People's Navy (Honorverse)

The People's Navy (PN) and its successor service the Republic of Haven Navy (RHN—also known as the Republican Navy) is a fictional space navy in David Weber's Honor Harrington series of novels.

Overview

The PN is the space navy and senior military service of the People's Republic of Haven. It is unclear whether the People's Marines are a part of the PN or a separate force; also there has been very little information on the Havenite Army, or if they are a separate force from the Marines.

The People's Navy appears to be based more upon the United States Navy, whereas its rival, the Royal Manticoran Navy is based more upon the British Royal Navy.

The PN depends from the Havenite Department of War (headed by a Secretary). The senior military officer of the PN held the office of Chief of Naval Operations during the Legislaturist era; the Committee of Public Safety officially eliminated the title of CNO but the office continued to exist. When the Committee was overthrown, Admiral Thomas Theisman resurrected the full office of CNO.

Compared with the RMN, the People's Navy was numerically larger and had an impressive record of victories achieved during the previous half century. However, the PN was technologically inferior to the RMN, its crews consisted mostly of conscripts who came out of the People's Republic ineffective educational system and officers' initiative was not encouraged -as it could lead officers who were too enterprising to a firing squad. Political interference in the Navy also resulted in less than stellar flag officers who were promoted for political reliability or family connections rather than professional ability.

The ship prefix for Havenite warships is "PNS" (People's Navy Ship), which was later replaced by "RHNS" (Republic of Haven Navy Ship).

History

The beginning

As with most space navies in the Honorverse, the PN began its life as the system defense fleet of the Republic of Haven, and served to protect the prosperous world's space trade from piracy. When the Havenite government resorted to outright conquest of their neighbor star nations to support their crumbling welfare state, the People's Navy experienced a massive buildup of forces that transformed it into the second largest navy in human space, second only to the Solarian League Navy.

The Expansion of the People's Republic

In a period of fifty years the People's Navy conquered almost one hundred star systems and annexed them to the People's Republic. The Navy was again expanded to police Haven's new empire and to keep up with the naval expansion programs instituted by the People's Republic's concerned (and not-yet-conquered) neighbors, most notably the Star Kingdom of Manticore. The constant increases in the naval budget taxed the Havenite economy to the point of collapse, until war was the only solution.

The Committee of Public Safety

After the Legislaturists were deposed, the Committee of Public Safety began a round of purges within the People's Navy, arresting and executing senior officers with Legislaturist ties (most notably the Legislaturists' last Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Amos Parnell). The Committee also appointed People's Commissioners to every fleet, squadron and ship commander, to oversee the crews' loyalty to the People's Republic. These Commissioners had a higher authority than the military officers they supervised, and any command decision had to be approved by them. Also, the only approved way to address a superior officer was by adding the word "Citizen" before the other officer's rank (e.g.: "Citizen Admiral Theisman"); the more traditional "Sir" or "Ma'am" were reserved only to People's Commissioners. Naval Intelligence was dissolved and merged with the Office of State Security, thus depriving the People's Navy of its own military intelligence branch. Another major point of contention between the People's Navy and the Committee was the creation of a wholly separate navy operated by State Security. The State Security Naval Forces gobbled up most of the ships belonging to newer classes (such as the Warlord-class battlecruisers, the Mars-class heavy cruisers and the Frigate-class light cruisers) into its service, rather than issuing them to the Navy. The State Security Naval Forces was planned to be used with internal affairs as well as to control People's Navy.

"See also: Elysian Space Navy"

The War

The People's Navy suffered heavy casualties during the war with the Manticoran Alliance, beginning with the failed offensives against Hancock Station and Yeltsin's Star. The chaos provoked by the Committee's purges contributed to the PN's poor performance in the war's early years. When a new crop of leaders, such as Admirals Thomas Theisman, Lester Tourville, Javier Giscard and most notably Esther McQueen, emerged from the purges, the People's Navy regained confidence and struck back at Manticore, momentarily evening the odds with their enemies. Despite the reduction of the technological gap with Manticore and some victories such as the Battles of Adler and Operation Icarus, the People's Navy could not stand up to the RMN's new weapons systems. An attempted coup by Admiral McQueen only resulted in a new round of purges, which fortunately were stopped before being initiated when Admiral Theisman overthrew the Committee of Public Safety.

The restoration of the Republic of Haven

Admiral Theisman did not take over as a military dictator. Instead, he appointed Eloise Pritchart as provisional President, but took over for himself the dual hats of Secretary of War and Chief of Naval Operations. For the following five years after the truce with Manticore, Theisman had to deal with reshaping the old People's Navy into the Republic of Haven Navy and fighting remnants of State Security still in power in some of the Republic's systems. Eventually, the Republican Navy commissioned hundreds of new warships which were almost technologically equal to their Manticoran counterparts. These ships were used during Operation Thunderbolt, a surprise attack on Manticoran-held systems which succeeded in causing massive damage to the Royal Manticoran Navy, thus giving the Republican Navy a considerable numerical edge in the new war.

Ranks

Officers

The first rank is the one used during the Legislaturalist period and later by the restored Republic of Haven; the second rank is the one used during the rule of the Committee of Public Safety.

* Fleet Admiral / Citizen Fleet Admiral
* Admiral / Citizen Admiral
* Vice Admiral / Citizen Vice Admiral
* Rear Admiral / Citizen Rear Admiral
* Commodore / Citizen Commodore
* Captain / Citizen Captain
* Commander / Citizen Commander
* Lieutenant Commander / Citizen Lieutenant Commander
* Lieutenant / Citizen Lieutenant
* Lieutenant (Junior Grade) / Citizen Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
* Ensign / Citizen Ensign

Non-Commissioned Officers and Enlisted Personnel

List of PN warship classes

See: "List of ships in the Honorverse"

References

External links

* [http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/State_Security_Naval_Forces State Security Naval Forces article] at Honorverse wiki."