EarthForce

EarthForce is the military branch of the Earth Alliance, Earth's governing body in the fictional Babylon 5 universe.

EarthForce is organized into three separate branches: the Navy (blue uniforms), the Army (brown or olive), and the Security forces (gray). Officers are apparently allowed to transfer between branches - Richard Franklin (father of Dr. Stephen Franklin) once served in the Navy, as first officer on the EAS Ares, but by the time we actually meet him, the elder Franklin was a general in the EarthForce Marines.

Each branch of EarthForce uses the appropriate style of ranks for that branch:

Marines and Security - Officer ranks

• General
• Lieutenant-General
• Major-General
• Brigadier General
• Colonel
• Lieutenant-Colonel
• Major
• Captain
• Lieutenant
• Second Lieutenant

Navy - Officer ranks

• Admiral
• Vice Admiral
• Rear Admiral, upper half
• Rear Admiral, lower half
• Captain
• Commander
• Lieutenant Commander
• Lieutenant
• Lieutenant junior grade
• Ensign

It should be noted that, in many instances, the naval rank structure above captain seems to all but evaporate; officers senior to captains are, almost invariably, called generals, and are as likely to command a battle fleet as a ground-based infantry division.

EarthForce operates a large fleet of ships, comprising such vessels as the Cotten-class tender, Olympus class corvette, Omega-class destroyers and Hyperion-class cruisers, Nova-class dreadnought, and numerous smaller support craft. Their newest design is the Warlock-class destroyer, which incorporates several new technologies such as artificial gravity (loaned to EarthForce by the Minbari).