What would a naval battle in space be like? Would it resemble warfare on Earth, with spaceships or battleships, or would it be waged with tactics and technologies that we can’t even imagine?
While I can only speculate, I was fortunate enough to speak with someone who can speculate better than I can. I interviewed Chris Weuve, professional naval analyst, avid science-fiction fan and wargamer, on how realistically naval warfare is portrayed in SF. You can read the interview here, but among other points, Chris notes how often SF fleet battles mimic some historical period on Earth, with spaceships resembling Napoleonic frigates, WWII submarines or modern American aircraft carriers.
I’m neither a naval officer, physicist nor engineer. Compared to the stellar knowledge of a Chris Weuve, I’m just a white dwarf. But I do write about military affairs, and I am an SF fan (Original Star Trek and Deep Space 9 are my favorites, as are the Lensman series and C.J. Cherryh’s Downbelow Station novels). Rather than offer answers that would only be speculation in disguise, I’m going to pose a few of my own questions about how warfare in space would be fought: