New Republic Fleet numbers

The NJO seems to suggest that prior to the YV invasion, the various mobile fleets of the NR(as opposed to the more moribound planetary/sector bound forces) only comprise a few thousand vessels.............

This just seems a bit disconerting, considering that the Thrawn duology, Leia attest that the hundred(actually 200) odd ISD and a few thousand support vessels cannot stand to the thundering hooves of the New Republic........

So..... Anyone has any sources on what the NR fleet numbers are?

 

Thousands of vessels varying from huge to small. NRDF had 5 Fleets (separate from garrisons) at its disposal at the beginning of the war but they were reorganised into 3 battlegroups probably due to heavy losses at Fondor (Where the 1st Fleet was decimated) and to improve the unity in command structure. After Coruscant, a clear chain of command did not exist for a long time and many units were isolated from the rest of the fleet.

 

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Fleets would have had to comprise at least 10,000 vessels when combined to have been able to hold off the Yuuzhan Vong invasion force at Coruscant, seeing as their fleet was described in the "tens of thousands".

In addition, Admiral Kre'fey's 1st fleet contained at least 2,000 ships around the time of the Battle of Ebaq, and this would be the total after much of his fleet defected to Garm Bel Iblis' 2nd Fleet and many other ships were lost at the Battle of Coruscant one year prior to the engagement. At full strength, the 1st Fleet could have perhaps been twice as large.

Treast: You cannot assume that the entire First fleet was stationed at Fondor when the Vong attacked. Based on its numbers at Ebaq and Coruscant, if the entire fleet had been there, Fondor would have been unassailable. There is also no logic in concentrating an entire fleet of several thousand vessels in one system when said fleet is not preparing to launch an attack or defend the system. At that time, Fondor wasn't even considered a target by the NRDF, and it is likely that the "First Fleet" mentioned to be defending Fondor was only a few task forces or possibly a single battlegroup detached from the rest of the fleet, which would be spread across that area of the Colonies in order to defend Thyferra, Yag'Dhul, and the Tapani sector.

 

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Fleets would have had to comprise at least 10,000 vessels when combined to have been able to hold off the Yuuzhan Vong invasion force at Coruscant, seeing as their fleet was described in the "tens of thousands".

They weren't Fleets. They were Fleet Groups. It is not a small difference. We are talking a whole different level of organization here, like Army vs Army Group.

So repeat after me: They are Fleet Groups, not Fleets.
Repeat it twenty times, or until you can remember.

(In one read, my impression of those fleets went up from around 1500 to at least 7500).

In addition, Admiral Kre'fey's 1st fleet contained at least 2,000 ships around the time of the Battle of Ebaq, and this would be the total after much of his fleet defected to Garm Bel Iblis' 2nd Fleet and many other ships were lost at the Battle of Coruscant one year prior to the engagement. At full strength, the 1st Fleet could have perhaps been twice as large.

One year prior to the engagement? I hate to break it to you, but in SW, if they were serious about production, he could have started from zero and had 2000 vessels one year later. In fact, given known Imperial manufacturing feats, they could easily have had those 2000 in Star Destroyers, but the NR's mobilization ability is notoriously, almost impossibly poor.

Besides, given Kreffey's rather cowardly actions in that battle, 1FG's losses were probably quite light. The defections suggested poor Fleet quality in 1FG (yes, I know your commander sucked, but a well disciplined fleet still shouldn't just defect), supporting the notion of a recent massive expansion of the Fleet. 2FG was, from the sounds of it, admittedly nearly decimated. Given the rather ... widespread support ... Kreffey and Sovv received, I also doubt how many groups really defected to Bel Iblis.

At that time, Fondor wasn't even considered a target by the NRDF

It was a major shipyard, so I wonder why not?

 

I agree with Borleias. The First, Second, and Third Fleet groups were all combinations of the various New Republic fleets- including the main five strategic fleets, sector fleets, reserves, etc.

The First Fleet is a group of 500 warships. The First Fleet Group is a collection of many thousand warships that were combined under one command during a major battle for reasons of simplfying the command structure of the battle.

--Adm. Nick

 

Very well, I conceed the point about the Fleet Groups. However, at their combined strength, the 3 fleet groups were said to have comprised of only one half of the New Republic Space Navy, which deals exclusively with ships attached to the Republic's central command. Thus, home fleets, such as the Corellian or Rendili starfleets that owe their allegiance to the New Republic, would not be included in this figure.

With the GFFA's industrial production as fast as it is, Kre'fey's force at Ebaq would not have been his entire command (Fleet Group One), as it is stated that only his entire fleet at Kashyyyk is mobilized. Any intelligent commander would not concentrate his entire command, especially if this command consists of thousands of warships, at a single base. Kre'fey likely had many other ships stationed in the important systems around Kashyyyk, interdicting hyperspace lanes between Vong and Republic space.

Bel Iblis also appeared in force at the Battle of Ebaq, and he had only brought half of his ships from Tallaan and the Tapani sector. For his force to have so totally outmatched the Vong and cause Lah to panic, he would have likely had more ships at the Battle than Kre'fey (whose arrival did not surprise Lah very much), thus it is further proof of Iblis' fleet group having many thousands of ships as well.

 

There were 106 cap ships in the 5th Fleet as of 13yrs after Endor.

The Vong don't attack anything with less than that at a time.

 

Very well, I conceed the point about the Fleet Groups. However, at their combined strength, the 3 fleet groups were said to have comprised of only one half of the New Republic Space Navy, which deals exclusively with ships attached to the Republic's central command. Thus, home fleets, such as the Corellian or Rendili starfleets that owe their allegiance to the New Republic, would not be included in this figure.

By that late date as Coruscant, the New Republic Space Navy would probably have sucked up (Federalized being the more formal term) most of said local Starfleets.

But there is almost certainly a 4th and a 5th Fleet Group out there somewhere.