Navy of the Syaran Republic
| Navy of the Syaran Republic | |
|---|---|
| Морнарица на Република Сијар Mornarica na Republika Sijar | |
 Insignia of the MRS | |
| Motto | No sea too vast, no storm too strong. |
| Founded | 10 August 1875 |
| Disbanded | 1 January 1988 |
| Headquarters | Zovahr |
| Leadership | |
| President of the Syaran Republic | Krunislav Mircevski (last) |
| Minister of Defense | Dako Yordanov Valerieva (last) |
| Grand Admiral of the Navy | Ante Nikšić (last) |
| Related articles | |
| History | Divide War Siduri War |
The Navy of the Syaran Republic (Mornarica na Republika Sijar, also known commonly as the Syaran Republic Navy) was the Navy of the Republic of Syara from 1875-1988. The navy played a significant role during the history of the Syaran Republic, most noticably during the Divide War. At it's peak in 1934 the MRS was the third largest navy in Tyran.
Founded after the Unification of Syara, the navy was origianlly a small force focused mostly on coastal defense with the only major naval threat considered to be neighboring Ruvelka. By the turn of the century the navy possed a large number of vessels but no capital ships, the bulk of the fleet made up of frigates, light cruisers, patrol craft, torpedo boats and minelayers. The outbreak of the Divide War however forced a confrontation with the Cacertian Royal Navy, then the most powerful naval force in Tyran. Unable to face the Cacertians in open battle, the MRS adopted an assymetric strategy focused on hit-and-run tactics and extensive use of submersibles and mines to avoid pitched engagements with the Cacertian heavy warships. This strategy proved succesful, with the slower Cacertian surface ships unable to engage the lighter and faster Syaran ships in the straight forward decisive engagement doctrine the Cacertian navy was centered around.
Despite the successful tactics, after the war the Navy began to expand its fleet in hopes of avoiding another situation similar to the one that resulted in the Desopya Campaign. Accelerated by the Presidency of Sasko Anastasov, the Syaran Navy rapidly grew in size with the construction of dozens of battleships, battlecruisers, heavy cruisers, and destroyers, until it posessed the third largest fleet in Tyran, behind only Cacerta and Ossoria. Following the beginning of the Siduri War the navy was focused largely on the Western Theater, occasionally skirmishing with the Cacertian Navy in the Sundering Sea. The Navy's largest force, the Syaran National Fleet would ultimately suffer a decisive defeat in the Battle of the Sabri Sea, during which it lost many of it's capital ships and thousands of officers and crew. For the remainder of the war the fleet would remain mostly in Syaran waters, venturing only occasionally to skirmish off the coast of 'Mansuriyyah, although it played the role of "fleet-in-being" by forcing the Cacertian Admiralty to abandon plans for a blockade of Syara. The conclusion of the war with the Treaty of Debrecen stipulated that the fleet was to be transferred over to the nations of the Common Axis, but the Syarans scuttled their own ships instead.
The MRS would remain a minor force for the remainder of it's existence, focused mostly on littoral defense and protecting Syara's economic-exclusion zone. The MRS was officially disbanded after the end of the Refusal War and replaced with the Syaran Commonality Navy.
History
When established on 10 August 1875 the Syaran Navy faced much of the same problems the Syaran Army encountered. As a result of the Unification of Syara, the Syaran Navy was essentially a combination of the four separate navies that had served the Syaran Successor States since the dissolution of the Rioni Union. The immediate result was a unmatched mixture of dozens of different classes and types of ships, ranging from modern ocean going ironclads to fully masted wooden-hulled ships from the heyday of the age of sail. The first Director of the Navy, Juraj Časn, request in his first act as Director a complete review of all the ships that fell under the jurisdiction of the navy. This process began in August 1875 and did not complete until March 1876 in large part due to the uncertain nature of the ownership of many vessels operated by the former Syaran states, such as leased bulk freighters, frigates, sloops, and personal water craft owned by members of the Aristokrati and private firms. In the end Časn reported to Defense Minister Viktor Novachcoff that the Syaran Navy possessed 717 ships. This broke down to:
- 27 ocean-going ironclads, the majority of them former property of the Kingdom of Symmeria
- 6 floating batteries
- 38 monitors
- 204 wooden-hulled frigates
- 187 torpedo boats
- 26 torpedo rams
- 15 ship-of-the-line
- 30 mixed iron-wooden hulled frigates
- 49 river monitors
- 98 sloops/gunboats
- 4 submarines
- 18 central battery ships
- 9 motor speed boats
- 10 case-mate ironclads
The classification of these ships belied the fact that ships grouped together under a common designation often were radically different owing to each Syaran realm pursuing their own naval design and doctrine. Many of the wooden hulled ships, by now rendered outdated by advancing technology, were in a state of disrepair or kept around purely because there was no alternative available to the poorer realms. Senior Admiral Stoyan Temelkoski, upon receiving the registry of ships, commented to his associates "You could not have asked for a more discombobulated fleet". Temelkoski and Časn both urged Novachcoff that the fleet needed to be entirely rebuilt, with the scrapping of the majority of extant ships. But while the Admiralty was unanimous on the need to rebuilt the fleet, how it would be built was a matter of contention.
Organization
Article 18 of the Constitution of the Syaran Republic that had been drafted at the Treaty of Parilla called for the creation of the Armed Forces of the Syaran Republic, to consist of a land force and a Navy. While the Syaran Army would technically be composed of four armies from each of the Realms, the Navy was to be a truly unified force, under a single chain of command, organizational structure, and doctrine. As with the Army, the most senior position was that of Commander-in-Chief, the President of the Republic. Under him was the Minister of Defense, followed by the Senior Commander of the Armed Forces within the Supreme Headquarters of the Armed Forces. The highest office within the Navy was the position of Senior Admiral, who was part of the Supreme Headquarters. Separate from the Supreme Headquarters was the Ministry of Defense which included the Directorate of the Navy, led by the Director of the Navy which served as an assistant to the Minister of Defense and could sit in during cabinet meetings when requested. The position of Naval Director was merged with the office of the Senior Admiral to form the Admiral of the Fleet during the Divide War.