United States Navy

The United States Navy is a military organization in the Cyberpunk universe.

Overview

The Navy's duties are the defense of America's coasts, American ships, and American possessions overseas. This is accomplished through three supporting branches: the Submarine Service, the Surface Navy, and the Naval Air Corps.

The Submarine Service is arguably the largest of its type in the world. While international corporations use submarines for all kinds of work, only the USN still has nuclear-powered, long-haul attack submarines of the type insanely popular during the Cold War. Many of these subs are veterans of that decades-long stalemate, and have been refurbished and sent out to sea again. They still serve the same purpose that they held during the Cold War: Hunter-killers scour the oceans for enemy vessels and subs, while "Boomers" lurk near the bottom, constantly shifting their positions, bearing their cargoes of smart-missile death. The only change is that this time the missiles are targeted for Bonn, Paris, Hamburg, Brest, and other sites in the U.S.A.'s most likely enemy, the EEC. The rationale of maintaining this fleet of powerful boats and some smaller coastal boats is that while the EEC may have a hold over the U.S. through the ESA's mass-drivers on Luna, the threat of nuclear annihilation restores the balance of power-if anyone pulls the trigger on Luna, Europe dies a horrible fusion death. Since submarine detection requires inserting sonar devices into the hydrosphere or otherwise getting close to the water, they are the perfect weapons to use as a counterbalance to the ESA firepower. To date, no method has been found that allows submarines to be detected from any altitude greater than that allowable to drop sonobouys-the Cold War powers spent a great deal of time trying for submarine detection, but failed. In addition, there are no new technologies that promise the possibility of sub detection from orbit, even when trying to find old-style subs of forty years past. The revisions to the U.S. subs make them practically undetectable and more deadly than ever.

The Surface Navy consists of a large number of small, CHOOH2-powered patrol boats, and a relative few nuclear-powered surface warships. The once mighty "600-ship fleet" has been reduced to around 250 patrol boats, 39 frigates and escorts, ten nuclear cruisers, two nuclear carriers, and four refit nuclear battleships. Most of the patrol boats are stationed off the American coastline, serving as naval armed guards. The rest serve as small escorts to the bigger ships on their assignments overseas. The Surface Navy's function is to guard against aerial and naval incursions into American naval space, and to act as an instrument of national policy abroad. It is common to see a battleship combat group practicing maneuvers off the coast of an unfriendly nation. In this the Navy is assisted by its Japanese allies; between the Navy, the Japanese, and the Australians, the Pacific Rim is a bathtub hostile to EEC influence.

The Naval Air Corps is a blanket designation for the Navy's air arm. This arm uses its aircraft to support naval operations, conduct anti-shipping and antisubmarine patrols, and defend American possessions. Its planes and airships fly from land bases in America, Hawaii, and Guam, covering a large area of the world. In addition, the two nuclear carriers (Nimitz and United States) take NAC striking power wherever it needs to go.

Between these three forces, the U.S.A. possesses the strongest combat navy in the world. Once, the USSR had a navy of superior numbers, but this navy was largely sold and dismantled during the upheaval that took place after the death of the USSR and the birth of the Neo-Soviet Union.

Organization

T he Navy is organized differently from any land force. In the Navy, each ship is a unit. Patrol boats may be assigned to more-or-less permanent patrol units, thereby qualifying as the naval equivalents of platoons or companies within a larger unit. The capitol ships (cruisers, carriers and battleships) are assigned as the core of naval task forces, with the frigates and destroyers as escorts. Naval task forces are made and revised continually, depending upon what ships are needed where and which ships are available.

Tactics

Naval tactics haven't changed much since the 20th Century. Submarines continue their deadly game of cat and mouse, with the hunter-killers looking for enemy subs and the boomers attempting to stay out of harm's way. Surface ships continually scan and watch for aircraft, submarines, and vessels, ready to attack at the first sign of hostile activity. The weapons of choice are missiles, because of their range and striking power-a single missile can sink or severely damage most ships. The big battleships are an exception to this rule; they can sustain nearly twenty times more punishment before being rendered incapable of combat. Aircraft use missiles and torpedoes, depending on whether they're making aerial strikes or on antisubmarine patrol duties.

The battleships are, as they have been in the past, used to intimidate less powerful foes and nations.

Equipment

Most Navy equipment is used aboard ship, and consists of tools. Navy sea uniforms are somewhat different than normal uniforms, though; they incorporate inflatable pockets within the uniform that inflate to provide flotation devices when the pressure surrounding the sailor reaches levels encountered under four meters of water. These flotation devices can be activated manually.

When naval troops, including Fleet Marines, have to use firearms and body armor, they generally use the same equipment used by the Army, with a few exceptions, one being that Naval security troops on board ships prefer to use Sternmeyer SMG-21 submachineguns, because they do not penetrate ship walls like weapons using higher-velocity rounds.

Most naval ships are beyond the scope of this supplement (a battleship has SP in the four to five-digit range, and SDP verging on six figures). The most common Navy patrol boat is the PB-20, and the Navy still operates M-40 GEVs in shallow areas. Naval air units mostly use the Wasp fighter and the A-01 attack plane, suitably modified for nautical duty. Recent additions to the inventory include the F-36 Comet and the F39 Phoenix.