Festung class cruiser

<imgur w=300>MRTIqSc.png</imgur> Festung class cruiser after the Zweiter General Refit
Class overview
Name:	Festung class
Builders:	Lehnstedt Volksmarinewerft
Operators:	People's Revolutionary Army Navy
Built:	1976 to 1988
In service:	1980 to present
In commission:	1980 to present
Planned:	4
Completed:	4
Active:	3
Lost:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Guided missile cruiser
Displacement:	11,800-13,000 ton standard 13,800-15,000 full load
Length:	186.4 m (611 ft 7 in)
Beam:	20.8 m (68 ft 3 in)
Draught:	8.4 m (27 ft 7 in)
Installed power:	146,000 shp
Propulsion:	2 × TR-499 Blohm Gas Turbines 2 × GR-90 Farber-Stahl Diesel generators 2 × Shafts
Speed:	32-34 knots
Range:	3,000 nmi (3,450 mi) at 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Endurance:	Four months
Boats & landing craft carried:	1x Patrol Boats 150 x inflatable life boats
Crew:	26 Officers 360 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	Anti-stealth B-LTD-517B radar with Yagi antenna B-LTD-364 low altitude and surface search radar B-LTD-366 over-the-horizon surface search & targeting radar B-LTD-349 fire control radar for close-in weapon systems B-LJP-344A phased array fire control radar for main gun PS/SJD-9 hull mounted active/passive sonar PS/SJG-206 towed array sonar ESS-1 variable depth sonar
Armament:	Missiles: 16 (8 x 2) RMH-01 anti-ship missiles 72 (3 x 24) MA-11 short range surface-to-air missiles 64 (8 x 8) B-350 long-range surface-to-air missiles Alternatively: RB-50 anti-ship missiles RB-55 anti-ship/land-attack missiles RS-50 land-attack cruise missiles Guns: 1 × SH-100 100 mm naval gun 3 × SH-03 close-in weapons systems Torpedoes: 10 (2 x 5) 533mm torpedo tubes
Aircraft carried:	1x helicopter
Aviation facilities:	1x hangar

The Festung class cruiser (English: Fortress; official Liothidian designation: Type VIII Kreuzer-Festung) is a class of Guided missile cruiser, designed and constructed for the Liothidian People's Revolutionary Army Navy. Four were constructed between 1976 and 1988, while one was lost in 1990 to a catastrophic explosion in its magazine, the remaining three underwent a dramatic overhaul and refit between 2010 and 2016. The Festung class are among the largest surface combatants currently in service with the People's Revolutionary Army Navy.

Design

2010 Refit

Between 2006 and 2007, there was significant debate within the Naval high command over the future of the Festung-class, with several senior officers claiming they'd become an expensive waste of resources, while others argued that they still retained a vital role within the fleet, as a major surface combatant. Ultimately, the naval command delegated the decision to the civilian government, who supported the campaign for their continued service within the fleet. Following the Strategic Military Review of 2007, the PRAN began to draw up plans for the modernisation of the Festung, which was still operating systems and weapons from the 1980s and 1990s.

File:FestungPreRefit.png

The PRANS Leonstein prior to its refit. The original design was dramatically altered to accomodate new radar and weapons systems.

Between 2007 and 2009, work on modernising the Festung-class began in earnest, with an agreement to replace the original armament entirely with new upgraded modern systems. This was followed by a re-designed propulsion system and power-production system, a modernisation of the radar systems was also confirmed, along with augmentations to the superstructure to support the new design was completed by the end of 2009. Overall, the refit dramatically improved the Festungs' capabilities, with a continued focus on surface-to-surface and surface-to-air capabilities, as well as improving fuel efficiency.

Armament

Initial plans for the refit included a removal of the eight large missile-launchers located on either side of the superstructure, however, the final refit design retained them, yet altered the dimensions to allow for the use of future long-range anti-surface missiles. Other dramatic changes included the removal of the previous 130mm dual-purpose naval gun for a smaller 100mm dual-purpose gun. Naval designers opted for a smaller 100mm gun, for the sake of resources, ammunition and maintenance, spurred further by the arguments that use of the gun in combat, would be kept redundant by the universal use of long-range missiles and aircraft. The introduction of the 100mm gun, allowed designers to reduce magazine space and dramatically reduce maintenance costs and time. The previous SK 130cm gun was replaced with the SH-100.

One of the biggest changes to the overall design of the Festung-class with the refit was the replacement of the entire vertical-launch system. The previous system was designed exclusively around the B-350 surface-to-air missiles, the new system known as the "National Military Standard System" (Nationales Militärisches Standardsystem; NMSs). The NMSS operates so that different types of missiles can be launched by a single launching system. This new system is rectangular and allows for quad-packing, compared to the circular system used on the previous design. According to Liothidian publications, there are 3 types of VLS that differs in length: 9 meter, 7 meter and 3.3 meter respectively, but the diameter is same for all, 850 mm maximum, with each launching tube filled with either dry air or nitrogen inside, and with higher internal pressure. This allows the Festung-class to operate other missiles beside the B-350 for air-defence, among those are RB-50 anti-ship missiles, RB-55 dual anti-ship/land-attack and RS-50 long-range land-attack cruise missiles. The eight-forward launchers were retained and for several years until 2018, retained the original RB-80, in 2018 all three ships had the launchers augmented to operate the RMH-10 anti-ship missile.

Another major change to the armament was for close-in defence. The Festungs received three SH-03 close-in weapons systems (one located fore and two aft, flanking the hangar) and three 24-cell MA-11 short-range air defense missile launchers (one located aft and two mid-ship).

An article in a prominent Arthuristan naval journal noted that the refit had "dramatically modernised the Festung-class cruisers into a significant surface combatant, far exceeding its original capabilities and applications. It's new weapon systems indicate a sense of self-awareness within the PRAN, that its previous design was significantly aged and through the new refit, renewed the Festung as a major threat to land-based and sea-based opponents."

Propulsion

The original design of the Festung operated a propulsion system that was regularly condemned by its crew and naval command, especially over its maintenance and "overly complicated operation." The original design heralded the PRAN's transition from solely diesel based engines to gas. The refit design introduced Combined gas and gas, with the construction of four TR-499 Blohm-Stahl gas turbine engines, this greatly simplified the original system which included two cruise gas turbines and four boost gas turbines alongside 2 cruise steam turbines, 2 exhaust gas boilers and a further four gas turbines. The new engine system, allowed for the removal of the large steam-release system located aft of the funnel, which in turn permitted designers to increase the space used for the vertical-launch system. The Festung class also received two new eleven-bladed propellers.

More importantly, the refit enabled the Festungs' to operate with improved fuel efficiency, which had been a previous issue. The new engines enabled fleet command to dispatch the three cruisers to Liothidia's numerous overseas bases, while also permitting it to partake in extended missions and patrols overseas.

Ships of the class

Name	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Status	Notes
PRANS Festung	1976	1979	1982	In service with the Northern Sea Fleet	Overhauled from 2010 to 2012.
PRANS Socialitische Harmonie	1977	1980	1983	In service with the PRAN Periclean Fleet	Overhauled from 2012 to 2014.
PRANS Schwarzerstein	1981	1984	1987	Sunk	Sunk 330km north of Liothidia with all hands, when a malfunction in the magazine caused a catastrophic explosion on April 15 1990.
PRANS Leonstein	1985	1988	1991	In service with the PRAN Thalassian Fleet	Overhauled from 2014 to 2016.