Vanguard-class battleship

The Vanguard-class battleship (: BB) is a model of in service with the , produced by Martian Metals Shipyards in the company’s facilities in the both the Sol System, and throughout the Inner Colonies.
Designed in response to the CMA secretly ordering eight of the powerful , the Vanguard-class would carry a heavier main battery at the cost of hangar space and troop capacity, illustrating the class's primary role as a ship-to-ship combat oriented vessel. Intended to act as a direct counter to any sizable naval force that the burgeoning Insurrection could amass, the lack of which would see the Vanguards kept close to the Inner Colonies as a deterrent against raids by the Insurrection's small craft on key UEG colonies and UNSC facilities. The entire class would be placed in long-term storage by the introduction of the in 2520.
However, with the outbreak of the the Vanguard-class was reactivated, with the first re-entering service with the UNSC in mid-2528, following brief refits to bring them up to modern standards. The class saw extensive use as the flagship of several hunter-killer battlegroups or as the principal asset of some of the UNSC's most powerful fleets. Processing both an impressive armament and unparalleled level of protection that would not be exceeded until the final years of the war, the Vanguards were viewed as one of the few ship classes that could stand up to its Covenant opposition, achieving the highest kills to loss ratio across all ship types.
Originally to have been replaced by the experimental Lelantos-class, the cancellation of this project due to design flaws would prompt the UNSC to order a second group of Vanguards in 2535 which became the Richelieu-subclass, which began entering service between 2539 and 2545. Due to the success of the design and the failure of the Lelantos' , the class would eventually become the standard for all of the UNSC's following designs would build off of, with the late-war eclipsing the Vanguards already impressive firepower and armour, whilst the post-war would carry a similar level of firepower, at the cost less structural protection due to the deployment of shielding to UNSC warships.
However, even with the production of the Richelieu-subclass, the ferocity of the conflict would whittle down the class to a mere handful of grizzled veteran ships by the war's end, with the survivors being supplemented in service by newer, more advanced ships. However, with the rise of the Created and the increased threat of the Banished, the UNSC has begun refitting the surviving Vanguards for the coming conflict, where their firepower and armour are once again needed.
__TOC__
==Overview==
Throughout the 2400's, tensions had been on the rise between the central United Earth Government and Colonial Administration Authority. This was due to the differing focuses of the two groups with the UEG being primarily focused on pro-Earth policies and the continued prosperity of humanity's home world, and the wealthy Inner Colonies, whilst the CAA wanted to prioritise the development and expansion of the burgeoning but poorer Outer Colonies. With these differing emphases between the two groups that these organisations were tasked with serving, along with a growing dissatisfaction and a sense of disenfranchisement amongst the population of the Outer Colonies would eventually leading to the outbreak of the Insurrection in 2490.
===Inception===
By the end of the 2470's, the UEG-loyalist UNSC, normally tasked with the protection of the Inner Colonies, became aware of a noticeable increase in sympathy amongst members of the CAA's Colonial Military Authority towards the groups campaigning for the succession of the Outer Colonies from the UEG. Whilst these groups were primarily focused on inciting violent uprisings on multiple Outer Colony worlds, there were some reports stating that there were aspects of the CMA working in co-operation with these 'Insurrectionists' groups, with some even providing military-grade armaments to members of these groups.
Fearful of members of the CMA Navy providing these groups with combat capable warships, the UNSC, in co-operation with the Office of Naval Intelligence's Section One, began working to rearm, enlarge and prepare the UNSC Navy, along with the other UNSC service branches, in preparation for the defection of portions of the CMA to the Insurrection. With some fearful that the entire CMA would defect, they believed that the UNSC and ONI should enact a 'first strike' to disarm and disband the CMA and the overarching CAA before any defection could be made, imprisoning any members of these organisations who were deemed to be pro-Insurrection, and the absorption of any remaining personnel who were loyal to the UEG.
===Development===
In 2485, this issue of Insurrectionists possessing ships which could match the UNSC Navy came to a head when the Office of Naval Intelligence discovered the rumours regarding the CMA's secretive construction of a number of large, heavily armed capital ships. Aware of the potential existence of a potential threat to their naval dominance the UNSC Navy's Bureau of Naval Architecture would conduct a number of design studies, ranging in size and armament for a new class of battleship in the event of such ships being required by the UNSC Navy in the future.
However, whilst the UNSC had been conducting design studies into the theoretical counter to these rumoured ships, subsequent investigations by ONI Section One would result in the discovery of the complete plans for the Punic-class of supercarrier in late-2485 from within the systems of SinoViet Heavy Machinery, who had designed the ship, along with the contract for construction of these ships through SinoViet's subsidiary, the PassiGear Manufacturing Company.
Now armed with these vital pieces of information, the most promising design 'Design-X23E-87' was taken forward for development of a viable warship class, with development placed under the control of the Bureau of Naval Architecture's Doctor Daniel Boone, with oversight of the project being given to Rear Admiral Mila Kovalenko, under the code name 'Project VEGETIUS' with the expectation of having a complete design ready for the first ships to be laid down before the end of 2486, with an allowance for revisions to the design to be made prior to the end of 2487.
Tasked with turning a design study into a full fledged warship within 12-months, the team under Doctor Boone would be forced to make use of for existing facilities and systems that the UNSC had available in order to meet both the short deadline that had been forced upon them and the requirement from the UNSC Navy FLEETCOM to keep the projects costs within the approved budget. Thus in order to cut down on both cost and development time, the design team elected to emphasise firepower and protection, at the cost of hanger space and the ability of the ships to carry a meaningful ground contingent. Despite this, the battleship would retain the ability to facilitate the deployment of a powerful force of the UNSC's formidable Orbital Drop Shock Troopers if needed.
It was during this hectic time that the argument over the ship's primary armament came to a head, with the more conservative personnel campaigning for an armament of either three or four of the proven Mark II heavy-coil guns, similar to those that were being fitted to the Punic-class, whilst the more radical proponent advocating for a pair of the newly developed Series 6 Super-heavy Magnetic Accelerator Cannons. Whilst both sides made convincing arguments, it was the deciding factor of the future potential of the Super-MAC guns weapons that convinced both Doctor Boone and Rear Admiral Kovalenko to approve the installation of these weapons aboard the new ships, over the proven, but theoretically obsolete, Heavy MAC armament.
