You are a Subsector Fleet Admiral

[Hal]

Hi Guys,
I thought I'd spice things up a little with an exercise <evil grin>

The location: Lunion Subsector

Situation: YOU are the Lunion Subsector Fleet Admiral. Your job is to patrol the subsector with the following assets:

Usually remain in the Lunion Subsystem as the Flag Admiral's ship.
1 Heavy Cruiser
1 Fleet Escort
2 Close Escorts

DesRon 1:
3 Fleet Destroyers

DesRon 2:
3 Fleet Destroyers

Independent Commands:
6x Escort Destroyers
20x Type T patrol cruisers

Fleet Elements within the Subsystem of Lunion are all based within the four naval bases located within Lunion, which are:

Capon
Lunion
Adibicci
Strouden

Your task as the Fleet Admiral, is to determine where these ships will be assigned their area of operations.

Without getting too deeply into the whys and wherefores of which ships are expected to perform their yearly maintenance, or when ships are to recieve their liberty and so forth, the purpose of this thread is to determine where those ships should be sent on patrol operations, and why.

For instance, Adibicci, a relatively low tech world (as compared against Lunion and/or Strouden for example) has a high enough population on its world to have its own planetary naval force, and possibly its own "Colonial Fleet" structure. As such, it would not be required to be patroled. That and the fact that Imperial Fleet squadrons are based there, make it highly unlikely that the subsector fleet assets will be required to patrol the area.

Given:
Patrol Cruisers utilize a different crewing solution than do Destroyer Escort or Destroyer ships. Crews swap out of the Patrol cruiser every 5 months, giving them a 5 month cruise, with 1 month base assignment. Each crew therefore ends up serving 10 months per year on a cruise assignment, and 2 months of base assignment (which incidentally, includes R&R and training assignments for individual crew members). Thus, at any given base, there will be both monthly arrivals of a patrol cruiser, and within 1 week, that same patrol cruiser will leave base with its new crew for its next 5 month duration assignment.

The purpose of this exercise, in addition to stirring up interest in this section of the forums, is to also make operations of the subsector navy come more into focus and hopefully, feel more alive for your own Traveller Universe.

 

[rancke]

1 Heavy Cruiser ~MCr 47,545
1 Fleet Escort ~ MCr3,335
2 Close Escorts ~ MCr575
6 Fleet Destroyers ~ MCr13,230
6x Escort Destroyers ~ MCr4,420
20x Type T patrol cruisers ~ MCr4,420

Grand total of MCr73,495 = Naval budget of ~ MCr 7,400

First I'd ask the duke why my budget was less than two thousandth of the duchy's GWP[*].

Then I'd ask why I was spending two thirds of my minuscule budget on my flagship.

Then I'd ask where my couriers were. Not necessarily those flashy jump-6 Fleet Couriers the IN has, but communication is of vital importance to the efficiency of a fleet, and I'd like some jump-4 couriers, please.

[*] Lunion's GWP, rough estimate:

Adabicci (800,000,000 TL11 = Cr14,000*800 million): MCr11,200,000
Lunion (8,000,000,000 TL 13, In = Cr18,000*1.4*8,000 million): MCr201,600,000
Persephone (900,000,000 TL 10 = Cr12,000*900 million): MCr10,800,000
Strouden (9,000,000,000 TL 13, IN = Cr18,000*1.4*9,000 million): MCr226,800,000

Grand total of 450 trillion credits. Of which the Imperium receives roughly 4 trillion for its military (20% less once the TL13 credits have been converted to TL15 credits).

Note: I should have factored in the exchange value of Adabicci's and Persephone's credits compared to TL13 credits, but I didn't bother.​

Hans

 

[scrabble]

The purpose of this exercise, in addition to stirring up interest in this section of the forums, is to also make operations of the subsector navy come more into focus and hopefully, feel more alive for your own Traveller Universe.

That is a noble purpose, but I think that what will actually happen is that will have people arguing about costs, complaining that the fleet structure is broken or unrealistic or unsustainable, arguing about the books written on the subject and how they could have done better, and it will all end in flames and being locked (I see that this has already started).

Might I suggest that we just stick to the OP's parameters and answer his question, and forego the usual nitpicking and complaining about what he asks? Or are we just going to get the tired old arguments of how people's "freedom of speech" is being oppressed if I ask that?

 

[Mithras]

No, no, ranke has a good point that Hal isn't spending enough! He gets more High Guard bang for his buck. By the rules.

