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The Wasted World of Gunnery Sergeant DeShane
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 Post subject: National Background
PostPosted: 16 Dec 2008 13:29 
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Sergeant Major of the USMC
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Joined: 23 May 2005 16:49
Posts: 5244
Location: Wandering the Wastes
National background.

_________________
Benno the Mad Wrote:
man, you gotta realise that thor and bos fell out of the patriot tree (like the ugly tree, but instills patriotism instead of ugly) and hit every branch on the way down.


"Gone now, dispersed by the brutal destruction of this one day, was the belief that the Darkman and his army of the dead were so superior as to be invincible. By attempting to destroy the morale of the Marines, the Darkman had restored it to full vigor. Dia De La Muerto had failed in its objectives."
The Gunny: Stand of the 300

Si vis pacem, para bellum
If you want peace, prepare for war

Gunny's color #FF2400


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PostPosted: 17 Dec 2008 01:00 
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Sergeant Major of the USMC
Sergeant Major of the USMC
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Joined: 23 May 2005 16:49
Posts: 5244
Location: Wandering the Wastes
History

The United Stellar States has a long and distinguished history in space, including the Exodus from Old Earth, the landing on New Earth, and the first probes to the new solar systems around New Sol, among others. The latest example, the United Stellar States was the first nation without a colonial interest in the Roman Republic to battle the Denevans.

The United States on Old Earth was devastated when they discovered that the planet was about to rearrange itself and put the South Pole right in the center of the nation. Although the nations had recovered from World War 3 it seemed nothing had changed. When the United States informed the rest of the planet about the impending doom they were laughed and ridiculed off the stage at the UN building. The President knew he had no choice but to heed the warnings of the American scientists about the coming disaster. Any other action would lead to the extinction of the American way of life. He turned to his then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Eric Noah, and directed the military to find a way to evacuate the planet. What was settled on was sleeper ships designed to keep the colonists in stasis sleep till planetfall on the new world. When word got out about the plan the rest of the planet laughed and ridiculed the United States saying they were wasting their time and treasure on a fool’s errand. The citizenry of the United States saw this ridicule and backed their government and proudly named the new ships “Noah’s Arks.’ Knowing full well what happened when doubters called the first Noah a fool for building his Ark.

By the mid-24th Century America had finished the Arks and began to load their citizens. Once again the American leadership pleaded with the rest of the planet to build their own Arks to escape the impending doom heading their way. Nothing had changed in the last twenty years and once again the US was denigrated and laughed at. Secretly the rest of the nations were joyous the Americans were actually going to follow through with their claim and leave Earth behind. They all secretly lusted after the resources located on that continent. As the United States finished loading the Arks they destroyed their stockpiles of strategic weapons and watched as the first squatters began to move in on the vacated lands. As they watched the looters began to squabble amongst themselves over who should get the choice leftovers. While the squabbling escalated to open warfare between the powers remaining on the planet the beginning of the cataclysm arrived. Sol entered a particularly dense nebula. This caused Sol to dim by approximately 5% in solar output, which in turn caused the polar ice caps to expand in record speed. Within two years a new ice age had begun.

Then the real cataclysm arrived. As predicted the Earth reversed its magnetic alignment and American probes left in the home system watched as rivalry lead to war and soon nuclear-armed neighbors began destroying each other’s cities. In the midst of the growing wars and turmoil the Cataclysm arrived and the world was laid waste.

With the added weight on the poles now out of synch with the magnetosphere of the planet the poles began to move with ever increasing speed to the new magnetic positions of North and South. The planet tumbled on its axis and almost every volcano in the world exploded together, throwing massive quantities of dust into the air. Earthquakes that defied any previous categorization of scale flattened entire nations and gave birth to new seas and new mountain ranges. The ice caps were thrown into the tropics and melted almost immediately, sending vast floods to engulf much of the planet’s surface, wiping it clean of a great majority of land-based life. The dust from the volcanoes prevented sunlight from reaching the surface and helped accelerate the new Ice Age as the new poles built up enormous ice caps that stretched over the rest of the globe. Eventually turning the planet into one giant ice world that would take tens of millennia to recover, if at all.

