Libriran Navy

Libriran Navy
Libriran Navy Jack
Founded	July 18th, 1702 (Libriran Royal Navy established) September 1st, 1895 (present form)
Country	File:Libflag.png Librira
Allegiance	The People's United Republic of Librira
Type	Navy Blue-water navy
Role	Surface Superiority, Coastal defense, Naval Support
Size	134,000 personnel 127 vessels 155 Aircraft
Part of	Libriran Secretariat of Defense
Motto(s)	The Sea made shield
Commanders
Premier	Ivan Gurov
Commissar of the Navy	Alexei Nasmarov
Insignia
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Fighter	Vi-84, PA-554, LA-56, NAC-12
Utility helicopter	PA-165
Patrol	Vi-48, NAC-34, Vi-601, PA-85

The Libriran Navy is the naval warfare and coastal defence arof the Libriran Armed Forces . It has a total manpower strength of 175,000, operates 127 vessels and 155 Aircraft, making it on of the largest in Corentia. In addition to operating a fleet of warships, the Navy also maintains land based coastal defense missile and artillery systems, and long range maritime patrol aircraft to patrol and protect Librira's waterways and coastline.

History

Originally founded by Vladimir I in 1702, as a small flotilla of armed merchant ships for trading and exploration. In the mid 1700s the Navy both saw its first major expansions and major scandal. The Libriran navy had a infamous reputation in the military for brutal discipline. The 1750s and 1760s saw the Navy's first modern frigates and line ships, however, shortly after many of these ships suffered from mutinies, and the succesful ones became pirates that would raid the coast for the next 70 years, until more humane discipline and the introduction of Explosive shells, led to the destruction of the pirates at last.

Until the 1890s the Navy maintained a small fleet of screw battleships, and ironclads, the first of which the LRV Milyria was launched in 1845. As the a new naval evolution began in the 1880s and 1890s, Librira attempted to keep up by building what could be considered early pre-dreadnoughts. however, only 2 of these was ever completed before the revolution of 1894. After the revolution the Navy was reformed in 1895 but new development was kept to the drawing boards, and the Military's budget was kept fairly small.

In the 1920s however as the Libriran economy recovered and in the wake of the first global war, The navy saw a need for modern vessels in the event of a war, and began designing and building modern shipyards and then built and purchased modern designs to catch up, including the construction of Librira's first modern battle ships, destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft carriers.

The second global war saw no major battles involving Libriran warships, though they participated in convoy escorts and other support operations. After the war the communist government greatly ramped up military spending and leading to the largest expansion of the Navy to date. This projects led to nuclear powered submarines and surface vessels being deployed along with modern radar and missile systems.

In the modern era, the Libriran navy possesses a large surface force, primarily intended for surface superiority. The Navy's doctrines are focused of maintaining control over the seas to either defend Librira, or support amphibious operations or allies. As a result nearly every Libriran warship is equipped with AshMs to this end. However, the Libriran navy has not made many comprehensive updates since the 1990s. As a result many of the ships, are 30-40 years old, and even with several upgrades are beginning to reach the end of their service life. The navy has been searching for a cost effective solution to this problem in the shape of Project 492 a destroyer-cruiser hybrid.

Organization

The Libriran navy is organized into 4 Major fleets. Task force A, which is the largest, and main offensive fleet of Librira, Task force B, which is a large, Surface Superiorty group with several cruisers, and ASW carriers. the coastal Defence group, which is a small fleet of corvettes and destoryers tasked with patroling Libriran territorial waters. Lastly is the Supply and Logistics group which is a fleet of supply ships and oilers which help supply the other ships at sea.

The Navy is commanded by the Premier nominally, though the commissar of the navy handles most administration. In betweeen is the Secretary of defense. The Fleets are typically commanded by a fleet admiral. Fleet are then divided into squadrons which are commanded by squadron commanders.

Doctrine

Libriran naval strategy virtually since its modern establishment has been one of Surface Superiority. As described in Admiral Chabaraski's book On Securing the Sea the admiral argued that because of Librira's smaller ship building industry and navy, it should focus all its ships into being able to hit above their weight class, and in the even of a war, should be prepared to operate whenever needed to challenge enemy control of the sea. This lead to a emphasis on cruisers with powerful artillery, and a series of battleships armed with some of the most powerful artillery of their day. The navy also relied on land based aircraft and artillery to support them in this end. In the modern era, this translates into nearly all major surface combatants being equipped with several AShMs, SAMs, etc. Ships are expected to be able to operate both on their own and in groups, this means that even small destroyers are equipped with powerful weapons that allow them to deal with cruisers and even potentially aircraft carriers. However, this also extends to the submarine force, with Librira deploying a large number of SSGN, and SSG to harass and destroy enemy surface groups with a heavy cruisers missile armament but on a stealth package.