Royal Pelinese Navy (Pacifica)

Royal Pelinese Navy
Naval jack of the Royal Pelinese Navy
Active	January 2, 1984 – present (1984-01-02 – present)
Country	Kingdom of Pelinai
Branch	Navy
Size	300,000 active personnel (2023) approx. 677 active ships (2023) approx. 900 fixed-wing aircraft (2023)
Headquarters	Naval Staff Headquarters, Dainēsa
Patron	Saint Pelinai
Fleet	12 aircraft carriers 2 amphibious command ships 4 landing helicopter docks 8 amphibious transport docks 8 dock landing ships 24 landing ship tanks 24 landing ship mediums 17 cruisers 52 destroyers 47 frigates 54 corvettes 42 missile cutters 32 mine countermeasures vessels 96 submarines 251 auxiliaries
Engagements	None (Pelinese Civil War as PWA Naval Forces)
Website	rpn.pln

The Royal Pelinese Navy, also referred to as the Pelinese Navy, the White Fleet, or the White Navy, is the maritime service arm of the Pelinese Armed Forces and is responsible for maintaining its naval warfare, coastal defense, and amphibious warfare capabilities. It is the second largest branch of the Pelinese Armed Forces, with approximately 300,000 active duty personnel in 2022.

The naval arm of the Pelinese Armed Forces has existed as an independent entity since January 2, 1984, when the primarily riverine naval forces of the Civil War-era Pelinese White Army were divided into a separate branch. Ship and infrastructure construction programs proceeding since the 1990s, in addition to the procurement of vessels such as underway replenishment ships, has since advanced the RPN from being primarily a littoral navy to a capable blue-water force with extensive combat capabilities.

The Royal Pelinese Navy is one of the largest navies in Pacifica, with a fleet size of over 670 ships and an estimated combined battlefleet tonnage of over 3,500,000 tonnes as of 2023, and forms a sizable portion of Pelinai’s overseas power projection capabilities. It contains five branches of service: the RPN Surface Forces, the RPN Submarine Forces, the Royal Pelinese Navy Air Service, the RPN Coastal Defense Forces, the Royal Pelinese Marine Corps, the RPN Sealift Forces, and the RPN Special Forces. In addition to naval warfare assets such as naval vessels and navalized aircraft, different branches of the Royal Pelinese Navy also operate coastal defense missile batteries, land-based maritime patrol aircraft, amphibious ground forces such as marines, and other non-naval military assets.

Pelinese naval officials have identified the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Ocean as core theaters of operations for the Royal Pelinese Navy since 1985, and the RPN performs regular patrols across the eastern Mediterranean in particular. Regular naval patrols and exercises have both increased in frequency and crept westward as the Royal Pelinese Navy and the Pelinese Armed Forces in general have modernized and expanded.

Organization

Branches

The Royal Pelinese Navy is divided into seven administrative branches: the RPN Surface Forces, the RPN Submarine Forces, the Royal Pelinese Navy Air Service, the RPN Coastal Defense Forces, the Royal Pelinese Marine Corps, the RPN Sealift Forces, and the RPN Special Forces. While the branches are largely separated in the realms of training specialization and administrative functions, they share a common operational chain of command and execute military operations as a cohesive force.

RPN Surface Forces

The Royal Pelinese Navy Surface Forces is the Royal Pelinese Navy branch that is responsible for operating its surface combatant and fixed-win naval aviation assets, such as its aircraft carriers, guided missile cruisers, guided missile destroyers, guided missile frigates, corvettes, missile cutters.
Larger vessels such as aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, and frigates combine their naval aviation, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and anti-aircraft warfare capabilities with auxiliary vessel and nuclear attack submarine support from other RPN branches to form powerful carrier battlegroup forces suitable for blue-water power projection and naval combat, whereas the smaller corvettes and missile cutters defend Pelinese littoral regions from incursions and repel hostile fleets near Pelinese home waters through anti-access/area denial operations.

The purview of the RPN Surface Forces encompasses 224 warships of the combined RPN fleet, and additional vessels are in construction facilities or sea trials. This primarily includes aircraft carriers of the Pelograd-class and Sakura-class, cruisers of the Admiral Seisuko-class, destroyers of the Umihana-class, frigates of the Ayame-class, corvettes of the Typhoon-class, and missile cutters of the Tori and Tori-S classes, as well as older vessels in reserve such as the Partisan-class. While the Surface Forces operates Pelinese aircraft carriers, the carrier air wings that operate from them are part of the Royal Pelinese Navy Air Service.

