JohnRoth wrote:Castenea wrote:Yeas and no. As KZT indicates there are very few SDFs with ships of the wall. Most systems in the SL would have had little more than under 100 cutters assigned to their revenue collection and Search and rescue agencies, along with maybe a few dozen LACs if they pretend to have a Navy.
I would not be surprised if for may SL members, and worlds that are not SL members in the Core, they have periodic fits where some paranoid becomes a leader of government with visions of a great all conquering Navy. Despite his visions of squadrons of the wall, all that happens is that the SDF replaces much of it's oldest equipment, recruits up to something resembling full strength, and acquires a handful net new ships.
IE before PM paranoiac : 300LAC, 2 FG, 2DD
After PM paranoiac: 350LAC, 3DD, and the plans for a never built CL
Most importantly, there hasn't been a NEED for a large self defense force for 100s of years. The last SLN fleet battle was over 350 years ago, and that was Frontier Fleet. With Frontier Fleet patroling the spaceways, and Battle Fleet's Mailed Gauntlet poised to strike, why would every individual star need their own navy? As David once said, how many Arleigh Burke's does St. Louis own? It doesn't need them, thanks to the US military, and the local taxpayers arn't just going to pony up for one unless there is a real need. Beowulf's commitment to securing the wormhole, and it's independant daughter colonies is the reason it has such a large force, and is probably paid for by revenue from said sources. What reasons do the other 1782 known members have for fielding multiple wallers?
In fact, we've been told that only 1% of Honorverse navies, or approximately 25 forces, can field a squadron of capital ships or more. We know of 7 of those navies (RMN, IAN, ESN, RHN, GSN, SLN, BSDF), and have 3 more possibles (Talbot, Asgerd, and Mannerheim). There is only room for another dozen to dozen and 1/2 Waller navies, and none of them can be large. The RMN had been in 3rd place since 1875, or when they hit ~100 wallers, meaning all other powers are smaller than that, or have had intense modern construction, like the Haven Sector powers.
And we've just been told (in UH) that Mannerheim has a wormhole of its own to protect. It goes to Warner, which is 103 ly from Beowulf. (UH, p. 404)[/quote]
Let us keep in mind that there are different levels of navies. Most were fairly small and had non-capital ships. And just about all were technologically far behind.