UNSC Moltke

The UNSC Moltke was a Von der Tann-class battlecruiser in service with the during the 26th Century. Laid down in 2494 as part of the effort to combat the UNSC's rapid fleet expansion with the commissioning of the Vanguard-class battleships in the 2940s, the Moltke, originally the CMA Phoenix, would be halted, postponed and eventually abandoned at the CMA's shipyards until the 2520s, when the UNSC restarted construction due to the and the extreme losses taken by human capital ships. Finally joining the fleet in 2530, the Moltke would serve with distinction during the Human-Covenant War, fighting protracted engagements and losing battles albeit with heavy cost to Covenant forces. Known for her deep black and green stripes that ran along her hull, the Covenant would finally destroy the "Ghost Hunter" at the Fall of Reach, valiantly fighting as one of the last ships to fall above the planet.
==Operational History==
===Construction and Postponement, 2494 - 2525===
The UNSC Moltke would begin life as an unnamed member of the Colonial Military Administration's 2490 Fleet Line Initiative, meant to respond to the UNSC's latest and most powerful warships - the Vanguard-class battleships. The Von der Tann-class battlecruisers would be ordered as the CMA Navy's main capital ship-killers, to support their fleet of Punic-class supercarriers in planetary invasions and anti-Insurrectionist operations. However, both CMA Command at Kingston and UNSC FLEETCOM at Reach knew that this was a guise to allow the CMA to build up their fleet assets to challenge UNSC capital ships supremacy.
Laid down at Martian Metals Shipyards facilities around Chi Rho in December 2494 (ironically replacing the Vanguard-class battleship UNSC Arizona on the stocks), the battlecruiser simply designated CB-34 would begin construction, albeit at a slow pace due to the CMA's budget constraints (largely occurring due to the UNSC siphoning funds from the CMA to build up their counter-insurgency capability). CB-34 would receive her name in August of 2495, christened the CMA Phoenix in a small ceremony conducted before the ship herself was launched. If dockyard reports from MMS were to be accepted, the Phoenix would have been launched in July 2496, and commissioned into the CMA battleline sometime in mid 2498.
However, the CMA Navy would be severely restricted in their fleet expansion program. The 2490 Fleet Line Initiative would be targeted by a series of bills passed by the UEG Representative Council, restricting the CMA's theatre of operations to sparsely-populated frontier sections of the Outer Colonies, as the UNSCN began to dramatically overhaul the size of the CMA Navy. The lack of new hulls making their way to the CMA's fleet would cause issues, as would the funds that were being seized by the UNSC, originally earmarked to fund continued warship construction for the CMA. 
The Von der Tann-class battlecruisers would slowly be halted in progress on the slipways, being moved to reserve yards attached to the shipyards. All ships in the class would then be slowly stripped for materials and equipment, leaving them as unfinished hulks anchored around the docks. They would become well-known in the UNSC and CMA for their incomplete state, receiving the nickname of "SinoViet's Spares". The Phoenix would be no exception to this, with construction halted in 2496 and the hull anchored around Chi Rho and essentially abandoned by dockyard workers. It would sit in an incomplete status for almost thirty years, throughout the Insurrection and occasionally used to supply the shipyards' new orders with electrical equipment and armour plating.
However, these ships would be noticed once more in 2525 by the UNSC, as first contact with the Covenant occurred and Outer Colony worlds burned. The UNSC Navy, having lost dozens of ships to the Covenant's far superior and technologically-advanced warships, would use every available measure in their arsenal to reactivate older, more powerful vessels (such as the Vanguard-class battleships) and complete construction on other vessels. To this end, the CMA's old, unfinished battlecruisers would be seized, and construction ordered to continue to modern UNSC standards. The Phoenix would be begun again in May 2526.
=== Modernisation Efforts, 2525-2530 ===
CB-34 was lucky to have not been stripped for parts as heavily as some of her sisters, due to the slowing orders or warships at Martian Metals' Shipyards in Chi Rho. The Phoenix, renamed to the UNSC Moltke, would be constructed at a rapid pace, launched off the slipway in July 2527. For a further three years, however, the Moltke would remain at the shipyards, as UNSC design requirements fluctuated severely. At first, the Moltke was to be a heavy missile carrier, with 120 pods of M42 Archer missiles, and a further 36 M96 Howler missile pods, with a single heavy MAC and several batteries of point defence guns. However in February 2528 this was changed to be a perceived escort-killer, with six batteries of Viper and Onager naval coilguns paired with two MACs and a further increase of point defence guns.
However, a scant two months later would see the Moltke receive its final configuration order, with a single Super-Heavy Coil MAC mounted on the vessel, with Shiva nuclear missile silos, seventy pods of M42 Archers, and a total of 118 anti-aerospace and point defence batteries, split between M910 Ramparts, M66 Sentries, and M85 Scythes. She would also receive a substantial overhaul of her electrical systems and powerplant, both of which were non-existent due to the state of the Moltke's construction before production was halted. 
The Moltke would finally arrive into the UNSC Navy in March of 2530, after undergoing two weeks of working up due to the expedited nature of both her commissioning and sea trials. The heavy losses of UNSC warships partially caused this, but the want for the MMS shipyards at Chi Rho to begin producing heavy capital ships rather than refitting and modernising older vessels caused the Moltke to be rushed, a fact that would cause issues later in her career. 
==Legacy==
==Awards & Battle Honours==
===Awards===
*UNSC Unit Citation (Awarded 2550)
*Royal Navy Nelson Award (Posthumously awarded 2553)
===Battle Honours===
*Sapphire Bay (2532)
*New Pegasus (2534)
*Quaestro (2539)
*FLY SWATTER (2542-2544)
*Bougainville (2544)
*Second Tirana (2545)
*Third Tirana (2546)
*Epirus (2546)
*Fourth Tirana (2548)
*Brindisi (2550)
===Campaign Ribbons===
*Hydra Campaign (2531-2534)
*Defence of the Outer Colonies (2531-2546)
*Tirana Campaign (2544-2551)
*Defence of the Inner Colonies (2541-2552)
*Human-Covenant War (2525-2553)
==Notes==