The Imperial Navy

[Timothy Collinson]

Hi there,

This arrived today.  Looks great.

There's a whole chapter on The Role of the Navy which has some pertinent bits but before I type out great swathes, let me know if you both have it.

Some bullet points:

- "the role of the navy is to serve as a political instrument for the leaders of the Third Imperium"

- i.e. "it exists to ensure that whatever needs doing gets done"

- "this is a rather vague mission statement"

(in addition to more formal missions)

- "in addition, powerful Imperial nobles often try to use the navy to further their own agendas or increase their prestige"

Presence

- "the most basic role of the navy is to be present" (show the flag)

- "The navy is far more 'present' in a system where minor vessels occasionally carry out a patrol or land a few personnel for liberty at the starport [hah!] than in one where a force of battleships lurks unseen in the outsystem"

- "Presence has a stabilising effect in local politics [hah!  he typed, laughing like a drain] and tends to improve economic conditions as commercial shipping is perceived to be safer"

- "Firing on any part of the Imperial Navy means firing on all of it" [presumably this goes for personnel as much as ships although the context is the latter]

Then it has a section on Law Enforcement and Internal Security which would be *really* relevant for our purposes if it were the other way round.  But it talks about the Navy enforcing law rather than local law enforcement dealing with the Navy.  Unfortunately.

Then there's a section on Diplomacy and Soft Power Projection which doesn't quite help but has some nearly adjacent points:

- "Diplomats and political leaders understand the language of fleet movements and 'friendly visits' and will come to an understanding without anything explicit being said or written" [which might argue against a Section 678 and quite so much formality I guess]

In a section on Intervention and Peacekeeping there is a bit about influencing events sometimes entirely *in* space and sometimes *from* space - attacking military installations from orbit and then:

- "In some cases direct intervention on the ground is necessary.  Many naval personnel receive special 'Naval Regiment' training for such ad-hoc intervention.  If it is at all possible, the Imperial Marine Corps conducts intervention on the ground, backed up by forces from the Imperial Army as needed" [so there is room for our Navy crew to 'act' as well as our Marines]

- "At the same time [as peacekeeping missions], diplomats attempt to create an environment biased towards peace and stability" [oh how I laughed...]

- "The navy can be a powerful tool in this regard, creating an incentive for the local factions to restrain their more hot-headed members"

- "Essentially the navy makes it inconvenient for the factions to do anything and they cannot get rid of the naval presence by making trouble.  This creates an incentive to return to peacetime conditions."

I'll stop there until I know whether you have the book or not.  I'd say it's worth getting for the Plankwell campaign as good background of course, but I doubt it's *necessary*.  But I've spent all of ten minutes with it thus far.

cheers

tc

[Timothy Collinson]

oooh, there's a bit much later on (p.35) about the "transition from command to flag rank" if we ever get to Plankwell being promoted.... ;-)

(Jim might also like the paragraphs on Admirals for information).

Tiny bit on Carriers and Tenders which might be useful (p.46) and fighters (pp.55-56)

chapter on Naval Operations - but too space based for our immediate use in this situation

chapter on Shipboard Operations which may be very useful if not right now

ah, there is a section on Noble Influences (pp.130-131) but its really about nobles influencing individuals (and their children) in the Navy, not Navy types interacting with them as we are.

It does seem there's a whole chapter 'missing' (perhaps unsurprisingly) that Jim would now be well placed to write!)

Conrad might particularly like pp.135-136 on Navy Life.  Also some medals to win - pp.142-144 (with illustrations, so Megan will be pleased!)

Section on The Naval Regiment and chapter on Naval Procedures I ought to read and note but it's getting late, it's my (32nd!) wedding anniversary and I'm going to call it quits!

Section on Staff Duty includes "Administrative and Legal - perhaps the dullest branch of staff work..." [hah!  It's just about to get interesting for them!]

