Cruiser Race

The Cruiser Race was a naval arms race between the Republic of Syara and the Cacertian Empire over the construction of cruisers between 1920-1934. The build up of naval forces by both the Navy of the Syaran Republic and the Cacertian Royal Navy began not long after the conclusion of the Divide War, during which the Cacertians had struggled to defeat the smaller, more maneuverable Syaran warships who avoided pitched battles in favor of asymmetric tactics. The Cruiser Race was eventually won by Cacerta, who outproduced Syara by nearly two times the amount of cruisers constructed during the time frame, and was later able to achieve victory at sea during the Siduri War.

Background

During years leading up to the Divide War, the Cacertian Royal Navy had forsaken the development of cruisers in favor of dreadnought battleships in accordance with Decisive Battle Doctrine, with most of the tasks of cruisers relegated to the destroyer fleet. During the Divide War, this had been shown to be a major gap in Cacertian capabilities, leading to smaller and faster Syaran warships exploiting the Cacertian preference for direct line engagements by firing torpedoes beyond the range of Cacertian destroyer gunfire. Following the end of the conflict, Admiral Andrea Doria identified the need for the Royal Navy to develop new and improved classes of cruisers in order to better augment the abilities and performance of the fleet. This began shortly after the conclusion of the Divide War with the development of the Brindisi-Class light cruiser, then the Molfetta-class cruiser.

While Syara had emerged victorious in the conflict, the Desopya Campaign had highlighted the inability of the Syarans to protect their own waters from foreign powers. In response, the Republic embarked on a major naval build up in an effort to produce a navy capable of challenging the major powers of Tyran. Complicating this plan was a lack of strategic direction on the development of the Syaran fleet. It was agreed that Syara needed larger, more capable warships, but there remained significant debate over the purpose and end state of the Navy. The Admiralty was generally split into three separate camps. One group led by Admiral Hristijan Rajcevski favored an emphasis on the tactics and designs that performed well during the Divide War, namely small, maneuverable vessels capable of outrunning enemy warships. Another group, led by Admiral Dicho Wasilew, favored heavy warships capable of meeting enemy fleets in direct conflict within territorial waters, emphasizing heavy armor and armament to defeat any foreign vessel. Still a third group proposed a fleet centered around long range action, far from Syaran waters, supported by battlecruisers and fleets capable of operating far from friendly ports.

As a result, Syaran naval procurement and development was often undermined by disagreements regarding ship design, fleet posture, and strategic purpose. This, coupled with shortages of shipyards, and inexperience with mass construction of large warships, meant that the Republic was never able to fully match Cacertian rates of production.

Designs and roles

Cacertian intentions behind its cruiser development varied depending on the class and tonnage. Light cruisers were predominantly meant to act as counters to destroy escorts while also operating as commerce raiders when necessary. In addition, light cruisers were often expected to act as a major component of the fleet's anti-air abilities. Standard cruisers were designed with the intention of supporting the battleships of the fleet, while also providing cover against lighter enemy warships. Syaran cruisers on the other hand suffered from conflicting expectations of roles and designs that often resulted in overlapping responsibilities or even gaps in fleet roles. Originally, Syaran light cruisers were expected to provide support for destroyer squadrons, acting as squadron leaders to guide torpedo destroyers towards larger enemy vessels. Standard cruisers were intended to act as commerce raiders, but also support battleships in action. Later designs sometimes intermixed these roles, with cruisers expected to lead flotillas of smaller vessels, while light cruisers were sometimes expected to operate as battleship escorts.

Following the introduction of several Syaran cruiser designs in the early to mid-1920s, the Cacertian Admiralty grew wary of Syaran intentions and requested the development of heavy cruisers capable of matching and defeating their Syaran counterparts. This in turn resulted in the development of three classes of Syaran heavy cruisers, but like their lighter variants they suffered from unclear doctrinal roles; heavy cruisers often alternated between leading convoy raiders, serving as battleship escorts, or alternatively engaging and repelling smaller vessels. In general, Cacertian vessels had more conventional weapons layouts and armament specifications, whereas Syaran cruisers often varied considerably; in some cases this led to miss-classification of ship types by Cacertian observers; the Sarhadi-class cruiser was a cause for confusion owing to its heavy armament but light armor and Syaran classifying it as a standard cruiser.

Despite Syaran efforts to match Cacertian developments, the Republic was unable to keep pace with rates of ship construction by Cacertian shipyards. Over the course of the race Cacerta produced 64 cruisers to 35 Syaran cruisers.