Aware of the monumental task being undertaken by the design team, the Office of Naval Intelligence would assist the Navy by assigning assets working within the CMA to both disrupt the construction of the Punic's in order to allow the UNSC both an opportunity to catch-up with their rivals, and to gather further information about the ships in order to aid the design team. Further to this ONI Section III would cultivate relationships with a number of SinoViet's rival shipbuilding companies in order to facilitate the construction of these new ships, with the primary construction contract eventually being awarded to Martian Metals Shipyards, who possessed the majority of facilities outside of SinoViet capable of building these 'Punic Killers', as some of the design staff would refer to them, with a number of smaller firms being subcontracted to assist with overall construction.
===Construction===
In mid-2487 the first of a pair of the new ships would be laid down at Martian Metals' facilities above Mars, with the lead ship, BB-23, being assigned the name UNSC Vanguard due to the class’s planned role as the primary combatant in the Fleet's frontline battlegroups. Although some remarked on the irony of the ship being assigned the hull Classification 'BB-23', which had been the same pennant number as the battleship HMS Vanguard, the last battleship constructed in the 20th century.
In response to this, UNSC Fleet Command elected to name the other nine ships in the new Vanguard-class after other historic battleships from this period (both built and unbuilt) due to both the names historic values, and to boost the morale of the crews who would operate or serve alongside this new breed of capital ship, which focused on a powerful armament, rather than a sizeable air wing. These factors would later be re-emphasised as the naming convention would be extended to the following Richelieu-subclass that would be produced during the Human-Covenant war.
The entire class would be constructed in pairs between 2487 and 2491 in Martian Metals Shipyards facilities within the Sol system and the Inner Colonies, with deliveries beginning in 2492 and ending with the final pair being delivered in 2496. This brisk delivery schedule was aided by the standardisation of weaponry and equipment with existing equipment, taking advantage of the pre-existing production lines that already existed, and the dedicated production line set up for the ships new Super-eavy MAC armament.
====Richelieu-subclass====
In mid-2533 the UNSC had cancelled the construction of the new Lelantos-class battleships after the completion of the first two hulls due to the realisation that the new vessels contained a multitude of flaws that required an the design to undergo extensive revisions, which would serve as the basis for the UNSC's next generation of battleship.
However, the cancellation of these new vessels had left the UNSC Navy with a serious problem as the planned Lelantos' vessels had been intended to serve as replacements for ships lost in the ongoing Human-Covenant War which had already resulted in the loss of multiple human capital ships. In response to the need for new capital ships, UNSC HIGHCOM had begun searching for a stop-gap measure to alleviate the need for heavily-armed capital ships to combat the technologically superior vessels of the Covenant. Due to a lack of an effective design that could meet the requirements that had originally specified, the Navy acquiesced to the requests by the Bureau of Naval Architecture to lower the specifications of the brief from the 'ideal' design that had been originally sought, to one that was 'acceptable'.
Out of this process, the UNSC Navy was presented with three viable solutions to the problem at hand. The first being to restart the production of the Lelantos-class to a downgraded design that required the removal of a number of weapons systems as a result of the over-gunned nature of the design, whilst the second was an up-armoured and up-armed version of the then under construction, with the final proposal being to use an updated version of the preceding Vanguard-class, based upon a refit plan that had been intened to improve the Vanguards combat performance, but which incorporated lessons learned and technologies developed since the ship’s original construction into the new designs structure. 
Early on in the consultation process, the first proposal to continue the production Lelantos' was dropped due to the revised design still containing a number of major flaws, whilst the heavier Artemis proposal, despite being the more modern design was dismissed due to the fears that the proposed design would contain the same flaws as the original Lelantos' due to the close relationship between both development programs. Therefore it was decided that whilst it was a thirty-year design, production of the Vanguard-class would be restarted to this updated design.
The new ships, originally termed as being 'Block II' vessels during the drafting of the proposal, would develop into its own distinctive subclass, as whilst externally the new ships differed very little from their half-sisters, internally they would incorporate numerous changes aimed at improving the new ships combat performance and survivability. The most noticeable differences between the two production lines were the increase of internal subdivision, armour protection and the incorporation of newer and more efficient powerplant and weaponry systems.
Whilst the number of facilities that could construct these massive ships had expanded in the intervening decades, the loss of much of Humanity's Outer Colonies and the endless need for warships to replace combat losses meant that production of these new ships could only be undertaken in pairs between 2533 and 2541, with commissioning's occurring between 2539 and 2545. To further decrease the construction costs and build time, it was decided that new vessels would be built and equipped with materials, equipment and weaponry that had been intended for the unbuilt Lelantos-class, with the added bonus that these ships could be laid down immediately due to the lack of the need to gather the materials in question.
==Specifications==
===Propulsion and Power plant===
The sublight power plant of the Vanguards consists of a , providing the power needed to move the vessel through the ships two and its six secondary fusion drives. Translight power for the ships is provided by a a .
One of the most powerful of its time when it was first developed, the S53/G-DFR was designed specifically to generate the power needed to operate the ships massive main armament. However, the reactors would prove to be a part of the classes underlying issues as whilst the reactor worked perfectly, the high output levels, coupled with the power feedback from the discharge of the SMAC guns would expose the need to heavily reinforce the power grids off the entire class. This was due to the extreme power loads that the grid would be subject to when firing the main armament causing a system wide overload, resulting in a range of issues from power fluctuations to entire compartments experiencing rolling blackouts. However, despite the age of the S53/G-DFR, the system would be retained for the vessels of the later Richelieu subclass in an upgraded form that incorporated a number of modifications made during the systems time in service with the UNSC.
===Armament===
The class was built around the ships main armament of the two that ran down the ships spinal structure with much of the vessel’s internals being dedicated to supporting the system. In addition to this the ships would four triple barrelled making up the ship’s secondary armament, with the ships offensive armament also consisting of ten , 120 , and 40 . The ships point defence armament would be made up of 140 , and 110 , with the former system having the capacity for use as an anti-ship weaponry in the event of emergency.
The Richelieu subclass would enter service with several improvements that had been retrofitted to the existing ships, such as the installation of newer models of the original ships weaponry, including newer fire control systems that greatly enhanced the classes lethality. However, the main difference compared to the original ships would be the use of the newer that had originally be designed for the Lelantos-class which would make the newer ships more powerful than their predecessors.
===Armour and Superstructure===
The armour protection of the Vanguards was designed to resist the performance of the existing that was intended as the main armament for the CMA’s Punic-class supercarriers then under construction. Based on this data and in keeping with existing design practice, the ships armour was at its thickest in the sections that would protect the vessels vital systems, such as the ships extensive weapon magazines to feed its heavy armament and engineering spaces with 500 cm of covering these sections. For the rest of the ship, the armour tapered down to a thickness of 300 cm, which was still thicker than the armour of multiple cruiser designs that were then in service with either the UNSC or CMA navies.
