HMS Eerika Waterly-Davion (BB-EWD-001)

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Bundesarchiv DVM 10 Bild-23-61-23, Linienschiff "SMS Rheinland".jpg
HMS Eerika Waterly-Davion in 1910.
History
CRNEnsign.pngCacerta
Name: HMS Eerika Waterly-Davion
Namesake: Matriarch Eerika Waterly-Davion
Ordered: 5 September 1901
Builder: Royal Shipbuilders of Cacerta
Laid down: 23 December 1901
Launched: 7 April 1902
Commissioned: 12 August 1902
Decommissioned: 8 October 1920
Struck: 11 January 1924
Honors and
awards:
Divide War: 8
Fate: Broken up for scrap, 15 May 1924
General characteristics
Class and type: Eerika Waterly-Davion-class battleship
Displacement:
  • 18,873 tons standard
  • 21,020 tons fully loaded
Length: 146 meters
Beam: 27 meters
Draft: 8.8 meters
Propulsion:
  • 2 × Andura steam turbines
  • 16 × Andura boilers
  • 4 × shafts each driving four-bladed propellers
  • 17,000 kW (23,000 shp)
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h)
Range: 8,300 nmi at 12 knots
Complement: 1,008 officers and crew
Armament:
  • Guns:
  • 12 × 28cm L-45 guns (6 × 2)
  • 12 × 15cm L-45 guns (12 × 1)
  • 16 × 9cm L-45 guns (16 × 1)
  • Other:
  • 6 × 45cm torpedo tubes (2 × 3)
Armor:
  • Belt: 102 – 279 mm
  • Deck: 19 – 76 mm
  • Barbettes: 102 – 279 mm
  • Turrets: 76 – 305 mm
  • Conning tower: 279 mm
  • Bulkheads: 203 mm

The HMS Eerika Waterly-Davion (BB-EWD-001) was a Cacertian Royal Navy battleship that revolutionized naval power in Tyran and ushered in the era of dreadnought battleships after she was launched in April 1902. Eerika Waterly-Davion’s entry into service represented significant advances in naval technology as she was the first battleship of her era to have a uniform main battery instead of a mixed armament of heavy and small caliber guns. She was also the first capital ship to be powered by steam turbines which made her the fastest battleship in the region at the time of her completion and thus sparked a naval arms race. The Royal Ossorian Navy, Royal Acrean Navy, and the Navy of the Syaran Republic immediately began working to match her design.

Eerika saw significant service during the Divide War as part of the Royal Navy task force sent to destroy the Syaran Navy in a decisive action. Although the [[Battle of the Slaveiko Bay |first battle]] ended in a tactical victory for Cacerta, it led to several running engagements in which the CRN was unable to lock down the Syaran Navy for the desired single battle. Eerika suffered damage from gunfire which disabled her second and third turrets, but she continued to fight as part of the Royal Navy task force until taking several torpedo hits that forced her to make port in neutral Mátészalka. After making emergency repairs, she returned at half-power to Fumicino where she was fully restored to fighting condition.

She was planned to return to Syara to continue fighting in the Divide War, but the conflict ended before her full repairs were completed. The aftermath of the war saw significant changes to the Royal Navy’s strategy which resulted in Eerika being placed in reserve in 1919 and eventually decommissioned. She was later sold for scrap in 1924.