Stella Maris

The **Stella Maris** (征海艦ステラマリス, *Suteramarisu*?) is a *Navigatoria*-class supercarrier of the Orphan Fleet under the command of Captain Ishmael Ahab.

## Nomenclature

**Stella Maris**, meaning Star of the Sea, is a title of the Virgin Mary. She came to be seen as a guiding star and protector for seafarers on the way to Christ. Navigatoria is a Romance word from which the English "navigator" is derived from.

## Description

### Hull and propulsion

The Stella Maris' armor is said to be relatively weak compared to other warships, being a supercarrier, requiring escorts to be utilized effectively. A Löwe's 120mm smoothbore cannon is dangerous enough to her hull integrity to warrant retreating from their firing range immediately. She is driven by 4 propellers with an engine powered by a nuclear reactor and her maximal cruising speed is around 30 knots (50km/h). She is capable of moving at speeds faster than one would expect of a ship of her size and weight class.

### Crew and complement

Although the Stella Maris typically carried planes to combat the Leviathans, the Legion made aerial combat unfeasible. Her internal hangar which usually housed fighter aircraft could host a maximum of 150 Reginleifs.

The bridge is comprised of several floors; the first floor being the flight deck control room and the top floor being the signal bridge. In-between those two floors was the integrated bridge which was divided into two interconnected levels meant for both steering the ship itself and commanding the entire fleet, each housing their respective personnel. The bridges' windows could be closed up with armored plates and have holo-screens in place to display footage of the outside.

The flight deck's active runway is 90m long and is where planes are launched via catapult. As the supercarrier was built to last for voyages as long as 6 months, it also had a chapel and library to keep the thousands of crewmembers occupied. Other facilities included a gym, a canteen, and medical facility.

### Sensors and communications

The ship was equipped with a typical sonar that could detect leviathans moving and singing under the ocean. They primarily used radio for inter-fleet communication though the Federal Republic of Giad have recently provided them with RAID devices.

### Armament

Stella Maris boasts a pair of double 40cm naval guns, not for anti-warship combat, but to launch buckshot depth charges to hunt down leviathans. She is also armed with a nuclear-powered 90m long catapult that typically launches 30 ton planes but can also be used to launch projectiles at leviathans and is thus dubbed the anti-leviathan gun. Although not as powerful as a railgun, it can still launch a 15 ton object at 300km/h. The Stella Maris has no guided weapons or munitions as they were too expensive, relying on the precision of it's surface combat crew.

## Chronology

### Construction

As they had lacked the necessary budget or technology, the Fleet Countries had requested support from the Giadian Empire to construct their supercarriers. Although the Empire itself cared little for open-sea voyages, they agreed on the conditions that the Fleet Countries would handed over all data acquired during the operation, as well as the rights over the seas conquered by the Fleet Countries.

### Mirage Spire Operation

During it's final voyage, the supercarrier carried at least four Reginleif squadrons, three detachments of Reginleif artillery, an Alkonost scout team, and one Barushka Matushka.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Volume 8 Chapter 2
2. ↑ Volume 9, Chapter 1
3. ↑ Volume 8 Afterword