Lets get it spent on more stuff and start handing out patrol orders ...

 

[rancke]

Might I suggest that we just stick to the OP's parameters and answer his question, and forego the usual nitpicking and complaining about what he asks? Or are we just going to get the tired old arguments of how people's "freedom of speech" is being oppressed if I ask that?

Certainly not from me. As far as I'm concerned, you're perfectly entitled to suggest anything you want. To tell you otherwise would be to oppress your freedom of speech, and we can't have that, can we?

I dare say my first remark was superfluous, since Hal already knows that I think a duchy navy of the size he envisages would be a joke, but the other two remarks addressed aspects of the situation that he might not have considered. Still, if Hal asks me to butt out, I will. I hope he knows me well enough to know that I wouldn't take offense.


Hans

 

[rancke]

No, no, ranke has a good point that Hal isn't spending enough! He gets more High Guard bang for his buck. By the rules.

Lets get it spent on more stuff and start handing out patrol orders ...

well, given the situation, I'd decommision my flagship (or sell it to a planetary navy small enough not to be buying its ships by the squadron) and buy some couriers .


Hans

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

I love Staff College!

Wow, now this is a cool thread. I hope to have some interesting things to contribute, but my first response is that perhaps those parties suggesting the addition of some Type-S couriers are not entirely out of line.

In contrast though, I would like to point out that if it becomes a situation that requires lots of info going back and forth, such as a war or major cosair activity, as Subsector Admiral von Thornwood, I activate the Subsector IISS and TDY a bunch of Scouts to my Fleet (per standard IN policies, protocols, inter-service agreements and the Book) and put them to use.

Now, unless I really need to be jetting about space, I would put the Heavy Cruiser to work showing the flag along any Borders (sorry, I don't have my Nav charts with me, will have to check them later, but I seem to recall the Swordies being too damned close...), after that I use it as propaganda tool for IN recruitment and to let the worlds of the Subsector see the Might of the Imperial Navy and why their world's Megacredit taxation contribution is important. Never forget at this level half of the job is politics. :devil:

Otherwise PTs do what PTs do best, patrol, hunt pirates, show the flag, occasional customs pickets and the like. The destroyers are stationed a key tactical worlds for Jump to problem systems, with occasional flag tours.

That is my basic thoughts on the matter at hand. More should be forth coming, but sadly RL has Misjumped and I am plotting a course to the nearest Class A for repairs and refit.

Still cool thread, thanks.

In the Service of the Empire,
I remain,
Magnus von Thornwood,
Lieutenant, IN.

 

[rancke]

Wow, now this is a cool thread. I hope to have some interesting things to contribute, but my first response is that perhaps those parties suggesting the addition of some Type-S couriers are not entirely out of line.

In contrast though, I would like to point out that if it becomes a situation that requires lots of info going back and forth, such as a war or major cosair activity, as Subsector Admiral von Thornwood, I activate the Subsector IISS and TDY a bunch of Scouts to my Fleet (per standard IN policies, protocols, inter-service agreements and the Book) and put them to use.

I think that if a situation bad enough to warrant mustering the IISS assets arise, you won't be doing the activating, you'll be coordinating with the regular Fleet Admiral (or his Chief of Staff) about how you can assist the Imperial Navy, and the IN will be doing the mustering.

Now, unless I really need to be jetting about space, I would put the Heavy Cruiser to work showing the flag along any Borders (sorry, I don't have my Nav charts with me, will have to check them later, but I seem to recall the Swordies being too damned close...),

I'm sure an entire real live Heavy Cruiser prowling the border will give the Sacnoth Admiralty many sleepless nights.


Hans

 

[Commander Truestar]

Personally I like Admiral Von Thornwood's ideas though I too would scale down the flagship for couriers. Given the presence of an Imperial Navy Fleet in the subsector I would find my issues to be both political and action based.
First, use of my assets would be based on what My Duke needs from me and how I can interface with IN assets.

I would mostly Let the IN deal with the Swordies, assigning some DE's to communications and patrol integration with of IN forces in their AO's to enhance their real-time data awareness and cooperation. That would also go for systems where IN bases exist. The Imperium has made these hard points, no need to re-invent the wheel. Areas of the Subsector where the Imperials are likely to be more lax are where I would concentrate. Patrols and enforcement in the Spinward Main along the riftward part of the subsector.
Political missions would also be of importance where I would need to assemble a mixed Squadron under the Subsector banner and assign a mission. Other missions would include assets that the Imperial Navy can assign to cross force training where My Duke can use his authority to enforce training with planetary navies.

