10 hours ago, Darth Lupine said:

Or getting decoyed off target by Insidious....??????

You know I don't fall for the same trick twice.

Yavaris for me with my buddy Jan Dodonna.

I just wrote up an Ozzel list with an Ark Command Cruiser as the flagship running Montferat and RBDs, excited to give it a try on the table.

Otherwise, an interdictor with Wulf is just way too much work to kill, especially if you give it Interdictor and Scramblers

On 6/21/2017 at 5:24 AM, Darth Lupine said:

Irrelevant. My Admiral always goes in the largest ship on the fleet, because theme and history, hehe. Historically, a fleet flagship has always been the biggest ship available, and still mostly is. Same in Star Wars, per the movies. The one exception is the Pelta, and that was a specially modded command ship.

If I have several ships of the same size, I pick one, but my Admiral is going into combat, doggone it, and not skulking in the rear. Just the way I roll.....lol. And if he dies, well, the Empire appreciates his sacrifice.

I really wonder why in history that was so. And I think there were some instances of un-glory-seeking admirals not doing so?

Speed was a major factor for Flagships in WW2, probably more so than actual size. Plenty of times a cruiser served as a flagship when a carrier or battleship was available. That transfers over to Armada where the speed of a Corvette or a Raider definitely matters.

2 hours ago, Vergilius said:

Speed was a major factor for Flagships in WW2, probably more so than actual size. Plenty of times a cruiser served as a flagship when a carrier or battleship was available. That transfers over to Armada where the speed of a Corvette or a Raider definitely matters.

Are you sure? I just did a quick look and can not find (maybe I missed them) a single case of that. I can find a cruiser as the flagship or cruisers and destroyers, but never when a carrier or battleship was available. Some examples would be nice.

I'm looking forward to putting my commander on Admonition. Now maybe someone will shoot that ship again!

47 minutes ago, CDAT said:

Are you sure? I just did a quick look and can not find (maybe I missed them) a single case of that. I can find a cruiser as the flagship or cruisers and destroyers, but never when a carrier or battleship was available. Some examples would be nice.

The mostly Indianapolis served as Admiral Spruance's flagship while he was in charge of the 5th fleet, though he was in the Enterprise at Midway and the New Jersey toward the end of the war.

The Atago seems to be Kondo's preferred flagship, where he commanded at least two engagements involving battleships or carriers. It then shows up again as Kurita's flagship leading the center force in the Leyte gulf campaign, although it was torpedoed en route.

One thing I can note is that to house an Admiral almost requires that the ship have been built to accommodate the extra crew that would be part of the Admiral's staff. There might be an Admiral's bridge where he can control the entire operation rather than the same bridge with the individual captain whose responsibility is to his ship.

I'd say the battleship is by far the most common place for the admiral to be. As WWII got going, no one was clear exactly where the carrier would fall in the spectrum of power. The IJN even late in the war were still thinking in terms of a battleship core to naval victory and were still creating plans with the goal of creating that punch-out. The USN had to look seriously at the carrier once the battleship row was knocked out at Pearl Harbor, and by the time those battleships were raised and the North Carolina class, South Dakota class, and finally the Iowa class Battleships hit the water, it was already clear that the airplane was the key to naval supremacy, and the carrier as an extension of that. So you see pretty much all carriers when they are available as flagships (though after the Battle of Santa Cruz, there was a six month period where the Enterprise and Saratoga needed serious repairs and all other carriers had been sunk).

Of course, comparisons break down at some point, and what holds for WW2 may not hold for Armada. But still the precedent is there.

1 hour ago, Vergilius said:

The mostly Indianapolis served as Admiral Spruance's flagship while he was in charge of the 5th fleet, though he was in the Enterprise at Midway and the New Jersey toward the end of the war.

The Atago seems to be Kondo's preferred flagship, where he commanded at least two engagements involving battleships or carriers. It then shows up again as Kurita's flagship leading the center force in the Leyte gulf campaign, although it was torpedoed en route.

