Lesser Verdean Navy

The Confederate Navy
El Marina Confederado
Emblem of the Platan Armed Forces
Service branches	The Platan People's Militia People's Naval Self Defense Force Platan People's Air Self Defense Force
Headquarters	Confederal Presidential Palace, Vittoria, Isla Zafiro
Air arm flying hours	15/month
Leadership
President	Albino Feliciana Tancredo Oquendo
Admiral of the Confederate Navy	Luciano Fidel Leonisa
Personnel
Military age	18-35
Available for military service	6,272,081, age 18-50 (DI 215)
Fit for military service	4,359,945, age 18-50 (DI 215)
Reaching military age annually	32,181 (DI 215)
Active personnel	14,487
Reserve personnel	1,569
Deployed personnel	8,121
Expenditure
Budget	$553,463,932 NSD
Percent of GDP	.5%

Lesser Verde's armed forces are consolidated under the command of the Confederate Navy (Verdean: El Marina Confederado), which serves as Lesser Verde's defensive apparatus. The Lesser Verdean Navy maintains extensive foreign deployments throughout the Verdean Archipelago in large part due to its support of Verdean operations in Dorado, as well as anti-piracy operations in the archipelago. Lesser Verde maintains an exclusively volunteer force. In spite of its many deployments, Lesser Verde does not engage in aggressive operations opting instead to support its allies, and to fight pirates that trouble the Archipelago.

History

As is the case with many modern Verdean militaries, the Lesser Verdean navy can trace its roots back to the New Model Army reforms of the First Verdean Empire. Several Lesser Verdean islands would be proving grounds for the modern military of the Empire, hosting manufacturing for the modern, standardized weapons, and seeing itself host to the construction of the first ironclads when the Second Verdean Empire, under Emperor Carlos XII began another round of reforms in the first century DI. The Lesser Verdean islands would not form a proper defense force of their own however, until DI 191 when the government of the Conglomerated States of the Lesser Verdean Islands was reorganized into the modern Confederacy.

The Confederacy established a single service armed force under the command of a revolutionary leader, Angel Braulio Turlos, who became the first Admiral of the Confederate Navy. Initially, there were many challenges for the nascent fleet. Though the Seraph had left some assets to capture, including naval vessels, the Confederate Navy was initially severely under-equipped, and further as an organization largely staffed by former guerrillas, there was little experience in the way of Naval Warfare to even prepare a proper doctrine for the Navy to operate off of. As a result, the Confederate Navy was heavily dependent on foreign aid, particularly from Verde, and the post-revolutionary Capisarian state. Confderate Naval forces would gain combat experience engaging anti-piracy operations in the early 3rd century DI, and would provide a token force to assist in the invasion of Dorado during the Doradan War, as well as assisting in the occupation afterwards.

Structure

There are currently 14,487 personnel serving in the Confederate Navy, all of whom are volunteers or professional soldiers. Women are currently allowed to serve in all aspects of miltary service, and indeed the Lesser Verdean Navy has one of the highest percentages of female military personnel in Greater Meridon (slightly over two fifths). Lesser Verde's armed forces serve entirely under the admiralty of the Navy and indeed the Fleet is by far the largest service component with only a single battalion strong Presidential Guards force remaining quasi-independent (though still under the command of the Admiral).

Lesser Verdean Naval Order of Battle

High Command

The Confederate Navy is commanded by the Admiral of the Navy, who reports directly to the President of the Confederacy. Under the Admiral is the High Command composed the Commodores and Captains of the component commands as well as the Captain-General of the Presidential Guards. After that command falls to ship's captains, battalion commanders, and aerial commanders. There is currently no general staff to establish operational doctrine for the Confederate Navy, which instead relies heavily on the competence of the Admiral, or barring that, the initiative and creativity of the commanders in individual units. The current Admiral of the Navy is Luciano Fidel Leonisa.