The American colonists remained in stasis for seven thousand long years. The caretaker crews and their families lost all education beyond their duties to care for the sleeping citizens. By the time the sleeper ships reached New Sol the caretaker civilization resembled nothing like anything the sleepers had known. All knowledge had been lost and they were no more than biological computers carrying out their programmed function to care for the sleepers.

Frozen for seven long millennia the sleepers vowed that never again would they lose a homeworld and strove to make the United States of America A strong Stellar power as the new United Stellar States of America. But, they realized America was alone and would be forced to develop its own interstellar drive system or be forever confined to the New Sol System. When the exodus arrived in the New Sol system it was decided to begin the new date 2000 N.E. By 2134 NE the Atheri had come calling and offered to help the young star nation develop its own star drive, for certain trade concessions, of course. Eventually the Atheri became a close ally of America, and both star nations jointly developed a successful Jump Gate drive system powered by American Tri-Admantanium.

The successful establishment of American colonies led to a modest expansion of America’s space forces, which were renamed the United Stellar States Star Navy in 2175 NE.

The formation of the United Stellar States Star Navy was an act of Congress in 2175 NE at the urging of the President. Upon formation the USSSN (shortened to the acronym USSN) drew its personnel largely from the Wet Navy, but it requested and received significant transfers from the Air Force, and Army. For most of the 22nd Century NE the USSN was largely a colonial defense force equipped with frigates and a few destroyers. However, America found its forces increasingly outclassed by other star nations, and with its considerable tri-admantanium resources from New Idaho, began a crash build program to regain parity.

For most of the USSN’s history it consisted of a few anti-piracy vessels, Star Fighters, and escort ships, but that all changed in 2276 NE when the American Party rode a wave of patriotism during the New Era’s Bi-Centennial celebration of America’s birth and was elected the majority party in the Senate and House of Representatives, one of their primary platforms was the rebuilding of America’s military and the formation of a Star Navy second to none.



Relations

Media: The United States does not have direct relations with Media, but their allies and rivals strain the relations between the two nations. Median relations are strained over American rivalry with Deneb, a close ally of Media. Further strain has been added by the fact that America is a major arms supplier to the Roman Republic, and has close political relations with the Atheri. The USSN monitors Median shipping towards the Rim from Roman space, and shares intelligence with the Atheri and Romans about Median military activity.

Atheri Empire: the Atheri Empire is America’s closest ally in space, and the Atheri and her colonies are America’s second largest trading partner. Both star nations have actively cooperated in space since the late 21st Century NE, and have jointly explored and opened the galactic rim for colonization. American-Atheri economic and military links are very close, and both nations’ forces frequently use each other’s facilities in American space, while the USSN consults and coordinates its defense planning with the RASN.

Roman Republic: American relations with the Romans are friendly, and both star nations cooperate with each other whenever possible. Trade and communications links with the Roman colonies is well developed, and American mining corporations have a large presence in Rome’s mining sector, while trade is growing. American mega-corporations are major investors in the Roman national and colonial economies, and America is a major arms exporter to the Republic. The USSN shares intelligence about Median military activity with its Roman counterpart.

American relations with Rome have been close since the 22nd Century NE. Today relations remain close, only the Atheri is a closer ally than Rome. Both countries are major investors in each other’s national and colonial economies, and Rome is America’s largest trading partner. American forces frequently use Roman facilities in their space, and have begun planning possible operations with the powerful RAC in defending against the Denevans. The RAC shares intelligence about Media and Deneb with the USSN and guards the approaches to American space; while Rome is the only star nation that America is willing to help to establish a colony on New Idaho.

Deneb: American relations with the Denevans are uniformly bad, principally due to continued Denevan claims to the Roman planets on their border. America covertly supports anti-Denevan rebels throughout their conquered star systems, particularly Endros, while the USSN heavily monitors the Denevan space activity at its shared orbital facility with the Atheri and passes intelligence on to Rome about Denevan shipping near the Atheri Border.

Ch’thpch: American relations with the Ch’thpch are cordial, although neither country has quite forgotten how their rivalry led to the Ch’thpch War at the end of the 21st Century NE. America views Ch’thpch intentions in space with some suspicion since the Ch’thpch has developed a sophisticated defense capability and is expanding its star forces with alarming speed. The Ch’thpch are also developing close links with the Denevans, and have reincorporated the breakaway Ch’thpch Republics into their political sphere once again. Ch’thpch interference in the Atheri Empire has also begun to concern America and others countries about Ch’thpch motives.

