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Fleet Structure
Sep. 2nd, 2011 02:44 pmA while back, as part of my review of the latest Jack Campbell AKA John Hemry Lost Fleet novel, I expressed dismay at Hemry's space fleet. I said that Hemry's "space fleet looks shockingly like the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet circa 1916, with battleships chasing faster but less well-armored battlecruisers."
I've talked about fleet structure before, but my basic concern is that "battlecruiser" was an artifact of technology. In the first thirty years of the 20th Century, a ship could be either fast or heavily-armored, but not both. This changed with the Iowa and South Dakota class battleships, which were fast and heavily-armored. Yet Hemry's far-future fleet has both battleships and battlecruisers zipping about.
Well, at Worldcon I attended a kaffeeklatch with Hemry (and, BTW, every con should have these) and got to ask about this. I didn't get to go into the technical detail I would have liked, but Hemry basically said that he saw a role for both ship functions, and decided for simplicity's sake to retain the old names. I agree and understand in that writers must be understood, but I disagree in that ship names and classes are always changing.
So, with that profound (or not-so-profound) thought, I leave you to enjoy your long Labor Day weekend (for US readers) and for Canadians, please enjoy the shorter weekend.
I've talked about fleet structure before, but my basic concern is that "battlecruiser" was an artifact of technology. In the first thirty years of the 20th Century, a ship could be either fast or heavily-armored, but not both. This changed with the Iowa and South Dakota class battleships, which were fast and heavily-armored. Yet Hemry's far-future fleet has both battleships and battlecruisers zipping about.
Well, at Worldcon I attended a kaffeeklatch with Hemry (and, BTW, every con should have these) and got to ask about this. I didn't get to go into the technical detail I would have liked, but Hemry basically said that he saw a role for both ship functions, and decided for simplicity's sake to retain the old names. I agree and understand in that writers must be understood, but I disagree in that ship names and classes are always changing.
So, with that profound (or not-so-profound) thought, I leave you to enjoy your long Labor Day weekend (for US readers) and for Canadians, please enjoy the shorter weekend.
