"If the Adeptus Astartes are the Emperor's wrath, and the Imperial Guard His hammer, then His Holy Navy is His mighty shield."
—Cardinal Kregory Hestor
The Navis Imperialis, called the Imperial Navy in Low Gothic, is one of the primary armed forces of the Imperium of Man.
While the Astra Militarum (Imperial Guard) represents the Imperium's ground forces, the Navis Imperialis is responsible for the fleets of starships that maintain order between the stars and planets in the Imperium, for all space and air support provided to the infantry of the Astra Militarum through its Aeronautica Imperialis branch, and for transporting those guardsmen across the galaxy to the Imperium's myriad warzones.
The battlefleets of the Imperial Navy are constantly engaging threats both inside and outside the Imperium's borders. In ancient times, during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, the Navis Imperialis was not an independent armed force of its own but was considered a part of the greater Imperial Army and was known as the Armada Imperialis. Its vessels were dedicated to the defence of Imperial space and strategic Warp routes. This was opposed to the fleets of warships assigned to the service of the Legiones Astartes, which were used for the planetary assaults that occupied the bulk of the Great Crusade.
After the horrors of the Horus Heresy, during the Imperial reformation overseen at the start of the Time of Rebirth by Primarch Roboute Guilliman, the Imperial Army's fleet component was reestablished as a separate and rival service. This was done to weaken the Imperial armed forces by removing their integrated interstellar transportation in case of a future rebellion against the Emperor's rule.
The Navis Imperialis is today largely divided into the five major battlefleets which serve each of the Segmentae Majoris from their respective Segmentum Fortresses, though the largest actual formation that ever sees service are the individual sector battlefleets.
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