Sistine-class aircraft carrier

Sistine, as in her 2006 deployment.
Class overview
Builders:	Marchetti Shipyards Alexandria, Meridon
Operators:	Meridonian Navy
Preceded by:	Atlantia-class
Cost:	Classified
Built:	1990-2012
In service:	1996-present
Completed:	11
Active:	11
General characteristics
Class and type:	Aircraft carrier
Displacement:	110,000 tons, full load
Length:	Overall: 330 meters
Beam:	Overall: Around 74 meters
Draught:	11 meters
Propulsion:	2 × Central Electric RM-2 reactors 4 × steam turbines, four shafts, 270,000 shp
Speed:	In excess of 30 knots
Range:	Unlimited
Complement:	Around 5,200 including embarked airwing.
Sensors and processing systems:	Broadlight SEA SENTINEL air tracking radar Broadlight S1620 3D air search radar Delta SM315 surface search radar Broadlight MCV-M1 air traffic control radar Matca AGS-101 landing aid radars Navigational radars
Electronic warfare & decoys:	CEG AFSEE electronic warfare suite Nulka decoys Nixie decoys
Armament:	4x M21 CADS Launching Mounts, 8x CADS-S missiles each x3 Goalkeeper Mark 40 25mm CIWS Kohaku subclass: 4x 16-cell Type 1 VLS, with capacity for: -CADS-S -MSU-14 antisubmarine rocket-propelled torpedo 3x Goalkeeper 40 25mm CIWS
Armour:	Kevlar over vital spaces
Aircraft carried:	80 fixed wing and helicopter

The Sistine-class is a class of nuclear powered aircraft carriers in service with the Meridonian Navy. The ships are named after large Meridonian cities, and are the largest warships ever built for the Meridonian navy. They succeeded the Atlantia-class of aircraft carriers. They were built starting in late 1990, and the first ship. Sistine, was commissioned in 1996, with the final ship of the class, Saratosa, commissioning in 2022.

Replacements for the aging Atlantia-class carriers had been planned since at least the early 1980s, but were delayed a multitude of time due to a mixture of budget constraints and emerging design requirements- most notably the integration of the new Common Air Defense Missile system, which was replacing a medley of other air defense missile systems across the Navy by the early 2000s. The Liberal government of 1984 was planning on cancelling the project and replacing the carriers instead with large missile cruisers as the centerpiece capital ship of the Navy, which were seen as cheaper and an effective way to limit long-term military expenditures. This caused an uproar in both Navy command and public opinion when said plans were made public. When five senior admirals and half of the Chiefs of Defense Staff tendered their resignations over the issue and more conservative members of the coalition began to vacate it, the subsequent 1985 election saw the liberal government ousted and replaced by a Federal Party coalition, which immediately reinstated the general officers and the Sistine-class project.

Designed based on lessons learned with the Atlantia-class, the Sistine-class carriers feature a number of new improvements. Most notable of these is an innovative two-island design, originally made to accommodate a separation of funnels when the ship was intended as a non-nuclear carrier, but ported over to the nuclear design due to their improvements in deck space usage, redundancy of systems and command, and operational efficiency. It features a state-of-the-art Broadlight air search radar developed for the Helena-class destroyers, capable of tracking hundreds of targets in real time. It is the first Meridonian capital ship to be nuclear-powered, and features improved facilities for aircraft and munitions handling. Carriers from Kohaku onwards have the M21 CAD/S launching mounts replaced with 8-cell VLS tubes/The VLS tubes do allow for the integration of standoff anti-submarine rockets and theoretically allow for the integration of ship-based cruise and anti-ship missiles, however the integration of non-defensive ship-based weaponry aboard the Sistine-class carriers has been rejected by the Navy. The Sistine-class is expected to serve until the 2050s at the earliest.

Description

Design

MRS Kohaku, the first of the Kohaku-subclass, which primarily features the integration of 4 16-cell VLS systems in place of the CADS launcher mounts.

The design of the Sistine-class carriers, due to a number of shifting requirements during its development, took a period of nearly ten years from conceptualization to construction. Key to its requirements from the design was the capability to meet or exceed the airwing size carried by the Atlantia-class, have a higher top speed, be capable of landing and launching aircraft simultaneously, and modularity to accomodate emerging technologies and aircraft. Sistine was originally designed to feature integrated electronics propulsion, but the design was altered to operate off of nuclear propulsion.

One of the most recognizable features of the Sistine-class is its dual-island configuration, which is primarily a holdover from the diesel-operated design. The forward island is responsible for ship operations, including navigation, defensive systems, radar operations, and other such functions, while the rear island conducts coordination of air operations, including launches, landings, air battle management, and airspace control. Both bridges are redundant and each bridge can conduct operations of both if one of the bridges is damaged.

Sistine is a CATOBAR carrier that features 4 steam catapults and 4 arresting wires on an angled flight deck.

Carrier air wing

As of 2020, a normal air wing of a deployed Sistine-class consists of the following:

• 2 squadrons of F5M6/F5M7 Lynx fighters (24 aircraft)
• 2 squadrons of F6M2 Wasp fighters (24 aircraft)
• 1 squadron of E6M2 Backwave electronics warfare aircraft (8 aircraft)
• 1 detachment of S2M Siren airborne early warning aircraft (5 aircraft)
• 1 squadron of H50M5 Seahawk antisubmarine patrol helicopters (10-12 aircraft)
• 1 squadron of C2M Triton multirole aircraft (10-12 aircraft)
• 1-3 C2M Triton or 1-4 C22M Adjutant transient carrier onboard delivery aircraft

Design differences within the class

All Sistine-class aircraft carriers are distinctly identified with the colored stripes at the rounddown, or the rearmost edge of the flight deck. This is a tradition carried over from carriers in the 1940s to assist aircraft in landing on the correct aircraft carrier, and to allow for a system of visual identification in the air.

• Sistine- Red and white.
• Kohina- Gold and white.
• Kohaku- Blue and white.
• Marin Bay- Green and white.
• Baymark- Black and white.
• Cordelia- Purple and white.
• Kaharoa- Brown and white.
• Marina- Red and gold.
• Enterprise- White and silver.
• Howland- Gold and black.
• Saratosa-Blue and black.

While Sistine and Kohina are armed with M21 CAD/S launcher mounts, carriers from Kohaku onwards are equipped with eight 8-cell VLS tubes in their places. This allows for the carrying of anti-submarine rocket torpedoes in addition to the standard complement of short range CAD/S missiles.

Ships in class

Ship	Pennant number	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned
Sistine	R10	2 December 1990	3 March 1996	1 December 1996
Kohina	R11	11 April 1993	2 March 1998	1 March 1999
Kohaku	R12	24 May 1996	12 August 2002	18 September 2003
Marin Bay	R13	22 June 2002	4 October 2008	9 July 2009
Baymark	R14	11 August 2005	2 December 2011	5 November 2012
Cordelia	R15	1 January 2007	5 August 2013	12 November 2013
Kaharoa	R16	2 May 2009	13 March 2016	2 February 2017
Marina	R17	2 May 2012	11 June 2018	2 March 2019
Enterprise	R18	2 May 2014	13 June 2016	2 March 2021
Howland	R19	2 May 2014	14 August 2016	5 April 2021
Saratosa	R20	4 September 2018	3 July 2022	1 April 2024