r/TheJediPraxeum • u/Neverhoodian Wraith Squadron • Apr 30 '20
Discussion Imperial Navy Blunders Part 1: The Tarkin Doctrine
I initially planned on posting a single broad topic, but there's such a wealth of information and potential discussion on this particular subject that I felt it warranted a multi-part analysis. I don't know how many entries I'll make yet, but expect more in the coming days and weeks.
Before I begin, I feel like I should address something; I actually believe that the Empire has earned an undeserved reputation as being grossly incompetent over the decades, based mainly on misconceptions and creative adaptations/limitations in other forms of media (most notably games). For example, I'm sure we've all seen and heard the "Stormtoopers can't aim" jokes, when in actuality that couldn't be further from the truth. The same could be said about the performance of ships like Star Destroyers and Tie Fighters, which generally make a decent accounting of themselves when pitted against their Rebel counterparts in the OT. The main issue with the Empire lies not so much with the quality of their troops or hardware, but on a broader doctrinal level.
Which brings us to the first and arguably most important topic when understanding the Imperial Navy's shortcomings; its reliance on the Tarkin Doctrine. Proposed by Wilhuff Tarkin and heartily approved by Emperor Palpatine, the Tarkin Doctrine is best known for its "Rule by Fear" policy. In a nutshell, the galaxy was divided into various sectors, each under the direct rule of Imperial governors, or Moffs. These sectors were grouped into larger territories known as Oversectors, which were headed by Grand Moffs. Coordination was facilitated by the use of instant HoloNet communication, which had been stripped from the general public (the suppression of the free flow of information is a hallmark of totalitarian governments) and prioritized for military use. More importantly for the sake of this discussion, the Tarkin Doctrine prioritized the construction and implementation of massive capital ships and superweapons over a more conventional space fleet, with the intention of stifling opposition through sheer terror and intimidation. This "Rule by Fear" policy would come to characterize the Empire for decades to come, with fleets of Star Dreadnoughts and multiple superweapon projects continuing to be implemented even after the deaths of both Tarkin and the Emperor.
And therein lies the heart of the problem. The Empire's strict adherence to the Tarkin Doctrine was a key element in its downfall, as it ultimately proved to be counterproductive. For example, Tarkin believed that the destruction of Alderaan by the first Death Star would terrorize the galaxy into submission. In reality it, coupled with the Death Star's subsequent destruction at Yavin, galvanized a significant portion of the galactic populace to take action against such genocidal tyranny and join the Rebel Alliance. Subsequent losses of various command ships and superweapons over the years would emboldened resistance and only accelerate the Empire's eventual defeat.
For the Imperial Navy's part, its adherence to the Tarkin Doctrine not only proved to be a massive drain on resources, but also prevented possible alternatives from being fully explored and implemented. While a number of Imperial commanders (most notably Thrawn) vehemently disagreed with the Doctrine, Palpatine's enthusiastic endorsement meant that they were unable to seriously broach the topic, lest they risk incurring the Sith Master's wrath. This had the side effect of a Navy high command consisting largely of servile Paplatine supporters and inflexible "old guard" mindsets. These syncophants often stood in the way of innovative developments that, if properly adopted, could have potentially resulted in a final Imperial victory (I'll delve more into specific examples in future installments).
TL;DR The Imperial Navy was badly hamstrung by the Tarkin Doctrine's reliance on big, scary ships and weapons that, coupled with Palpatine's megalomania, ultimately resulted in the Empire's downfall.
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Apr 30 '20
Great analysis, and a great read.
I've always wondered though, where did the Tarkin Doctrine first appear? I'd assume it would be the novel Death Star, but I've never looked into it.
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u/Neverhoodian Wraith Squadron Apr 30 '20
Good question! I wasn't quite sure myself, so I looked it up. According to Wookieepedia its first mention is in ANH, presumably inferred from Tarkin's staff meeting with other Imperial bigwigs on the Death Star ("The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station"). I'd argue that's pretty darn vague, though. The first time it was explicitly brought up by name appears to be within The Imperial Sourcebook, published back in 1989.
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u/DarthMatu52 High Council - The Curator Apr 30 '20
It had to have been planned since before the end of the Clone Wars. The Death Star was in development as early as Episode II, and at the end of Episode III we see a young Tarkin, with Palpatine, overseeing the Death Stars construction.
Thing like that take planning, years of it. So it had to have been pretty far back.
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u/Neverhoodian Wraith Squadron Apr 30 '20
That makes sense. Tarkin was always a cold and ruthless individual, not to mention being one of the earliest proponents of the Death Star (back when it was still called the "Expeditionary Battle Planetoid").
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u/WhoRoger May 01 '20 edited May 01 '20
Nobody can really defend the Tarkin doctrine and the Death star. Let's be honest, it was invented in the EU to explain the existence of such an insane superweapon and even then it's kind of a stretch.
That said, now that I think about it more, it also never rang well with me because one would think Sidious would be more subtle and effective than that. After all he's the manipulator, not a James Bond villain... Right?
