Re: realistic fleets

Inspired by that excellent "Byzantium" series on Channel 4 (UK), I dug
out
my WRG "Armies of the Dark Ages" book to have a look at the Byzantine
Thematic system.  The "Themes" were the "Military Districts" of the
Empire, responsible for defence on both land and sea.  There was an
Imperial standing army (and navy), of elite status units collectively
known as the Tagmata, and each theme provided a set number of troops
(and
ships where appropriate).  The Thematic troops were divided into 1st and
2nd classes, the latter only suitable as police, and were supported by
land grants and a regular (but infrequent and often inadequate) cash
grant
from central funds.  Large portions of the armed forces were provided by
foreign mercenaries.  

This seems to me like a pretty reasonable way to run an SF empire, with
Themes consisting of a small group of planets under a governor.  The
Thematic forces might include patrol vessels on merchant hulls (2nd
class), with some reasonable cruisers and escorts as the 1st class
forces,
and almost all of the really heavy units belonging to the Tagmata.

Rob Paul