Fleet Evolution – The growth and change of Clan Snow Raven.
By standing mostly aloof of the growing political infighting that started to boil over during the Political Century the Ravens under the leadership of Khan Ewan McCorkell were well positioned when ilKhan Corian Tchernovkov proposed a series of efforts to calm inter-Clan tensions, one of which was the NWP or New WarShip Programme. Originally intended as little more than a thought exercise the NWP was supported by Clan Snow Raven as well as Clan Cloud Cobra, but it was less well received by other Clans who tended to view Aerospace assets as second cousins at best to OmniMech’s.
Other efforts included some technology sharing (such as recycling technology or farming equipment) but several Clans still sent Scientists to the various meetings and seminars related to the NWP.
Perhaps more successful than ever intended, the Clans came away with several designs that would eventually be produced, all-be-it fitfully and in an uneven manner, but again here, the Ravens took the lead, perhaps fearful their naval strength would be rivalled by any major building amongst the other Clans.
This lead to the solidifying of the ‘Two Clan Standard’ by the Raven’s leadership, a very deliberate decision to maintain the naval strength to fight and defeat the next two most powerful Clans naval forces, relying on the fleet as a guarantor of their strength and security.
To this end the Ravens would lay down and eventually complete the following ships over the period 2930 - 2968
Fredasa Class – 6 (One traded away)
Typhon Class – 5
Thebes class – 1
Bagration class – 2
Nightlord class – 1
This slow construction level was due mainly due to the way the Clans conducted ‘business’ as well as the more limited resources available in the Homeworlds and Kerensky Cluster which the Clans would in turn compete for. But this still meant that a ship was completed roughly every two and a half years which is still a considerable feat.
Heading towards REVIVAL and Fleet Revolution I
After the execution of ilKhan Tobias Khatib the birth of the Warden and Crusader factions was simply inevitable and wisely, the Ravens didn’t choose a side, remaining ostensibly neutral in The Great Debate. Like the Sharks, the Ravens held a position of privilege thanks to their huge naval yards which were used by all the Clans to keep their JumpShips and WarShips in service as well as serving as the main ship building slips at Lum. This helped the Ravens remain ‘neutral’ in the Crusader/Warden divide but it did not mean they didn’t take advantage of opportunities when they saw them and indeed had ‘many irons in the fire’. This included trade agreements with the Falcons, Bears and Wolves although the Wolves closeness to Clan Coyote kept Wolf/Raven relations cool at best.
In 3001 Clan Snow Raven launched one of the largest exercises carried out by the Clan’s military forces and was the largest movement of Raven forces since KLONDIKE. Ninety percent of the Raven’s Naval reserve was recalled to the Lum system to take part in a two-week long exercise called ‘Fleet Evolution I’, which covered many aspects from individual vessel engagements to full on Star vs Star battles. The final engagement between the ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ forces was as near a full fleet clash as could be simulated.
This exercise revealed several significant flaws and doctrinal gaps in the Raven’s military capabilities. In truth, they, like many other Clans were so use to a naval battle being formal duels that it had crystalized their doctrine and methodology. But during Naval Evolution I the ‘Red’ team were under orders to fight unconventionally and ‘think like Pirates’ and during the build up to the exercise the Star Admirals on the Red Team and the Officers under them made an extensive study of records and recordings from The Amaris Civil War as well as the Reunification War and would in turn base their tactics on those.
Whilst the Blue Team fought according to the Raven’s long established doctrine, their lack of experience fighting against an equal opponent who did not fight honourably was jarring and several Captains didn’t know how to react and thus had their ships ‘destroyed’ and during the final fleet clash the ‘Red Team’ won by claiming the destruction of the Blue Team’s flagship.
Whilst ships performed very well in individual clashes or as pairs, there was a noticeable lack of discipline amongst WarShip Captains during larger engagements with Blue Team forces constantly trying to engage in one on one duels and obvious difficulties were encountered when trying to coordinate large groups of ships. This was largely due to the Star Admirals of each Star viewing themselves as equals in rank and wanting to do their own plans. Red Team also had problems with Captains and fighter crews being very unfamiliar and uncomfortable with having to fight ‘dirty’ as well as suffering the usual problems of command and control with no Star Admiral being in overall command but all viewing themselves as equals.