Despite the battleships focus on its weapon armament, the ships were designed with limited aviation facilities in the form of twelve hanger bays split between the port and starboard sides of the vessel to operate the ships modest air group. The air group of the ships normally consisting of 32 to serve primarily as the ship’s fighter screen but could also act in a reconnaissance role. Twenty , four for the movement of personnel either between ships or to deploy in ground assaults, with additional support for ground elements being provided by two for the delivery of equipment and munitions. Like all UNSC ships, the Vanguards would contain 400 drop pods in ventral launch bays to allow the rapid deployment of the ships force, with extra capacity for support and munition pods along with spares in the event of multiple pods being rendered unusable.
Due to having a crew of 2,500 sailors to just operate the battleships, a large portion of the vessels remaining internal volume that was not taken up by the ships weaponry and engineering spaces was taken up by crew spaces and the ships massive cryo bays with further capacity for the ships own detachment of and contingent of who added just over another 1,100 personnel to the ships compliment. To support this the ships also contained extensive storage bays to carry the necessary food, medical items, equipment, and other supplies necessary to allow for the ship’s operation. When fully stocked the ships, bays would have the capacity to supply the ship for deployments lasting up to two-years, with the ships even operating with just emergency supplies being able to deploy for around 8 weeks. Despite the battleships focus on exoatmospheric combat, the ships would carry a modest compliment of ground vehicles, with 30 and twelve which could be deployed alongside the ships compliment of ground troops.
===Countermeasures===
As built, the countermeasure systems of the Vanguard-class were limited for ships of their size with much of the ships systems being given over for the weapon and fire control systems, instead relying on escorting ships dedicated to the Electronic Warfare role for much of their protection. The main systems being the ships Misriah Armoury KC-88 Chainmail Missile Jamming System that was designed to defeat enemy missile attacks, and the then brand new RX-151 Counter Fire Control suite, which had been developed for the ships by the UNSC Navy's Bureau of Naval Architecture's Experimental Systems Division.
However, following the start of the Human-Covenant war the countermeasure systems of the class, and later subclasses would be rapidly increased and repeatedly modernised as the UNSC attempted to counter superior Covenant weaponry, including multiple failed attempts to jam the guidance of Covenant Plasma torpedo's prior to the development of the successful CPC-291 Counter Guidance array just before the end of the war.
Post-war the Richileus would be fitted with Misriah Armory's ES-56D Heavy Dispersal Field Generators that had been created by reverse engineering Covenant systems taken from a number of wrecked enemy warships during the course of the war which helped to close the gap between UNSC warships, and the warships of the Covenant that were becoming the backbone of a number Covenant Remnant factions that were still hostile to humanity.
==Service History==
===Insurrection===
Upon the first ships of the class entering service in 2493, the UNSC and ONI would enact a promotional campaign focusing on the new vessels' overall combat strength. The aim was twofold - to reassure the population of the Inner Colonies of the UNSC's capability and strength, and to undermine the morale of the pro-expansionist elements of the CMA, by presenting the UNSC's continued material superiority in the face of the gigantic Punic-class supercarriers. This process would culminate in 2495, when the UNSC staged a 'procession' of the two newest Vanguards to have entered service, in order to further instil the image of overwhelming superiority that the UNSC had over the CMA: the latter only having commissioned the first two Punics, with the third CMA Jutland entering service in the following year. The forth ship, the CMA Jupiter, had suffered an 'accident' involving the ship's reactor during its proving trials, with the following investigation and repairs delaying her commissioning until 2500.
Despite the highly publicised nature of the parade, the personnel involved in the event would privately dub it as 'Operation: BARNUM' due to the procession's activities being limited by the two newest Vanguards, the Berlichingen and Arizona, which were still addressing flaws that had been noted during their brief shakedown cruises. Originally it had been suggested to involve all six operational ships, but due to operational requirements only two ships could be allocated for the parade, with the two newest ships being selected as the ships had not yet been worked up sufficiently for regular operations. The UNSC and ONI took excessive measures to conceal these issues from the public, although some critics would claim that they could see repair crews aboard the Berlichingen, which the UNSC would adamantly deny. Despite this, a CMA mole in the UNSC would covertly leak the repair order for the two ships' point-defence systems to the pubic, which was coordinated and carried out during the procession.
Issues with the battleships would come to ahead in August of that year, when the Arizona was sent to lead a UNSC task force to assist UEG loyalists in defeating an Insurrectionist-backed coup above the planet Rishii. Whilst the naval combat was as one-sided as the UNSC Navy had hoped, due to the overwhelming firepower of the Vanguard-class, serious issues would be discovered affecting the ship's main battery, as the firing the Arizona's SMACs at full capacity had resulted in severe damage to the magnetic coils, causing rapid overheating that would go unnoticed until the coils began to melt through the ship's bulkheads.
Despite the alarming nature of the damage, the UNSC would spin the engagement as a crushing victory, and would disguise the damage caused by the overheating coils to give critics the impression that the UNSC Navy's prestige units were flawless. All that would be acknowledged was that a single coil had malfunctioned in an isolated incident caused by crew negligence. The UNSC Navy's FLEETCOM would subsequently order the Arizona back to Reach, for five weeks of expedited repairs before dispatching the ship back into frontline service, albeit with repair crews still on-board.
====Operation: STURGEON====
Whilst designed and built as a theoretical counter to the CMA's Punics, events outside of the Navy's control would turn this hypothetical scenario into a the worst nightmare of the UNSC when in 2496 during Operation: VERITAS, Project ORION operators retrieved a non-official cover list of undercover Secessionist Union operatives that held high-level office positions within the CMA. From investigations conducted by ONI Section Two, it was confirmed that these agents were using these positions to deliver intelligence and armaments directly to anti-UEG groups, which was argued to have contributed to the loss of the Outer Colony world of Eridanus II to the Secessionist Union the previous year. This was in addition to a number of attempted takeovers of other Outer Colony worlds, such as the the confrontation above Rishii, where the Insurrectionist force had been identified as being led the Don't Tread On Me - a vessel that had been among a number of warships stolen from a CMA storage facility due rebel sympathies among the facility's personnel.
Fearing either the capture or defection of one or more of the Punics, the UNSC would begin secretly planning to seize the eight known ships that were either in service with or under construction for the CMA. These planning conferences would occur without the knowledge that, in response to the UNSC's numerical superiority of the ten Vanguards to eight Punics, the CMA had ordered an additional four ships to be constructed by SinoViet Heavy Machinery, in a number of subcontracted facilities across the Inner Colonies.
