Antillean Navy
- Not to be confused with the Continental Navy, the naval warfare branch of the United Commonwealth of Continental States in the North American mainland.
| Antillean Navy | |
|---|---|
 Emblem of the Antillean Navy | |
| Founded | March 27, 1794 (as the United States Navy) |
| Country |
 Antilles |
| Branch | Navy |
| Role | Naval warfare |
| Size |
101,332 active personnel 246,704 Naval Reserve 92 ships 517 aircraft |
| Part of | Department of the Navy, Columbia City |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Secretary of the Navy |
 James Kirby |
| Chief of Naval Staff |
 Fleet Admiral Eric Ingram |
| Vice Chief of Naval Staff |
 Admiral Charles Rodman |
| Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy |
 Master Chief Petty Officer Robert Hill |
| Insignia | |
| Naval ensign |
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| Naval jack |
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| Pennant |
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The Antillean Navy, officially known as the United Commonwealth Navy (UCN), is the maritime warfare service of the Antillean Armed Forces. The modern Navy was established in 1921 after the exodus of the Federalist government from the North American continent to the Antilles, but it traces its history to the established of the United States Navy in 1794 and the original Continental Navy in 1775. Since a peace treaty has never been signed with the United Commonwealth of Continental States in the mainland, the Navy remains one of the first lines of defense in a potential Continental invasion of Antillean islands. The Antillean Navy currently maintains one aircraft carrier, 12 destroyers, 14 frigates, 34 missile boats, and 31 auxiliary ships, the latter including amphibious assault ships, hospital ships, and various other types of vessels.
Although it is not officially recognized from the majority of countries around the world, the Antilles receives extensive military support from the Conference of American States and NTO member states. Many of its warships and equipment were jointly developed with the Sierran Royal Navy, the Manitoban Navy, the Astorian Navy, and the United Kingdom's Royal Navy during the Cold War. Since the 1960s, Antilles developed its own shipbuilding industry, which has become one of the largest in North America. Originally the UCN focused its strategy in the 1920s of supporting a potential landing operation on the mainland for the Antillean Army to retake it from the Continentalist government, but since the 1960s, as the mainland Continental Navy has become one of the largest in the world, it has shifted to using smaller craft and air power to deny the Continentalists control over Antillean waters and thereby prevent a ground invasion of the Antilles. In the 21st century the U.C. Navy faces a decrease in its ships and personnel as its role is seen more as defensive rather than projecting power onto the Continental mainland, and its main objective is to disrupt and sabotage supply lines and amphibious landing ships in the event of a war with the mainland.
The U.C. Navy is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Navy, who leads the Department of the Navy and answers to the President of the United Commonwealth of America, tasked with overseeing the Chief of Naval Staff, the highest ranking naval officer and the professional head of the service. Its forces are organized into two operational fleets, the First Fleet, primarily based in Hispaniola and also responsible for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and the Second Fleet, based in Cuba.
Names
The UCN was known colloquially as the Federalist Navy during and after the Continental Revolutionary War. It is now known internationally as the United Commonwealth of America Navy (UCAN) or, more commonly, the Antillean Navy, to distinguish it from the United Commonwealth of Continental States' navy on the mainland. Ships of the UCN are prefixed internally with UCS (United Commonwealth Ship), and internationally with UCAS (United Commonwealth of America Ship) or AUCS (Antillean United Commonwealth Ship).
Mission
The Antillean Code defines the purpose of the Navy as the preparation and organizing of naval forces for effective prosecution of war, the maintenance of aviation and shore facilities for supporting naval operations, and defend Antillean national interests in both Antillean waters and international waters.
In the 20th century it was believed that the Navy would eventually lead the way for an amphibious invasion of the Continental mainland, leading to its liberation from the Continentalists by the Federalists, but this idea was entirely dropped by the end of Great War II. Since then the Navy's objectives in wartime have been defined by numerous whitepapers and national defense strategies from the presidential administrations as denying naval superiority to the Continental Navy in Antillean waters, raiding and sabotaging Continental maritime supply lines, and potentially carrying out attacks on Continental shore-based facilities. Outside of the hypothetical Cross-Sea conflict, the role of the UCN is to provide the Antillean government with the ability to defend the interests of the country abroad and in its own territorial waters.
