Eminence-Class Battleship

## Offensive and defensive specs

### Armament

2 300cm coil guns, 14 240mm cannons in 8 triple turrets, 6 90mm cannons in 2 double turrets, 24 50mm auto-cannons in 12 double turrets, 48 35 mm point-defense guns in 24 double turrets, 320 favron missile pods

### Complement

4 Voltwolf stealth recon fighters24 Wasp space superiority fighters2 Albatross Drop ship/Strategic bomber

### Shields

Heavy shielding with redundant second layer

## Overview

Commissioned as a test ship in 165 DoS by the United Cantium Conglomerate (UCC) the Eminence class was pitched by Novadora drive yards as a deep line penetrator; it would fly deep into enemy territory, launch its fighter compliment and attack orbital yards and supply centers before retreating. The Conglomerate was initially uninterested in the project as proposed by the Novadora, even as their Inquisitor battleships were rapidly approaching a state of obsolescence. However after the Grey Fleet Crisis the Conglomerate was much more interested in expanding their naval capacity and began to invest in the project. While their focus was committed to the Victory carrier project the Eminence class was given a small team to work on the design. It was originally titled project sovereign.

## History

### Concept

In 149 DoS the office of Novadora drive yards decided to take a rough stab and creating a more powerful capital ship for the UCC. The idea was sparked from the UCC's contracting of Novadora to plot out a massive ship known as the Radiance class dreadnought destroyer. After the project failed to turn up any support or farther interest from the UCC Novadora decided to try pitching a new idea, initially planed as a dreadnought the design team was told that "The United Cantium Conglomerate navy would not support the implantation or construction of a dreadnought style ship" and had to scale down their designs.

### Pitching

In 150 DoS the design team proposed the sovereign project to the UCC naval design and requisition office. The UCC was interested in the concept of a ship that could go deep behind enemy lines and do damage to infrastructure of an enemy (assumed to be either the Mass Alliance or Grand Duchy as those two were the primary powers of the Aetherian sector and both attempted to gain influence over the Cantium nation). The team was informed to keep the project in mind but they had no interest in it for the time being.

### Grey fleet crisis

On June 27th of 151 DoS groups of unknown ships passed between the boarders of the recently procured system of Sho'ma in the Grand Duchy and the Kadovina system of the Republic of Judecen. This spiraled into a massive scare that put the nations aligned with either the Mass Alliance or the Grand Duchy of Julithar blockading the line and putting the Aetherian sector on the brink of war. Just over a month later the events would end and forces would withdraw from the boarder. Following this all sides would begin to modernize their navies the UCC was no exception. As the UCC wanted to maintain their position as an independent power they needed to ensure that they had a strong enough navy. The UCC's priority was the Victory class project but asked that Novadora look into the sovereign project again but with a number of new stipulations.

### Project sovereign to Eminence

As the majority of technical and physical resources was contributed to the Victory class project the design team was not able to test all their functionalities they had wanted to include; notably a quiet ATD that would let the sovereign avoid pursing forces. It was decided by the board of directors of Novadora drive yard that the initial concept was to ambitious and decided to change the projects direction. Instead of a a capital ship that could penetrate deep behind enemy lines the sovereign project was changed instead to work on replacing the aging Inquisitor line of battleships. The project was given an extra helping hand from an unexpected source. In March of 164 DoS the last of the planned refits were complete and the Cathedral Mitura Absolute Liberty left port on March 3rd 164 DoS to undergo her shakedown run. The Mitura were a young nation that had only joined the galactic community less then 70 years prior. It became a point of great contention among the Cantium that such a young group had built a dreadnought (the ship was actually a gift from the Mass Alliance but the overhaul made it unique to them and many constituted that it was as if they built their own ships) that was not only more powerful but possessed two flight catapults. This finally tipped the hand of the UCC to invest into the project and the Eminence would finally have the resources to move forward to the next stage of the project.

### Testing ship

After the Victory classes completed half its run in May of 164 DoS more resources were moved to the Eminence. By July of 164 DoS they were ready to begin creating a physical prototype. A dockyard was allocated to the construction of the prototype. Midway through production resources were granted to build a second Eminence. The UCCS-Eminence was completed in August of 174 DoS with the second ship, the UCCS-Sovereign completed in September of 175 DoS. The ships continued to have shake down runs and flew around the territories for propaganda reasons until April of 177 DoS.

