The Unified Ionian Navy, also known the Ionian Star Fleet or simply known as the UIN, is the Ionian League‘s naval warfare force, responsible mostly for naval warfare and operations in space, and one of the two uniformed services of the Ionain League. The Unified Ionian Navy is one of the largest branch of the Unified Ionian Military, with over 3,500,000,000 active service personnel and one of the stronger navies of the Eastward Rim, with four active sector fleets comprised of five battlefleets per-sector, numbering over 6,000 roughly warships and a number of mothballed reserves.
The branch was formed after the enactment of the Emergency Military Act of 3340, where the Common Navies of the Ionian system states were merged into a single centralized navy under the direct command of the Emergency Naval Committee. The modern Unified Ionian Navy took shape in the wake of the Trillian Concordance with the Unified Military Act of 3347 which replaced the Emergency Naval Committee with the modern Ionian Naval Assembly. Steadily evolving over a century of growth and expansion, the Unified Ionian Navy has become the single largest branch of the Unified Ionian Military and plays one of the largest defense roles in the Ionian League.
Since 3398 the UIN have undergone a rapid period of transformation and modernization under the New Navy Modernization Program, bringing the UIN into the 35th century with an array of new warships. Under the helm of Grand Admiral Mellas, and with a firm alliance with the neighbouring powers of the Covenant of Edom and the Gaennid Empire, the Ionian Navy has turned its eyes to the Warden Line, patrolling the tense border between Ionia and the Empyrean See; constructing new listening post, defense stations and ordnance depots.
Table of Contents
History
Establishment & Great Ionian War
The Unified Ionian Navy can trace its history back to the Great Ionian War of the mid-3300's between the powers of Ionia. Formed following the Siege of Foslara, the new Unified Ionian Navy was intended to bring together the disparate naval forces of the Ionian League's member states and form a unified naval body to counter the state navies of the Dominion of Pagathar and the Kingdom of Ithasseia.
The speed with which the Unified Ionian Navy was readily formed and reorganised was among the crowning achievements of the Ionain Government during the war. The rapid speed with which it was able to reorganise not only its navy but its entire military enabled it to effectively launch a counter attack a scant year later in 3340. Under the command of Grand Admiral ---, the Unified Ionian Navy went on to fight in every major theatre of the war, earning numerous victories and playing a crucial role in the reinvigorated war effort of the Ionian League.
By the end of the war, the Unified Ionian Navy was one of the largest standing naval bodies in the entire Eastward Rim, with nearly two hundred or three hundred vessels in active service.
Peace of Arsithos
With peace secured with the signing of the Trillian Concordance on October 11th 3345, the Ionian League found themselves in possession of an over inflated Unified Ionian Military. The War in the Dependencies set the tone for naval policy over the next three to four decades as piracy and slaving within Ionia had risen exponentially in the wake of the Great Ionian War, thus the post-war Ionian Navy saw more and more deployments into the frontier’s of Ionian space tasked with commerce protection, policing and anti-piracy operations.
The enactment of the Unified Military Act in 3347 cemented the Unified Ionian Navy’s place within the greater Ionian League, and saw a number of dramatic changes, including the official amalgamation of the Ionian League’s common navies. Most prominently was the change in operations command; the Emergency Naval Committee that had overseen naval operations throughout the Great Ionian War was turned into an official body; the Naval Assembly.
With external threats to the Ionian League slowly diminishing by the 3360’s, older and much larger capital ships of the Ionian Wars era were slowly mothballed. By the outbreak of the Third Krassani War in 3378 the oldest serving capital ship in the Ionian League was the Erikon-class Battleship. The Ionian Navy continued to shrink as its role shifted further from an offensive force capable of large scale deployment to a quick reaction force to internal threats and humanitarian aid. However, by the mid 3390’s, following the establishment of the People’s Coalition and the Empyrean See’s increased interest into territories east of the Ihalan Spiral, the Naval Assembly began the New Navy Modernization Program, one of the much larger New Military Modernization Programs ushered in during the latter half of the 3390's.
The New Navy Modernization Program intended to augment the navy with new lines of warships with better and more advanced naval technology, and increase the navy’s overall fleet size from 300 to 600 by 3415. Production on new lines of warships began as early as 3390, with the first New Navy warship finishing field testing in 3392; the Mikrós-class Corvette. Following the Mikros’ successes it was followed by the Pillikari-class Heavy Frigate, Krotos-class Fleet Destroyer, Hyperion-class Battleship and Diokles-class Command Ship. Other already existing Ionian warships such as the Velis-class Light Frigate and Tylela-class Heavy Cruiser underwent complete refits to meet the tech standards of the New Navy programs.
Tensions in the Rim
With the establishment of the Peripherian League in 3397, the direction of the Ionian League's defence policy shifted away from the Eastward Rim and to its larger, and historically expansive neighbour; the Empyrean See. Over the next twenty years, the Unified Ionian Navy constructed numerous way stations and listening posts across the Ionian League's section of the Warden Line, the crux of their network housed at Ord Higris at the mouth of the Illian Corridor. An entire naval battlegroup is assigned to the defence of the corridor alone, under the command of one of the Ionian Caldera's designated Rear Admirals.
Structure
The central administrative body for the Unified Ionian Navy is the Ionian Naval Bureau, which is under the leadership of the Chief of Naval Operations, a position held by one of the five Fleet Admirals of the UIN. Simultaneously, the Chief of Naval Operations is the senior member of the Ionian Naval Assembly, a gathering of the leading admirals throughout the Ionian Navy that holds a direct advisory role to the Minister of Defense in matters of maritime security and naval strategy. The Chief of Naval Operations is responsible for organizing, recruiting, training, and equipping the Unified Ionian Navy to maintain operational readiness.
