Solar Navy (Telkevan Union)

The Solar Navy is the naval and aerial service branch of the Telkevan Armed Forces. It is the most technologically and strategically sophisticated of the AFRE and is regarded as the cornerstone of the military, being responsible for both attaining control over the skies and transporting and supplying the other three branches of the armed forces.

The modern iteration of the Solar Navy was established during Grand Marshal Tagara's reforms following the founding of the Telkevan Union. Due to the fledgling empire's replenished population and military, the Solar Navy received priority during rearmament, and adopted a doctrine emphasis quality-over-quantity and overwhelming speed & firepower. Though the Solar Navy has grown substantially since then, it maintains this doctrine, and continually strives to maintain an edge over its rivals. It has played a pivotal role in the Great War, in which the navy's doctrines have been primarily shaped by its experience with the Empire of Diablos.

The Solar Navy is administered by the High Marshal of the Navy, who holds a seat on the High Chamber. The current high marshal is Ilivaris Kindasi.

Founding
The Solar Navy was established a few decades prior to the Kovas Wars of Unification, making it the youngest of the service branches. At its inception, officials still disagreed over how to best implement military starships, leaving the Solar Navy's doctrine in a state of limbo for several years, after which time it settled on a doctrine inspired by oceanic warfare, with fleets spearheaded by carriers and destroyers, with a relatively small numbers of cruisers. This left them relatively under-equipped against the Nolsarians, whose extensive use of anti-aircraft weapons nullified much of the Telkevan's carrier forces.

When High Marshal Tagara seized control and reformed the military, she restructured the navy, merging both the Air Force and Solar Navy into one branch and placing greater emphasis on warships, introducing both battleships and dreadnoughts while moving carriers to a supportive role. As the empire began to rebuild, the Solar Navy received priority funding and research over the other branches to make up for the empire's diminished population. This proved to be vital in the Delusar conflict, in which the Solar Navy, though outnumbered, devastated the Delusar navy in most engagements. From then on, the navy would continue to be a pioneer in military design and doctrine.

Nepharian Cold War
In 3465, Marshal Ilivaris Kindasi was appointed as High Marshal of the Navy. Ambitious and energetic, Ilivaris set out to reform and modernize the Solar Navy, which had by this point utilized a hybrid force of bruiser and long-range 'artillery' vessels. Shock strike tactics, which had been sporadically employed by some officers for the past several years, were made into an official doctrine as Kindasi began to slowly phase out bruiser vessels in favor of vessels emphasizing firepower and maneuverability via improved subspace drives. These reforms began to bear fruit as the empire settled into a cold war with the Nepharians, whose use of long-range vessels convinced some of the more conservative members of the admiralty that current doctrine was starting to become obsolete.

Air Commissioned Officer Ranks
A vessel's strikecraft forces are organized with their own officer corps. They are subservient to their naval and army counterparts and coordinate closely with either one depending on their current objectives.

Departments
Departments support the missions of the Solar Navy. Some are branches of the Department of Military Research & Development. Notable departments are as follows:


 * Starship Design Department - The SDD is responsible for designing new starships and all related components, including weapons.


 * Shock Strike Department - A creation of High Marshal Ilivaris Kindasi, Shock Strike focuses solely on improving the Solar Navy's shock strike capabilities while improving their defenses against those same tactics when used by the enemy.


 * Night Studies Department - Created following the First Battle of Norsus, the Night Study is responsible for developing and implementing Void-based technology, most notably Void FTL drives.

Battle Doctrine
See also: Telkevan Battle Doctrine

Battle doctrine places heavy emphasis on speed, medium-to-long-range firepower, and control over the electronic battlefield. The Solar Navy aims to resolve conflicts before the enemy can properly respond and reinforce their positions, necessitating both proper planning, accurate intelligence, and officers capable of pressing the offensive. This became a necessity against the Diabs, as their warships, though often outnumbered, tend to outperform Telkevan vessels in prolonged battles of attrition. Dominance in electronic warfare enables fleets to employ shock tactics with impunity and safely deploy their heavy vessels such as battleships and dreadnoughts. Shock strikes are employed against an enemy's most vital tactical assets, namely capital ships and carriers. The role of strikecraft is primarily defensive, with fighters and interceptors defending their allies from munitions and hostile strikectraft. Bombers, however, are employed offensively; if the fleet closes the gap with their target, bomber squadrons, supported by fighters, are sent to eliminate the sub-systems of enemy vessels, such as weapon systems and engines.

Boarding operations are generally only performed once the target vessel has been rendered immobile and unable to retaliate. The aim of most boarding operations is to acquire intelligence from a vessel's computers, capture officers, and if necessary, capture the vessel itself for study. The Navy, though providing transportation and having the equipment necessary to cripple a vessel, does not perform the boarding itself, the role instead being delegated to the Marines and Central Intelligence.

Equipment
See also: Arsenal of the Telkevan Union, Warships & Aircraft of the Telkevan Union

Naval design philosophy emphasizes quality over quantity to supplement its doctrine of rapid engagements with minimal casualties. This oftentimes leads to Telkevan fleets and air squadrons being smaller than those of their adversaries; to compensate, ships and aircraft are designed to engage and/or survive a multitude of threats.

The navy currently uses eight classes of warships:


 * Corvette: Corvettes are not considered true warships, but instead operate as superheavy strikecraft. Operating either with strikecraft or in independent squadrons, corvettes are primarily tasked with eliminating strikcraft, frigates, and destroyers.
 * Frigate: Frigates are the smallest true naval vessels. Most modern frigates are designed to support larger warships, though a few have been developed for independent operations.
 * Destroyer: Destroyers comprise the bulk of the navy's front line warships. They are filled to the brim with weapons for engaging as well as cannons for providing orbital artillery to ground forces.
 * Cruiser: Cruisers are the mainstay capitol ship. They often lead squadrons of destroyers in battle and are equipped with hangar bays.
 * Carrier: Carriers are divided into three categories depending on their cargo: troop carriers, strikecraft carriers, and all-round carriers, which carry both ground and air units, albeit not as many as their specialized variants. Though they typically avoid fighting on the front line, instead deploying wings of bombers and fighters from within their formation, they are equipped with a modest number of weapons and possess durable armor and shielding.
 * Battleship: Battleships are heavily armed and armored capitol ships that often serve as flagships and as linebreakers. Like cruisers, they can be armed with hangar bays, though some vessels eschew hangars as they can be a structural vulnerability.
 * Dreadnought: Dreadnoughts represent the zenith of Telkevan naval power, boasting unrivaled durability and firepower among their contemporaries. Dreadnoughts are few and far between due to the resources required to build and maintain them and are thus only assigned to prominent fleets.
 * Star Base: Star Bases are an unorthodox classification comprised of space stations that have been built for combat. They are mobile weapons platforms that play an array of roles, such as logistics, carrying stikrcraft and corvettes, repairing capital ships, and providing fire support during an engagement. Star bases can vary considerably in size, with the largest exceeding most dreadnoughts, though they seldom take on the role of flagship.