History
Late 19th and early 20th century
The Antillean Navy, then solely known as the United Commonwealth Navy, succeeded the United States Navy (USN) in 1868, after the War of Contingency. The naval service remained a minor branch of the Antillean Armed Forces, then known as the United Commonwealth Armed Forces, until the late 1880s, when the ruling Federalist Party embarked on a massive naval armament program when newspapers began reporting that the Imperial Brazilian Navy and the Sierran Royal Navy had surpassed the United Commonwealth Navy as the largest fleet in the Western Hemisphere. President John Sherman, who was elected in 1884, put the growing industrial might of the country behind expanding the navy. After a shipbuilding program in the second half of the 1880s, several pre-dreadnought battleships and armored cruisers were entered service in the United Commonwealth in the early 1890s, surpassing its rivals in North and South America. Although an ambitious proposal from the Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracey to build 200 ships of various types was rejected, by the turn of the 20th century the United Commonwealth had one of the top five largest navies in the world.
In 1898 the new navy participated in the Spanish–American War, forming the largest component of the Combined American Fleet. Along with the Northeast Union Navy and the Brazorian Navy, it participated in the attack on the Spanish territories of Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United Commonwealth Navy and its allies won a decisive victory over the Spanish Armada during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. The war with Spain further convinced Federalist politicians of the importance of naval power. The United Commonwealth also deployed several ships in 1900 to put down the Boxer Rebellion in China, assisting the other Eight Nation Alliance forces in relieving the besieged foreign legations in Beijing.
President Charles W. Fairbanks, in office from 1905 to 1913, was a believer in a strong navy and launched another shipbuilding program. During his administration the United Commonwealth had gained the third-largest navy in the world, behind the British Royal Navy and the German Imperial Navy. Beyond having a supportive role in minor military actions in Central America to assist allied governments across the region, the United Commonwealth Navy did not see any major combat in the 1900s or 1910s.
Revolutionary War and the Great Retreat
The Continental Revolutionary War began on January 18, 1917 with a series of armed uprisings by the Continentalist Party supported by other left-wing political parties and armed groups against the authoritarian Federalist regime. In response, the Martial Act of 1917 was passed declaring martial law across the entire United Commonwealth with the navy being ordered to secure all major ports and to help assert control over the Antillean territories in the Caribbean to maintain control over all Federalist territories in conjunction with the Marines. Not all soldiers supported the government however and many revolted, most notably the sailors on the battleship Kentucky who staged a successful mutiny and seized control over the entire ship for the Continental Revolution. Other mutinies had occurred as well on other naval ships to and became a major problem for the navy and the rest of the armed forces as a whole.
The Federalist Navy, as it became known, saw less action in the war in contrast to the army and air corps which conducted most of the fighting against the Continental Revolutionary Army. The navy conducted support operations for the army and other ground forces by using battleships and other similar models as a form of makeshift sea-based artillery, especially towards the late stages of the conflict. The navy also conducted logistical support for Federalist forces and the armies of the Carolina Republic, Florida, and Acadiana as they supported Federalist forces during the war. The navy also aided in military operations by the Marine Corps and their operations during the war as well, especially in defense of coastal territories, cities, and allied states on the American Mainland.
By the final year of the war, the Federalists had lost control over Chicago and other major cities and were pushed back to the coastal cities where the final Federalist strongholds had remained. Understanding their defeat in the war, the United Commonwealth government under Amelia Abarough ordered the total withdrawal and complete retreat of the government, armed forces, and any sympathetic civilians towards the Antilles in what would be known as the "Great Retreat". During the retreat, the navy was responsible for the full-scale evacuation of all military personnel, government officials, and civilian refugees to the Antilles and was to aid with the resettlement of these people on the island territories. The navy also evacuated several historical artifacts as well and brought them to the Antilles to prevent their destruction by Continentalist forces as well. Naval forces also operated in the Carolina Republic, Acadiana and Florida as cities such as Charleston, Miami, and New Orleans were used as major evacuated routes. Citizens from said countries along with their government officials and military personnel also partook in the evacuations fearing reprisals by the Continentalist forces during their final offensives and planned annexation of all three states into the emerging Continental States. Dreadnoughts and battleships also carried out artillery support as well with marines and other sailors aiding in the evacuation process supported by the marines and navies of other Federalist allies. The last ships left the mainland on May 18, 1921 at the end of the war with the final Federalist and anti-Continental elements having abandoned the mainland.
1920s and the Great War
Organization
The Navy is headed by the civilian Secretary of the Navy, who exercises oversight of the Chief of Naval Staff on behalf of the President, and leads the Department of the Navy. The Navy Department is the civilian agency responsible for administrative management, including material procurement, of the organization. The forces of the Antillean Navy are administratively divided at the highest level into two categories, consisting of the ocean-going Operating Forces and the land-based Shore Establishment.