With an Invasion of the Inner Sphere becoming a distinct possibility, but with a complete lack of intelligence on the state of the Inner Sphere, the Ravens quietly assumed the worst. That any attack force would be met with WarShips and fighters that would refuse to fight on the Clan’s terms. And the cold hard truth was that the Ravens were not ready for such an engagement. Even with the loosening of their rules of engagement the Red Team still didn’t perform well in its role as aggressors and both fleets suffered significant breakdowns in control and tactical sense, a rather poor showing for ‘the naval Clan’, something the Raven’s kept VERY quiet.
Another Fleet Evolution was planned for 3004 and another in 3009 and the Ravens worked furiously to overcome the gaps in skills and knowledge that Fleet Evolution I had exposed. Just as importantly it would lead to the FRAM Programme.
The FRAM (Fleet Refit And Modernization) Programme was a series of overhauls and refits for the WarShips in service to Clan Snow Raven carried out over the years between Fleet Evolution I and III with the last ship the CSR James McKenna completing her refit in 3011. There was talk of restarting the NWP and constructing newer vessels to replace the oldest ships in service but the economic realities the Clans faced as a whole mean that this programme was simply not an option. Economically speaking the FRAM Programme was just more viable. This didn’t mean it was cheap, and the more extensive refits done to ships like the CSR Mountbatten and CSR Blizzard consumed a large quantity of resources and kept the ships out of service for months or even years.
Servicing such a large number of vessels was also hampered by the lack of available slips at Lum. Whilst the largest naval yards built by man save the huge yards at Titan, there was only so many docks and slips available, especially as other Clans continued to use the yards themselves. A solution came in reactivating the SLS Singapore and SLS Home One from their place in the Ravens Naval Caches. The huge Newgrange class YardShips could take a pair of destroyer sized vessels or a single cruiser at a time. But, reactivating them took six month a piece further slowing down the programme. The Ravens also didn’t want to weaken their fleet too much lest they invite a flurry of trials so ships usually went in for a refit when another came out.
Fleet Evolution II
Fleet Evolution II showed that the Raven’s attempts to resolve the flaws that Evolution I had quite painfully revealed. The Blue Fleet was now under centralized command of the most senior Star Admiral and others were to follow his (or in this case, her) orders. The Red Team was also more organized and in a change to the exercise fielded a larger number of fighters and DropShips although this was NOT announced to the Blue Team. The exercise that followed was largely a success and showed that the FRAM I and II refits were worth their investment and although only a few ships per fleet had the refits at the time, they were far more capable than their un-refitted brethren.
This time the Blue team won, claiming victory when they were able to land forces on the Red Team’s ‘moon base’ with the Blue Team’s refitted ships leading the offensive during the final battle of the exercise.
The Cost and the cost of friendship.
Of course with the resources being devoted to their naval and aerospace arm the Raven’s did have to pay a cost, and this was the further dwindling of their ground forces. Discounting the fleet capacity, the Ravens were a third-rate Clan with a Tourman that was little larger than that of Clan Goliath Scorpion, all be it with more modern equipment and the Raven’s did suffer defeats in several trials losing more than they won. But, thanks to their vital position as the main shipyards of the Clans there wasn’t too much a risk of these defeats starting a deluge of Trials without destabilizing the Kerensky Cluster if fighting broke out for the utterly vital yards of Lum.