Wegman-Yamashiro Corporation: The giant Wegman-Yamashiro Corporation is a significant player in space in its own right. W-Y until recently owned the world of LV-426. W-Y has a major presence in the American and Roman colonies, while in the other star nations it is the most visible symbol of America. Wegman-Yamashiro is heavily involved in America's tri-admantanium mining industry, which has given it the financial resources to build the largest non-governmental merchant fleet in space.



Organization and Bases

Units are organized by Flights and Squadrons for Fighters, and Divisions, Squadrons, Task Group, Task Force, and Fleet Commands for ships. Flights are 4 Fighters while 1 Squadron consists of 3 Flights. Divisions usually consist of 2 or more combat vessels, Squadrons are larger formations consisting of several divisions. A Task Group is only organized when a mission is needed. Then a Task Group is organized from the requisite Divisions it is felt that are needed for the mission to succeed. Task Forces on the other hand is the administrative headquarters that parcels out the Divisions to any Task Groups that have been formed. A Fleet Command is every US Starship and Spacecraft operating in that region of space. Currently the Fleet Commands are the Earth/Core Command (ECC) based at Offutt SFB, New Earth, the Atheri Border Command (ABC) based at Mahan SFB, New Idaho, the Roman Border Command (RBC) based at Sullivan SFB, New Iowa, and the Ch’thpch Border Command (CBC) based at Nimitz SFB, New Alaska. The USSN is also constructing a major base on New California and it will be the logistics hub and repair base on the Roman Border and is seeing a massive influx of Americans and their equipment. Most Fleet Commands have several Divisions, Squadrons, and Task Forces assigned.

The USSN is headquartered at Offutt SB near Omaha, New Earth. The USSN also shares many facilities with the USAF, USMC, and NASA, including Minot Star Force Base on New Dakota, Vandenberg SFB on New California, McCarthy SFB on New Florida, and Kaneohe Bay MCAS/SFB on New Hawaii. The USSN has many offworld facilities; the major bases include Offutt SFB at New Nebraska, Nimitz SFB New Alaska, Sullivan Station at New Iowa, and Mahan SFB at New Idaho.

Offutt SFB is located in orbit above New Earth. Offutt SFB is a massive spherical construction with 120,250 USSN, 20,000 USAF, 5,000 USMC, and 2,500 Star Guard personnel. It has extensive docking, logistics, and repair facilities. This base is the current homeport for the New Earth/Core Command (ECC), and as such it is the homeport for the bulk of the USSN ships in the core. This base coordinates all U.S. activity with its allies. The United States also has a considerable ship construction industry, which despite the recent expansion of the USSN is larger than it needs.

America’s excess yard capacity is used to build ships, largely commercial freighters, for other star nations, which helps America to keep up with modern ship construction without having to build large numbers of ships of its own. Adjacent to Offutt SFB is the large Aldrin construction yard, owned by the USSN, but operated by Mid-Lothian and New Bath Ironworks; this is where many USSN capital ships are built. Wegman-Yamashiro owns and operates a large star yard at the L-5 LaGrange point in New Earth Orbit. It is used for commercial and military construction. In the orbit of New Boston, New Bath Ironworks operates a huge complex of construction facilities used for both commercial and military ship construction. At New Iowa, W-Y is constructing a huge new multi-slip starship construction yard.

Numerous facilities are under the command of Offutt SFB. Adjacent to Tranquility, the American colony on New Luna is Armstrong SFB. Armstrong has a USMC training facilities and a survival school for all the services crews and pilots, the base also stores US Army, USMC, and USSN ordinance and vehicles for deployment to locations outside of the solar system. Major USSN New Earth solar system facilities include the Lovett Star Fighter Training School on New Titan (used by all the services and to train other star nation’s pilots), the Conrad Hostile Environment Training School on New Mars used by the USSN, USMC, and the US Army. The USSN along with her allies the Atheri and the Roman Republic operates a series of early warning bases and minefields to guard and warn against Median and Denevan incursions.

