High Command safe. The Wheel is secretly defended by the Alliance Fleet: a small task force of starships is led by Commodore Vansen Tyree, including the elite Rogue Squadron.