V.R.A. Division System

The V.R.A. division system was created in 13432 HSY, when it was decided that the V.R.A.'s military was becoming too large and unwieldy to control effectively using traditional military command structures. The first division to be created was the Owl Division, which dealt with all the operations of the fleet's Owl Missile Cruisers.

Organization
Each division is commanded by one or more division colonels, who are answerable to the general currently heading the V.R.A.. Colonels are responsible for the dissemination of orders among the ranks, as well as propaganda, large requisitions, and a whole host of other tasks.

Chain of Command
The chain of command is the same in every division. Command rank officers are as follows: Anyone below the rank of commander is not permitted to make command decisions unless they are the highest ranked surviving member of a ship or station's crew. Unless all of the command rank officers on a ship or station are dead or incapacitated, there must always be one command rank officer aboard the ship. While command officers are permitted to lead landing parties, they usually do not, as they are considered more valuable than the lower-ranked personnel.
 * Division Colonel
 * Commodore
 * Commander

Colonel's Responsibilities
The colonel of any division has numerous responsibilities, including:
 * Creation/dissemination of orders as necessary
 * Internal propaganda
 * External propaganda (propaganda efforts featuring any of the division's ships or personnel)
 * Major requisitions (requisitioning personnel, resources to build new ships, etc.)
 * All major divisional refits and overseeing design of new refits
 * Battle results and data collation
 * Battle strategy (when not under orders from ranking officer)
 * Overseeing divisional training programs
 * Divisional inspections

Evolution
The divisional system evolved from the earlier, hierarchical system of the original V.R.A. navy, which was incorporated with the founding of the organization. As time went on, it was found that the standard navy was becoming too large to effectively manage, so a new system was gradually implemented during fleet refits in 13432 HSY.

13419 HSY - 13432 HSY
Prior to 13432 HSY, the V.R.A. navy had used a traditional military command structure, in which everyone answered to anyone with a higher rank than themselves. The inherent flaw with this system was that the size of the navy required the few officers at the top of the hierarchy to give all the orders, which would then slowly disseminate down through the ranks. This caused a great deal of inefficiency, as it often took days for orders to reach those who would act on them. In 13430 HSY, it was decided to conduct a trial of the divisional system in a small portion of the navy, which was to be the future Owl Division. When the trial period ended in 13432 HSY, it was found that Owl Division's delaty between orders being given at the top and those orders being acted upon had decreased significantly. As a result, the whole fleet was reorganized to follow the new system during the general refit that took place that year.

13432 HSY - Present
Since 13432 HSY, a number of specialist divisions have emerged, including Fox Division, which is not a naval division but rather the intelligence wing of the V.R.A.. Subjugator Division is responsible for the construction of the experimental Subjugator super-battleship, and the Ground Combat Division fights all non-space battles. These divisions are still considered to be within the divisional structure, but are kept at arm's length from the main command structure or use a different rank system than the standard naval divisions.

Active Divisions

 * Bottlenose Division
 * Orca Division
 * Urchin Division
 * Owl Division
 * Peregrine Division
 * Albatross Division
 * Eagle Division
 * Raptor Division
 * Rex Division
 * Pterodactyl Division
 * Octopus Division
 * Naval Utility Division

Secondary Divisions
These divisions are kept at arm's length from the regular divisions and the higher levels of the V.R.A. command structure, or follow a different command structure than the standard divisions.
 * Fox Division
 * Ground Combat Division
 * Subjugator Division

Retired Divisions
These divisions were retired for one reason or another prior to the outbreak of the First Zevestivan War.
 * Wolf Division
 * Coyote Division
 * Wolverine Division
 * Whale Division