On New Idaho’s moon of New Boise is the huge Mahan SFB, which guards the approaches to the Atheri border and the tri-admantanium mines of New Idaho. Because of the importance of New Idaho to America’s economy and national security, the defenses in the New Idaho system are formidable. Mahan SFB is the largest American military facility outside of the Core and hosts 200,000 USSN, USAF, and USMC personnel. Mahan SFB is also the Fleet command center for dozens of defense installations stretching across the Atheri border, including early warning stations, logistic bases, armed sensor drones, and orbital repair yards.

The USSN also has small orbital defense stations at New Iowa, New Tennessee, New Kansas, and New Wyoming, while there are USSN bases on large asteroids in the New Maine and New Louisiana systems. The USSN and USAF operate the Chaffee Fleet Training Facility in New Durango orbit, with a smaller training facility at New Boise, and at New Laramie in the New Wyoming system. The USMC also has a training facility at Zephyr, a satellite moon of New Tampa in the New Florida system, while there are also USMC bases at New Roanoke, New Bakersfield, and New Earth. The USSN and NASA operate the Deep Exploration station and they are building a refueling station in the New Arizona system to aid the exploration of the Beta Comae Berenices sector.

The USSN is responsible for the defense of all USSA territory and assets outside of geosynchronous orbit, this includes all US flagged vessels and any vessel operating in American space. The USAF is responsible for state and colonial planetary aerospace defense out to geosynchronous orbit. This sometimes leads to USAF and USSN craft working together, such as in OQC duty. The USSN has large resources that it can draw upon in time of war. The assets of the USAF, USMC, NASA, and ARMY can all be conscripted in time of war, the US government also pays a stipend to civilian merchants in peacetime, and in time of war these vessels can be drawn into the USSN for the duration of the war. Independent merchant vessels as well as Wegman-Yamashiro and many other large Mega-Corporate entities receive this stipend. The USSN has access to large numbers of all manner of vessels in time of war.

Most nations rely on their star force crews for ship maintenance at the core, colonies, and space stations, but the USSN uses a combination of the ship’s crews, USSN Reservist and civilian technicians, this practice is a holdover from the NASA and Naval roots. The USSN also has two sets of ship’s crews, Blue and Gold for each ship, missions are often many months and sometimes years in length and when a crew returns to their home base their vessel undergoes repairs by both crews and then the rested crew takes the vessel back out on a new mission, the resting crew has an extended leave and then maintains their edge by using simulators.

This two-crew system is a holdover from the US Navy submarine personnel that were transferred to the USSN at its formation. The USSN is also unique in its use of reservists; over half of the USSN is made up national guardsmen and reservists. Most ships have a small crew of full time personnel that maintain the ship’s readiness with the rotation of the reservist and guard members. Oddly enough it is the capital ships that have the largest number of part-timers; the fighters and patrol craft are almost entirely reservist operated: the Close Escorts have the smallest number as they embark on long anti-raider patrols.

The 820th Reconnaissance Regiment, a Marine Special Forces and security Regiment was transferred to the fledgling USSN and was re-designated the 820th Stellar Security Forces. Since the formation of the USSN the 820th Stellar Security Forces have been greatly expanded and can be found at every USSN space station. The 820th forms the Navy’s Shore Patrol security forces of the USSN and known as Eight-Two-O’s. The Eight-Two-O’s have had a great deal of practice in spaceship boarding tactics in the anti-piracy sweeps of the USSN and are some of the best in American space. On the other hand, because of the spread out nature of the Eight-Two-O’s, orbital drops have not been conducted in over a century. The Marines are very good at planetary assaults and boarding actions and these roles bring them in frequent contact with the Eight-Two-O’s.

The Eight-Two-O’s and USMC train extensively together in boarding and drop operations. The Eight-Two-O’s are the ones who provide the Marines with forward observers to direct orbital ground support.


Tri-Admantanium & Technology

America is a tri-admantanium rich nation, producing a tri-admantanium surplus that is largely directed towards the expansion of the USSN and the construction of civilian freighters. Most American tri-admantanium comes from New Boise in the New Idaho system, which has the largest known tri-admantanium resources in American space. Smaller quantities of tri-admantanium are also mined elsewhere along the Eastern Roman Corridor, and at New Bakersfield, New Mars, and from beneath the New Iowa Sea on New Earth. America is a major industrial power with a large shipbuilding industry, and has the technological capability to produce a full range of warships and equipment. Practically all USSN ships and weaponry are American designed and built.

