The Third Fleet

The Third Fleet Second Battlegroup

Overview

Established in 2190 during the reorganization of the Third Fleet following the retirement of Admiral Jefferson Heltin and the promotion of Vice Admiral James Bulwark. The Second Battlegroup primarily consists of outdated and retrofitted vessels that have seen service as far back as the Tientsin Campaign. Placed under the command of Rear Admiral Frans Feiffer the Battlegroup consists of five naval divisions totaling 50+ vessels, a military police division of around 5,000 MPs, a marine division totaling 25,000, and a dozen of support vessels including a dedicated hospital vessel which supplies naval vessels with doctors, researchers, and other medical equipment.

Organization

First Division

	Insignia	Vessel Name	Classification	Description
CDRE Fiore	Lillehammer	USS Something	Unknown	To be added
CPT Aden Cooper	Lillehammer	USS Bayraktar	test	Cruiser carrying mostly ammunition and fuel with minimal crew, ready to support USCM forces wherever maybe necessary. Captain Aden Cooper has been in contact with Retired Admiral Shaw the Hero of the SOL campaign and was able to get his cruiser outfitted with brand new support weapons, making the Corvette capable of supporting ground forces on colonies and possible space stations.
CPT Jonathon 'ghost' Granger	Lillehammer	USS Star Gazer	Battle Cruiser	A Military Battle cruiser outdated and operational since the Civil wars on alpha Centauri has 2 detachments of marines and is meant for ship to ship combat and served as a support role in Military operations in gamma 2- 4
CPT Peter Bates	Lillehammer	USS Richard V. Spencer	Planetary Assault Ship	Marine Outdated Troop Carrier
CPT Jackson A. Hargrave	Lillehammer	USS Dakota	Cruiser	Retrofitted Cruiser for escorting larger ships, Mostly anti Corvette weaponry. Minimal marine detachment at the best of times for boarding actions or ship defense. Often understaffed however even in this roll it finds itself unable to utilize it's dropships to the fullest potential lacking proper supplies to maintain them. The best thing to happen to the ship was it's retrofit. it's almost a miracle the ship is as maintained as it is.
CPT Mel Kim	Lillehammer	USS Fallen Sky	Support Vessel	The USS Fallen Sky has a single detachment of marines, it isn't meant for combat, as it's main role is supplying other ships. It has little to no defenses, usually being escorted by other ships, being a recently retrofitted ship, where most of it's pieces were taken from a decommissioned vessel. Holds large amounts of supply, but has a poor logistic system, which delays most of their deliveries.
CPT Hunter 'Fritz' Polonoski	Lillehammer	USS Bismarck	Battleship/Assault Ship	The USS Bismarck is a brand new Battleship that has been recently commissioned in the navy for the 9th Armored Battalion by the use of increased tariffs in the Typhoon Sector. It has four main batteries and two hangars, one for a singe dropship and another to hold two light street tanks, and two medium tanks. It is around 1.5* larger than the USS Almayer. It holds 4 tank crews, a group of support artillery, two complete squads for supporting infantry, and a large crew to maintain and operate the shipside operations (Logistics, Signal, and AA posts.) While being a new ship it has rarely seen action and is mainly being used to scare away the enemy through the use of sovereignty patrols.
CPT Pat ‘Croc’ Bateman	Lillehammer	USS Alligator	Planetary Assault Ship	Retrofitted Missile Cruiser turned into an Assault Ship. The Marine Detachment is the “Leaping Frogs”.
CPT Chris Mooris	Lillehammer	USS Meade	Electronic Warfare Support Vessel	Provides electronic warfare capabilities for the 3rd Fleet. Retrofitted vessel outfitted with the best electronic warfare support package that can be equipped to outdated ship models.