The Chief of Naval Staff is the highest ranking active duty officer and is the professional head of the naval service. He is assisted by an office of staff officers known as the Naval Staff, which also includes the Vice Chief of Naval Staff and the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, who represents the enlisted ratings and petty officers to the Naval Staff, being the highest ranking enlisted member of the Navy. Below the Navy Staff are the two components of the Navy: the Shore Establishment, including a number of functional commands to provide support capabilities, and the numbered fleets that are the largest operational formations of the Navy, the First Fleet and Second Fleet. Tactical units within fleets are organized into squadrons.
Structure
As of 2022:
Naval Staff
Naval Education and Training Command
Naval Supply Command
Naval Engineering Command
Naval Medical Service
Naval Aviation
Office of Naval Intelligence
United Commonwealth Naval College
Naval Special Warfare Command
Fleet Forces Command
First Fleet (HQ Jefferson)
- Carrier Strike Group One
- Destroyer Squadron 1
- Frigate Squadron 3
- Patrol Squadron 7
- Patrol Squadron 12
Second Fleet (HQ Santiago de Cuba)
- Destroyer Squadron 2
- Frigate Squadron 5
- Patrol Squadron 10
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Marine Corps
The Antillean Marine Corps, officially known as the United Commonwealth Marine Corps (UCMC) is a defined by Antillean law as a component of the Navy, though it is highly autonomous and its command structure generally operates independently of Navy command, despite having close cooperation between the two. The Marines and the Navy have maintained a close relationship historically, and often operate together and use the same shore facilities.
Personnel
The Navy has over 100,000 personnel, out of which about eighty percent are ratings (enlisted sailors) and twenty percent are commissioned officers or warrant officers. Enlisted sailors are required to pass Navy boot camp before being sent to complete their individual career training, with some of the most important career paths being the warfare military occupational specialties (MOS), including Surface Warfare, Aviation Warfare, Information Dominance Warfare, Naval Aircrew, Special Warfare, Seabee Warfare, Submarine Warfare or Expeditionary Warfare. Each sailor wears badges related to their MOS, including ones for each different types of warfare. Officers come from either the United Commonwealth Naval Academy, the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) that is completed while in high school, or the Naval Officer Candidate School (OCS) after serving as an enlisted sailor and already having a college degree. Warrant officer ranks are held by experienced technical specialists who direct a specific section of operations on a ship, and are promoted from among enlisted sailors.
Enlisted sailors in the ranks of seaman recruit, apprentice seaman, and seaman are all considered apprentices. They are also all organized based on their specialty: Seaman, Fireman, Airman, Constructionman, and Hospitalman. Above them are petty officers (third, second, and first class), who are responsible for both their area of expertise as well as leading the enlisted sailors, and the chief petty officers (up to Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy), which have a separate role and can serve as the master chief petty officer of a command level (including a single ship or naval base, a squadron, or a fleet).
Uniforms
Navy sailors are issued three types of uniforms: service dress, full dress, and dinner dress uniforms. The first two types consist of a sailor suit for enlisted and chiefs, or an officer suit for officers, and each of them always comes in a blue/black version and a full white version, with the color worn depending on the time of year. The service dress is the main duty uniform when not at a formal event and the full dress uniform is used at official functions. The evening dress is the most elaborate uniform, and is only issued to officers and petty officers.
Sailors are also given two types of working uniforms: the Navy Working Uniform and the Shipboard Working Uniform. The NWU is worn when in a combat zone or an industrial area onshore, and it consists of a camouflage pattern that is either based on the colors of a ship or on woodland colors. The SWU is used on a day-to-day basis when working aboard a ship and not being in any of the conditions described earlier.
Ranks and insignia
- Officers
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Flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | |||||||||
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| Special grade | O-10 | O-9 | O-8 | O-7 | O-6 | O-5 | O-4 | O-3 | O-2 | O-1 | Special grade | |
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| Admiral of the Navy | Fleet admiral | Admiral | Vice admiral | Rear admiral | Commodore | Captain | Commander | Lieutenant commander | Lieutenant | Lieutenant junior grade | Ensign | |
- Warrant
| Pay grade |
Warrant Officers | ||||
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| WO1 | CWO2 | CWO3 | CWO4 | CWO5 | |
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| Warrant officer 1 | Chief warrant officer 2 | Chief warrant officer 3 | Chief warrant officer 4 | Chief warrant officer 5 | |
- Enlisted
| Pay grade |
Petty officers | Enlisted ratings | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 | |
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| Command master chief petty officer | Master chief petty officer | Senior chief petty officer | Chief petty officer | Petty officer first class | Petty officer second class | Petty officer third class | Seaman | Seaman apprentice | |
Ships and aircraft
See also
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This page uses material from the Wikipedia page United States Navy, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).
