space fleet n.
an organized group of spaceships, esp. one under military control
SF Encyclopedia
-
1930
page image
Lowell Howard Morrow
bibliography
At last the great space fleet was ready. The momentous word was passed from lip to lip and then radioed around the world. Halpin and I made a personal inspection of the great vessels to make sure that nothing was left undone to insure the success of our coming adventure. Although the ships had been hastily constructed, each was staunchly built, and each was an exact duplicate of the Space King in size and equipment.
Through the Meteors in Air Wonder Stories Apr. 886/2 -
1931
The electronographs and television show a strange space fleet flashing toward Venus in battle formation!!
Buck Rogers in Oakland (California) Tribune (Comics) 3 May 1 -
1934
Edward E. Smith
Even more clearly than as if he himself had seen them all happen, DuQuesne beheld and understood Seaton’s visit to Norlamin, the story of the Fenachrone peril, the building of the fifth-order projector, the demolition of Fenor’s space fleet, the revenge-purposed flight of Ravindau the scientist, and the complete volatilization of the Fenachrone planet.
Skylark of Valeron in Astounding Stories Sept. 38/2
-
1939
page image
Edward E. Smith
bibliography
You all know of the mighty space-fleet which the nations of our enemies are maintaining to repel invasion from space.
Robot Nemesis in Thrilling Wonder Stories June 74/1
-
1940
page image
Jack Williamson
bibliography
Millions of Earthmen have labored for years to prepare for this rebellion. Earth has built a space fleet.
Hindsight in Astounding Science-Fiction May 104/1
-
1942
page image
Isaac Asimov
bibliography
Against this oldest of all naval tactics—old even in the dim dawn of history when rival triremes had maneuvered and rammed each other to destruction with pointed prows—the super-modern equipment of a space-fleet has no defense.
Black Friar of the Flame in Planet Stories Spring
-
1958
Robert Silverberg
The Extraterrestrial Development and Exploration Corporation has…become virtually a supranational state, with lands of its own, police of its own, now a spacefleet of its own.
Invaders from Earth (1987) xix. 176
-
1983
Robert Sheckley
bibliography
Two spacefleets were coming together in the immensity of space.
Dramocles (1984) 123
-
1984
Kim Stanley Robinson
bibliography
The entire Soviet space fleet rebelled and pearl-harbored the rest of the Committee’s spaceships, with devastating success.
Icehenge (1990) 57
-
2013 Starburst Dec. 73/2
page image
[He] finds himself in the Command School and potentially in charge of the entire space fleet.
Research requirements
antedating 1930
Earliest cite
Lowell Howard Morrow, in Air Wonder Stories
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a 1952 reprint of Jack Williamson's "Hindsight"; Mike Christie verified it in its 1940 first publication.Fred Galvin submitted a cite for "space-fleet" from a 1950 reprint of Edward E. Smith's "Robot Nemesis"; Alistair Durie verified this in its June 1939 first publication.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1942 cite for "space-fleet" from Isaac Asimov's "Black Friar of the Flame"
Fred Galvin submitted a March 1939 cite from The Machine That Thought, by William Callahan (a pseudonym of Raymond Z. Gallun)
Fred Galvin submitted a 1934 cite from E.E. "Doc" Smith's "The Skylark of Valeron".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1930 cite from Lowell Howard Morrow.
Earliest cite in the OED2: 1944; updated to 1931 for OED3.
Last modified 2022-03-07 05:15:20
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.