The United States Stellar Navy has gone though a remarkable transformation in the last thirty years, from a thrid rate colonial defense force to a first rate star force as well trained and equipped as any in any alien empire. The USSN has seven large ship-manufacturing slipways and five large ship repair bays at Collins Construction Yard. Of the construction slips, two are devoted to very large ships such as the America’s and New York’s, three are devoted to the construction of Revolution, Indianapolis, and McCarthy class Cruisers, and two are committed to the construction of Fletcher class Destroyers and Perry class Frigates. Currently the Idaho occupies one of the largest two slipways, the San Diego is under construction in the other; the Cowpens, New Madrid and the Reagan are in the Cruiser slips, and the Ainsworth and McClusky are under construction in the Destroyer slips.


Attritional vs. Maneuver Warfare

There are two main theories that govern space warfare; attrition and maneuver. Attrition warfare stresses the use of shields and armor and of always being the more durable force. The Median MSF is a typical example of one designed with attritional warfare in mind. The opposite view stresses the use of speed to achieve what is called in USSN Doctrinal Speak; ‘Dominant Maneuver’. This allows ships to concentrate strength against isolated enemy pockets, driving in attacks quickly, so as to minimize the damage taken. It was this path the Americans took in their ship design.

The USSN initially used a very extreme form of maneuver doctrine, influenced by their experience in operations against pirates. The ultimate aim of the design is for speed and sensor superiority, anything else is secondary to this. Thus the McCarthy class has no armor, no shields and for most of the time her point defense weapons are powered down. The McCarthy’s operate by locating isolated enemy vessels, driving at high speed and releasing missiles at the opportune moment. Timed correctly, the missiles will strike before the enemy sensors have activated to paint it for the point defense.

In this manner, US tactics are similar to Atheri or Denevan tactics. However because of its light armor, the McCarthy’s can find themselves in great difficulty if the attack goes wrong. Screening fighters and missiles can rake the ships with fire and a poor commander can misjudge his run, especially if facing an unknown adversary. It was just this that caused the loss of USS Clinton with all hands in the Arizona System to raiders.

If executed successfully this tactic has proven very effectively. McCarthy’s cannot stand in the battleline as a conventional Cruiser can, as much as US politicians would like them to, but they often act as ‘cavalry’ for American task forces; scouting, screening and providing vanguards and rearguards. Future designs will stress more armor and better survivability but for now the McCarthy’s excellent skippers make the most of the strengths of the design while doing their best to avoid potentially catastrophic close combat.


Starships

The new America class starships are designated as BB(S) and will be the flag of most Task Forces and above. The New York class starships were originally designated as CA(S), but have since been re-designated as BC(S) and until the America class enters service they are the largest vessels in the USSN and are usually the flag of a squadron or Task Force. The Essex class is the first CV(S) to enter USSN service and uses many New York parts. The Revolution, Indianapolis, and McCarthy classes are all missile cruisers, CG(S) for the Revolution, CCG(S) for the Indianapolis’ and CGL(S) for the McCarthy’s. The Des Moines class ships are USSN-Reserve starships and have recently been down rated from CA(S) to CL(S).

The Fletcher class is designated as a DDE(S) and is designed to escort heavier ships. The Perry class ships are designated as FF(S) and are also designed to escort heavier ships. The Knox class is designated as a DDE(S) and with the Des Moines class, was the combat backbone of the USSN till the introduction of the Revolution Class. All three ship classes, the Fletchers, Perry’s, and Knox’s are escorts for larger ships such as Revolutions, New York’s, and America’s.

_________________
Benno the Mad Wrote:
man, you gotta realise that thor and bos fell out of the patriot tree (like the ugly tree, but instills patriotism instead of ugly) and hit every branch on the way down.


"Gone now, dispersed by the brutal destruction of this one day, was the belief that the Darkman and his army of the dead were so superior as to be invincible. By attempting to destroy the morale of the Marines, the Darkman had restored it to full vigor. Dia De La Muerto had failed in its objectives."
The Gunny: Stand of the 300

Si vis pacem, para bellum
If you want peace, prepare for war

Gunny's color #FF2400


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