Sundering Fleet
| Sundering Fleet | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1934-1937 |
| Allegiance | Inner Sphere |
| Branch | Shirvani Navy Navy of the Syaran Republic |
| Part of | Fleet Command |
| Garrison/HQ | Tekhili |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Umid Xalidli |
The Sundering Fleet was a Naval fleet of the Inner Sphere during the Siduri War, composed of ships from the Shirvani Dominion and the Republic of Syara. The Sundering Fleet operated primarily in the Sundering Sea, but also launched operations into the Bara Sea. It's main opponents were the Cacertian Royal Navy and the Imperial Quenminese Navy.
The Sundering Sea had been identified as a major strategic priority for the Inner Sphere before the war had begun. The Shirvani Navy was to be responsible for controlling the Sundering Sea and denying the Cacertian Empire access, which would force the Cacertians to circumnavigate Siduri in order to reach Syaran and Shirvani coastal waters. At the start of hostilities the Shirvani Navy fielded, on paper, a powerful navy of five battleships, 8 battlecruisers, 21 cruisers, 84 destroyers, and 42 submarines. The Shirvani had inherited significant naval facilities and slipways from when the Cacertian Empire had controlled Shirvaniya, and therefore had the ability to repair damaged ships in quick order.
In reality, the Shirvani Navy had a number of weaknesses. While many port facilities had been constructed by the Cacertians, most of of the ship building had been done by Cacertian engineers and crews themselves rather than by ethnic Shirvani. Additionally, most of the officer academies and technical institutions had remained in Cacerta itself. As a result the Shirvani Navy had difficult replenishing lost crews and officers, while ship design left much to be desired. Shirvani battleships were largely upgraded versions of early dreadnoughts and were considered inferior to the fast battleships fielded by other navies in Tyran. Shirvani "battlecruisers" were in fact more like standard cruisers, though elongated without compensatory increases in firepower or armor. While Shirvani cruisers and destroyers were considered more competitive to foreign counterparts, the lackluster state of Shirvani capital ships limited the abilities of the Shirvani Navy to conduct long range operations and major fleet actions.
At the start of the war in April 1934 the Sundering Fleet was officially formed, and following the expansion of the conflict to include Quenmin, Mansuriyyah, and Tennai the fleet was tasked with patrolling the Sundering Sea and intercepting any potential Common Axis infiltration. As the war progressed however it became clear that the Inner Sphere needed to interdict the transportation of supplies and troops between the Cacertian isles and Siduri, specifically to the Quenminese Front. It thus became necessary for the Sundering Fleet to make forays into the Bara Sea and Balaeric Strait, which the Shirvani Navy was ill suited for. To compensate for the lack of staying power for many Shirvani capital ships, the Syaran Navy was forced to dispatch ships away from the Nuadan Campaign in order to shore up the Sundering Fleet.
The Sundering Fleet engaged in numerous fleet actions against the Common Axis navies, including the first ever carrier versus carrier action in the Battle of the Struer Strait. The usage of convoys, geographic limitations, and the close proximity of Quenmin and Cacerta maneat htat most efforts to intercept Common Axis shipping were unsuccessful, despite occasional victories. Over the course of the war the Sundering Fleet sank 2,421,804 tons of Common Axis merchantman in addition to 86 warships, but this failed to significantly impact the course of the war. In exchange the Sundering Fleet suffered 153 warships lost to enemy action, in addition to 34,00 sailors killed or missing. The Sundering Fleet was effectively dissolved following the withdrawal of the Shirvani Dominion out of the war in mid-1937.