Battleship

Off-shore artillery.

## Introduction

The **Battleship** is a naval artillery platform used by the USA in the Second War Against the GLA to bombard enemy positions. It's armed with six 150mm cannons mounted on two triple-barrelled turrets.

## Overview

Known for his tendency to invest in ideas considered crazy by many of his peers but benefiting from the means to actually get them done, Ironside dug a moat in the middle of his base at Fort Knox to accomodate an Iowa-class battleship able to defend his headquarters by firing shells at incoming enemies.

The Battleship appears as an enemy unit in the USA Boss General's challenge. It serves as a major obstacle between Ironside's second forward base and his main base, it's docked in a moat separating Ironside's main base from the rest of the map. The Battleship in this scenario functions more like a stationary Karkadann than the global artillery platform in the base game. Its artillery guns have a very long firing range and very high rates of fire, allowing it to destroying advancing enemy ground divisions even before the could get close.

The Battleship is extremely durable, as even super weapon strikes are not enough to destroy it in one hit, but it's not invincible and sufficient firepower will eventually sink it. It also has a rather large minimum range and no defences against aircraft.

A badly damaged battleship appears in the north eastern lagoon in General Juhziz's challenge, it serves as no more than a scenery prop. How it managed to even get there in the first place is a mystery but a first hypothesis would be that the wreck used to be a Soviet battleship. What's even more bizarre is that its radar appears to be completely functional, although it is possible that General Juhziz is secretly commanding his forces from onboard the seemingly abandoned vessel.

A battleship also appears in General Ironhand's challenge in a dock south-west of his base (or north of your initial position). It serves the same role as in Juhziz's challenge.

## Assessment

Pros:

* Extremely long firing range.
* Deals a lot of damage.
* Very high rate of fire.
* Incredibly durable.

Cons:

* Defenseless against aircraft.
* Large minimum range.
* Unplayable unit.
* Stationary.

## Trivia

* Considering the fact that Ironside is stationed at Fort Knox in the Kentucky, far away from the sea, it is likely that he ordered the construction of a large canal to accommodate his personal battleship since his rank as Commanding General of the US Military allows him to make such an expense.
* The Battleship in-game is actually very poorly armed when compared to battleships in real-life, having only 2x3 (6 total) 150mm cannons. For example, Fargo-class light cruisers, used by US Navy in the late 1940s, sported 4x3 (12 total) 152mm cannons. While many World War II-era US Navy battleships and cruisers featured the triple turret nine-gun (3x3) configuration. However, many post-war battleship and cruiser modernization proposal required the dismantling of one or more turrets.
* In reality, the US Navy's last battleships, the four members of the Iowa-class, were decommissioned by 1992. The last of this class was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register by 2006, all four ships have been released and donated to non-profit organizations who opened them as museums.

## Gallery

The abandoned battleship seen in Juhziz's challenge.