Second Division

	Insignia	Vessel Name	Classification	Description
CDRE Audrey Aulin	Lillehammer	USS Sunfish	Battle Cruiser	2nd Battlegroup, 4th Division Flagship. The Sunfish is a battlecruiser hull gutted and rebuilt around an experimental railgun/particle beam hybrid weapon, intended to out-range any possible threat. The thrusters and FTL drive are overtuned for its size, giving it surprising speed and maneuverability at the cost of greatly reduced armor. While quite good at its intended role, the Sunfish's weapons and other systems draw an enormous amount of energy and have a bad habit of burning out their power conduits, requiring near-constant maintenance just to remain functional and giving the vessel a bad habit of combusting under sustained fire. This glass jaw, combined with the heavy investment from WY R&D in experimental systems, means the vessel is usually kept out of direct combat and instead utilized as a propaganda tool showcasing the superiority of USCM technology and the value of corporate partnerships.
CPT Alex Rossfield	Lillehammer	USS Solarium	Carrier	A large defensive support vessel, protected by several frigates, the main purpose is defending earth in the home first fleet with a large assortment of fighter/bombers whose primary purpose is to deploy small ships for defensive engagements in the core sector of the USCM. The two squadrons onboard the USS Solarium is the fighter squadron 'swift lightning' and bomber squadron 'thunderbirds.'. It is currently on loan to the Third Fleet to aid in the Insurgency Conflict.
CPT Morrigan 'M.K' Kessler	Lillehammer	USS Amun-Ra	Stealth Frigate	At a length of 61.5 meters, the Amun-Ra presents an unusual frame, highly different from that of most spacefaring vessels with a shape like a huge black quartz crystal. This is a byproduct of the ship's stealth functionality, using angular sheets of black composite materials to absorb or reflect radar signals. These materials are supported by active cooling systems to conceal the ship's detectable heat signature, able to reduce the frigate's ambient temperature to match that of an asteroid or even that of background radiation. This functionality is of course only available when the frigate's main drive is offline, as an engine burn of any kind would alert any nearby vessels to the ship's location. The Amun-Ra class is frightfully well armed for its size, and at the time of its commissioning, the class was the smallest vessel in history to be armed with a railgun. The ship's prototype S-24 Kopesh is internally mounted along the vessel's spine and is supported by 4 retractable PDCs, as well as a pair of concealed Missile bays, equipped with rapid reload systems. The standard crew complement of the Amun-Ra class includes 50 personnel; however, this is frequently expanded to 100 for missions which include troop deployments or boarding actions. During such encounters, assault teams are deployed using the frigate's 9 breaching pods laid into the ship's broadsides. These pods function by launching a small breaching charge to weaken the hull of a target ship before clamping themselves into the surface using 3 mechanical claws, establishing an access passage for troops.
CPT Jeffery Davis	Lillehammer	USS Theodore	Multi-Purpose Destroyer	Often referred to as the teddy bear, is in reality a retrofitted cargo ship that was off to salvage, but repurposed and retrofitted with the cargo bay doors made into a makeshift hangar, added hull plating essentially sheet metal, the bow of the ship rather than having torpedos instead has a very large railgun seized from pirates with a poor reliability rating, lastly in terms of weaponry is multiple point defense guns bolted onto the hull. The outside of the ship proudly displays the 26th president holding a toy bear. Often called "A piece of shit", and "Somehow works yet no reason to." As for the marine detachment is made up of the 22nd Sky Cavalry, being considerably small only being able to fill 3 dropships but are exceptional at being airborne troops.
CPT Adam Berkshire	Lillehammer	USS Justitia	Multi-Purpose Destroyer	USCM detachment of civil pacification corps under the direct command of the Provost Marshall. Detachment includes a majority force of RMP personnel, with a sufficient compliment of medical staff for colonial emergency situations related to both warfare related crisis and biological containment. Ship has been retrofitted and undergone two dry dock modification assignments in order to carry essential supplies to USCM vessels operating in fields of duty from their respective home systems. Due to it's high compliment of Military Police and colonial security personnel, it has mainly been assigned for transport of High Command personnel, high value government and corporate persons, and mass quantities of volatile cargo including but not limited to dropship armaments, orbital bombardment shells, and in rare cases nuclear payloads. As a result of it's role as a transport vessel of essential and high value cargo, it's armament includes a defensive compliment of twin railguns mounted on the port and starboard fore, with an additional four 80 megawatt infrared lasers placed both fore and aft, capable of vaporizing incoming railgun fire or crippling incoming missiles and possible boarding attempts from any direction. In extreme situations and in case of contamination in biological threats or extreme risk of safety of cargo or high value personnel, a single type 332 emergency escape vehicle (EEV) has been connected via umbilical mounts onto the underside of the vessel.

Mission

The Second Battlegroup is tasked with search-and-destroy within the Herculis Sector under the Third Fleet, primarily the sector of Tychon's Rift due to the sudden influx of colonial rebellions occurring and requests from local marshals for reinforcements in putting down insurrection. The Battlegroup however faces various issues including strained logistical supply lanes bogged down by distance and guerilla attacks from varying factions, poor weaponry maintenance, and low manpower due to a strained budget. Any hope of a far-off victory can only be achieved with new methods

Ideology

Since the eruption of the war on insurgency following the disasters at Tientsin there has been notable debate among military officers as to how to pursue a victory with the war only continuing to drag on and attrition and budgets straining the USCM. Three notable factions by 2190 had taken rise among the fleets, especially the Third Fleet which finds itself constantly engulfed in an endless guerilla campaign with the CLF.