(also Public Relations and Recruitment - p.141)

tc

--

Timothy Collinson

Faculty Librarian (Technology)

University of Portsmouth

Cambridge Road

Portsmouth
PO1 2ST

023 92843224
timothy....@port.ac.uk
https://library.port.ac.uk/index.html

[Conrad Rader]

On Thu, Dec 21, 2023 at 1:29 PM 'Timothy Collinson' via plankwell-pbem-s1 <plankwel...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Hi there,

This arrived today.  Looks great.

There's a whole chapter on The Role of the Navy which has some pertinent bits but before I type out great swathes, let me know if you both have it.

Some bullet points:

- "the role of the navy is to serve as a political instrument for the leaders of the Third Imperium"

- i.e. "it exists to ensure that whatever needs doing gets done"

- "this is a rather vague mission statement"

(in addition to more formal missions)

- "in addition, powerful Imperial nobles often try to use the navy to further their own agendas or increase their prestige"

Presence

- "the most basic role of the navy is to be present" (show the flag)

- "The navy is far more 'present' in a system where minor vessels occasionally carry out a patrol or land a few personnel for liberty at the starport [hah!] than in one where a force of battleships lurks unseen in the outsystem"

- "Presence has a stabilising effect in local politics [hah!  he typed, laughing like a drain] and tends to improve economic conditions as commercial shipping is perceived to be safer"

- "Firing on any part of the Imperial Navy means firing on all of it" [presumably this goes for personnel as much as ships although the context is the latter]

[[AH HA!! I knew I was justified... technically, look every one makes an issue of the Plankwell name, now that it might be actually working for me, everyone else seems to be forgetting that Jewell security forces just shot a Plankwell....]]

Then it has a section on Law Enforcement and Internal Security which would be *really* relevant for our purposes if it were the other way round.  But it talks about the Navy enforcing law rather than local law enforcement dealing with the Navy.  Unfortunately.

Then there's a section on Diplomacy and Soft Power Projection which doesn't quite help but has some nearly adjacent points:

- "Diplomats and political leaders understand the language of fleet movements and 'friendly visits' and will come to an understanding without anything explicit being said or written" [which might argue against a Section 678 and quite so much formality I guess]

In a section on Intervention and Peacekeeping there is a bit about influencing events sometimes entirely *in* space and sometimes *from* space - attacking military installations from orbit and then:

- "In some cases direct intervention on the ground is necessary.  Many naval personnel receive special 'Naval Regiment' training for such ad-hoc intervention.  If it is at all possible, the Imperial Marine Corps conducts intervention on the ground, backed up by forces from the Imperial Army as needed" [so there is room for our Navy crew to 'act' as well as our Marines]

- "At the same time [as peacekeeping missions], diplomats attempt to create an environment biased towards peace and stability" [oh how I laughed...]

- "The navy can be a powerful tool in this regard, creating an incentive for the local factions to restrain their more hot-headed members"

- "Essentially the navy makes it inconvenient for the factions to do anything and they cannot get rid of the naval presence by making trouble.  This creates an incentive to return to peacetime conditions."

 

[[HA HA!! Coupled with the shoot-one shoot-all doctrine, I think Imperial Intervention is much more assured, even if it is a massive C'mon, I DARE you, and then FAFO]]

I'll stop there until I know whether you have the book or not.  I'd say it's worth getting for the Plankwell campaign as good background of course, but I doubt it's *necessary*.  But I've spent all of ten minutes with it thus far.

cheers

tc

I do have the ebook version, and I have skimmed it a little, will do some more in-depth reading of interesting sections

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[Conrad Rader]

I will read up on the appropriate sections, but for now, Karneticky gets his feet held to the fire on the welfare of Abbonnette!!

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[Timothy Collinson]

On Thu, 21 Dec 2023 at 20:37, Conrad Rader <conrad...@gmail.com> wrote:

I will read up on the appropriate sections, but for now, Karneticky gets his feet held to the fire on the welfare of Abbonnette!!

Excellent!

And glad the notes helped dig out the PDF!  Enjoy!

tc