The Fleet

El Sacramento the current flagship of the Confederate Navy

The bulk of the Lesser Verdean Armed Forces is concentrated in the form of the Fleet. The fleet is the combat arm of the Confederate Navy, having been established as the sole defense force of the Confederacy. The Fleet was initially quite small, lacking in resources and experience. During the DI 190s several expansion programs backed by Verdean aid, and buying up surplus Capisarian weaponry resulted in a small but somewhat effective fleet. Combat with pirates in the early DI 200s would see the Fleet gaining valuable experience and helped shape the doctrine of the Fleet. In the late DI 200s several run-ins with the Doradan Navy would occur though things would not come to blows until the Doradan War. The Fleet would contribute some assets to the Verdean invasion, including both Naval Infantry battalions, and would assist with the occupation afterwards.

The Confederate Navy is comprised of 15,838 personnel. who are volunteers or professional soldiers, and most of whom are active personnel with a limited pool of reservists, largely non-commissioned and commissioned officers, and experienced enlisted soldiers who are trained in technical fields. This reservist section is 1,569 strong. The Confederate Navy receives the bulk of the Navy's funding, $525,790,735 NSD per anum as DI 219.

The Fleet's preeminent formations are its component squadrons of Naval vessels. There are four such squadrons, three of these are patrol squadrons, assigned to the islands of the archipelago, and the fourth, flag squadron, led by the Fleet's flagship, El Sacramento, which operates as a free floating green water task force to be deployed in trouble areas, but usually operates in the vicinity of Isla Dorado. The Fleet's operations are supported by three major naval bases and a fleet support group. Additionally, there are two major service components that are not directly part of the naval squadrons or in support, the Naval Infantry, and the Naval Air Wing.

Naval Infantry

The Naval Infantry is the ground combat component of the Fleet, intended to operate as a rapid reaction force, and to establish a presence on the ground during longer term operations. The Naval Infantry consists of two battalions of light infantry which operates as the combat arm of the Naval Infantry, and its supporting force of supply troops, artillery, command, and other forces necessary to maintain infantry operations. Lacking in armored elements, the Naval infantry relies on other elements of the fleet to provide fire support for the naval infantry.

Naval Air Wing

The Naval Air Wing operates as an air support element to Fleet, protecting the aerial sovereignty of the Confederacy as well as performing maritime patrol and transporting personnel between the islands. The Air Wing is divided into two groups, the Fixed Wing Group, and the Rotary Group. The Fixed Wing group operates the fixed wing aircraft the Navy, including its fighter squadron, its AEW squadron, and the transport squadron. The rotary group operates helicopters in the service of the Navy. Additionally, the Fleet support force operates a four small airbases for the Naval Air Wing to utilize.

Presidential Guards

The Presidential Guards are a quasi-independent branch of the Confederate Navy operating largely independently of the Fleet, but still under the command of the Admiral of the Navy. As a small, and indeed largely ceremonial force, the Presidential Guards has minimal impact on the strategic planning of the Navy, instead being used to perform ceremonial duties, and protect the lives of important members of the Confederate government. The Presidential Guards number 218 strong and are commanded by the Captain-General of the Guard. It is divided into three companies (though only one, the Embassy Company maintains full company strength), the Embassy Company, which serves as security for Embassies and important Consulates-General of the Confederacy, the Presidential Company which protects the life of the President, and the Domestic Company which provides ceremonial guardianship of important locales and protects high ranking members of the Confederate Government when required.

Naval Intelligence

Military intelligence for the Confederate Navy is provided by the Office for Naval Intelligence, which is responsible for the operations of several small branches covering various intelligence vectors. The Office of Naval Intelligence maintains a handful of signals intelligence centers largely within their nation, but jointly operating bases with the Verdean armed forces in Dorado. The Office of Naval Intelligence also maintains extensive human intelligence networks in Dorado. The Office of Naval Intelligence is also responsible for cyberwarfare operations on behalf of the Confederacy, and in particulary with the maintenence of Lesser Verdean cyber-sovereignty, and the protection of critical infrastructure against hacking attacks.