Naval Ranks

[Eamon]

Why do I believe only Grand Admirals should have the authority they do.
First,looking at the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries most of the land taken was pure junk. Most of these colonies were taken by military, colonial officers and even private individuals trying to advance their own personal interests. The resources spent defending them did not equal what was taken. Also these private adventures led to potential and actual conflict with other major powers.
Second,Napolean had his aide de camps ride with him during his battles. These senior officers would listen to his instructions and learn his intentions on how he wanted to conduct the battle.
They would then be dispatched to the differnt commands on the battlefield.They would assume command of a division,corp,or wing during the battle.Even taking command from generals that outranked them.These generals were not relieved of the responsebility for their units,but would follow the aide's orders.The aide would be in operational control until the battle was over or a new aide was sent. This was an early form of command and control and ensured the battle was conducted according to a single plan.
I believe the Emperor would desire a similar system.There would only be 100 Grand Admirals at most,all selected by the Emperor.
The Admirals would go though their regular career progessions of schools,field assignments,commands,Staff and War colleges.Then at the rank of Vice-Admiral they would start the selection process to include security checks,psi-scans,testing,wargaming.The Emperor would make his final choice,picking 0 to 5 each year.
Most Grand Admirals during peacetime would be on Captial going to briefings,wargaming,schools, or leave.The rest could be assigned to Operational Areas,going to and from assignments, and acting as a Super Inspector-General with the authority to see anything concerning the Imperial military and civil administration.
When deployed from Captial they would have a cruiser as their flag ship and an escort (all would be jump-6).On board would be his personal aides,a Vice-Admiral as his COS, an Operations Center for 24/7 operations, personal bodyguards in addition to other security troops,liasions from other services, and enough equipment to establish a mobile ground based HQ.
This ensures that the Imperial military would the war as a complete strategic plan and not in each commanders local interests.

 

[vegascat]

Similar to the idea that we keep all the generals in the pentagon unitl a war breaks out, then send em out to do what they can. Problem with that on the imperial scale, distance equals time. The Grand Admirals need to stay in the front sectors where bad stuff will happen. By the time Core learns about an invasion, it should be over, or it's time to get out of Dodge. The battle is won or lost on the front line, the war is won or lost at home. In this case, home would be the sector, a Dukes domain. The Grand Admirals would need to work in conjunction with the core, mostly to protect the flanks.
A sector would be like the Russian Front. A battle will affect the course of the war, but not wil or lose it. The distances are too great. The Russian Front drained the Nazis of their war fighters allowing other fronts to be opened up and exploited. If the Nazis weren't so tied up with Stalin, then they could have concentrated against each foe separately.
Grand Admirals would control a sectors forces, like a Field Marshall. Against most opponents, only one Grand Admiral would be needed. The imperium would have just a few, matching the number of Dukes.
As for being an inspector general, he would have a corp dedicated to that job. To make sure everything was war capable, and to kill corruption, would be a full time job for a separate command, not just one man.

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In the end, Murphy will rule

 

[rancke]

Originally posted by vegascat:
The Grand Admirals need to stay in the front sectors where bad stuff will happen.

ISTR a mention somewhere to the effect that there hasn't been a Grand Admiral of the Marches in the last 500 years. Not surprising considering that the last two wound up as emperors. If this is so, it may apply equally to other grand admirals. So the only grand admirals would be the ones on Capital.

Hans

 

[Simon Jester]

Originally posted by rancke:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by vegascat:
The Grand Admirals need to stay in the front sectors where bad stuff will happen.

ISTR a mention somewhere to the effect that there hasn't been a Grand Admiral of the Marches in the last 500 years. Not surprising considering that the last two wound up as emperors. If this is so, it may apply equally to other grand admirals. So the only grand admirals would be the ones on Capital.

Hans</font>[/QUOTE]

The way I've always run it IMTU is that Grand Admiral is a rank while Grand Admiral of the Marches is a position, much like General Eisenhower was SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander EURope), but with more power due to the communications lag.

