toysdream wrote:I wouldn't stay wedded to that "squadron" characterization, either. Zeon's Mobile Assault Force currently doesn't have a whole lot to do at the start of the war, aside from annexing Granada and making some kind of diversionary attack on Side 5. Harassing Luna II might be a good use of the rest of its fighting strength.
The meaning of the word "squadron" may also be at odds here too. In wet-navy parlance, a "squadron" is a unit of ships (usually 3-6) of more or less the same type. The ZMF navy seems to have a basic squadron of 3 Musais based on the animation. A ZMF navy force of 2 Musai squadrons and a Chivvay flagship could make a nuisance of itself at Luna 2 by hammering the surface installations and disrupting patrols and normal space traffic. But it would pose no real threat to the big rock itself or the fleet inside it.
As far as what Zeon could do to pin down the Luna II forces, remember that Tomino's novels say that Zeon bombarded the surface of the asteroid with missiles at the start of the war. There's not much else you could do to destroy it, though; nukes won't do much to a big chunk of rock in space. But thanks to the effects of the Minovsky particle, it would be fairly easy for the Zeon forces to hang around Luna II and pick off scouts and patrol ships one by one - we see them using this kind of ambush tactic pretty constantly throughout First Gundam, for example when Char's Zanzibar is bushwhacking Federation squadrons before Operation Star One.
This pretty much goes along with my past ideas presented on this thread. The ZMF confinement force is present to disrupt Tianem's communications and restrict his other venues for information gathering. They can't do a thing to the fleet to affect its battle readiness, but they can keep him in the dark long enough for the Sides to be overrun and let Operation British run its course. Whether or not Tianem's subsequent cruise to Loum is the obvious course of action from the EFF's POV, or he's being set up by the ZMF due to intel lag, is something else again. At any rate, the confinement force seems to have done its job.
In the end, as Zeonista suggests, this would come down to a matter of will for the Federation Forces. In order to get past the lurking Zeons, they'd need to commit to sending a big enough force that the enemy wouldn't dare attack it. Perhaps that's why, in the MS Igloo narration, we're told that the Luna II fleet has "finally decided" to set out and do battle.
In 1805 the British blockading forces did not hinder the united Franco-Spanish fleet from exiting the Mediterranean ports and forming a battle force. They watched the event (form a safe distance) and reported the news to Nelson, who took the main British Fleet after them. As a blockade force, their duty was to cut off France's naval commerce and prevent small-unit sorties. A fleet of many ships-of-the-line and frigates was beyond their ability to handle, nor were they expected to handle it.
In 1914 the High Seas Fleet of Germany was being closely blockaded in its North Sea ports by Royal Navy cruiser and destroyer squadrons. These blockaders were expected to close down the German merchant marine and keep the smaller German naval ships in port. If Hipper's battle cruiser force or Scheer's main battle fleet sallied forth to give battle, they were to back off and radio the news to Royal Navy command, who would then deploy Beatty's battle cruiser force, or even the Grand fleet at Scapa Flow to intercept. The Germans sent some light cruisers and supporting destroyers to attack the British blockade force off the Heligoland Bight to drive them away, and possibly allow the battle cruiers to sortie unreported. They were unsuccessful, and were beaten back with loss. The British only broke off the action when a German battle cruiser began to approach. The High Seas fleet did not sortie battle cruisers until the following year of 1915, and Jutland was a year later.
This is why I emphasized the will of the blockaded or confined force to do something about it. If Tianem "finally decided" (or more aptly was "finally ordered") to go forth and fight the ZMF, he was more than ready to do so. And judging from the anime, the ZMF was more than ready for him to do so.
This whole business of a Luna II blockade seems a bit unusual, and there's not a lot of support for it in the Japanese sources...
...except, of course, for Tomino's novels (which were the basis for all this back story in the first place) and MS Igloo (which, for all its flaws, is the only "official" depiction). So that's not nothing!-- Mark
That pretty much makes
MS Igloo a good source, doesn't it? It runs off Tomino's story for inspiration, instead of having to re-invent the wheel. The Igloo version of the battle also matches the later battles in the original anime. Big plans, big numbers of ships, but then the battle starts and events drastically change everyone's expectations. The squadron leaders and the ship captains (not to mention the MS pilots naturally) then win the battle on their own account, while the admirals sweat it out over the reports and decide which parts of the big fight are decisive. The Igloo account also doesn't get lost in the original important outcome lesson of the battle, unlike most of the print accounts. The charge of the MS reserves wins the battle for Zeon, and many of the young Zaku pilots involved become names the EFF will learn to dread. On the other hand, the EFSF fleets can't adjust to the double threat of ships and MS and get trashed.
"I am fire. I am death. I am Hashmal."
"Discontent is the first step in the progress for a man or a nation." - Oscar Wilde
I would say that the "taking out" of the Earth-based patrol fleets involved attacks on their picket and patrol ships, and the destruction of the communication relay and recon satellites. (Events of Operation British & Loum suggest the EFSF lacks long-range intelligence-gathering and communication capability.) The Earth-based fleets and possible reinforcement from Jaburo would be sufficient to oppose Operation British. Subsequently though, there is need as well as desire for a decisive battle to protect earth, and so Tianem gets his orders. 