Of course, I can go on but you can see the roles that we would envision for our Subsector assets is going to be different too.

Marc

 

[Magnus von Thornwood]

*a hand raises*

Um, excuse me, gentlebeings, but this is an Imperial Navy Subsector Fleet Command we were given for this exercise, correct?

I seem to think it is something different than some of the others, or so it seems from some of the posts.

For instance, if I am the Subsector Admiral, then I am not in a Colonial Navy, and as Regular Navy, then I do not need to ask the Sector Fleet Admiral to task IISS to my Fleet.

This is where all those "Age of Sail" comparisons come in. See in that Age, as with the 57^th Century, I am in charge of seeing that the Empire is served by my actions, and more importantly, I was chosen for this position because my superiors believe I can be trusted to know what to do when the Balloon goes up all on my own. I really do not have time to push questions up the chain and then wait for answers to come to me. I must act as I am able.

Now as for the Duke, well, if you want to get technical about it, he is outside my chain of command. Ask Stanocheese, I mean it is pretty obvious that he did not consult with Norris during the 5FW. Now he did suffer the consequences, but there it is. So, yeah, when I can, if I can, if I think I can trust the Duke to be competent, then of course I consult with the local Noble(s). If I think that they wouldn't know a starship from a bath toy then I have some Commander or other placate them with something that looks like I am consulting with them and do what I must.

Just some more thoughts on the matter, reading the latest posts.

 

[rancke]

Um, excuse me, gentlebeings, but this is an Imperial Navy Subsector Fleet Command we were given for this exercise, correct?

Hal can correct me, but I'm pretty sure he's talking about the subsector navy mentioned in High Guard[*] (what I'd like to get people to begin calling the duchy navy). Which is an Imperial organization, to be sure, but not the Imperial Navy.

[*] And retconned out of existence in MT.​

For instance, if I am the Subsector Admiral, then I am not in a Colonial Navy, and as Regular Navy, then I do not need to ask the Sector Fleet Admiral to task IISS to my Fleet.

If you're the officer appointed by the duke to lead the duchy's navy, then you're junior to the subsector's Fleet Admiral. If you're the Imperial Navy officer in charge of an IN flotilla of the size Hal describes, then you're not an admiral; you'd be lucky to be a brevet commodore.

Now as for the Duke, well, if you want to get technical about it, he is outside my chain of command. Ask Stanocheese, I mean it is pretty obvious that he did not consult with Norris during the 5FW.

That's because Santanocheev was the Sector Admiral, presumably either appointed by the Admiralty at Capital or (this is my own belief) given a brevet appointment by Sector Duchess Delphine. In either case he was higher up the food chain than Norris. But as the countermix in FFW shows, Norris did, in fact, function as superior to the one-star admirals, presumably ex officio, since his IN rank before he became duke was, IIRC, commander.


Hans

 

[Ishmael]

I'd look closer at the naval budget.

It would appear that Mr. Ranke is using TCS rules for military budgeting, and I no longer own that, so I cannot double check it, however I'm certain Mr.Ranke would not apply them inappropriately. I do own Striker, which used identical ( or nearly identical ) rules for military spending, so I'll make comments based on that. Other rulesets from other versions might give different results.
From Striker, I disagree with the Mr. Ranke's assessment.

While the GWP as given in the earlier post is accurate, the idea that fleet budget is 10% of ship costs alone is incorrect and a probable reason why TCS is not considered 'canon' as far as how the Imperial economy works. If it is considered canon again, I would think it suspect because it'd have been in and out of canon multiple times.

Approximately 30% of a world's military budget goes to the Imperium for maintainence of ALL Imperial Forces; the navy gets about 60%, based on Striker, with the rest going to ground forces.
This budget gets spent on 3 things, hardware maintainence, crew salaries ( which include base/facility maintainence ) and future hardware procurement.
1. Hardware maintainence costs 10% of the new equipments' cost AND any equipment of a higher tech level than local costs 20% and requires double the maintainence points to repair.
2. Crew salaries which include base upkeep, civilian support personnel, pensions costs, etc. The amount paid for this affects the overall skill level and morale of the crews.
3. Procurement. Anything left over goes toward the purchase of new equipment or unit hardware/ships lost in battle.