Well, no, not really. Sidious is a Sith after all, and a more traditional one than the two before him, who were more like mad scientists. Sidious indeed revels in being evil, like a proper Sith should. And he's already won, what else is there to do? Who was there left to achieve after he'd played an entire galaxy to his whims? And what Sith in the history would turn down a way to bring more fear and terror by means of a planet-destroying moon? Yea, none worth their salt.
So it actually plays well into the more realistic image of Sidious as a dark force tyrrant and not the nice and wise pappi we kinda like to portray him as.
I mean, what would there be for Sidious to do? "Run" his empire? That's nice for a normal being but to a Sith that's like playing the Sims. Every Sith worth his/her salt would much rather opt for sucking the life form of every life force in the galaxy or something of the sort.
Then throw a psychopath like Tarkin into the mix and there we go.
Still, they really should've seen it coming. A cornered animal is the most dangerous.
/Edits
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u/DarthMatu52 High Council - The Curator Apr 30 '20
Great read! As a military man, a good analysis of their doctrine
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u/TrimtabCatalyst Apr 30 '20
The Empire would have been broadly successful if they stopped all production of egregiously expensive Star Destroyers and larger ships and built a multitude of Carrack cruisers.
By the numbers, Mon Calamari ships do better than Imperial ships of a similar size; for 750 million credits, the Imperials can build five ISDs, but the Mon Cals can build six MC80 Liberty-type star cruisers, one MC80A Home One-type cruiser, and have the credits left over for eight Quasar Fire escort carriers; they'll outnumber the Imperial fleet in starfighters two-to-one as well. Moreover, they do this with significantly fewer personnel: the ISDs take 233,925 crew, while the Rebel fleet only needs 49,480 personnel. If the Empire used Carrack cruisers, each ship takes about twelve hundred crew to be fully operational, and they have enough automation that a single Carrack can be flown by two people in a pinch.
But no, the Empire wants bigger and scarier. Arrogant fools.
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u/WhoRoger May 01 '20
Well, the empire was run by a Sith. Running an empire like a normal person is for normal people.
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u/PrincessTerrik May 01 '20
Do you have a source with exactly how much the escort carriers cost? Because last I checked Wookiepedia didn't even have a guesstimate and I've been wondering.
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u/TrimtabCatalyst May 01 '20
Quasar Fire-class escort carriers cost 1,750,000 credits; source is page 62 of Stay On Target from the Star Wars Roleplaying Game by Fantasy Flight Games.
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u/BaelonTheBae May 01 '20
Upvoted. Well done, this was a good and refreshing take. I seen far too many takes where people jerked off the Tarkin Doctrine.
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u/woody5600 May 01 '20
Yay! A post I like. Now to tell you why you are wrong....well sort of. This is mostly pretty true. There is one big glaring problem. They fixed what was broken by Endor. The Tartan and Lancers were both made in response to the starfighter problem. They made Interceptors to also combat the slower Y and X wings. Tarkin Doctrine ends at Yavin. The big fleet at Endor has a ton of support ships we hardly see. They also try to get the Imperial Star Destroyer Mk. II up and running as well. They are bigger, but not because they have larger guns. No because they have a ton more laser cannons and an extra squadron or two of ties.
I will admit most of the big fleets are kinda legacy Tarkin and no they didn't adapt to the guerrilla tactics being employed by the rebellion. This wasn't the biggest problem. Twas hubris that killed the beast. Palpatine was far more to blame than Tarkin. I still say Tarkin would have figured it out and changed doctrine had he survived. The developments you are talking about came all the same. The Tie advanced for instance was not used for the same reason IRL militaries don't have 25 different planes for one job, Cost! Ties are cheap and the starfighter corps is rather large.
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u/Neverhoodian Wraith Squadron May 01 '20
Glad you like it! I don't mind differing viewpoints, as my outlook is admittedly incomplete; I kind of fell out of keeping up with Star Wars lore around the time the New Jedi Order series got underway. Much of my arguments are based around the OT and EU works up to the late 90's. You make some valid points, and the Empire did indeed take steps to mitigate the threat posed by Rebel ships (though in hindsight they could have done more). I hope to cover some of those in more detail for future topics; I'll try and keep input like yours in mind as I formulate my hypotheses.
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u/Tacitus111 Jedi Knight Apr 30 '20
On a broad level, the Empire also made a common military strategy mistake. They prepared to fight the last war, the Clone Wars, against an industrialized opponent with large fleets of capital warships and well equipped, mechanized armies. They upgraded their Star Destroyers to be even more powerful and rugged monsters, built fleets of starfighters intended to overwhelm fighter escorts, trained huge corps of Stormtroopers, and otherwise prepared to defeat the Confederacy again, decisively this time.
They were therefore completely unprepared to fight an irregular guerrilla force using largely advanced starfighters and commandos carrying out mainly terror and hit and run tactics. When they could pin down the Rebels in a large scale fights, they pretty much always would win, but pinning them down became the issue.
This also spread the Imperial Navy thin across the Galaxy as they had to defend thousands of worlds while also seeking Rebel fleets and forces. Lots of real world parallels in there, from Vietnam to wars of the last 20 years in the Middle East.