PART 2 : THE RUNNINGS OF A WARSHIP IN THE MARINE
Like I said in the introduction of part 1, I'm assuming that the MRG stayed faithful to proven old Earth practices and am only making stuff up to adjust current practices to how I imagine a Freelancer warship would be run. Using a foundation grounded in reality instead of something purely made up helps it being coherent and easier to navigate, too, I find. Anyhow, let's get to things !
COMMAND RANKS
Officer ranks generally determine the class of ship they're commanding. It's not particularly different than other navies, in Disco lore or RL. But just to clarify, here is a quick list. A reminder before we start : all capitaine de... ranks in the French navy bear the title of "Commandant". We use the same term for an officer in command of a ship : "commandant" means "commanding". "Capitaine' is only a rank title, not a function. Unlike Commandant, which is both.
I know it gets tricky, but just remember that. Your ship's boss is called commandant, not captain/capitaine. No matter their rank.
- Battleships are generally commanded by capitaines de vaisseau and seconded by capitaines de frégate or de corvette. In special cases, they can be commanded by an Amiral, who would then be in charge of the whole accompanying battlegroup.
- Cruisers and destroyers are generally commanded by either capitaines de frégate or corvette, seconded by CCs or lieutenants de vaisseau (called capitaine).
- Gunboats are commanded by enseignes or lieutenants de vaisseau, and can be seconded by any rank.
- Fighters and bombers can be flown by any rank, but it starts getting weird at capitaine de corvette. CCs are aging, very qualified officers and managers. Having them in single or two-seaters makes little sense and would be a bit of a waste of potential. However, it is very sensible to have them in the rear, aboard command & control ships to coordinate a strike wing. Similarily, because Maîtres Principaux and Majors would generally be older and more experienced than the Enseignes (these being young officers), strike leaders would be more likely MPs and Majors rather than Enseignes despite those being one tier up in the hierarchy. French military is very keen on rusticity (read on, I explain that below), and that means leaning on to people who simply know better than you, regardless of ranks. Not always applied, sadly, some being, as ever, stuck up in rules and traditions and whatnot.
DIVISION OF TASKS AND GENERAL ATMOSPHERE ON A SHIP
There is a very old tradition in the French navy, encapsulated in a barely translatable concept : rusticité. Rusticity in English, and in a general sense, the original meaning is essentially similar. It defines a certain harshness typically associated with the rural lifestyle. In French military linguo, rusticité is a synonym of adaptability, endurance and resourcefulness. A rustic soldier does not complain, makes do with what he's given and finds ways to accomplish his or her mission no matter how dreadful the conditions or how faulty his equipment can be.
Rusticité is demanded of every French serviceman and woman, primarily because of discipline purposes... But also for a sadder reason : the defense budgets have been historically barely sufficient to keep the engines running while having replacement programs every so often to keep the military in the global loop. The French military is one of the very few capable forces in the EU, and is easily the one who is most often projected, and at the greatest distances. This results in a great stress placed on sometimes aging equipment and a great diversity of theatres of operation. In this light, adaptability at the individual level is an absolute necessity. I suggest you read up on the Ponant hostage rescue operation in 2008 : a great example of how bad things can get in the middle of an operation, yet the military will always find a way to make do and accomplish its goal.
Why such a prolonged parenthesis, you rambling ultranationalistic fool ? asks you, the reader, not without reason.
I'd say that rusticité has become, over decades, so deeply engrained in French doctrine, and deemed so valuable and paramount to the success of its military operations, that it'd certainly have been made a long-standing tradition and a doctrinal specialisation by the time the Gallia sleeper ships pisses off to the stars. It seems very sensible to me that the GRN would still demand utter rusticity from its troops, and I imagine that the triumphs of high technology that are Gallic ships are just as susceptible to silly breakdowns of various sorts, much like the technological jewels modern navies enjoy to this day.