There are six components in the operating forces of the Unified Ionian Navy: Unified Navy High Command, Ionian Fleet Command, Unified Navy Special Operations Command, Ionian Navy Expeditionary Warfare Command, Office of Naval Intelligence, Ionian Termini Maritime Security Command and the Central Naval Logistics Office.
The Ionian Unified Navy has more than four active sector fleets and thirty active battle fleets across Ionian space, spread across it’s four sector commands. Each fleet command possesses three common branches dedicated to supporting each other, as well as supporting the overall Navy: a Fleet Force Command, a Naval Star Fighter Command, and a Naval Infantry Corps.
Naval Assembly
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Operational Structure
Ionian naval forces are divided into a number of times into a myriad of numbered units varying in size and scale. The largest of these formations is the Sector Fleets, these tend to be large formations of warships, though they seldom patrol together; single ships are commonly seen patrolling throughout Ionian space. These fleets are further divided into Battle Fleets, Battle Groups, Squadrons and Sections. The most common of these formations is the Battle Groups, which are formed on an as-needed basis and vary dramatically in size from three ships to large carrier groups. Battle groups are flexible fighting organizations that can be “plugged together” into arranged task forces. A squadron is a group of warships that is smaller than a Battle Group yet larger than a Section, and a Section is the smallest naval formation in the Unified Ionian Navy, usually deployed on long range patrol missions throughout the borders of the Ionian sectors of command.
Ranks & Ratings of the Unified Ionian Navy
Enlisted Ratings
Voidsman
Armsman
Non-Commissioned Ratings
Senior Armsman
Chief Petty Officer
Warrant Officer
Officer Cadets & Commissioned Officer Ratings
Midshipsman
First Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Lieutenant
Lieutenant-Commander
Commander
Captain
Commodore
Rear-Admiral
Vice-Admiral
Admiral
Fleet Admiral
Participants
Naval Expeditionary Service
The Naval Expeditionary Service, often abbreviated as I-NES, is the central state funded exploratory organization of the Ionian League charged with charting new Jump Routes and Termini Corridors, as well as safe guarding Ionian colonial interests within the Dependencies and abroad. I-NES works in conjunction with local branches of the Human Continuity Project operating within the Eastward Rim in the exploration and further expansion into the Breadth as well as charting new worlds and protecting a number of independent planetary states local to the Ionian League and its Dependencies.
Naval Aerospace Operations
Naval aerospace operations within the Unified Ionian Navy are conducted primarily by the Ionian Star Fighter Corps,
Corps of Naval Infantry
The Ionian Corps of Naval Infantry are an amphibious, specialised light infantry force of commandos, capable of deploying at short notice in support of the Ionian League’s military and diplomatic objectives across the void. The Ionian Naval Infantry are organised into a number of highly mobile light infantry brigades and a number of separate units. The Corps operates in all environments and climates, though particular expertise and training is spent on amphibious warfare and expeditionary warfare. The Ionian Naval Infantry Corps have seen action in a number of wars, often fighting beside the Unified Ionian Army; including in the Great Ionian War.
Naval Special Operations Forces
Ionian Pathfinders
The Naval Pathfinders are the elite special forces branch of the Naval Infantry Corps, and usually act on behalf of the Office of Naval Intelligence.
Objectives
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Operations
Shore Establishments
Shore establishments support the mission of the fleets through terrestrial and orbital facilities. As of 3400, those established shore command elements are the Naval Systems Command, Naval Training Command, Ionian Naval Academies, Naval Office of Personnel, Bureau of Naval Medicine, Office of Naval Astronomy, Office of Meteorology, Office of Oceanography, and Naval Engineering Standard Command. The Unified Ionian Navy also supports a number of naval training schools across the Ionian League such as the Ossyria OCS and Maheras Academy of Military Science on Foslara.
Ordnance/Regional Depots
Ordnance/Regional Depots are major Ionian naval instillation found in a number of key systems throughout Ionian Space. These stations serve either as hubs for local battlefleets, or as the command and control centres for the Ionian sector fleets. Five key Ordnance/Regional Depots exist at each of the major Termini links in Ionian Space, or within close proximity of, ensuring Ionian control over the vital Termini Corridors and ensuring the continued flow of goods and people to and from the five sectors of the Ionian League.
Space Operations Fleet
Ships-of-the-Line
Dreadnought
Diokles-class Tactical Command Ship
Battleships
Hyperion-class Battleship
Fleet Carriers
Melicerties-class Fleet Carrier
Ships-of-the-Lance
Cruiser
Tylela-class Heavy Cruiser
Neapioch-class Light Cruiser
Escort Carriers
Ukos-class Escort Carrier
Destroyers
Krotos-class Fleet Destroyer
Frigates
Pallikári-class Heavy Frigate
Velis-class Light Frigate
Corvettes & Cutters
Skiá-class Prowler Corvette
Mikrós-class Corvette
Support Craft
Prónoia-class Troop Transport
Assodosia-class Mobile Triage Centre
Sfyrí-class Mobile Shipyard
Small & Transport Craft
Small Attack Craft
Machaíri-class Interceptor
Aktis-class Strike Fighter
Vrochí-class Tactical Bomber
Atriox-class Heavy Bomber
Aerospace Craft
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Tran orbital Craft & Vessels
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Funding
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Criticisms
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