New Republic Defense Fleet/Legends

"The best navy I can imagine. It is modern, streamlined, and high-tech, unbeaten in any conflict since Endor. It has liberated the galaxy from the worst tyranny in known history, and is capable of handling any threat that the New Republic could imagine."

- Gial Ackbar

The New Republic Defense Fleet, commonly referred to as the New Republic Navy or the New Republic Space Navy, was the name of the defense Fleet of the New Republic.

History
At the creation of the New Republic, the former Alliance Fleet consisted primarily of donated starships converted to military duty, volunteer resistance force fleets and a small number of vessels purchased with limited Rebel Alliance funds, headed by Admiral Ackbar, who also held a seat on the New Republic Provisional Council. During this period, Ackbar coordinated the Fleet towards the Council's primary goal: the capture of Coruscant. Along the way, the Fleet engaged a number of Imperial warlords and relied heavily upon its officers' ingenuity to defeat the warlords' superior warships.

After the liberation of Coruscant, the New Republic reorganized under the Common Charter, which also organized the military might of the New Republic into a single, unified command structure, the Combined Defense Forces of the New Republic. Starships, starfighters and soldiers all served under the Supreme Commander, an office built from the remains of the Minister of Defense, Minister of the Army, Minister of the Navy and the Minister of the Starfighter Corps. While the Defense Force was organized into Fleet Command, Intelligence, Technology and Quartermaster sections, the Defense Fleet served as its primary action body, and was led directly by the Supreme Commander, Ackbar.

Ostensibly it was during this period that the Navy began to organize into fleets. These groups patrolled segments of the New Republic on a rotating basis, with at least one always assigned to defending Coruscant and another assigned to patrolling "Thunder Alley". Prior to 16 ABY, four fleets were created to fulfill this function.



In the nine years following the reorganization of the fleet, the variety of vessels that comprised the Defense Fleet grew; starships from hundreds of shipyards across New Republic space made up the frontline, support and civilian vessels of the Fleet. The resulting inefficiencies of this diversity prompted a program to streamline the Fleet's ships and increase maintenance efficiency. This program, named New Class, offered the Fleet a new level of standardization, power and flexibility previously enjoyed by the Imperial Starfleet. By 16 ABY, a new fleet, the New Republic Fifth Battle Group constructed wholly of New Class starships completed its proving missions and demonstrated the success of the program in the Black Fleet Crisis.

Ignoring Imperial design philosophy and opting for a larger number of smaller ship-designs, the New Republic built fleet carriers, Republic-class Star Destroyers and smaller battle cruisers, shying away from Super Star Destroyer-sized warships. However, the Navy's fleets were designed as response forces and, despite the concerns of some politicians during the launch of the Fifth Fleet, not a tool of conquest. The lessons learned from the Black Fleet Crisis eventually took form as the Star Defender program, which had its own set of detractors and moved ahead slowly.

Thus, the Navy was not able to easily launch counter-offensives against the Yuuzhan Vong in the late stages of the Yuuzhan Vong War, and once again had to rely on its talented commanders to achieve victories. During that conflict, Mediator-class battle cruisers, Bothan Assault Cruisers and Viscount-class Star Defenders comprised the fleet's "signature ships". With the collapse of the New Republic and the formation of the Galactic Alliance, the New Republic Defense Fleet formally ceased to exist, and was replaced by the Galactic Alliance Defense Fleet.

Headquarters
The Defense Fleet, and the Defense Forces as a whole, were headed by the Supreme Commander, who took orders from the Chief of State, the civilian leader of the New Republic. In the first few years after Endor, the Defense Forces were organized under the Ministry of Defense, which had been reorganized from the Rebel Alliance's Ministry of War, with separate a ministry below it for the Fleet. In practise this proved overly-bureaucratic and cumbersome, and following the Liberation of Coruscant in 6 ABY, the whole command structure was reorganized again, with the position of Minister of Defense being abolished the Supreme Commander becoming a Ruling Council position.

New Republic High Command was the senior professional military body in control of the Defense Forces, which in turn controlled Fleet Command The New Republic Fleet Office was another controlling element of the Defense Fleet, which had authority over the Fleet, New Republic Fleet Intelligence, and the New Republic Marines.

Administrative organization
The New Republic Marines, bridgehead commandos responsible for leading planetary assaults, were a component of the Defense Fleet. New Republic Fleet Intelligence was another component of the Defense Fleet responsible for military intelligence, which included Asset Tracking, a department responsible for tracking Imperial military equipment lost after Endor.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Battleground: Tatooine
 * Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron: The Warrior Princess
 * Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Requiem for a Rogue
 * Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron: In the Empire's Service
 * Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron 25: The Making of Baron Fel
 * Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Family Ties
 * Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Masquerade
 * Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Mandatory Retirement
 * Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor
 * X-Wing: Rogue Squadron
 * X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble
 * X-Wing: The Krytos Trap
 * X-Wing: The Bacta War
 * X-Wing: Wraith Squadron
 * X-Wing: Iron Fist
 * X-Wing: Solo Command
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command
 * X-Wing: Isard's Revenge
 * Dark Empire
 * Dark Empire II
 * Empire's End
 * Crimson Empire
 * I, Jedi
 * Children of the Jedi
 * X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Before the Storm
 * Shield of Lies
 * Tyrant's Test
 * Ambush at Corellia
 * Assault at Selonia
 * Specter of the Past
 * Vision of the Future
 * Star Wars: Union
 * Vector Prime
 * Chewbacca
 * The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * The New Jedi Order: Balance Point
 * X-Wing: Mercy Kill
 * X-Wing: Mercy Kill