Some thoughts on the analysis of the Battle of Manticore

Some thoughts on the analysis of the Battle of Manticore

But first, a quick note:

=== chapter 65 index 6764 ====

Even now, no one on either side knew exactly what would happen when fleets
of pod-layers this size engaged one another. There was simply no
experiential meterstick, because no one had ever done it before. For that
matter, no battle in history had yet seen almost three hundred and fifty
superdreadnoughts of any kind engage in what could only be a fight to the
death. Over the centuries, tactical formalism had become the rule, with
indecisive battles and limited losses. That might have changed, at least in
this corner of the galaxy, but even here, most of the combatants were still
feeling their way into the changing realities of interstellar carnage.

The Battle of Manticore would be something new and unique in the annals of
deep-space combat. Everyone in both fleets knew that.

But that was all they knew as the missiles began to launch.

====end quote ================

Note well, "still feeling their way into the changing realities of
interstellar carnage." I'll get back to this.

Heck it starts with this. Admiral Tourville (and the rest of the
professional Havenite Navy) knew a new era in warfare had arrived back when
8th fleet rolled over the Navy of the People's Republic of Haven, before
the coup and restoration. And Admiral Forakker had done wonders in
developing the tactics and doctrines to use Haven's tech to its best
result. Paralleling a similar situation in Earth history -pre-Diaspora,
shifts in technologies had also accompanied shifts in doctrine.
A brief history note: pretty much up until the French Revolution, war
was something conducted by Professionals at the Behest of the King (overly
simplifying cause I do not want to type everything). But with the French
revolution, well,the trained professionals seem to largely have Monarchist
Tendencies, so the French Republic solved that problem by introducing
political commissioners to keep an eye on the few that remained, and went
to the "Levee en' masse", essentially 'nationalizing' the war by
nationalizing the population and resources. It became no longer a case of
The King lost a battle, but "we have lost". This was the first serious
development of nationalism, where every one of Us was called to Defend Our
Way of Life, and our enemy was no longer Them, as an abstraction, but Them
as a Nation. It was no longer a case of King Louise against King George,
but ordinary Frenchmen and Englishmen could travel freely, as long as they
stayed out of the battle grounds; but of France against England, Frenchmen
against Englishmen. Bad things became even more identified with Them
(French/English Leave, and so on.) War changed. Napoleon was the first to
capitalize on this, but not the last. Unfortunately, his tactics worked
well with the technology he had, but when that changed (the shift from
smoothbore to rifled musket), it was a blood bath. E.g the American Civil
War was fought according to Napoleon, but with different weapons. Similar
lags occurred with the introduction of other technologies: the metal
cartridge, the semi-automatic rifle & machine gun, quick firing artillery,
air support, etc, etc. First to grasp that the technology allowed for a
complete change of tactics often had tremendous initial success. But that
is going to remain outside the scope of this post.

So here we are, about two thousand three hundred and some odd years
later (give or take) and new technologies are being deployed in a new way,
on both sides. Admiral Tourville expected to get knocked about a bit on
his way to victory, but even he was a bit surprised when the butcher's bill
for the first course was presented. Intellectually he had known, but his
guts hadn't yet caught on.

Then the Salamander pops up and just flat hammers 5th fleet into scrap.
In one volley. Faster than you can say "bulldozing baby seals", 75 wallers
go "poof". And an insignificant number of missiles cruises right through
his units, right through the defenses, and demonstrates what the term "alls
fair in love and war" is all about. Doing the monster mash in waffle
stompers. "Splat!" So nice to have a compassionate enemy.

He does the only wise and moral thing he can: surrender. Save his
people, spare their lives. They came so damn close ... but close doesn't
count in this case.

Now, now that the battle is over, wrecks scooped up, bodies recovered,
prize ship distributed, medals and promotions issued, and the Royal Navy
taking precedent in every shipyard for repairs and construction, now the
'eggheads' are wondering "What do we do next?" This is more than a
rhetorical question. When the first Haven-Manticore war broke out, it was
understood that you just didn't attack the opposition's home star.
"Wouldn't be prudent", not optimal, not tactically sound. But that was
then, this is now, a 'now' when the concept of Total War has been fully
explained as not only acceptable, but actually accomplishable.
I'm sure that Admiral Theisman is seriously concerned about the day
when the Royal Manticore Navy will have the numbers to free up Eighth Fleet
from guarding the Junction and Manticore, and pay a return visit. Because
you know that he knows, just as we know, that her Grace is a stone killer
when she needs to be. And unless Sharon is able to pull several rabbits
out of the hat to counteract Keyhole, it will not be pretty. Quantity has
it's own quality, but ... the safest place to be in that conflict will be
on the surface of another planet, in another system. "Da sky is falling!"

Me thinks the only saving hope for Haven is to get hard proof of the
Mesa/Manpower interference, spill the beans on the forging of Manticore
Diplomatic correspondence and propose that the Star Kingdom and the
Republic pound on Mesa like blacksmiths working out issues.

Good luck on that.


tschus
pyotr




--
pyotr filipivich
We will drink no whiskey before its nine.
It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!

In article <mamm425oflcg8hotm821sm65saie163amt DeleteThis @4ax.com>,
phamp DeleteThis @mindspring.com says...

(excellent article!)

> Me thinks the only saving hope for Haven is to get hard proof of the
> Mesa/Manpower interference, spill the beans on the forging of Manticore
> Diplomatic correspondence and propose that the Star Kingdom and the
> Republic pound on Mesa like blacksmiths working out issues.

I agree! Although I prefer the expression "beat Mesa like a rented
mule"