Empire-class Battleship
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| File:H class (Richard Allison).png ICN Floating Fortress (BB-1) on a dark night
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Empire-class battleship |
| Builders: | Port Revolution Shipyard |
| Operators: | Template:Country data Allied Connurist States Imperial Castarcian Navy |
| Succeeded by: | Emperor Connor-class battleship (proposed) |
| Built: | 1940–1946 |
| In commission: | 1944–1976 |
| Planned: | 4 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Cancelled: | 2 |
| Active: | 0 |
| Retired: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Battleship |
| Displacement: | 135,000 t |
| Length: | 350 m |
| Beam: | 52 m |
| Draft: | 12.7 m |
| Speed: | 29 kn |
| Range: | 37,000 km |
| Complement: | 4000 |
| Armament: |
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| Aviation facilities: | 2 x catapults |
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The Empire-class battleships were battleships of the Imperial Castarcian Navy that were the largest warships to ever serve with the Allied Castarcian States in both length and displacement. Two ships, Floating Fortress and Divine Beauty, were laid down in 1940, in a bid to compete in the international arms race concerning warships at the time. Both ships had a service career of over thirty years within the navy before being retired. Floating Fortress was decommissioned and scrapped after it was damaged beyond economical repair, whereas Divine Beauty was preserved and is today a maritime museum.
Initial Design
In the early 1930s, Emperor Jeremy I had grand plans for the ACS to become a major power in Atlas. He ordered the Imperial Castarcian Navy to research new battleship designs and present them to Castarcian High Command. The Emperor knew that the production capability of Castarcian shipyards was outclassed by many, and as such personally preferred the idea of having a handful of heavily armoured, heavily armed 'superbattleships', even though Grand Admiral Flanagan protested, arguing that it would be better to have a higher quantity of 'average' battleships.
However, the Emperor was still infatuated with the idea of a superbattleship, and ordered the construction of the largest design he had been given. The Empire-class, as he had christened it, was to have the most armour and largest guns of any warship in history at the time of imperial approval. The armour was intended to be sufficient against aerial attack, torpedo strike, and bombardment from other battleships, whereas the armament consisted of 8 508mm (20in) guns amongst secondary guns and torpedoes. Construction was delayed whilst existing shipyards were modified and new shipyards were built, as none could handle a ship of the Empire's size.