Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

---

Starfleet Tactical #185: How Many Ships to Keep One Forward?  [07 Feb 2026@9pmET]

[Yes we're doing a show this week -- once again, the weather is not cooperating!]

Ships do lots of things that aren't fighting wars and conducting presence operations -- they train, they undergo routine maintenance, they have deep overhauls, et cetera.  Early in their careers, US Navy force planners early on learn "carrier math," the calculations that answer the question "how many carriers do we need to own in order to have one carrier deployed?"  

Let's take a shot at inventing "starship match." We'll focus on the assumptions relatvant to Starfleet, but we'll look at other assumptions, too.

STARFLEET TACTICAL is the YouTube show where we talk about the intersection of naval history and science fiction, with some gaming occasionally thrown in for flavor. Primary host Chris Weuve is a naval analyst and wargame designer, whose superpower is that he can talk about Real World(tm) navies and science fiction navies at the same time.

CHRISTOPHER WEUVE is a professional naval analyst and wargame designer. He is a co-founder of the Connections Online wargame conference, held every April via YouTube.  Outside the day job, Chris is a co-founder of BuNine (David Weber's Honorverse analytic visualization team), and has also consulted with Chuck Gannon, Walter Hunt, Alec Peters, Tom Harlan, John Lumpkin, and others.  His work has been featured by Baen Books, the US Naval War College Review, Foreign Policy, and the Discovery Channel. Since May 2020 he's been the co-host (with Pat Doyle) of "Starfleet Tactical" on the Ares Studio channel on YouTube. His hobbies are naval history, science fiction, and not speaking for his employer.

LYSSA BECK does a lot of things, including producing the show.  Want to support her in her other endeavors? Her link tree is: https://linktr.ee/geekgirllyssa​​​​​​

ARES STUDIOS graciously hosts Starfleet Tactical. You can become a Patron of Ares Studios on Patreon:  patreon.com/aresstudios
Paypal address: aresstudiosatl@gmail.com
Ares Studios Website: aresstudios.net/​​​​​​​​​​​​


DISCLAIMERS
Unless otherwise stated, the opinions expressed here are the opinions of the speakers and not their employer, past present, or (probably) future.  All images et cetera are the property of their originators. We’re here to add educational value through criticism and commentary.