Athena-class battleship

2D Concept Art for the Athena-class

The ***Athena*-class** are a class of Urocyan battleships designed to match any other surface vessel in a duel and come out victorious. They were deployed during Urocyia's war against the United States. The *Athena*-class design was inspired by many designs of battleships over the years, but bear a somewhat resemblance to the American *Iowa*-class design, but modernized.

## Development

In the mid to late 20th Century, the Urocyan military was on the fast track to become a powerful military, and this was no different for the Urocyan Navy. Thanks to trading with several large and powerful navies from other nations, even during the Cold War, Urocyia was making its way quickly onto the world scene. The Urocyans took particular interest in developing large surface combatants that could strike at varying distances but also being strong enough to take a hit and stay in the action. That gave rise to the idea to build a new series of battleship, even if they were starting to fall out of favor with most others. The beginning plans were drawn up as early as the 1950s, but it spent quite a bit of time spent developing them.

By the 1980s, after the program stalled for a bit, renewed interest in developing battleships came after the United States recommissioned its *Iowa*-class battleships as a counter to the Soviet Union's new *Kirov*-class battlecruisers. Under the name **Project 191**, development on a traditional but relatively modern battleship design began anew. It went through several design changes before finally beginning construction. The first battleship of this class, officially named *Athena*, was constructed at one of Urocyia's largest shipyards, owned by the Southseas Shipbuilding company.

Construction continued through into the 1990s, but was ultimately stalled during the economic crisis and subsequent Urocyan Civil War. Many years later, a grey fox named Arian Torres came into power and transformed the Urocyan Republic into an empire. He took note of the development of the *Athena*, and at least one more ship like it, and decided to continue its development as a part of his new Imperial Naval Forces. While the project was kept secret, the secret was out when Arian officially announced the now completed battleship *Athena* during her commissioning at one of Urocyia's biggest naval bases. A second vessel, named *Dysnomia* was also well on her way to being completed.

These battleships came as a surprise to the world, especially to the Americans as the relationship between the two nations soured, and tensions rised. Since the US Navy had no such ship to counter these vessels, that led to the decision to return a couple of the *Iowa*-class battleships to active duty to counter the *Athena*-class ships.

## Design

For vessels once thought to be obsolete, the *Athena*-class battleships were quite impressive compared to past designs, even comparing to the technological prowess the Americans had in developing their latest battleships in the mid 1940s. They were comparable to the *Iowa*-class in many respects, but took design tips from other classes as well, and were thus distinctly different. By far, these were some of the most technologically advanced battleships built in recent times.

The *Athena*-class are fairly large ships, displacing roughly 60,000 tons fully loaded. They are around 892 feet 4 inches (272 meters) in length, 116 feet 5 inches (35.5 meters) wide, and have a draft of around 37 feet 9 inches (11.51 meters). The *Athena*-class battleships make use of Combined Steam and Gas (COSAG) propulsion, using both steam boilers and gasoline engines to power the shafts, producing over 200,000 shaft horse power. This can drive the ships to a speed of around 31 knots (35.67 mph) while also having a maximum range of 20,000 nmi (over 23,000 mi) while traveling at 13 knots (14.96 mph). Around 1900 officers and enlisted make up the crew of one of these ships.

These battleships wield plenty of firepower, being armed with nine BL-117 16-inch (406mm) naval guns, having been developed solely by Urocyia. These guns are capable of firing two to three rounds a minute with a range of over 25 miles (40.23 km). They also have sixteen 5.1-inch (130 mm) dual purpose guns for both surface and airborne targets. They also are equipped with the Norwegian-made Naval Strike Missiles, being capable of striking either enemy ships or land targets, as well as RIM-116 Surface to Air missiles. In addition to being armed to the teeth with guns and missiles, the battleships were also built with a a simplified system consisting of a launch bay on the aft main deck that could be used to launch specialized unmanned aerial vehicles.