I equate Grand Admiral of the Marches to be equal to a Viceroy, possessing Imperial Powers and answering only to the Empreror. Since no Emperor would give anyone this level of power without trusting them beyond all reason, It's not a position likely to be filled except in the most dire circumstance.

The only one I can think of would be a full invasion of the Imperium by the Zhodani & Company at the same time the Solomani Confederation started up another Rim War to recover Terra and whatever else they could get their hands on. Yes, I realize that that was one hell of a run-on sentence but so what

The Emperor might feel compelled to personally lead the forces on one front, but also felt he had to assign someone to lead the forces on the other front. Someone granted enough authority to command obedience from both the military and the nobility in the area. But also someone that could be trusted to set aside that power when the Emperor told him to. That's the one the Emperor frets the most about.

Simon Jester

 

[vegascat]

I see the idea behind having Grand Admirals as holding the line and conducting the war until the Emporer arrives, if he arrives. It will take a year or more for him to arrive in the frontier areas. How much can be lost in that time without someone to handle an invasion crisis? If all of the Grand Admirals are at the core, then the Spinward Marches could be lost by the time the Admiral arrived to take charge.
Sometimes, you have to trust the man on the spot to do his duty. You had better mke sure that you can trust that man.

 

[PapaGolfWhiskey]

Isn't that the Duke or ArchDuke's job?

Aren't the local Noble's (especially the titled ones) supposed to be the Emperor's representives?

 

[trader jim]

i understand that in the navy you can refer to officers as Mr. sometimes, is that considered a rank???

how bout HEY YOU SWABBIE - is that considered a rank???

can you use these in traveller???

 

[trader jim]

any, i repeat any modern hi-tech war is fast or
will be fast. speed and mobility are the two KEY words!! all movement will be controlled and fast.
violence will be deadly, wars could last just days or weeks. therefore - senior combat commanders should always be near "hot spots"
command decisions will have to be made on the spot.

 

[Simon Jester]

Originally posted by trader jim:
i understand that in the navy you can refer to officers as Mr. sometimes, is that considered a rank???

how bout HEY YOU SWABBIE - is that considered a rank???

can you use these in traveller???

The address Mr. is used somewhat informally pretty much only by seniors to juniors or by members of equal junior officer ranks among themselves.

There are, and are going to be, a great lot of Ensigns, Lieutenants and Lieutenant Commanders aboard major warcraft. The use of the address Mr. is both a timesaving tool, a social lubricant (stop that, you've got a dirty mind) and simply a whole lot easier to remember and say.

The phrase, "Hey, you, swabbie!" is not a rank, it's an invitation.

Simon Jester

 

[Eamon]

Reply to Vegascat on Grand Admiral
First, there are Grand Admirals in the field serving in the Operational Areas on an as needed basis.These Operational Areas are the actual or potential combat zones.Remember the Grand Admirals are the only ones allowed to conduct offensive operations outside Imperial borders. There would still be Admirals in Domains and Sectors that would respond to attacks within Imperial borders by conducting offensive and defensive operations.
Second, there would be a Inspector General as an organization that would be responsible for the regular inspection of Imperial forces. But from personal expericence these inspections are worthless as a judge of a unit's combat capability. A Grand Admiral could order the evaluation of a unit under field conditions.
He could order additional training or relieve the unit commander. This would be actions the Inspector General would not directly be allowed to do. The Grand Admiral could use this authority to make sure his assigned forces can do what the reports claim they can. The Emperor could assign him to find out what is happening in certain areas of the empire since he has the authority to investigate the military and civilian administrations including the Archdukes.

 

[vegascat]

Inspector Generals do hae more than staged inspections. You are correct in the idea of a staged inspection not being a good judge of combat readiness. It is to see how well the unit commander uses his troops and how well maintained the equipment is. Those are gauges of combat readiness in an indirect way. Watching exercises in progress is a better gauge, but harder to do and more time consuming.
I have been through many of both.