And thus, I like to imagine that there's always something to fix aboard, say, a Valor, and that its entire crew is taught to know it inside and out and trained to perform at least basic maintenance and repair. All of this to tell you that, unlike the US navy and its many depictions, the French navy is not made up of super-specialised crew members, each uber proficient in his or her domain. Aboard a French frigate, which generally have low crew, everyone is expected to perform two, three, four jobs at once. Administration, mechanical, electronical, day-to-day operations, navigation, you name it. It's a stress on crew members, but it results in super-adaptable, knowledgeable and professional sailors, who can do wonders with less than optimal hardware. It's often joked that if the French navy had half the budget of that of the US navy, it'd rule over the seven seas undisputed.
This is why I would suggest NOT compiling a long, super exhaustive list of dedicated crew in your stories. I will list the main command positions aboard a ship and their usual nicknames, useful for greater immersion. You'll notice there aren't many ; you should now understand why, in light of the rusticité concept I've been describing and that I like to think has carried over from Marine Nationale to Marine Royale.
- Commandant : that's the ship's boss. Affectionally called "Pacha", "le vieux" (the old man) or "le chef". Supervises everything, and I do mean everything. Guns, engines, navigation, food, crew rotation, paint, ceremonial... Which is why he does nothing personally. He just can't, by definition : he has a hand in and is supposed to know a bit about everything, but if he does his job well, never needs to do anything himself.
- Second : That's the ship's XO. He sees to the Pacha's orders being carried out. Very often, the Second has a speciality, which is his secondary role. Mechanic, gunnery, navigation... Unlike the Pacha, the XO needs to perform a specific task directly, and that task depends upon his speciality.
- Chef mécano : chief engineer. In charge of propulsion and power generation, those being the most stressed systems during day to day operations. Generally an officer.
- Chef artilleur : chief of guns. Not so important in RL Marine because of the massive use of missiles everywhere, but certainly more important in Disco. The missile specialist is called "missilier". Literally, missile man.
- Chef manoeuvre, or navigateur : chief of navigation. Makes sure the ship goes where it should.
- Chef opérations, or chef ops : oversees the military operation part of the day-to-day running. What is the situation of the areas crossed by the ship, the level of danger, how ready and alert must the ship be... At the forefront of combat operations. Reports directly to the Pacha. Works from the Central Opérations, which is the brain of the ship and a such, a vital part of the ship (and also of access only allowed to the Pacha and anyone who works specifically in it : the rest of the crew cannot enter it).
- Capitaine d'armes, or Bidel (affectionate nickname which comes from the name of a famous circus company) : chief of discipline and marines. He's in charge of making sure that the crew does its job and respects the rules, and is the commander of the resident infantry force. His office is named BSC : bureau de service courant (literally, office of day-to-day service), and nicknamed la Bidellerie.
- Chef cuistot : the chef (as in, English chef). EXTREMELY respected. Has the morale of the entire crew (and thus, the success of the mission) in his hands. Yes, the French navy is about as fanatically serious regarding food as you would expect. I see no reason why the GRN would be any different.
Again, these are primary functions, specialities of crew leaders who ARE expected to perform a great many other tasks. Although I imagine Valors to be large enough to feature all of these at any given time, it's a rarity aboard Marine nationale frigates. In which case, a chef mécano may do some of the job of the chef artilleur, for instance, or the cook may also be the capitaine d'armes, and so forth. Don't hesitate to take advantage of that when writing your character's bio : it lets your character have a variety of roles (and thus, of skillsets) and engage in various actions while being coherent and perfectly in line regarding what's expected of him/her. It's hard enough to come up with interesting characters while limiting them to one job : in the Marine Royale, you don't have to ! Actually, they HAVE to not be ultra specialised. Perfect for development and variety.
And that's it for now ! I've covered what I had in mind. There's likely a lot I've left aside, either because I can't think of it now or just because it just wouldn't be very interesting or relevant to Disco and writing stories about internet spaceships. Either way, if I've left something out about this topic that you'd like me to cover a little more, feel free to ask me.
Cheers !