Promotion beyond competence in Imperial Twilight
The empire's decline includes senior figures whose promotions have carried them beyond their abilities.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
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Explore every watch point in reverse video-date order, then in timestamp order within each video.
Designing an Arethusa-style light cruiser for space
An Arethusa-style space cruiser would combine a small, fast hull with substantial sensors and enough armament to challenge comparable ships.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Why future human governments might choose Union or Commonwealth
A naming criticism in Call to Arms considers how familiar political terms could help a future human government win acceptance.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Recovering alien technology through corporate power and investment
Call to Arms links an alien wreck's recovery to corporate finance, government influence, and control of new technology.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
A first starship launch still needs crew, supplies, and testing
The launch ceremony in Call to Arms leaves substantial transport and testing work before the first interstellar voyage can begin.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Who should command a British deep-space fleet?
A future British space fleet raises different organizational questions near Earth and on deep-space deployments.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
The Nelson Touch: pilot discipline under the pressure of royal status
A prince serving as an ordinary pilot must distinguish deserved military discipline from the arbitrary treatment associated with his royal status.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
A generation ship overtaken by faster interstellar travel
A generation ship in The Nelson Touch faces the social consequences of transport technology improving while its passengers remain in transit.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Canada as a caution against fully unified armed services
Canada supplies a counterexample to the suggestion that merging the armed services would remove their coordination problems.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Triton: promotion policy and resistance to younger officers
Triton introduces a command disagreement through competing judgments about efficiency, experience, and a young pilot's promotion.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Triton: pirate economics and the time available to naval patrols
An apparently unprofitable raid tests assumptions about pirate behavior, while patrol response time determines whether attackers can escape.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Triton and caution before engaging an unknown enemy
Triton's captain prioritizes action and rescue while his first officer questions whether their familiar assumptions fit the unknown attackers.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Triton: buying time for a civilian rescue
The immediate tactical requirement is to keep a rescue route open long enough to recover civilians, even if the colony must be abandoned.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Separate services still need compatible equipment
Incompatible ammunition shows why separate services still need equipment that permits practical cooperation.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Warrior and the defence of an isolated planet
A lone warship joins planetary defences against ten carriers while simultaneous attacks keep the rest of the fleet elsewhere.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Warrior's convincing NCOs and disposable ships
A favorable assessment of the series distinguishes convincing personnel from warships that disappear too readily after being introduced.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Command confidence and overconfidence aboard Warrior
Granger assigns his strongest colleague to coordinate the wider defence while relying on a heroic reputation that also feeds his overconfidence.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Protecting subordinates and projecting composure
The Warrior reading leads to practical advice about protecting subordinates, continuing to learn, and remaining composed enough to support others.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Peacekeeper Initiative and security after empire
A trade mission encounters a fragile government, inherited imperial institutions, and attacks that prevent local reinforcements from moving.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Decoy attacks and the shortage of trusted soldiers
Coordinated diversions exploit a new government's transport failures and its inability to place experienced former imperial soldiers where they are needed.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
When a peacekeeping mission can intervene
Diplomatic authorization permits intervention, but protecting the government also requires attention to a possible enemy attack from orbit.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Wong's victory and the burden of genocide
Praise for a fictional officer's wartime victory recalls his ship's responsibility for an alien species' eventual extinction.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Why the chain of command must not be bypassed
An example of criticism moving down a ship's hierarchy explains why senior officers should work through the established chain of command.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
An upside-down book projects calm under depth-charge attack
An audience anecdote uses an unnamed U-boat commander's upside-down book to illustrate reassurance through outward composure.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Why officers should listen to senior NCOs
Warrant officers' reputation for influence prompts a warning that officers of any rank should listen to senior NCOs.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Science-fiction series with appealing ship designs
Empire Rising, Peacekeeper Initiative, and Siobhan Dunmoore receive a personal recommendation for their ship aesthetics.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Senior NCOs preserve institutional memory
Warrant officers combine specialist expertise with knowledge that survives changes among the officers above them.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
An invitation to the chiefs' mess
A personal recollection connects the reputation of the chiefs' mess with the chief cook's place among its members.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Dunmoore's battle memories return at action stations
A fictional commander's return to action begins with grief and recurring battle memories that persist through months of quiet patrols.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Honor and Death and the protected combat bridge
A bridge buried inside a fictional frigate prompts a direct naval-design argument for protecting command spaces.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Stingray puts a damaged freighter before pursuit
A frigate drives raiders away from a freighter, then delays pursuit to establish whether anyone aboard still needs help.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Expensive torpedoes reveal unusually equipped raiders
A fictional weapon's cost and specialized role make the raiders' equipment an intelligence clue.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Standing order 53 and the limits of pursuing pirates
A captain's wish to pursue pirates collides with standing orders, the risk of ambush, and her suspicion of political influence.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
How captains check food quality across a ship
Captains and first officers can check crew meals directly by sampling the food served across the ship.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Why Star Trek should use its battle bridge
A protected second bridge can preserve command after damage, provided action-stations procedures put an officer there.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Fractured Horizons: captured weapons behind alien access controls
Possessing Vengeance leaves its human captors unable to use or understand key systems because alien permissions and encryption still control access.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Fractured Horizons: sidelining the only pilot of a captured warship
A captured warship's pilot remains idle while personal rivalries restrict his involvement in an urgent wartime investigation.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
How remote sensors allow protected combat information centers
Radar and remote sensors remove much of the reason for exposing the officers whose judgment directs a ship in battle.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Destroyer and the cost of ignoring identification procedure
A research commander assumes secrecy guarantees security and dismisses identification warnings until hostile ships disable and board the station.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Destroyer: why a gravity weapon needs its own power source
A fictional gravity weapon illustrates the gap between understanding a working principle and powering a munition independently of its launch platform.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Crew survival measures at space action stations
Protective pods and suits address decompression in space just as naval flash gear addresses burns during combat at sea.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Kingship: combat experience changes an exploration cruiser's armament
Endeavor enters service with flak cannons added during construction because recent fighting changed the fictional navy's armament policy.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Kingship: a new captain gets to know his officers
A captain uses interviews to establish working relationships early after learning how long a poor start can damage a command team.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Kingship: fitting science officers into a survey ship
A fictional survey cruiser carries scientific specialists whose research role and commissioned status do not give them operational command authority.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Kingship: using an auxiliary bridge to train future commanders
An auxiliary bridge lets junior officers and a scientific specialist practice command while preserving a second staffed command position.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Specialist officers and watchkeeping training
Science and medical qualifications can be supplemented by watchkeeping training, although professionally qualified entrants may receive only a short naval introduction.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
Finding the hidden Earth in The Voyage Home
An occupied Earth can be erased from maps while remaining detectable through its gravitational effects and the military activity around it.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·
A covert insertion disguised as a meteor
A disguised ballistic pod bypasses orbital defenses, but a successful landing still depends on finding help among the occupied population.
From Bruships 31: Some more Science Fiction from a Naval Historians Perspective... ·