One thing I can note is that to house an Admiral almost requires that the ship have been built to accommodate the extra crew that would be part of the Admiral's staff. There might be an Admiral's bridge where he can control the entire operation rather than the same bridge with the individual captain whose responsibility is to his ship.

I'd say the battleship is by far the most common place for the admiral to be. As WWII got going, no one was clear exactly where the carrier would fall in the spectrum of power. The IJN even late in the war were still thinking in terms of a battleship core to naval victory and were still creating plans with the goal of creating that punch-out. The USN had to look seriously at the carrier once the battleship row was knocked out at Pearl Harbor, and by the time those battleships were raised and the North Carolina class, South Dakota class, and finally the Iowa class Battleships hit the water, it was already clear that the airplane was the key to naval supremacy, and the carrier as an extension of that. So you see pretty much all carriers when they are available as flagships (though after the Battle of Santa Cruz, there was a six month period where the Enterprise and Saratoga needed serious repairs and all other carriers had been sunk).

Of course, comparisons break down at some point, and what holds for WW2 may not hold for Armada. But still the precedent is there.

Admiral Spruance is kind of a interesting case as his 5th fleet was the same ships as Admiral Halsey's 3rd fleet and they took turns as commander., Admiral Halsey it looks like his flagship was the big E, and from what I can find for Admiral Spruance he was only using a the heavy cruiser Indianapolis (10 Nov 1943 to 7 Jan 1944) until there was a "real" flagship available in this case the New Jersey. So on one had you are 100% there is precedent but it looks like the smallest ship we have found so far is a heavy cruiser and they were built as command ships. Other than that there may have been some times that they just did not have anything else to carry the flag, but I (and maybe it is only me) would not really call that a flagship.

I do think that the key point is that flagships need to be made as flagships if at all possible. Now the best case that I can find against saying that you need it to be the biggest ship in the fleet is the US Navy today with the Blue Ridge Command Ship. But again it is a custom made fleet command ship, not some dinky little transport with a commander on it. If it was me I would say that the biggest ship in the fleet is most likely to have a Flag bridge and so short of a dedicated (specific) custom flagship that should be the most likely choice with out a good reason for putting the Flag on something else. But I also really do not care where people put there Admiral, just find this a fun thought exercise.

33 minutes ago, CDAT said:

Admiral Spruance is kind of a interesting case as his 5th fleet was the same ships as Admiral Halsey's 3rd fleet and they took turns as commander., Admiral Halsey it looks like his flagship was the big E, and from what I can find for Admiral Spruance he was only using a the heavy cruiser Indianapolis (10 Nov 1943 to 7 Jan 1944) until there was a "real" flagship available in this case the New Jersey. So on one had you are 100% there is precedent but it looks like the smallest ship we have found so far is a heavy cruiser and they were built as command ships. Other than that there may have been some times that they just did not have anything else to carry the flag, but I (and maybe it is only me) would not really call that a flagship.

I do think that the key point is that flagships need to be made as flagships if at all possible. Now the best case that I can find against saying that you need it to be the biggest ship in the fleet is the US Navy today with the Blue Ridge Command Ship. But again it is a custom made fleet command ship, not some dinky little transport with a commander on it. If it was me I would say that the biggest ship in the fleet is most likely to have a Flag bridge and so short of a dedicated (specific) custom flagship that should be the most likely choice with out a good reason for putting the Flag on something else. But I also really do not care where people put there Admiral, just find this a fun thought exercise.

Yes its its not the biggest fightiest ship any more. pre the early 20th century command and control was almost impossible in battle so an admiral made a plan and led from the front in the biggest nastiest ship in the fleet. Modern flag ships tend to be purpose build (as they need very large staff with very good facilities), so in the RN the flag ships are actual the assault ships which are the least fighty ships and not even the largest ships, but instead have been purpose build to be the fleet flag ships with lots of work stations and comms ( they are also purpose build to carry lots of stuff).

So, in the last 3 lists I made, my Modified Pelta-Class Command Ship was both my Smallest Ship, and yet a Command Ship...