We have become used to starship bridges in screened sf!
Sandra Tamarin-Asmundsen and her son, Eric, are alone on the admiral's bridge of Alpha Cygni. This bridge is described as a cave although with viewscreens showing the heavens. It throbs. Its warm air carries slight oil and chemical smells. The young, inexperienced captain of this ship communicates by intercom so he must be on the captain's bridge? The Hermetian fleet comprises:
Alpha Cygni, a spherical light battleship not meant to land on a planet;
two cruisers;
four destroyers;
"...a carrier four ten Meteor-class pursuers." (p. 113)
(Philippe Rochefort commands a Meteor with a crew of himself and two others in The People of the Wind.)
So there will be eight captain's bridges in addition to the one admiral's bridge? As admiral, Sandra issues orders to all other units in the fleet.
4 comments:
It's fiction, of course, but historically, in eras when a naval force built around a single capital ship actually saw action, one would (generally) have:
a) a flag officer on the capital ship, who would indeed have a flag bridge, although in the electronic era, the flag officer could very well station themself in what amounted to an alternate combat information center; while
b) the 2-3 mid-sized combatants would (generally) be under the command of a second flag officer, who would have some sort of command post beyond that of the ship serving as the second flag officer's flagship; and
c) the 4-12 smaller combatants (or two distinct types) would (generally) be under the command of at least two type commanders, who would (generally) not be flag officers.
The above is very generalized, of course.
Kaor, Paul!
And besides what Dave wrote above, we read in "Outpost of Empire" that a light cruiser in the Imperial navy was the largest warship that could safely enter planetary atmospheres. Also, in THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND and A KNIGHT OF GHOSTS AND SHADOWS dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts were designed to be as powerful as we see them to enable fleet admirals and their staffs to think and plan battles undisturbed by smaller enemy ships.
I hope you don't mind, but I feel the need to revise my latest article, partly because of the comments I've seen and partly because of my dissatisfaction with those entries I quoted from the SF ENCYCLOPEDIA. If you agree, I will send those revisions in a few days.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Go ahead. We'll get it right, even if not first time.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Many thanks!
Ad astra! Sean
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