Combining Fleets
First off, a technical point. It's become common in the Japanese sources to refer to Tianem's fleet as the Second Combined Fleet (第２連合艦隊). But I think that's a misunderstanding on their part, created once again by the dreaded Entertainment Bible 39. The Japanese term 連合艦隊 (rengou kantai, "combined fleet") means the entire main fleet of a nation; during the first half of the 20th century, Imperial Japan would often group its major fleets under a single command for major operations.
In fact, that's basically what seems to be happening in the One Year War. The Second Combined Fleet is mentioned exactly once in the anime, in the narration of TV episode 32:
The Japanese phrasing seems ambiguous as to whether Tianem commands the entire Combined Fleet or just this one group - which appears to consist of at least 40 ships - but in either case, the group of ships that launch from Jaburo just after the White Base, which at every other point in the dialogue is referred to as the "Tianem Fleet," is just one part of the Combined Fleet.At that time, a group of the Earth Federation Second Combined Fleet commanded by Admiral Tianem that had launched from Jaburo was escaping the atmosphere and setting course for Luna II.
I note that the third MSV book gives a tally of the three major fleets that participate in the Federation's space offensive...
So this would probably be the full strength of the Combined Fleet, which by definition is a multi-fleet organization formed to coordinate a major campaign. If the Tianem Fleet has about forty ships - as per the episode 32 animation - that's about one third of the total. Entertainment Bible 39, in one of its rare bursts of sanity, says that more than 20 Magellans and 60 Salamis cruisers were launched from Jaburo, so that would be enough for both the Revil and Tianem fleets.In late December of U.C. 0079, the reconstructed Federation Forces space fleet successively launched from Jaburo and joined with the Luna II fleet. Between the Revil, Tianem, and Luna II fleets, the Federation Forces' huge fighting strength amounted to 12 regular carriers, 36 auxiliary carriers, 128 battleships and heavy cruisers, 144 space boats, and more than 600 carrier-based craft and RX mobile suits.
Where's Tianem?
The animation is very clear about what's up with the Tianem Fleet; it launches from Jaburo two hours after the White Base, sets off for Luna II, and makes a pit stop there before heading to Solomon.
Does Tianem launch from Jaburo along with his namesake fleet? Well, we don't see him during the White Base's visit to Jaburo, where it's reassigned to the Tianem Fleet. But presumably he isn't at Luna II, because we've already seen that the lower-ranking Lt. Commander Wakkein is running things there. So maybe Tianem was at Jaburo but just didn't feel a need to meet Bright and Amuro and company.
At any rate, there's some disagreement over the date of Tianem's launch. I favor the older December 13/14 date, but a lot of books now say December 2, just after Zeon's Jaburo attack. It should take about three days for the fleet to reach Luna II, and about 3-4 days to go from Luna II to Solomon, so even with the later date the fleet still has a few days to resupply at Luna II.
Where's Wakkein?
Before the Battle of Solomon, the White Base makes a rendezvous with Wakkein's Third Fleet. Although the White Base formally belongs to the Tianem Fleet, I suspect that Wakkein's fleet would be part of the Luna II detachment.
This also makes the timing easier - according to the MG Rick Dom kit manual (which uses the December 13 date for the White Base's launch from Jaburo), the White Base makes a rendezvous with Wakkein's fleet at Side 5 on December 21. That's not really enough time for the fleet to launch from Jaburo, go to Luna II, and then go all the way to Side 5. And since Wakkein was at Luna II all along, why would he switch to a new ship at the last minute?
Technically, it should be possible for Wakkein to go from Luna II to Side 5 in about five days. So he probably left around December 16.
Incidentally, many sources indicate that Wakkein's fleet is really small - roughly eleven ships, many of them Magellans. This seems like a very small force to attack Solomon, and it's no wonder that Dozle dismisses it as an obvious feint.
Where's Revil?
And what of Revil? We last saw him at Belfast in episode 27, where he said he was returning to the European front. That would be around November 21, which I note is five days before the current timeline has the Federation launching a major offensive in Africa.
As far as we currently know, the Zeon forces fleeing from Europe headed in two major directions - eastward to Baikonur, and southward to the Middle East and Africa. We have no way of knowing what Revil was doing after he returned to the European front, but it's pretty cool to imagine the famous general pursuing the retreating Zeons into the Middle East, or leading the siege of Baikonur.
What about his namesake fleet? According to the TV animation, Revil arrives at the captured Solomon the day after the battle (December 25). This doesn't really leave enough time for the Texas Colony episodes of the TV series, but in any case, it suggests that Revil was on his way well before the actual battle. Assuming the Revil Fleet was also launched from Earth, it would take about a week to go from Earth to Luna II to Solomon. Given its speedy arrival, it occurs to me that this fleet could just have launched directly from Jaburo! That would certainly get Zeon's attention, wouldn't it?
-- Mark
