Great Christian Fleet
The Great Christian Fleet is the term used for a group of Tagmatine battleships that undertook a circumnavigation of the Eurth in 1907. The so-called fleet consisted of fourteen battleships and numerous supporting vessels. The name was given by to it by the Tagmatine press, with the idea that the ships and crews were the representatives of the nation that followed the true version of Christianity on Eurth, the Enlightened Aroman Church. The Imperial Navy was ordered to undetake this mission by Basil III, as part of a general expansion of the Tagmatine navy and an attempt to increase the prestige of both it and the Greater Holy Empire itself abroad. The mission of the fleet was to make courtesy visits to the other nations and continents of Eurth, as well as advertising the fact that growing Tagmatine naval power was something for the other powers of Eurth to take notice of. Previously, the Imperial Navy not been capable of doing more than defending the approaches to its own shores, let alone policing the routes to and from the few overseas territories the Greater Holy Empire possessed.
Although the fourteen battleships were all less than ten years old, they were already considered to be obsolete due to the launching of the LS Intrépide, the first of the Intrepid-type all-big-gun battleships. The Intrépide was launched by Lysia in 1906. Nonetheless, the Great Christian Fleet was able to raise the idea of Tagmatium as one of the naval powers of Eurth, as well as give the crews of the ships and the Tagmatine navy as a whole experience in operating far from its shores and home waters. This was especially true when it came to the logistics and and planning of such an operation, especially potential fleet actions in seas a long way from the home waters of the Greater Holy Empire. These skills would rarely be needed, however, as Tagmatium was never involved in large scale wars with nations from the other continents of Eurth. This remained the case until the Grand War at the start of the 21st Century.
Although obsolete, the Tagmatine force was the most powerful to have ever circumnavigated the glube up until that point. It called in at numerous ports in Argis, Alharu and Aurelia. The venture was considered to be a massive success, both at home and abroad, and significantly increased the profile of the Imperial Navy within Tagmatium. Beforehand, the navy was often considered to be of secondary importance when compared to the Imperial Army. The arrival of the ships was celebrated in almost every country that they visited, although their progress was closely monitored by many of the other naval powers of Eurth.
Later History
Despite their obsolence, all of the ships that undertook the voyage were retained for the 1920s and 30s, during which they were used as coastal defence ships or guard ships. Although refitted to the modern standards of the time, most of the ships were sunk during the early stages of the Long War. This was primarily due to the ships being outdated, despite the best attempts of the Holy Imperial Navy to improve their armament. However, one of the ships, the BPP XXX, survived the conflict and is currently maintained in Europatorion as a museum ship.