The Ravens still maintained good relationships with other Clans but were careful not to show either Warden or Crusader faction too much favour, watching both sides carefully during the discussions about the Dragoon Compromise, quietly pleased that the Wolves fleet would decrease in strength with the ships given over to the Dragoons. The Ravens used their other great weapon, politics, to keep out of the growing factionalism that was splitting the Clan, offering to refit one Clans vessel whilst informing others that the ship might not be available as well as trading away older Mech’s and Aerospace fighters whilst maintaining a core of their own. The highlight of this period was the Raven’s bargain with Clan Blood Spirit, trading away a full Galaxy’s worth of Mech’s in return for a trio of WarShips. But, in truth the FRAM refits and newly built ships that were part of the NWP were straining the Raven’s manpower. Even by allowing test down and second line pilots and Warriors to serve in more extensive roles than might previously have been ‘allowed’ the Ravens were suffering from manpower shortages that now threatened the expansion and modernization of the fleet and thus the guarantor of their security. It was decided to retire the Vincent Mk42’s the CSR Huninn and Munnin as well as the Whirlwinds CSR William Adams and Drake. The two Whirlwinds would be transferred to Clan Smoke Jaguar upon the ascension of ilKhan Leo Showers whilst the Vincents would be converted into a semi-mobile facility with an endo-steel forge and several manufacturing plants on it. The ‘ships’ were under the joint ownership of Clan Snow Raven, Diamond Shark and Cloud Cobra.
Compromise and REVIVAL
In 3009 a veritable bombshell hit the Homeworlds and Kerensky Cluster, with the first intelligence reports from the Wolfs Dragoons arriving and being disseminated. When the sorry state of the Inner Sphere was revealed the Ravens suddenly had a fleet that didn’t have a real opponent to fight. Instead of the threat of squadrons of WarShips belonging to the House Lords, there was only wreckage and ruin and nothing large than a JumpShip or DropShip in active service to threaten them. With the strain of the FRAM refits still being felt and with many ships still to undergo their own modernizations, the Ravens were forced to cancel several major construction programs and focus on the ongoing FRAM refits. Recognizing that they lacked the strength to take part in an operation in the Inner Sphere as this would require huge numbers of ground forces that they lacked the Ravens were quite happy to compete with the Diamond Sharks as the main movers of goods and material within Clan Space, serving both Warden and Crusader equally.
The capture of the CSV Outbound Light and subsequent interrogation of her crew was the final spark that would start the build up to Operation REVIVAL and having had time to gather their strength and numbers to rebuild the Ravens were ready to bid and Trial for a place in the Invasion when Clan Coyote struck. Stung by their defeats over the decades and their contraction of power within the Homeworlds, the Coyotes saw the Raven’s as a fairly weak target. Whilst none could contest their naval might, on the ground the Coyotes felt they had the advantage. The newly elected Khan Lynn McKenna ordered an immediate counter attack and the bloody ground fighting soon wore down both Clans until mutual exhaustion separated the combatants. The few WarShip clashes had been quickly decided and the Coyotes didn’t press matters further. On the ground they had the advantage but when their next attack was denied Safcon and met with a full Naval Star, they knew they could not push too far. In 3044 the Snow Ravens would also be approached by their long-time friends in Clan Ghost Bear with a proposal of an alliance and friendship. The Bears, having won their place in the Invasion were working on a pair of simply gargantuan vessels but lacked the capacity to finish them at least within the next decade. Offering mining rights and favourable trade agreements that would have (and indeed did) make the Diamond Sharks go green with envy, the Raven’s agreed to help the Bear’s build their monsters and would even provide escorting cruisers for them. This came at the right time, as the Raven’s were in the process of ‘gifting’ their Whirlwinds to the Jaguars and in return were given what the Jaguars called junk. The CMS Thor a relatively intact Kimagure class cruiser that was recovered from Clan Mongoose’s naval cache. With the Jaguars wanting nothing to do with anything belonging to the fallen Clan, the Ravens were more than happy to take the cruiser off them as a fair swap for the two destroyers they had given up.
Despite not winning a place in the Invasion and with their ground forces still recovering from the conflict with the Coyotes, Lynn McKenna ordered the largest naval exercise yet which would also include ground forces and even Garrison forces. This huge movement of ships, troops and equipment was called Naval Evolution IV and was used to both show the Raven’s strength and capabilities as being undiminished despite the recent war and to reorganize the Naval Stars into something more uniform.
