A concentrated attack might damage a quantum-jumping ship but this is unlikely, apparently. Even when not jumping, a ship is protected by:
armor plating;
absorbers;
computer-controlled negafields.
Two ships are solid and therefore vulnerable to each other either when they are not jumping or when they are in phase. Ships can match phase because any given type of ship has a limited range of feasible frequencies and these are quantized, not infinitely divisible. Shifting frequencies is an evasive tactic. High-speed stochastic analysis can help an enemy to predict upcoming frequencies. Since the object is not only to avoid harm but also to inflict it, phase-change evasion is not always used and two opponents may both go relativistic to settle the matter.
Magnusson's flagship, N. Aquilae, planetoid-sized with a crew of hundreds and machines in their thousands, is at the center of his fleet. The Admiral and his staff are safe behind defensive missiles, projectiles, rays and shielding fields whereas fighting ships are necessarily less well protected.
Flandry has been compared to Hornblower. I find another Hornblower parallel in just one aspect of what happens with Blenkiron. In a Hornblower TV episode, young officer Hornblower issues an order. An older, experienced seaman replies, "That would be difficult to do, sir, unless you meant..." and then suggests a completely different order. Hornblower, smiling his thanks, says, "That is what I meant, of course!" The older man helps the younger man. The younger man is wise enough to heed advice and is also able to acknowledge the help non-verbally. No order has been disobeyed and there has been no insubordination. Similarly, although in different circumstances and at a much higher level in terms of rank, the flagship captain, Tetsuo Ogawa, saves the day and becomes a hero by diplomatically advising the panicked, un-Hornblower-like, Blenkiron.
See other battles in space here and here.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
The thing I remember About Admiral Blenkiron was that he was not really a bad Navy officer. His misfortune was coming up against a better tactician and strategist. It was fortunate that he retained enough presence of mind to heed Captain Ogawa's advice.
What was Blenkiron's mistake at Battle Star? Should he have sent out a wide screen of scoutboats to probe for possible traps by Magnusson? That might have forced the Pretender to fight on terms more tactically favorable for Blenkiron.
Here, we see in even more detail than the battle against the Merseians in Chapter 16 of ENSIGN FLANDRY, Poul Anderson giving careful and detailed thought to how war might be fought in space.
Jerry Pournelle/Larry Niven/S.M. Stirling did much the same in their Co-Dominium collaborations, thinking meticulously on how war might be fought on other planets. But we don't see much from them about how war might be fought in space. Btw, Poul Anderson does give us some ideas about planet side war in THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND, both in how an invasion might be handled and how the defenders may react.
Sean
When my father was a very young 2nd Lieutenant in 1940, he was in charge of a firing exercise for a heavy naval gun protecting Halifax, Nova Scotia (U-boats had been active in the area).
He was in an observation bunker, making the calculations which were then relayed to the gun-pit, where the crew would lay and fire the weapon (a 7.2 inch cannon, IIRC).
As he was about to order them to fire, the experienced sergeant suggested that he do a visual check on the gun first. My father said: "No, it's a good firing solution, that would slow things down."
Sergeant: "Sir, I -really think- you should do a visual check."
My father did, and found he'd transposed something and the gun was pointing 180 degrees away from the direction it was supposed to... and in fact, right at his CO, who was observing the exercise.
My father spent the next few weeks at a weather reporting station on a small, very bleak island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Dear Mr. Stirling!
Good heavens, what a close run possible disaster that could have been! A perfect example of the wisdom of heeding experienced subordinates! And I certainly why your father's CO was LESS than thrilled at how narrowly he escaped being shelled.
Sean
See "Antares Dawn" by Michael McCollum, for a space battle scene which is well thought out.
FTL is only by jumping between 'foldspace' points, rather like the Alderson points of Pournelle's Codominium future history. So foldspace points are often defended and if those defenses are badly damaged a battle at speeds of many km/s may occur between a foldspace point of the solar system and important planets or other habitats.
Kaor, Jim!
We see something similar in the space battle between the Terrans and Merseians in ENSIGN FLANDRY. That is, depending on circumstances, Imperial and Merseian warships fought each other in and out of FTL.
Ad astra! Sean
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