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Fleet combat doctrine from Horus heresy book 9, plus cleanup since prior abbreviations overlap with new info and were redundant
In the same vein as their father Lion El'Jonson, Dark Angels officers are expert tacticians and specialists and have been quick to capitalize on the skills of [[Primaris Space Marine]]s and the particular varieties of their squad types. New specialized formations have been developed alongside ancient patterns such as the '''Hammer of Caliban''' and '''Scout Recon Stalker Strike'''. '''Caliban's Reach''' is but one example, which combines the firepower of [[Hellblaster]]s and [[Devastator]]s with [[Centurion]]s to devastating effect. The advanced infiltration and reconnaissance skills all Primaris Space Marines learn as part of their [[Vanguard Space Marine|Vanguard]] training is of great value to a chapter seeking hidden foes. The [[Omniscrambler]]s of [[Infiltrator Squad]]s can severely disrupt enemy communications, allowing [[Ravenwing]] squadrons to strike without their quarry being warned. The Divinator-class [[Auspex]]es of the [[Incursor]]s collect data from battlefields that previously would have been almost impossible to extract. This yields new information to the [[Inner Circle]] to act upon without Vanguard Space Marine's knowledge.{{Fn|41}}
In addition, the Dark Angels are known to have access to a disproportionate amount of [[Plasma Weaponry]].{{Fn|4b}} During the time of the [[Great Crusade]] the Dark Angels were known for their strategic flexibility thanks to the [[Hexagrammaton]] as well as vaults of forbidden weaponry. They also sported perhaps During the largest fleet earlier years of the [[Space Marine Legion]]s, Great Crusade the First legion possessed a war fleet numbering several hundred warships{{Fn|66c}}. However, including highly advanced relic by the time of the Horus Heresy In order to support the widely spread web of independent Companies and Chapters the Dark Angels maintained perhaps the greatest fleet of all the Legiones Astartes, both in terms of sheer number of capital class vessels and in the impressive firepower of those craft. Just as with the many disparate Companies of the Legion, the fleet was also widely spread, most often operating either as a support flotilla attached to a Chapter or as one of the rarer deep range patrol squadrons. Support flotilla were comprised of the heaviest ships including multiple available, with the core of many being a [[Gloriana Glorianna Class Battleship]] or other first-rate warship supported by one or more squadrons of cruisers. Support flotilla were intended to provide transport for the attached Chapters, allowing them to breach heavily-defended systems without support and assault a specified target without the need for extensive auxiliary forces.{{Fn|50e}} They also served to provide orbital fire support to Legiones Astartes forces engaged in battle and a base for Legion interface craft, either to serve as an orbital supply line or to launch airstrikes or interdiction missions. By contrast, the patrol fleets maintained a smaller contingent of Legion warriors, rarely more than Company strength, and fielded more deep range cruisers and sleek escort craft mounting scanning augurs and other equipment unique to the Dark Angels. These squadrons were tasked with seeking out unknown nests of xenos or isolationist and belligerent human enclaves, much in the same manner as the more specialised White Scars fleets. Those Legiones Astartes Companies accompanying the fleet were used solely to assess the threat level of the enemies discovered, mounting spoiling raids or brief hit and run campaigns before withdrawing back to their orbital fortresses. Those deemed dangerous by the veterans of the First Legion were annihilated from orbit and those marked as vulnerable left for the Great Crusade that followed in the fleet'swake.{{Fn|50e}} With assets spread across the galaxy, the First Legion placed little emphasis on maintaining a large number of holdings and fortresses. The demands Indeed, there are only two large outposts held by the Dark Angels, the ancient fortress of [[Gramarye]] which played host to the halls of the Crusade combined with Council of Masters and the vast industrial facilities that produced many of the Legion's own strategic flexibility more esoteric weapons and had long been concealed from the scrutiny of the Mechanicum, and the more recently acquired fortress of the Order on [[Caliban]]. These two worlds saw it deployed over the largest concentration of the Legion's infrastructure, and were both heavily fortified and defended. Other holdings on Terra, where a wide swathe significant portion of the Galaxy over a single warzoneLegion's recruitment was still conducted, and thus they maintained few in the way scattered chantry houses of the various Orders Militant, were less well defended, but not intended as frontline combat installations. The standard pattern of operations within the Legion saw these holdings used as bases for resupply for a force that was primarily based within the mobile halls of the fleet. Only on the rarest of occasions did any of the Chapters of the Dark Angels return to their halls for any lengthy period of major strongholdsrest, with garrison duty left to the rawest recruits and those masters and seneschals with Deathwing lifeguard cadres that stood warden over those domains.{{Fn|50d50e}}
==Organisation==
**{{Endn|50c}}: pg.81-100
**{{Endn|50d}}: pg.101-113
**{{Endn|50e}}: Pg. 116-117
*{{Endn|51}}: [[Dataslate: Cypher - Lord of the Fallen]], pg. 19
*{{Endn|52}}: [[Codex: Space Marines (9th Edition)]], pg. 85