Initially, UNSC Navy hardliners would use the public's support of strong retaliation against the CMA after its complicity in rebel activities went public in 2497, calling for the seizure of all eight Punic-class vessels s in a single action to prevent the potential of any ship escaping their grasp. However this was met by considerable opposition from the rest of the Naval planning staff and by ONI leadership, who feared that such as strong action would result in either a mass defection of CMA personnel and their ships , or even the defection of the CMA itself, to the Insurrection. In addition, the fear that if a single ship escaped the UNSC's attempted seizure then it and its crew would almost certainly defect to a rebel group caused much worry in UNSC leadership circles. As a result of this resistance, the UNSC Navy would limit the active part of the operation to simply the capture of Special Assembly Plant Zeus and any ships under construction there.
Unfortunately, whilst the UNSC Navy and ONI were keen to execute this operation at the earliest opportunity, they would be prohibited from acting on this plan by the rest of the UNSC, whose attention was focused solely on the ongoing operation to retake Eridanus II, which was reliant on the support of loyal members of the CMA for logistical support. Furthermore, the UEG government adamantly opposed any direct military confrontation between two of its subordinate organisations and instead were trying to promote a more peaceful resolution to the brewing crisis with the removal of any pro-insurgent agents that had been identified as a result of Operation: VERITAS and their replacement with pro-UEG minded officers. This went hand in hand with limiting both organisations' budgets, as they believed that the arms race between the UNSC and CMA had contributed to the scenario.
However, in mid-2500 an ONI agent, dubbed 'Codename: SUNBURN', would discover Insurrectionist chatter discussing the process of planting rebel agents and turning members of the crew of an unknown Punic-class vessel, which the UNSC believed to be the the still incomplete CMA Trafalgar or CMA Falkirk. ONI intelligence reported that the crews for these vessels were still being organised prior to the two ships' acceptance trials, due to the mention of 'the end of the year' as the end date for this 'window'. Armed with this critical intelligence, the UNSC was able to gain permission to put Operation: STURGEON into action, sending four Vanguards led by the UNSC Bretagne to seize Special Assembly Plant Zeus, whilst four more ships were placed within range to interdict the four remaining Punics if the need arose. The UNSC Vanguard and the UNSC Arizona would be held in tactical reserve, just in case the operation required further assistance.
Arriving above Steinhold, the Bretagne and its task force would move to secure both the construction facilities and all vessels present there, with UNSC Marines and ODSTs capturing all of their targets and detaining all CMA personnel without loss to either side. However, the operation had failed in its goal to apprehend the CMA Trafalgar, which, it was discovered, had left for its acceptance trials only days before. UNSC intelligence had, unfortunately, overestimated the Falkirk's construction progress, as it was still in the fitting-out stage, whereas the Trafalgar had been ready to conduct its acceptance trials for some time.
====Skirmish of the Flagships====
Aware that one of their priority targets had escaped, the UNSC Navy began a mission to hunt down and secure the Trafalgar, sending the Vanguard due to concerns regarding the competence of the Arizona's crew. However, unbeknownst to the UNSC Navy, the CMA had learned of the seizure of Special Assembly Plant Zeus, and correctly predicted the UNSC's next course of action and so dispatched the nearest Punic and the flagship of the Colonial Navy, the CMA Punic herself, to locate and protect the Trafalgar until additional support could arrive, hoping that the presence of the two ships would deter whichever Vanguard was sent after the latter vessel. Further issues would contribute to the future incident, when the UNSC Berlichingen was prevented from following the outbound ship's vector due the CMA having sent the a number of their vessels that they had in system to delay any pursuit attempt to give the Punic and her crew more time to locate the Trafalgar.
However, due to the inaccuracy of slipspace drives of the period, the Vanguard would enter the system separated from its escorts. Shortly there after the ship identified a lone supercarrier at the edge of the system and moved to intercept in the event that the ship was the Trafalgar. This assumption was false, as it was discovered that the ship was in actuality the fully operational CMA Punic. However, like the crew of the Vanguard, the CMA taskforce did not know the Trafalgar's precise location, and so the majority of the supercarriers battlegroup had been sent to reconnoiter across the system for the errant ship, retaining only a minimal number of frigates to screen the carrier. As a result, Captain Linden of the Vanguard ordered her ship to circumnavigate around the Punic so she could continue the pursuit, albeit separated from the ship's own escort screen. 
Unfortunately this failed, as every course change was immediately countered and the small CMA armada formed a wall in front of the battleship in order to prevent the ship from being able to locate the Trafalgar. Realising that the CMA officers were unaware of the stakes at hand and knowing that a quick resolution was critical to her mission, Captain Linden nonetheless made an attempt to diplomatically end the crisis. However, a combination of mistrust between UNSC and CMA personnel, further enflamed by the egos and self-righteous attitudes of the two experienced and highly-skilled crews, would see the situation deteriorate rapidly into a dangerous confrontation, with both ships preparing firing solutions on the opposing vessel and the scrambling of both sides' combat air wings.
Due to the superior number of aircraft that the carrier could deploy, CMA squadrons were began conducting in aggressive sweeps in an attempt to intimidate the battleship crew, with the Vanguard's fewer fighters responding by remaining close to their mothership in a defensive line. However, with neither ship was backing down, nor willing to escalate further, the standoff would draw out for three hours, with the resulting stress and the need to remain at combat stations beginning to tell on both sides.
This situation would eventually come to ahead when Petty Officer Third Class Musa Dane, either overtired from the constant stress of combat manoeuvres or due to the animosity between both services placed his Longsword fighter-bomber on an attack vector towards the UNSC starship's bridge and began to closed in closer than his fellow pilots. Fearing that the Longsword was initiating an attack designed to decapitate the battleship's command structure, and fearing the consequences of this action Captain Linden authorised for the Vanguard's M910 Rampart quad-turrets to open fire on the errant craft, killing all four crew aboard.
Having seen the UNSC battleship shoot down one of its own strikecraft and believing that the UNSC were the aggressors the Punic in turn opened fire with its point defence batteries, with the situation descending into a 'brief spree of madnes' the point defence batteries of both supercapitals opened fire, either targeting the other sides own fighters, or raking the the outer hull section sections of the either ship. Fortunately the engagement did not escalate further due to the captain of the Punic recognising that the Vanguard had misjudged the intent of Dane's strafe and had only acted in self-defence and so had all weapons systems locked down before they could be fired and began ordered for all of the ships active weapons to ceasefire, along with broadcasting an order to recall all CMA fighters to their mothership.