 

[rancke]

From Striker, I disagree with Mr. Rancke's assessment.

While the GWP as given in the earlier post is accurate, the idea that fleet budget is 10% of ship costs alone is incorrect...

At 10% of cost to maintain it is already difficult to explain just what the money is spent on even if peacetime replacements are included.

Approximately 30% of a world's military budget goes to the Imperium for maintainence of ALL Imperial Forces; the navy gets about 60%, based on Striker, with the rest going to ground forces.

No, the planetary navies gets 60% on worlds with breathable atmospheres but 94% on worlds with vacuum or trace atmospheres. What the distribution is for the Imperial forces is not mentioned, but I think they would be more akin to worlds with vacuum atmospheres.

This budget gets spent on 3 things, hardware maintainence, crew salaries ( which include base/facility maintainence ) and future hardware procurement.
1. Hardware maintainence costs 10% of the new equipments' cost AND any equipment of a higher tech level than local costs 20% and requires double the maintainence points to repair.

Since I assume the duchy navy will be TL13, this makes no difference.

2. Crew salaries which include base upkeep, civilian support personnel, pensions costs, etc. The amount paid for this affects the overall skill level and morale of the crews.

Let's call it Cr30,000 (cost of long service professionals) per crewmember, shall we? The Heavy Cruiser from Fighting Ships costs MCr47,545 and has a crew of 492. So hardware maintenance would be MCr4,755 and personnel would be an additional MCr14.76 or 0.3%. Not much of a difference.

3. Procurement. Anything left over goes toward the purchase of new equipment or unit hardware/ships lost in battle.

Given a service life of 40 years, peacetime replacement would run to 2.5% of ship costs p.a. And if the Azhanti High Lightnings are typical, service life is considerably more than 40 years.

Battle losses would indeed cost a lot to make good, but if there's a war, presumably the budget will be increased. According to Striker, the 3% of GWP that I've based my figures of could be quintupled for the duration of the emergency.


Hans

 

[Commander Truestar]

Um, excuse me, gentlebeings, but this is an Imperial Navy Subsector Fleet Command we were given for this exercise, correct?

That would be my mistake!
I assumed that this was only a Subsector position as an Imperial Admiral assigned to operate their forces in a Subsector would, in the OTU and in MTU, have a much larger force.

So I assumed. Sorry

Marc

 

[Hal]

Hello Folks,
As Hans has correctly noted, this is NOT an Imperial Navy force, but what he likes to call the Duchy Navy or what I use from HIGH GUARD:


"To monitor the space lanes, the lmperium maintains a Navy. Because these forces can never be everywhere at once, local provinces (subsectors) also maintain navies, as do individual worlds. This three tiered structure of Imperial, subsector, and planetary navies produces a flexible system for patrolling space, while putting the limited resources of the lmperium to best use."

So, to reiterate, This is NOT the Imperial Navy with its BatRons and CruRons etc. It is not the Planetary Navy raised as colonial squadrons if they have jump capability, or as Static Planetary naval forces that never leave the confines of the system's boundaries.

Now, this is NOT a thread geared towards debating a budget. The Powers that Be never detailed the Traveller Universe in any great detail when it comes to the Subsector Navy, or Colonial Navies of various worlds or what have you. Striker's rules make sense to me in that they state that a given amount of a budget from a world is sent to the Imperium outright, and that the rest is retained for the world itself. One could argue whether that value should be 30%, 50% or even 90% in order to be realistic, and the argument would stretch on until the heat death of the universe

So, in an effort to bring some semblence of order into this mixture of conversation - not to tread on the right to speak one's mind as they see fit, but to get this exercise running a bit more smoothly...

The Budget of the Subsector Navy is sufficient to provide for reloads for expended munitions such as missiles and the like, pay the wages of those involved in the Subsector navy - be they military or civilian contractors or what have you, and the budget permits the maintenance of 20 Type T patrol cruisers, 8 Escort Destroyers, 7 Fleet Destroyers, 2 Close Escorts, 1 Heavy Cruiser.

Once you allocate the missions for those ships - of which 4 are considered to be the "Flag Squadron" of this outfit, we can then compare notes and say "Why did you allocate those ships to that mission task, and why didn't you allocate X, Y, and Z to this task?"

In short? The idea here is to explore just what goes on at the operations level of a Fleet Admiral involved in running not only his flag squadron itself, but the other 34 independent commands comprised of Type T patrol Cruisers and Escort Cruisers plus two Squadrons of Fleet Destroyers operating as a full fledged squadron.