Fleet Command Star
James McKenna (Flagship) - McKenna (FRAM II)
Blood Raven - Thebes
Bonaventure – Potemkin (FRAM I)
White Terror – Aegis (FRAM I)
Blue Lancer- Aegis (FRAM I)
Swift Wing Naval Assault Star
Mountbatten – Texas (FRAM II)
Eden Rose – Potemkin (FRAM I)
Snow Raven – Nightlord
Lord Death – Aegis (FRAM I)
Blue Quest – Aegis (FRAM I)
Brim Naval Assault Star
Blizzard – Cameron (FRAM II)
Kerensky’s Hope – Cameron (FRAM II)
Snowflake – Potemkin (FRAM I)
Scabbard – Aegis (FRAM I)
Lord Death – Aegis (FRAM I)
Ice Storm Assault Star
Ice Storm – Cameron (FRAM II)
White Cloud – Sovetskii Soyuz (FRAM II)
Storm Crow – Sovetskii Soyuz (FRAM II)
Avalanche – Sovetskii Soyuz (FRAM II)
Rook – Potemkin (FRAM I)
Circe Battle Star
Black Justice – Aegis (FRAM I)
Morning Violence – Aegis (FRAM I)
Blue Quest – Aegis (FRAM I)
Magpie – Congress (FRAM II)
Treachery – Potemkin (FRAM I)
Yorktown Carrier Battlegroup
Yorktown – Ark Royal
Ark Royal - Conqueror
Conqueror – Conqueror
Thor – Conqueror
Corvidae – York
Chimera Naval Strike Star
Hecate – Typhon
Typhon – Typhon
Aetos Dios – Typhon
Chimera – Typhon
Minotaur - Typhon
Black Beard Strike Star
Black Beard – Fredasa
William Kidd – Fredasa Flight II
Black Bart – Fredasa Flight II
Anne Bonny – Fredasa Flight II
Ching Shih – Fredasa
Bonaventure Strike Star
Bonaventure – Potemkin (FRAM I)
Bloody Talon – Lola III (FRAM II)
Spur – Lola III (FRAM II)
Vision of Terra – Lola III (FRAM II)
Void Talon – Lola III (FRAM II)
1st Logistic Flotilla
Wild Swan – Potemkin (FRAM I)
Tenacity – Volga (FRAM I)
Vulture – Bagration
Condor – Bagration
Scavenger – Volga (FRAM I)
1st Merchant Group
Nestling -Carrack
Venture Star – Carrack
Each Star was also not a single fixed unit, ships could be detached and reassigned for operations at very short notice and were to integrate with their new squadron-mates within a few days. The Yorktown Carrier Star was only a paper grouping, the carriers very rarely operated together as a single Star and were often spread amongst the Assault and Battle Star’s. The end result was a far more balanced fleet with logistic elements concentrated together without being part of a Combat grouping. There was concern over the large number of Potemkin’s in the combat Stars but Khan Lynn McKenna only wanted this to be this way until a new flight of Thebes class ships could be completed to replace them. Whilst the Potemkin’s firepower and protection made them fine as ‘Ersatz Battleships’ the huge ships were not really built for the role and their placement within combat formations was a necessity born out of a lack of suitable replacements.
Thanks to the resources they were getting from the Bears as well as were to receive from the Inner Sphere thanks to the agreement with Clan Jade Falcon who had loaned the Bonaventure Strike Star and Circe Battle Star’s in return for resources from their planned occupation Zone, the new Thebes class ships would be in service by 3060 which would lead to another reorganization of the Naval Stars when the Potemkin’s were rotated and formed together as the 2nd Logistics Flotilla.
Despite the many challenges they had faced, Clan Snow Raven had assured its naval supremacy, having shaken off the dust and overcome complacency and arrogance to assure that the Clan would thrive no matter what would come when the Children of Kerensky returned to the Inner Sphere.