However, Captain Linden, still under fire from the Punic and fearing that an overwhelming alpha-strike that would destroy her ship was imminent, decided to attempt to force the supercarrier to cease its actions through the use of intimidation, and so issued an order to fire a single warning shot from the SMAC. Unknowingly to the crew, like what happened to the Arizona year prior, the act of firing the SMAC gun at full charge caused a major malfunction, resulting in a power surge that disabled some of the ships electrical systems, and burning out a number of the gun's magnetic coils, whilst the gun's recoil systems malfunctioned, warping the deck-plates and bulkheads, along with numerous members of the crew being wounded when the shock of the gun firing threw sailors into bulkheads. Fortunately for both sides, it was at this point that the Punic's captain orders had been carried out and the supercarrier disengaged its weapons, although some other ships for the carriers escort screen that had been about to engage were persuaded to remain inactive.
Fortunately, for both sides, outside of Dane and his crew, there had been no fatalities on either side as due to the sudden nature of the engagement, both sides air groups had accidentally merged in their panic to clear the sudden hail of fire, with the resulting confusion between both sides as to the identities of each others crafts, neither side had been able to engage the other effectively, although some of the fighter crews would sustain wounds, either due to the two ships fire, or due to attacks by another Longsword, some of which were later discovered to be the results of friendly fire.
With both crews chastened by the brief firefight, and with observers aboard the Punic noting that the Vanguard's lights were turning off and on at random intervals and that the battleship appeared to be venting atmosphere from a number of compartments, both sides agreed to stand down all of their weapons systems and await both the errant Trafalgar and more senior officers who could negotiate a peaceful solution to the situation. The negotiations between the CMA Fleet Admiral Torsten Hermansson, a known UEG loyalist, and UNSC Fleet Admiral Roland Southgate, held aboard the Punic a few days after the incident, would eventually result in an agreement between the two military powers that were acceptable to both parties. The CMA agreed to conduct a full investigation into the Trafalgar's crew to identify and remove any personnel with Insurrectionist ties, with the UNSC permitted to send liaison officers to ensure the process was completed to the UNSC's satisfaction. In return, the CMA was permitted to retain control of the ship and all other Punics that were in commission with the CMA. Unfortunately for the CMA they had to concede the loss of the three hulls that had been seized at Assembly Plant Zeus due to the strength of the evidence provided by Codename: SUNBURN, despite their correct assumption that the Vanguard had suffered significant damage due to her own weaponry.
====Investigation====
With the loss of three of the Punic's that had been under construction and with the CMA Trafalgar being unavailable for the duration of the investigation into the crews loyalties could be completed, the UNSC would begin to ask questions in regards to the battleships continued service. Despite the ships incomparable level of firepower, the critical flaws that had been initially ignored in the case of the Arizona could not be ignored due to the self-inflicted damage to the Vanguard rendering the UNSC's flagship unserviceable. Due to the nature of the damage and the risk of a public relations humiliation if the UNSC's premier capital ships were exposed for there issues, the UNSC with the assistance of ONI would conduct a secret investigation in order to determine the nature of the damage, its causes, and measures that could be undertaken to fix these critical flaws, using the pretext of the cavernous ship being taken in hand for an 'overdue' refit to improve the ships fusion drives.
However, prior to repairs to the Vanguard being undertaken, the UNSC had to first identify the cause for the MAC guns failure and to determine why the malfunction in the ships primary armament had rendered the ship as being combat ineffective in the face of a potentially hostile force. Despite the abundance of data taken from both the Arizona's and Vanguard's own data systems, the UNSC found that they still lacked crucial data owing to the power surge having caused a number of the files to have been corrupted. Therefore, the UNSC was forced to take the only logical option to gain an understanding of issues at hand, by deliberately recreating the events that had led up to the malfunction to the SMAC gun of a Vanguard in order to gain a full understanding of the situation at hand.
Initially, some within the UNSC's upper echelons had suggested that the Arizona should be utilised for these trials owing to the crews familiarity with the issues at hand, however, this suggestion was quickly shelved as the ship had only just returned to service and so the ship being withdrawn from operations for a second time in such a short period would generate more attention than would be warranted. As a result attention shifted to either the Berlichigen, the Iron Duke, and the Bretagne as all three ships could be pulled from active duty due to upcoming maintenance periods, driven by a genuine need to improve the ships fusion drives in the wake of advancements in this field which had resulted in the temporary cancellation of a number of Valiant-class super-heavy cruisers that had been already under construction and the curtailing of the production of the rest of the original production order.
Of these three, the Bretagne was immediately dismissed due to the ships relationship with the important colony world of Sirona as the ship had been a major incentive in the both the planets close relations with the UEG and development of the very shipyards that had built the ship, and so if the news broke that the UNSC had intentionally damaged such an important vessel could disrupt this close relationship. Of the two remaining ships, the UNSC Iron Duke was selected due to the ship being more easily available to be withdrawn for 'refit' due to both the ships more urgent need of the planned work, and a need to offload the ships crew for overdue leave, which Operation: STURGEON had postponed. Thus with the majority of the crew having been dismissed for leave at the UNSC's fortress world of Reach, a small skeleton crew of trusted personnel would transfer the Iron Duke to the covert UNSC Navy's Deep Space Test Site at the edge of the Chi Ceti system joining the Vanguard and its crew which had been 'assigned' to, prior to its 'refit', with the latter providing the personnel to her sister ship in order to make up the needed crew numbers, along with a number of UNSC scientists who would both fit and monitor the array of sensors that would be fitted in order to gather the needed data.
Over a number of successive tests over the course of a month at gradually increasing the weapons power level from the starting point of weapons minimum charge of a mere 10%, the UNSC would build a detailed picture of the problem at hand. Above half charge it was noted that the temperature of the ships SMAC coils began to climb rapidly towards their specified maximum temperature, whilst structural vibrations in the hull surrounding the MAC began to approach concerning levels with readings taken from the guns recoil systems underscoring that the weapon was producing far more recoil than had been expected with these readings only becoming worse as the tests continued. Worse still at 60% the weapons discharge began to cause momentary 'blips' in the ships power grid, indicating that the firing of the weapon was causing the guns capacitors to discharge back into the ships power grid resulting in a number of micro-surges that whilst negligible at their current levels could result in a ship wide power failure at higher levels. In the end, the tests would be curtailed after only reaching 70% of full charge after it was concluded that either an increase in the weapons power levels, or continued testing at these settings would begin to cause damage to the vessel that would require immediate repairs.
