Tanuki-class Battleship
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.jpg) Ese-Sha underway, shortly before its sinking.
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| Class overview | |
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| Subclasses: | Sagi-class Carrier |
| Built: | 1931-1940 |
| In commission: | 1936-1949 |
| Planned: | 2 |
| Completed: | 1 (Ese-Sha) |
| Cancelled: | 1 (Sagi) |
| Active: | 0 |
| Lost: | 1 (Ese-Sha) |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Battleship |
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| Aircraft carried: | 4x KDSAF/FN-36 "Suigin" |
| Aviation facilities: | 1 Catapult |
The Tanuki-class Battleship were a class of Kāichrén Democratic State battleships planned to be constructed during the Great War. Starting their design process in the late 1920's during the Chamorro War, the battleships were designed to be the ultimate expression of the non-carrier aspect of the Bandit's Doctrine. Only one, the Ese-Sha, would be constructed - due to both lacking resources and the snap decision to convert Sagi into a full carrier. The Ese-Sha was put into service in 1936, allowing it to play a key role in the defense of the Chamorro Islands from the forces of Marquesan.
Displacing an approximate 49,670 tons at full load, the Tanki were designed to compete with the far heavier Moryana-class, which sat at an approximate 55,140 tons. This was to be done through both the utilization of superior-ranged though technically-weaker 15in guns, long ranged torpedo strikes, floatplane reconnaissance, and superior speed. It also possessed a well-developed anti-air capacity through both its dual-purpose and explicitly anti-air weaponry, which allowed it to play a role in the defense of carrier or other flight assets from opposed strikes.
The Ese-Sha would sink in early 1949, during the Fifth Battle of the Chamorro Islands, while the Sagi was sunk during the Battle of Fuzan before the Atomic Bombing of Fuzan.
Background
The design of the Tanuki was fundamentally based on the Bandit's Doctrine - the ideal of carrier-supremacy backed by general-purpose fast ships for the purposes of exploiting the damages to formation and morale caused by carrier aviation. This meant that, in the wake of the Chamorro War where the doctrine had proven successful-enough, there was a perceived need for a counter to the Moryana - which, while slow, had proven to be notably more resistant to carrier strikes than had been originally perceived. In recognition of this, the KSCONA design bureau would begin designing the Tanuki in 1926, a task it would work upon until 1930, when it presented the first specifications for what would become the Tanuki. These designs would enter the construction process under GKKSK in 1931, shortly after the start of the Great War, and it would take until 1936 for the first and only vessel to follow the classes original design, the Ese-Sha, to be laid down.
The Ese-Sha would be used as a prominent symbol of the power of the KDS from the moment of its existence being revealed, with its victories in the battles occurring near the Chamorro Islands being recorded and popularized using one of many Kisegaku (Miracle-Science) results promoted during the war, that being the television. With this distribution of television being a wartime measure, many of the first images citizens would see from such would be footage of the Ese-Sha or other aspects of the fleet claiming victory in the Chamorros.
This purposeful effort to lionize the Tanuki-class was organic to some degree, as it was percieved that this was the best way to show that the Chamorros were safe - but it gradually took on a purposeful nature as the conflict began to develop, with the Ese-Sha becoming a symbol of national resilience against the domestic strife, political disasters, and growing exploitation of the governance which would be solved with the destruction of Marquesan. This symbiology would be turned against the state when the Ese-Sha was sunk, with the sinking being filmed and shown to the population in an attempt to capitalize on whatever feelings of revenge may exist - triggering a spree of anti-war riots which would only escalate with the Atomic Bombing of Fuzan in 1950.
The Sagi's hull would be dragged from the depths of Fuzan in early 1974, while it would take until the early 1990's for Ese-Sha to be gathered from the recently reunified-with-Neo-Korea Chamorro Islands. Both hulls would be scrapped, although both would also have a portion of said scrapped materials used to make displays in the Remembrance Hall of Naval Conflict, which continue to be present to this day. The scrapping of the hulls was severely controversial, with repeated attempts by members of key Iminchebol to organize their restoration or memorialization. These efforts would fail due to productive capacity being focused on the development of materials for the Invasion of Jungg'o, alongside other issues of lacking space for them in existing port structures.
Design
The design process for the Tanuki-class would begin with the cementing of the Bandit's Doctrine as the State of Kaesong's primary military basis.
Ships
Only two ships would be planned for the class, owing to the perceived lowering necessity of battleships in the combat environment of the post-Chamorro geopolitical situation and the desire to produce more of the Fuzan-class Super Cruisers. While both the Ese-Sha and the carrier-converted Sagi would prove effective, they were not percieved as effective enough to justify rededicated the amount of resources required to produce more battleships from other crucial naval developments, such as submarines or aforementioned cruisers.
Ese-Sha
Sagi
See Main Article: Sagi-class Carrier