Likely Ranks of those in command of ships:

Type T Patrol Cruisers: Lieutenants, or Lieutenant Commanders
Escort Cruisers: Lieutenants or Lieutenant Commanders
Escort Destroyer: Lieutenant Commanders or Commanders
Fleet Destroyers: Commanders
Cruiser: Captain

Now for the fun part. The officer running the entire show has to be the highest ranking officer directly accountable to the Duke of Lunion. As this is the entire Fleet for the Subsector, that leaves him with either:

Commodore

or

Fleet Admiral

As a Commodore to me implies the senior most Officer in charge of a CruRon, that seems to me that Fleet Admiral was the correct Rank to assign to the assets. Mind you, I didn't think that this was a major item of debate, but - at least by showing my thinking behind it, you can see what went on in my mind when I said "Fleet Admiral of the subsector navy"

Hopefully, this helps set the exercise back on its original intended track - that of "Decide where you would assign those assets of the subsector Fleet - and why.

Look at the Universal Planet Profile, check the population modifier. Look at the governments involved in each of the worlds. Then look at whether that world has the resources to maintain its own planetary navy. If the Traveller's Aid Society classification of a given world suggests that it should have a heavier presence with patrol craft, then so state and your reasons why <g>.

Gentlemen? The debate is on - how would you allocate your resources?

 

[Hal]

Wow, now this is a cool thread. I hope to have some interesting things to contribute, but my first response is that perhaps those parties suggesting the addition of some Type-S couriers are not entirely out of line.

As has been noted elsewhere - the need for packet ships and/or Scout/Courier class ships is defintely there. I myself am of a mind that the Navy should have its own packet ships rather than depending upon the IISS. Bill on the other hand, has raised a few points for which I am mindful, and will answer his question on the other forum when I've had a chance.

It may very well be, that with the number of Scout Waystations and Bases outright, that the IISS will have a number of their hulls flitting about here or there, and can be temporarily commandeered by the ranking Officer within the system in need of the IISS's services.

For now? Lets concentrate on the assets as given, and if packet ships should be added to the mix, we'll add them <g>. Nice catch there (and others who noted this as well).

In reality? One would presume that other "minor assets" would need to be fleshed out such as a hospital ship, or an armored munitions/cargo carrier - and other repair type craft would be needed as well. Those ships however, were never detailed to the best of my knowledge

So, lets see where this thread goes shall we?

 

[Hal]

While I think about it - the "directly accountable to the Subsector Duke" may have been a poor choice of words.

I'm more of a mind to think that the Subsector Duke might be the highest ranking civilian for whom the Subsector Fleet Admiral will have to deal with, the subsector Fleet Admiral probably fits in more closely with the "Reserves" of the main naval fleet.

Imperial Naval Fleet:
==> Subsector Fleet
==> Colonial Fleet

In times of war, it is my presumption that the Subsector Fleet AUTOMATICALLY becomes part of the Main fleet, while a colonial fleet must be imperialized before it becomes integrated within the command structure. But, any other presumption works as it was never detailed explicitely

 

[Ishmael]

Now, this is NOT a thread geared towards debating a budget. The Powers that Be never detailed the Traveller Universe in any great detail when it comes to the Subsector Navy, or Colonial Navies of various worlds or what have you. Striker's rules make sense to me in that they state that a given amount of a budget from a world is sent to the Imperium outright, and that the rest is retained for the world itself. One could argue whether that value should be 30%, 50% or even 90% in order to be realistic, and the argument would stretch on until the heat death of the universe

-snipped stuff-

Hopefully, this helps set the exercise back on its original intended track - that of "Decide where you would assign those assets of the subsector Fleet - and why.

Look at the Universal Planet Profile, check the population modifier. Look at the governments involved in each of the worlds. Then look at whether that world has the resources to maintain its own planetary navy. If the Traveller's Aid Society classification of a given world suggests that it should have a heavier presence with patrol craft, then so state and your reasons why <g>.

Gentlemen? The debate is on - how would you allocate your resources?

That'd be hard to do since I'd like to know the budget stuff to determine what my resources/fleet strengths are as well as the resources/fleet strengths possible for each world. Mr. Ranke and I would not agree with each other because I feel he greatly underestimates costs ( he seems to assume there will be only those ships and their crews in the squadron with no support or bases to maintain ) and I'm certain he feels I over estimate costs ( see his arguments in his previous post ).... but such things were never discussed in depth in the OTU ( unless you count Pocket Empires maybe ). So I'll drop this argument concerning fleet assets.