Their armor schemes were fairly similar to the "all or nothing" scheme, heavily armoring the areas most important to a ship while the rest of the ship receives no armor. Exactly how thick the armor is has not been confirmed by western naval experts, though it is believed it could be as thick or slightly thicker than the *Iowa*-class. Around 13 in (330 mm) at the main belt, 4.75–6.2 in (121–157 mm) on the main decks, and between 9.5 in (241 mm) and 19.5 in (495 mm) on the turrets and conning tower are best estimates based on the *Iowa*-class's scheme.

## Vessels

### *Athena*

The first ship, *Athena*, for which the class is named, officially entered service not too long after Arian came to power. When he was confident the ship was ready, he gladly had a say in displaying the might of the Urocyan Navy during the ship's commissioning ceremony.

Much of the service between the ship entering service and when the Urocyan War officially began is unknown, as she was not present during the many of the opening raids that sparked the conflicts between Urocyia and America. However, *Athena* is believed to have been escorting Urocyan aircraft carriers during Operation Tidal Wave, which threw a huge punch toward the American Navy. Following the success of the Tidal Wave operation, *Athena* would be used quite a bit in subsequent operations, mainly acting in a shore bombardment role, and occasionally got the chance to engage American warships. The Imperial battleship is credited with damaging a cruiser and two destroyers during one mission in support of Urocyan forces conducting military operations.

There have been several chances for *Athena* to engage her ultimate quarry, the American battleship USS *Missouri*, which had been reactivated and returned to service to counter her and her sisters. Several instances saw the battleships and their escorting ships come close enough to exchange missiles, though they usually backed off before anything too cray happened, though the same could not be said for what could come in future operations.

### *Dysnomia*

The second ship, *Dysnomia*, was a sister ship to the *Athena* and enter service some time after it, sources put it right on the eve of Urocyia's greatest military operation yet. Arian did mention the ship, but not in full detail or a full reveal, at the same event introducing the *Athena*. It was more cost-effective than the *Athena*, and utilized a slightly more simplified aircraft operation model involving UAVs. The United States was aware of its existence, but not of its specifications or location during the early parts of the Urocyan War, preventing any preemptive assault.

*Dysnomia* did not take part in Operation Tidal Wave, as she was still on trials testing out some systems it had gotten upon being fitted out. Sometime afterwards, the *Dysnomia* would become the flagship of a new Urocyan fleet and conduct shore bombardment during a number of missions supporting Urocyan ground forces, firing her guns and launching Naval Strike Missiles at various important targets. During one operation in the North Atlantic having broken out into the ocean there, the *Dysnomia* ceased its launch operations, surfaced, and began refueling and rearming from a friendly support ship; a defensive line of picket ships and submarines was established around the battleship to warn of any hostile enemies, in which they managed to ward off enemy fighters at one point.

Some time afterwards, *Dysnomia* was made an HQ ship for a short time, being kept in reserve for a much larger operation requiring her presence.

### *Thetis*

A third ship, named *Thetis*, was ordered some time after the *Dysnomia* was launched. It is the projected newest member of the class, and was launched on the same day Operation Tidal Wave was conducted. At the time, Arian wanted to keep this third ship a secret, and promptly ordered the *Thetis* to be moved to a more discreet location following the war’s outbreak to continue construction. Ocean-going tugboats were chartered in to haul the unfinished battleship, under escort by both destroyers and frigates, to a secretive forward operating base outside Urocyia.

Construction on *Thetis* continued on upon arriving at the Imperial Navy's secret base, albeit stalled a bit due to the move. Unfortunately, Arian's hopes to keep the ship a secret fell apart upon American intelligence happening to come across the island and believed it to be vital to stop whatever operations were going on there. A joint US Navy and Marine Corps task force was sent to take the island and stall Urocyan operations in that area. It came as a shock to American forces when they came across the *Thetis*, uncomplete but partially operational. This was the first time the US forces officially encounter an *Athena*-class battleship on the field, and it wouldn't be the last.

## Trivia

* Each one of these ships is named after mythological beings or deities, specifically coming from Greek mythology. This was partially inspired by the British Royal Navy using Greek mythology names for some of their ships.