The primary role of the RPN Surface Fleet at its inception in 1984 was the defense of Pelinai’s territorial waters against potential incursions by nations such as Livana and Stoinia or by Belogoran loyalist insurgents attempting to infiltrate Pelinai, a function which it shared with the RPN Coastal Defense Forces; early ships that it operated in this role included converted missile boats and riverine craft used during the Pelinese Civil War, as well as some larger vessels such as Partisan-class destroyers. The gradual development and introduction of larger, more technologically advanced warships such as the Umihana-class destroyer and Ayame-class frigate from the 1990s to the present, the addition of new capabilities such as naval aviation, nuclear submarines, and underway replenishment support, and a reevaluation of strategic doctrine during the early 2000s after the end of the Cold War resulted in the slow transition of the RPN Surface Forces from a short-range coastal defense flotilla to a green-water navy by the 2010s and then a blue-water-capable surface combatant force by 2021. The branch now currently operates the largest fleet of surface combatants and other warships in the Mediterranean, while its historical role of operating riverine craft and patrol boats has been entirely transferred to the RPN Coastal Defense Forces and the Royal Pelinese Coast Guard.

RPN Submarine Forces

The Royal Pelinese Navy Submarine Forces is the branch of the Royal Pelinese Navy that consists of its submarine assets, including its diesel-electric attack submarines, nuclear attack submarines, guided missile submarines, and ballistic missile submarines.
Submarines of the Royal Pelinese Navy serve multiple roles. Conventional attack submarines are assigned to operate near the coasts of the Eastern Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea as area denial and littoral defense assets, where shallow waters cause seabed clutter and other effects that contribute to their stealth. Nuclear-powered submarines of the RPN provide long-endurance commerce raiding, anti-ship and anti-land cruise missile, and nuclear second strike capabilities; nuclear attack submarines in particular may also be deployed as escorts for carrier battlegroups or ballistic missile submarines in order to defend them from submarine attack.

A total of 96 submarines are operated by the Royal Pelinese Navy Submarine Forces, not counting non-commissioned hulls such as those under construction or undergoing sea trials. Principal hull classes include the Evanescent-class nuclear attack submarine, the Biheru-class conventional attack submarine, the Snowfall-class ballistic missile submarine, and the Hurricane-class cruise missile submarine.

The Royal Pelinese Navy Submarine Forces began service in 1983 as a collection of various conventionally powered attack submarines that had seen service during the Pelinese Civil War. From the 1980s to the 1990s, its primary role during armed conflict was planned to be coastal defense and the interdiction of landing forces attempting to execute amphibious landings on Pelinese shores facing the Mediterranean Sea. The conventional submarine fleet was downsized by 18 hulls after the end of the Cold War and the eventual abandonment of Livanan territorial claims on the island of Zholtiya, in the early 2000s.
The success of the Pelinese nuclear power and weapons program in 1999 introduced new ship types and responsibilities to the Submarine Forces. The Royal Pelinese Navy commissioned its first nuclear-powered attack submarine, the KPV Evanescent in 2001, and its first nuclear ballistic missile submarine in 2003, beginning the nuclearization of the submarine force. Despite the addition of these long-endurance vessels, conventional submarines have remained in service and are expected to continue to be a critical component of Royal Pelinese Navy operations in littoral and other shallow waters.

Royal Pelinese Navy Air Service

The Royal Pelinese Navy Air Service is the naval aviation corps of the Royal Pelinese Navy, responsible for providing naval helicopter support and carrier air wings to Pelinese warships as well as for operating land-based maritime patrol aircraft, aerial refueling and AEW&C aircraft support, High-Altitude Long-Endurance maritime surveillance drones, and other military aircraft relevant to the conduct of naval warfare operations.
The role of the RPNAS is varied by the aircraft that it operates. Carrier-based aircraft perform combat air patrols against hostile aircraft, attack hostile surface combatants, other naval assets, and land-based targets, and provide AEW&C and electronic warfare support to friendly military forces. Land-based maritime patrol aircraft protect Pelinese waters from hostile conventional and nuclear attack submarines performing naval interdiction or commerce raiding misions, as well as ballistic or cruise missile submarines attempting to perform strikes against targets in Pelinai. AEW&C aircraft and aerial refueling tankers support air operations by Pelinese carrier air wings and other friendly forces, while HALE surveillance drones serve in the roles of area patrol and target detection & tracking.

Approximately 900 fixed-wing aircraft and 600 rotary-wing aircraft are operated by the Royal Pelinese Navy Air Service. Principal examples include the Ae-16 Fuyuhana, the Be-19 Cornflower naval utility helicopter, the KaR-15 Kurōmi maritime patrol aircraft, and the Se-14 Kaiyōtori maritime surveillance drone. No aircraft carriers or other naval aviation vessels are operated by the RPNAS; aircraft instead operate from land bases or on ships commanded by other branches of the Royal Pelinese Navy.

Equipment

Main article: List of equipment of the Royal Pelinese Navy (Pacifica)

As of the end of 2022, the Royal Pelinese Navy operates 677 commissioned warships and auxiliary vessels, approximately 900 aircraft including navalized multirole and strike fighters, AEW&C aircraft, transport aircraft, and naval utility helicopters, as well as land-based aircraft such as maritime patrol aircraft, aerial refueling tankers, HALE maritime surveillance drones. Pelinese military vessels operate modern radars and fire control systems, missile systems, and other equipment.

Ships and submarines

Main article: List of active RPN ships (Pacifica)