From the data gathered during the trials, the UNSC Materials group would produce a 300-page classified report into their findings which would paint a damming picture of the systems issues, their development and procedure that governed their usage. Principally this discussed how the development of the system had been rushed through its development cycles at a pace that had prevented the necessary tests that would have exposed the technical flaws that the Vanguards were suffering with, and how their instillation on said vessels over the more reliable Mark II heavy-coil guns had been a short sighted decision, based upon hypothetical expectations, rather than a 'plausible reality'. As a result of the report, the UNSC laid out new operational restrictions, limiting the weapons to a operational charge of 60% of full charge with a maximum permitted charge of 70% in emergency situations only, which made them only slightly more effective than heavy coil MAC's of the period.
Additionally the UNSC would lay out four major problems that needed addressing in order for the power restrictions to be lifted, these being:
* Reinforcement of the structural supports surrounding the SMAC guns in order to alleviate hull strain and deck warping that had occurred aboard the Vanguard.
* Reworking of the ships power grid and capacitors to prevent power surges caused by the weapons discharge that could cause a massive power failure from occurring in the future.
* A major redesign of the ships recoil systems in order to better distribute the forces incurred during the weapons firing rather than it concentrating in only a handful of key structural members.
* Replacement of the SMAC gun's coils with models that could cope with the thermal load that was intended for use of the weapon at full charge.
With the findings of the trials both Iron Duke and Vanguard would be finally released to allow for the needed repair work and modifications to be conducted to bring the ships back into operational service.
====Gravel's Ridge Incident====
By 2503 all ten ships would have had the needed modifications incorporated in order for the ships to safely operate their SMAC guns at 70% with additional research ongoing in order to increase this safety threshold, the class would begin to serve their intended purpose as counters to the CMA's five remaining Punic's following the return of the Trafalgar in mid-2501. However, events in the outer colonies would overtake the battleships and put their continued usefulness in doubt.
In 2502, the insurrectionist group the 'Secundus Revolutionary Front' had begun amassing forces on the colony world of Gravel's Ridge in preparation for the outbreak of a planet wide rebellion to seize control of the entire planet and declare independence from the UEG the following year. As a result the UNSC would assemble a taskforce to defeat the insurrectionist forces and retake the colony for the UEG which arrived above the embattled planet in September of 2503. However, despite the deployment of a Marine force to assist local units that had remained loyal to Earth, the UNSC quickly found that it was badly outnumbered by the Insurrectionist force, and that despite their better training, material superiority, and access to heavier firepower over the enemy, the UNSC lacked the necessary manpower to permanently put down the rebellion. In an effort to repair the bonds that had been strained during Operation: STURGEON the UEG requested that the CMA dispatch one of their Punic's along with a CMA ground force to help retake the planet, with the CMA answering by dispatching the carrier CMA Jutland and her escorts to transport the CMA's Colonial Military Force Delta to the conflict zone to assist the campaign.
However, Codename: SUNBURN's intelligence regarding Insurrectionist agents infiltrating a CMA Punic was to be proved correct when insurrectionist agents within the crew staged a mutiny, killing the carriers loyalist command staff and many other crew members before seizing control of most of the ships weapon systems and key departments and turning the ship against the allied fleet. Fortunately loyal members of the crew would retain control over the ships engineering spaces denying the rebels control of the ships MAC battery before rallying to retake the bridge from the traitors before they could unleash the ships nuclear arsenal, although not before the ship inflicted heavy damage to the Vulcan-class heavy cruiser, UNSC Hertog which had been specifically targeted as it was the UNSC flagship.
With the any damaged ships withdrawn from the theatre and the carrier placed under a 'quarantine' at the edge of the system with its remaining crew put under a pre-emptive close arrest by UNSC Marines until they could all be fully vetted, until the UNSC could dispatch the UNSC Arizona to escort the Jutland to Reach for a full investigation. However, whilst the deployment of the Battleship to bring in a rogue Punic would become the catalyst for the classes downfall as the UNSC would move to induct the Jutland and three of her sisters into the UNSC along with the loyal members of their crews with only the Punic remaining with the CMA, although under heavy UNSC and ONI surveillance. 
====White Elephants====
With now only the Punic under CMA control, and with the discovery and subsequent cancellation of the four supercarriers that had been covertly laid down by the CMA following the loss of Assembly Plant Zeus, the UNSC would begin to revaluate the usefulness of the battleships now that the primary reason for their construction had now been removed. Now without a purpose the each battleships service careers would begin to suffer as the ships flaws in regards to their lacking air group compliments and meagre troop capacity became became apparent thus rendered them unsuitable for the flexible combat operations that came during the insurrection.
Despite being still considered prestigious units, the ships would be primarily confined to acting in 'Fleet in Being' role in order to deter raids on important UEG and UNSC assets by the few warships that were controlled by the rebels, with some being used as heavy armed supply and troop ships during Operation: TREBUCHET. This was done through a rearrangement of the ships internal stores, most commonly by emptying most of the ships internal weapons magazines in order to increase the ships cargo capacity, or to allow the conversion of the ships own storage compartments into dormitories to carry a large compliment of UNSC Marines to the operational theatre.
Despite still being designated as front-line warships in both the UNSC and depicted as such in the media, the classes status as being over-gunned for any theoretical space combat and ill-equipped for any of the countless ground operations that the UNSC was conducting during this period would lead to the entire class as being considered 'White Elephants' by the majority of naval personnel at all levels of the service branch.
====First Decommissioning====
As a cost cutting measure following the induction of large amounts of CMA warships the UNSC would cancel modernisation plans in the late 2500's, and would begin withdrawing the class from service beginning in 2516 with the withdrawal of the vessels in pairs depending on the level of modification to their SMAC battery until 2520 when the last pair, Vanguard and Arizona were withdrawn from active service.
Whilst some more vocal members argued for the costly vessels to sold as scrap, the class would instead be placed into deep storage around Tantalus in case a future need arose for the ships to be reactivated, with the sole exception of the Bretagne which was demilitarised and handed over to the Sironian Military Academy as a training ship due to the ships ties to the planet. 
However, despite being placed in reserve, some would be stripped of equipment such as missile pods, point defence batteries and other systems, with the level of this process being reflected in the order of the ships withdrawal from service.
===Human-Covenant War===
However, with the outbreak of the Human-Covenant War, the class’s favours would shift dramatically, as due to the inferiority of UNSC Warships in comparison to their Covenant opposition. Following the Battle of Harvest and the begining of the Harvest Campaign, the UNSC would rapidly begin reappraising its future needs to counter the Covenant threat. Owing to the same theoretical potential that had caused the ships to armed with SMAC guns, the UNSC would authorise the immediate reactivation and modernisation of the Vanguard-class under the direction of the ships original designer, Dr Daniel Boone, and included a complete rebuild of the ships SMAC guns.