Apart from that, you should know what the squadron's mission is and what threats it might expect to encounter to have any idea of how to deploy it. At that point it simply becomes a wargaming problem.

 

[Hal]

The problem with budget discussions is that not everyone can agree upon what constitutes a proper budgeting system. GURPS STARPORTS for example, gives us rules on how to build starports based upon using the ship building rules outright. The assumption being, that starport buildings will have costs comparable to ship themselves. Whether or not this makes sense to anyone, it does bring into focus the problem of using the 10% maintenance fee and what that means to the bean counters. (and I don't mean that in a negative manner either)

A $15,000 car - does it require $1,500 in maintenance costs per year, or is it somewhat less than that? If so, then the 10% maintenance costs for equipment might in fact, be overstating it. Oil changes, lubes, and tire replacement tends to be the bulk of the maintenance costs, until later on, the cost of repairs up to $500 to $600 come into play. So, I'm not sure how to run a reasonable approximation of maintenance costs for equipment, let alone naval vessals.

None the less, if one assumes that the budgeting has been done already, and the powers that be have allocated the ships in the first post, then your task as the fleet officer isn't to do the budgeting nor to do threat assessments based on budgets (although you can do that too <g>), It is more about being able to create a patrol pattern for your subsector navy with the assets you do have, and see what is or is not possible.

 

[rancke]

Now, this is NOT a thread geared towards debating a budget. The Powers that Be never detailed the Traveller Universe in any great detail when it comes to the Subsector Navy, or Colonial Navies of various worlds or what have you.

That's all very well, Hal, but you can't avoid speculating about budgets. Take the Wardn system, for example. Do you need to patrol it or can it handle itself? It has a population of 50,000, GWP of MCr560, military budget of MCr16.8 according to Striker. But how does it allocate its budget? Does it spend more than the Imperial average on its military, lying as it does on the border towards a hostile power? If it spends 10% of GWP, most of it on its navy, then said navy could be a couple of patrol ships or several fighter squadrons. And is the GWP actually average? At this level the bell curve can really make its presence felt.

Striker's rules make sense to me in that they state that a given amount of a budget from a world is sent to the Imperium outright, and that the rest is retained for the world itself. One could argue whether that value should be 30%, 50% or even 90% in order to be realistic, and the argument would stretch on until the heat death of the universe

That's the one figure Striker spells out for us, so I don't see why we'd want to debate that. What is a lot more open to debate is the actual military spending (might the worlds in Lunion, lying right next door to a state that has been hostile for 500 years not spend a bit more than the average 3%?)

Another figure that we don't have, and one that's crucial to the validity of your thought experiment, is how the Imperial cut is apportioned between the duchy navy and the Imperial Navy. You apparently think that 0.3% to 99.7% is a plausible division. I can't say I'm able to follow you there. Even so, two of my three original remarks accepted that figure for purposes of argument.

But really, compared to the Imperial Navy and the big planetary navies, a duchy navy of the size you posit is essentially irrelevant. How do we know that Adabicci isn't on friendly enough terms with the Wardn government to station a squadron of Chrysanthemums (or TL11 Chrysanthemums-equivalents) there as a gesture of goodwill and to provide its officers with a bit of training, or that the merchants of Lunion haven't persuaded their government to put a picket in the system, or that the Imperial Navy hasn't put a picket there to protect the jump-1 traffic from Glisten to Mora[*]?

[*] :devil:​

The Budget of the Subsector Navy is sufficient to provide for reloads for expended munitions such as missiles and the like, pay the wages of those involved in the Subsector navy - be they military or civilian contractors or what have you, and the budget permits the maintenance of 20 Type T patrol cruisers, 8 Escort Destroyers, 7 Fleet Destroyers, 2 Close Escorts, 1 Heavy Cruiser.

I apologise for harping on this point, but do you really think that spending 2/3rds of the budget on one ship is an appropriate, not to mention plausible, thing to do?

Now for the fun part. The officer running the entire show has to be the highest ranking officer directly accountable to the Duke of Lunion. As this is the entire Fleet for the Subsector, that leaves him with either:

Commodore

or

Fleet Admiral

Or Rear Admiral or Vice Admiral (or, arguably, Admiral).


Hans