Howe Lingane
Howe Lingane was born in South Figaro, in the Esper Dimension. It is ironic that a kingdom comprised largely of desert should produce one of the Great War's most notable fighting sailors, but Howe was definitely not typical. He joined the Figoran navy as a chance to "do cool stuff", as the navy was more interested in experimental technologies and exploration then fighting.
When GACA was formed,it soon became clear that the Grand Army would need a separate naval branch. This would eventually become the Kriegsnavee. The Tasnicans contributed the most, initially, and initially demanded to place on of their admirals in charge, but since the Generalissimo and a number of other Soldierly Council members were Tasnican, the House of Lords insisted on putting someone who was not Tasnican in charge of the navy. This was basically fine with Celiose, who, as an army man, didn't get along very well with anyone in the Republic Navy anyway. Figaro was developing submarine technology, and Howe had written a few papers on their potential strategic use. Celiose was sufficiently impressed by the paper to bring Howe on as a Rear General and Chief of Naval Operations.
Howe was instrumental in framing naval strategy for the war. Still a bit of a gadgeteer at heart, he developed new submarines, and eventually aircraft carriers. He conceived of the blockade around occupied Crystal to restrict the flow of Dark Wrath supplies. He rarely took operational control of forces, except when the need to coordinate across multiple dimensions in the hunt for the WaveWrath domination. The sinking of the massive battleship vindicated Howe's development of submarines and carriers over 'big gun' ships.
After the war, Howe stayed on as Chief of Naval Operations. However, none of the would-be GACA challengers ever mounted a serious sea challenge. In fact, the Web as a whole (except SLCM-Sea) tended to neglect sea power, especially as space power became more prominent. The Kriegsnavee, along with the Luftwaffe, was targeted as a relic, and many of its ships were forced into mothballs by budget cuts. The service was so hard hit that, by 45 WR, the fielded fewer large carriers then the Scandian League. This was unfair to Howe, who remained as fascinated by new, novel, and potentially transformative technologies as ever. The Kriegsnavee are the only part of the GA to truly embrace mecha, developing their own aquatic and amphibious assault types. Additionally, all the people who poo-pooed sea power were proven pretty wrong when Scandian carrier groups through their weight around in the Three Week War.
While sailing, Howe was believed killed in a violent storm. However, he was actually teleported through time to have one last great adventure.
