Battleship

**Battleships** are large, heavily armored warships with main batteries typically consisting of large-caliber naval guns. These heavy guns can be used against other ships, ground targets, and in extreme cases, even aircraft. Battleship guns are renowned for their high accuracy and are capable of causing severe damage to anything they're aimed at.

While considered obsolete in many modern navies today, battleships appear in several major navies throughout the *Foxtrot: Foxes in Arms* series, with some named examples being well-known or named.

## History

Battleships have their origins in wooden-hulled warships known as the "ship of the line" which had no armor, but dozens of guns used with the line of battle tactics of the time. It wasn't until the 1880s where the term "battleship" gained more prominence, now describing a type of ironclad warship, now called "pre-dreadnoughts". Vessels as the United Kingdom's HMS *Dreadnought* were revolutionary for their time, and paved the way for most of the designs that followed, up until the fast battleships came around. Battleships soon became the main warships of many navies in more modern history, dominating naval warfare from the late 19th Century up to the early to mid 20th Century. They were a symbol of naval dominance and national might, and for decades the battleship was a major factor in both diplomacy and military strategy. An arms race in Europe even took place around this time to see who could develop the bigger and more powerful battleship.

Previously, battleships were considered fairly slow due to how their armor worked, but they could still take a punch and give one back. But by the 1930s, engineers found a way to give battleships a boost in speed without having to sacrifice their armor protection, giving way to the fast battleships of the 1930s and 1940s. However, the advent of the aircraft carrier made that type of vessel a navy's main striking force, rendering the battleship virtually obsolete. Aircraft could strike further than the battleship's guns and had even been used to sink battleships during naval engagements. However, through *FFIA's* lore, battleships were still predominantly used up until the 21st Century, albeit to a lesser extent to more modern types of vessels. By the end of the 20th Century and into the 21st Century, while still having the potential to engage other naval ships, battleships have mostly been relegated to providing shore bombardment with their large naval guns, using this method to assist marines with amphibious landings. They have also been seen operating as armored command ships within an active operational fleet. Either way, in the series, while no longer being used extensively for their original purposes, battleships have found other uses to excuse them hanging around for as long as they have.

### United States Navy

*Main Article: United States Navy*

The United States Navy has a long history of building and operating battleships since the 1890s, all the way through to the 1990s initially. The *Iowa*-class battleships are the most notable class of ships of this type built in the US. With the first ship entering service in 1943, the four ships had a collective service record of nearly 50 years from 1943 to 1992, and they served in numerous wars and conflicts, including the Pacific War, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. USS *New Jersey* (BB-62) is the US's most decorate battleship, and USS *Missouri* (BB-63) was the sight where the Empire of Japan surrendered in 1945. By the 1990's, all four had been retired and preserved as museum ships.

In the late 2010s, USS *Missouri* is recommissioned as a training ship in the wake of the Navy needing more ships in its fleet in response to the threat posed by the Urocyan Empire. Initially, the ship was to be made a training ship, but ultimately, *Missouri* was instead restored to combat readiness just before the outbreak of the Urocyan War, and becomes the flagship of Battle Group Delta and placed under the command of Captain Arthur Snow. *Missouri* would go on to participate in various missions throughout the war, even becoming the flagship of Battle Group Foxtrot, an even larger fleet put together after the Urocyan attacks of Operation Tidal Wave.

During these same wars, the Navy briefly considered bringing back another one of the *Iowa*-class ships for extra security and fleet numbers. Evidence suggests that the USS *Wisconsin* (BB-64) was under consideration for reactivation.

### Russian Navy

The Russian Navy is also seen deploying battleships of their own. These ships are known as the Project 23GM Guided Missile Battleships by the Russians, but NATO would classify these ships as *Rossiya*-class battleships, after the first ship of the class to enter service, the *Rossiya* (192).

### Urocyan Imperial Naval Forces

*Main Article: Urocyan Imperial Naval Forces*

Under Arian Torres's direction, the Urocyan Navy deployed battleships during the Urocyan War. These ships are heavily inspired by the successful *Iowa*-class battleships with heavy modifications to make them better fit a modern battlefield, with some ships even being equipped with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) equipment. These battleships were conceptualized under Project 191, and would eventually give way to what became known as the *Athena*-class battleships. The *Athena*-class were relatively large, decently-armored ships that bore nine 16-inch (406 mm) naval guns as well as a number of smaller guns and missiles, with some members of the class even carrying anti-submarine equipment such as sonar and torpedoes. They were comparable in size to the American *Iowa*-class, but were slightly larger, considerably heavier, and slightly slower than their American counterparts. Development began around the late 1980s and construction didn't start until the mid 1990s by the Urocyan Republic. When Torres came to power in the 2010s and transformed the country into the Urocyan Empire, the ships' construction continued as scheduled. At the onset of the Urocyan War, battleships are seen escorting aircraft carriers as extra security in conflicts, such as when the Imperial Navy launched as surprise attack on American military facilities. Additionally, it was the appearance of the *Athena*-class battleships that made the US Navy reactivate a couple of their *Iowa*-class ships as a counter to them.

The battleship *Athena*, and her sister ship *Dysnomia* upon entering service, would go on to see plenty of action within the upcoming war with the US. They are part of large fleets that would shell enemy positions and even begin going after convoys which started up after the initial attacks. They also went into massive naval engagements with the American fleet, and even had a chance to go toe-to-toe with another battleship, that being the USS *Missouri*, which was the US's only active battleship by the time the war started.

## Named Vessels

### United States Navy

* USS *Missouri* (BB-63)
* USS *Wisconsin* (BB-64)

### Russian Navy

* *Marshal Voroshilov* (096)
* *Rossiya* (192)

### Urocyan Imperial Naval Forces

* UNS *Athena* (BBG-191)
* UNS *Dysnomiya* (BBG-193)
* UNS *Thetis* (BBG-195)

## Trivia

* For the US Navy in the series, the reason for recommissioning some of the *Iowa*-class battleships is basically the same reason for why they were historically back in the 1980s.
	+ Historically, the *Iowa*-class ships were recommissioned as a counter to the Soviet Navy's large nuclear-powered *Kirov*-class battlecruisers during the cold war and with the arms race going on. At the start of the 1980s, the US had no other large vessels to counter the *Kirov*-class, so the Navy resorted to returning the *Iowa*-class into service.
	+ Almost the exact same thing happens in the series. In more modern times, the US was finding itself in a bit of an arms race with Urocyia, which is becoming the most dangerous enemy the US had since the Cold War. The Urocyan Navy develops the *Athena*-class battleships, seeing use in this ship type in their naval doctrine; the Urocyan-bred *Athena*-class is even derived from the *Iowa*-class. As a result of the battleship *Athena* entering combat service, the USS *Missouri* was selected for recommissioning.