Despite being over thirty-years old by 2528, the Vanguard-class would first see combat during the Battle of XI Boötis A, when the UNSC Vanguard led a 70-ship strong task force against Covenant battlegroup consisting of five Zanar-pattern light cruisers, two Sinaris-pattern heavy destroyers, led by the Syfon-pattern assault carrier Piety's Reward.
Strung out upon exiting slipspace, the UNSC group would lose over a third of their vessels in retern for only damaging a number of the lighter covenant vessels, with the Piety's Reward being responsible for most of the UNSC's losses. However, the rampage inflicted by Piety's Reward would be brought to an sudden end when she was engaged by entire main battery of the Vanguard, with the first round weakening the carriers shields enough that second shot causing them to collapse entirely before tearing through the ships bow before exiting amidships, reducing the mighty ship to a flaming hulk as she attempted to retreat only to be finished off by a mass volley of Archer missiles and lighter MAC rounds from Vanguard and other UNSC vessels, before decimating the now outgunned Covenant force for the cost of thirty UNSC vessels. 
With their size and firepower unparalleled with the early war UNSC, the Vanguards were seen by many as being one of the few UNSC warship class’s that could stand-up to the Covenant in space combat, resulting in them often serving in key positions within any force that they were attached to. The ships also demonstrated the value of the previously derided Super MAC guns and led to the rearmament of a number of existing vessels with SMAC guns such as the incomplete Wyvern-class super-cruisers later completed as the 'Von der Tann'-class battlecruiser, and ironically the 'Punic'-class, with a number of newer classes such as the Artemis-class battlecruiser and the abortive Lelantos-class battleships, with the latter resulting in the construction of a second group of fourteen additional Vanguards alleviate the fleets horrific casualty rate.
However, despite the ship’s impressive stature, the ships were not invincible to the Covenant's ferocity, with members of the class falling to the onslaught of the alien hegemony throughout the war, with most falling in brutal last stands above human worlds that were only ended when the ship had been reduced to battered hulks after being overwhelmed by the enemy and were often surrounded by the remains of many of their attackers. A trend demonstrated by the UNSC Berlichingen during the Fall of Reach, when the ship fought a desperate last-stand to cover the withdrawal of several human transports packed with civilians against a force consisting of an unknown Syfon-pattern assault carrier and its escorting cruisers, managing to destroy most of the cruisers and cripple the assault carrier before it was finally silenced when she was engaged one of the Covenant's powerful Kewu-pattern battleships.
By start of 2552, only a handful of Vanguards were still operational, being kept near strategic Human worlds such as Earth and Reach, where it was planned to use their firepower in conjunction with the UNSC's powerful array of Orbital Weapons platforms to repel any attacks by the Covenant. However, losses would still mount, with most of the remaining ships being lost either during the subsequent Fall of Reach or in the following Sol Campaign.
===Post-War===
Despite the age of their design and the ferocity of the conflict, very few of the either the original vessels, or of the wartime built vessels would survive the war. However, due to the age and the extensive wear that the remaining original Vanguards had amassed, and being pressed by the post-war UEG governments reallocation of much of the UNSC's wartime budget to civilian reconstructive programs across Earth and a move towards a peaceful co-existence with the remaining species that had made up the Covenant, the UNSC would closely assess their post-war needs. Some officers, influenced by the classes wartime service suggested that it would be more expedient to take the remaining ships of both the original class, and the later Richelieus in for a complete modernisation program including the installation of newly developed shielding systems. With some suggested the replacement of the aged CR-01D SMAC guns with the newly developed Mark X 76G3V5 superheavy MAC guns that had been developed for the Vindication-class light battleships that were about to enter service. However, these proposals would be revised after cost evaluations of this showed that the refitting of a single original Vanguard would cost nearly as much as two Vindications.
As a result of this the UNSC would commit to revised proposal that would see the younger Richelieus taken in hand for a full, whilst modernisation whilst the remaining original ships would be retired from active service once they could be replaced in service by newer ships of the Thanatos and Vindication classes, with only limited work being done to extend their service lives up to that point. Whilst it was initially assumed that the vessels would be broken up upon their retirement, the formation of a number of Covenant Remnant factions that could threaten humanity prompted the UNSC to instead plan for the decommissioned ships to be placed into deep storage insurance against any future needs.
By 2556 the UNSC had sufficiently replaced their wartime losses to begin to decommission the surviving original Vanguards, a process that was given much fanfare by the UNSC in testament to the classes impressive service lives, having gone from the Navy's 'White Elephants' to stalwart defenders of Earth and her colonies and embodiments of the services actions during the war. Upon retirement, the ships would have limited work to ensure their safe storage for an undetermined amount of time, although many assumed that between their age and outdated nature they would broken up within ten years.
However, the rise of the Created in late-2558, the increased threat of the Banished, and the loss of multiple valuable ships and construction facilities due to both events, the class would once again see heavy action in the UNSC's initial defensive and counter offensive operations. Due to the loss of a number of ships the UNSC Remnant even resorting to bringing the mothballed ships back into service for what considered to be 'their last hurrah' with the aged vessels being brought up to modern specifications, with some of the ships even being fitted with Covenant systems stripped from wrecked Covenant ships. A process that was greatly aided by the acquisition of a number of Huragok by ONI along with the assistance of the allied Sangheili of the Swords of Sanghelios, in order to return the ships to a sufficient level of combat power for the UNSC's immediate needs.
It was also during this period that the UNSC would rediscover the UNSC Iron Duke, one of the original Vanguards that had disappeared following the Battle of Actium in 2544, along with her cryogenically frozen crew who after resuscitation were able to return to action after a 16-year absence.
==Operational Practice==
===Strengths===
Upon entering service Vanguard-class possessed an unrivalled array of firepower amongst the UNSC's vast array of warship’s, paired with one of the heaviest levels of protection on a ship of its type until the introduction of Thanatos-class later in the Human-Covenant War.
===Weaknesses===
Vanguard-class battleships are one of the heaviest ships in service with the UNSC, which resulted in the ships being considered sluggish in comparison to other ships, as the second slowest class in the fleet ahead of the larger and heavier Punic-class supercarrier. The most major weakness in the class's design is in its lacking ground support and troop compliment, as whilst a Vanguard has the firepower and protection to survive any naval engagement, it was identified early in the Insurrection that the ships could not support a ground engagement in any role but as orbital artillery support.
