risk. That solution is simply unacceptable."
Christos mulled on Jing's predicament while sipping his coffee. If we break up the fleets and spread our main fighting power throughout the Commonwealth, it would take time, even with faster-than-light gravity drive communications drones, to reassemble the fleet ready to face down any threat. If you don’t disperse the fleet, the only solution is to build new ships to cover the colonies. With the war all but over, Jing will be hard-pressed to get a budget for new ships approved, never mind finding the personnel to crew them.
Christos had never served under Admiral Jing personally, but his reputation preceded him. Jing was a planner. If he was here speaking to him, then he already had a solution in mind and was just waiting for the right moment to reveal it. Mrs. Brown and the admiral must have been cut from the same cloth, thought Christos.
"I take it you have a cunning plan, sir."
A lopsided grin broke Jing’s serious expression. "Well, of course I have, Christos. We’re going to speed up the construction of Fortress Command. Dedicated capital ship units will supplement the forts, with their fixed defenses. Smaller than the current fleets, we have protecting the major planets at the moment, but their lack of numbers will be offset by the added firepower of the forts. As and when the Colossus carriers come on line, they will become the core of a new type of fleet unit, one which hasn't been seen since the last major wet navy engagements of the late 21st century. The Carrier Strike Group,” he paused. “Each CSG will be completely self-sufficient. The Colossus carriers will carry a complement of seventy-two Mosquito space fighters, have their own dedicated escorts, and two complete BatFors to give them some added heavy firepower. In case there is a need for a surface action, the CSGs will have an integral marine element of one assault ship carrying a complete Marine Expeditionary Unit. As the CSG may have to operate at some distance from a fleet base, there will also be a fleet train of fast colliers carrying everything from food and water to missiles and reaction mass for the ion drives."
"That’s a hard-hitting package," said Christos, impressed by the admiral’s plans. "The reduction in the size of the standing fleets will free up the personnel and ships required to equip the CSGs. The Only problem I foresee, is if we start colonizing on a large scale, surely the CSGs can't be everywhere?"
Jing nodded sagely. "That’s where, unfortunately, we must live within our means, Christos. There’s no way we can build and crew enough CSGs for every world we’re going to colonize. So, I've come up with a stopgap solution. It’s not perfect by any means, but we'll just have to make do. As you know, running a single Bismarck battleship is an expensive business. Just the routine maintenance, never mind upgrades, costs a small fortune. My bean counters tell me for every battleship I put into mothballs or cancel construction of outright I could build and run four light cruisers. So that’s exactly what I intend to do."
Christos snapped his fingers as he realized what Jing intended. "You’re taking a leaf from the old colonial navies of Earth’s books. You cannot have battleships everywhere but you can send independent cruiser squadrons on long cruises where they do multiple port visits of the colonies. Basically, you’re going to fly the flag and if the cruisers come up against anything too big to handle, they call up a Carrier Strike Group who bring in the big guns."
Jing sat back with that grin on his face, watching Christos work through the plan in his head and after a few moments’ thought, Christos was ready to ask his next question.
"So if you’re going to have these cruiser squadrons running around the colonies, presumably they have to have a central base to work out of, say, within a single sustainable fold, giving them a maximum area of operations around 5000
Christos mulled on Jing's predicament while sipping his coffee. If we break up the fleets and spread our main fighting power throughout the Commonwealth, it would take time, even with faster-than-light gravity drive communications drones, to reassemble the fleet ready to face down any threat. If you don’t disperse the fleet, the only solution is to build new ships to cover the colonies. With the war all but over, Jing will be hard-pressed to get a budget for new ships approved, never mind finding the personnel to crew them.
Christos had never served under Admiral Jing personally, but his reputation preceded him. Jing was a planner. If he was here speaking to him, then he already had a solution in mind and was just waiting for the right moment to reveal it. Mrs. Brown and the admiral must have been cut from the same cloth, thought Christos.
"I take it you have a cunning plan, sir."
A lopsided grin broke Jing’s serious expression. "Well, of course I have, Christos. We’re going to speed up the construction of Fortress Command. Dedicated capital ship units will supplement the forts, with their fixed defenses. Smaller than the current fleets, we have protecting the major planets at the moment, but their lack of numbers will be offset by the added firepower of the forts. As and when the Colossus carriers come on line, they will become the core of a new type of fleet unit, one which hasn't been seen since the last major wet navy engagements of the late 21st century. The Carrier Strike Group,” he paused. “Each CSG will be completely self-sufficient. The Colossus carriers will carry a complement of seventy-two Mosquito space fighters, have their own dedicated escorts, and two complete BatFors to give them some added heavy firepower. In case there is a need for a surface action, the CSGs will have an integral marine element of one assault ship carrying a complete Marine Expeditionary Unit. As the CSG may have to operate at some distance from a fleet base, there will also be a fleet train of fast colliers carrying everything from food and water to missiles and reaction mass for the ion drives."
"That’s a hard-hitting package," said Christos, impressed by the admiral’s plans. "The reduction in the size of the standing fleets will free up the personnel and ships required to equip the CSGs. The Only problem I foresee, is if we start colonizing on a large scale, surely the CSGs can't be everywhere?"
Jing nodded sagely. "That’s where, unfortunately, we must live within our means, Christos. There’s no way we can build and crew enough CSGs for every world we’re going to colonize. So, I've come up with a stopgap solution. It’s not perfect by any means, but we'll just have to make do. As you know, running a single Bismarck battleship is an expensive business. Just the routine maintenance, never mind upgrades, costs a small fortune. My bean counters tell me for every battleship I put into mothballs or cancel construction of outright I could build and run four light cruisers. So that’s exactly what I intend to do."
Christos snapped his fingers as he realized what Jing intended. "You’re taking a leaf from the old colonial navies of Earth’s books. You cannot have battleships everywhere but you can send independent cruiser squadrons on long cruises where they do multiple port visits of the colonies. Basically, you’re going to fly the flag and if the cruisers come up against anything too big to handle, they call up a Carrier Strike Group who bring in the big guns."
Jing sat back with that grin on his face, watching Christos work through the plan in his head and after a few moments’ thought, Christos was ready to ask his next question.
"So if you’re going to have these cruiser squadrons running around the colonies, presumably they have to have a central base to work out of, say, within a single sustainable fold, giving them a maximum area of operations around 5000
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