The Hawks

The Hawks are a far-right leaning faction that emerged following the end of the Sol Campaign with the belief that the colonist uprisings can only be halted with iron and blood. Their main support dwindled following the ending of the Tientsin Campaign which led to the outlawing of nuclear weapons being used against colonies due to the humanitarian disaster that had emerged in the aftermath. However, with the war on insurgency dragging on and casualties mounting the upper-brass of the USCM has begun once again reconsidering the option of ‘more forceful measures’ including the potential of once again permitting the use of nuclear weaponry on colonial worlds and the suspension of colonial governments and enactment of martial law through the sector.

The Doves

The Doves are a left-leaning faction that rose following the humanitarian crisis on Mars after the Sol Campaign had been waged and won. Their firm belief was that the only way to unite colonies with the Earth Government was by fighting and winning the ‘war of heart’ through negotiation, humanitarian aid, and less usage of military assets. Following the Tientsin Campaign the Doves saw a major increase in popularity among the officer corps and successfully pressed the government to outlaw the use of nuclear weapons against colonial worlds. However, since the War on Insurgency the belief that the ‘war of heart’ could still be won began to wither with the relentless years of war crimes, casualties, and growing distrust of the USCM by CLF-aligned colonies. However there is still hope that the colonies and Sol can be reunified through compassion and unity.

Songbirds

The Songbirds are military industrial complex supporters who lean heavily towards policies pushed and supported for major corporations such as Weston-Yamada. Their main support emerged during the early days of the emergence of WY which had begun investing heavily into the USCM. Officers who align themselves as Songbirds echo that the corporations are strong allies and it would be harmful to push or restrict purchasing and contracts with them. It’s rumored Songbirds are among the wealthiest of officers in the USCM primarily due to bribes likely received to ‘overlook’ certain incidents that might be damaging to Weston-Yamada or other corporations who pay for influence and sell weapons to the USCM. Their interest aligning with the hawks or doves on specific issues falls on the cost and benefits, if it means losing a colony it could be doves but if it means killing some rebelling colonists and keeping the colony, it likely could be the hawks. Money is power and a path to greater standing.

Other/Unaligned

It is not uncommon for officers both new and old to distance themselves from the politics that surround their career and mission to serve the USCM. Some often develop their own opinions far different from the main ideologies on how the issues USCM faces should be dealt with and thus find themselves often supporting one of the big three if it aligns with their own beliefs. Lobbying by both the Doves and Hawks to gain the support of these Officers is not uncommon within the Fleets.

Ideology of the Battlegroup

Hawks: 49%

Doves: 28.6%

Songbirds: 10.2%

Other/Non-Aligned: 12%

As of 7/2/2190

Current Crisis

Colonial Liberation Front (War on Insurgency)

The fight against the CLF in Tychon's Rift Sector and various other small cells appearing in other sectors has been ongoing for over a decade with no end in sight. Now with an estimated manpower of 150,000 the CLF heavily outnumbers local USCM forces even with shoddy equipment. Casualties and fleet losses continue to accumulate by the day with guerilla fighting taking its toll on USCM forces. A decision on a new approach to the war on insurgency has to be made if there is to be any hope of success.

Xur Uprising/Sixteen Colonies

Rumors of a declaration of independence from a new self declared union of colonies referring to themselves as the ‘Sixteen Colonies’ has emerged under the coordination of notorious colonial marshal Xur, mirroring that of the original American Thirteen colonies and declaration of independence. The Third Fleet’s intelligence network covering HERCULIS from CHINOOK station has managed to suppress any media outlets, also a blockade by the First Battlegroup of the Third Fleet has successfully prevented any travel of colonists who may try to spread the news. A solution however to either attempt peaceful negotiation or usage of military force must be decided before the number of the Sixteen Colonies increases.

Terraist Crusade

The Order of Terra, a devout religious sect of roman catholics dedicated to the expulsion and destruction of the colonies through holy crusade due to their belief of earth being the one and only true home to humanity have become a major problem in the outer-colonies. Their tactics involving terrorist attacks on civilian populations and military forces have earned them the ironic nickname of ‘terraists’ in their attempts to purge the colonies in favor of earth. There has been belief that the Vatican has been personally funding the order however Pope Pius XII has denied such allegations. They have established several major installations in asteroid belts which they have dubbed ‘The Crusader States’. To wipe them out would mean gaining colonial favor and good press, however to eradicate them completely would mean destroying an enemy of the CLF and rebellious colonies.