===Tactics===
The UNSC's preferred tactic for Vanguards was to prioritise the ship's firepower on high-value enemy targets, using their heavy firepower to engage and destroy the ship in question, before shifting to another target that was being held in place by other ships, whilst screening the ships with escorts to deter enemy attack craft and to break up missile and plasma torpedo barrages before they can reach the battleship. Captains of Vanguard-class battleships are prohibited from engaging large groups of enemy warships without support, due to the ship’s vulnerability to wolf-pack attacks that can overcome the ship's defences and lead to its destruction. Whilst the Vanguard carries an impressive array of weaponry, it becomes noticeably less potent when forced to split its firepower amongst several enemy vessels.
==Ships of the Line==
Name 	Hull Classification Symbol	Commissioned	Destroyed	Notes 		
Vanguard-class
Commissioned between 2493 and 2499, the first group of ten Vanguards saw little use after 2500, with all class members being in reserve by 2520, prior to their reactivation during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-23/BB-32.	Vanguard-class
Commissioned between 2493 and 2499, the first group of ten Vanguards saw little use after 2500, with all class members being in reserve by 2520, prior to their reactivation during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-23/BB-32.	Vanguard-class
Commissioned between 2493 and 2499, the first group of ten Vanguards saw little use after 2500, with all class members being in reserve by 2520, prior to their reactivation during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-23/BB-32.	Vanguard-class
Commissioned between 2493 and 2499, the first group of ten Vanguards saw little use after 2500, with all class members being in reserve by 2520, prior to their reactivation during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-23/BB-32.	Vanguard-class
Commissioned between 2493 and 2499, the first group of ten Vanguards saw little use after 2500, with all class members being in reserve by 2520, prior to their reactivation during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-23/BB-32.	Vanguard-class
Commissioned between 2493 and 2499, the first group of ten Vanguards saw little use after 2500, with all class members being in reserve by 2520, prior to their reactivation during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-23/BB-32.	Vanguard-class
Commissioned between 2493 and 2499, the first group of ten Vanguards saw little use after 2500, with all class members being in reserve by 2520, prior to their reactivation during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-23/BB-32.
UNSC Vanguard 	BB-23 	2493 	 	Lead ship of the class. 		
UNSC Iron Duke 	BB-26 	2494 	N/A 	Presumed lost during the Battle of Actium, rediscovered in 2560. 		
UNSC ArizonaSubmitted by . 	BB-27 	2495 	2542 	Destroyed during the Battle of Carpathia II. 		
UNSC Berlichingen 	BB-28 	2495 	2552 	Destroyed during the Fall of Reach. 		
UNSC BretagneSubmitted by . 	BB-29 	2498 	2545 	Flagship of Admiral Elizabeth Whitaker. Destroyed during the Siege of Sirona. 		
Richelieu-subclass
 The Richelieu-subclass were a second group of fourteen Vanguards that entered service between 2539 and 2545 as a part of the UNSC's wartime expansions during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-35/BB-48.	Richelieu-subclass
 The Richelieu-subclass were a second group of fourteen Vanguards that entered service between 2539 and 2545 as a part of the UNSC's wartime expansions during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-35/BB-48.	Richelieu-subclass
 The Richelieu-subclass were a second group of fourteen Vanguards that entered service between 2539 and 2545 as a part of the UNSC's wartime expansions during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-35/BB-48.	Richelieu-subclass
 The Richelieu-subclass were a second group of fourteen Vanguards that entered service between 2539 and 2545 as a part of the UNSC's wartime expansions during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-35/BB-48.	Richelieu-subclass
 The Richelieu-subclass were a second group of fourteen Vanguards that entered service between 2539 and 2545 as a part of the UNSC's wartime expansions during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-35/BB-48.	Richelieu-subclass
 The Richelieu-subclass were a second group of fourteen Vanguards that entered service between 2539 and 2545 as a part of the UNSC's wartime expansions during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-35/BB-48.	Richelieu-subclass
 The Richelieu-subclass were a second group of fourteen Vanguards that entered service between 2539 and 2545 as a part of the UNSC's wartime expansions during the Human-Covenant War. Assigned Hull code's BB-35/BB-48.
UNSC RichelieuFree slot for anyone to take.	BB-35 	2539 	 	Lead ship of the Richelieu-subclass. 		
UNSC MontanaSubmitted by . 	BB-37 	2540 	2559 	Site of the 2543 UNSC Montana fire. Disabled and captured during the and later broken up.		
UNSC Thunderer 	BB-40 	2541 	2544 	Destroyed during the Battle of Bougainville. 		
==UNSC Remarks==
==Gallery==
===Ship pictures===
DT-FOTM August 2022 - Vanguard Battleship.png|Fanon of the Month (FOTM) Card earned in August 2022 for Vanguard-class battleship by .
Vanguard Battle 1.jpg|A Vanguard-class battleship in combat at the centre of a UNSC Task force.
Vanguard-class Battle.png|A Vanguard-class battleship during a space battle.
Vanguard battle 3.jpeg|A Vanguard-class battleship, a Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser, and a Marathon-class heavy cruiser firing on a Covenant CAS-class assault carrier.
Vanguard-class MAC.png|thumb|300x300px|A Vanguard-class battleship firing one of its MAC guns in combat.
Vanguard-class Profile 2.jpeg|A Vanguard-class battleship, an Orion-class assault carrier and a pair of Autumn-class heavy cruisers in the markings of the UNSC Navy's Tenth Fleet.
Vanguard Post-war 2.jpg|A Vanguard-class battleship leading the defence of a UEG colony in the post-war era.
Vanguard Battle 6.jpg|A later image of the same Vanguard-class battleship driving away the attackers from the UEG colony.
Vanguard Battle 7.png|A Vanguard-class battleship in action wearing post-war UNSC Markings.
===Ship Badges===
BB-23 UNSC Vanguard.png|Badge for the UNSC Vanguard.
BB-26 UNSC Iron Duke.png|Badge for the UNSC Iron Duke.
BB-27 UNSC Arizona.png|Badge for the UNSC Arizona.
BB-28 UNSC Berlichingen.png|Badge for the UNSC Berlichingen.
BB-29 UNSC Bretagne.png|Badge for the UNSC Bretagne.
BB-35 UNSC Richelieu.png|Badge for the UNSC Richelieu.
BB-37 UNSC Montana.png|Badge for the UNSC Montana.
BB-40 UNSC Thunderer.png|Badge for the UNSC Thunderer.
==Notes==
*The Vanguard-class reuses the original model for the Punic-class Supercarrier from the Sins of the Prophets mod, hence the Vanguards origin as a related project.
Category:Battleships
Category:Battleship classes