### Serpent war

In 177 DoS the Serpent empire arrived in the Aetherian sector and began a devastating war with the Mass Alliance and Republic of Judecen. The UCC, watching the carnage unfold, decided to increase their navy size. One of which was to commission a large amount of new capital ships. Due to the proximity to the production of the Eminence was a prime candidate and additional ships were commissioned. The UCC would join the Serpent war in ██ ██████ ███ DoS and the Eminence would be put into service. Her compliment of fighters and firing power would make her a valuable asset to every fleet they were attached to. The Eminence would be attached to small scouting forces to provide the heavy fire power in the event they were attacked by Serpent forces.

## Design

The Eminence is famous for many design elements such as its sloping design at a very shallow angle making it able to deflect incoming rounds that are off angle, internal bay for its fighter compliment, massive fusion engine feed by multiple power conduits for increased power, ball turrets, use of Voltwolf fights for recon and other features the major design element that is noted upon first seeing it is its color. This teal blue color was used on the prototype ship as the yellow with orange slash paint scheme used by the majority of the navy would not be given to it till it completed its trails. However before it was officially inducted into the UCC navy the Serpent war began and the teal blue color scheme was left as it was deemed "Unnecessary" to change it.

### Angle

As the UCC had no interest in participating in the flexing contest that was building dreadnoughts, and Novadora had to maximize the usefulness of the battleships design. Because battleships lacked the range of dreadnoughts they'd need to approach in order to return fire, in order to minimalism risk the bow of the ship would of course contain the most armor, however it was also give a very thin wedge shape in order to maximize the strength of the armor. The whole of the ship follows this angled design, which minimized crew space; however with the stature of the Cantium it was not as much of an issue.

### Fighter compliment

The Eminence was designed with the idea it would carry fighter wings with it. It holds 2 full fighter wings inside it, 4 voltwolf stealth recon fighters and two drop ships. In order to deploy its fighter compliment and recon it was built with rail powered launch systems, but due to the limited space they could only be launched linearly which dramatically increased launch times. So instead of reaching its target area and then deploying its wings it's specialized ATD (Advanced Transit Drive) was designed to extend its warp field so that it could deploy its wings well in transit to an area.

#### Wasp

The Eminence carried two full wings of Wasp fighters that would deploy from ports located on the port and star-board sides of the ship. Due to size limitations the launch rails had to be installed facing the stern of the ship, necessitating fighters to be launched from the Eminence and then fire their engines to counter their velocity before forming up for their sortie. The major issue is that landing fighters takes even longer then their deployment. Fighters would have to reach the launching rail, slide in between it and the hull of the Eminence and then dock before being pulled back into the ship and set into its hangar position (a rotating drum that wrapped around the ships engine. This would mean that in any combat situation the Eminence would have to extend its warp field around the returning fighter wing and load them up in transit, much like their deployment.

#### Voltwolf

With the initial intention intention of the Eminence being deep penetration activity scouting would be incredibly important, the Voltwolf fighters would the ideal addition to the ships compliment for this purpose. Four would be dedicated to the Eminence, this would be reduced to one over the course of the Serpent war. Due to the Voltwolf's special requirements of being able to maintain a warp bubble but not being able to create one it made sense to have a special way of launching them. The Eminence has 4 launching platforms installed at the stern. These platforms are stowed flush to the hull until they needed to be used, then the Voltwolf would be slid onto this rail system before it would be swung out to avoid having the wings connect with the hull of the Eminence as the platform was raised, once the rail was raised it would begin generating a warp field before using the rail system to launch the Voltwolf.

#### Albatross

The two drop ships stowed in the Eminence are stored near to where the Wasps are stowed and use the same launch system.

### Engine

The Eminence uses a massive powerful fusion engine made by Avarock Research and Development that made the fusion engines that were sold to the Mitura for use in their upgrade to the Catherdral Mitura. Instead they made a single powerful engine that was feed by eight power couplings that feed power strait from the reactor to put maximum power into the engine and push the ship to incredible speeds. The Eminence is one of the fastest capital ships at sub-light speeds just so it can reduce the risk of being hit from dreadnoughts as it cannot fight a ranged battle with them.

## Compliment

* Wasp-Space Superiority fighter 24
* Voltwolf-Stealth Recon Fighter 4
* Albatross Drop ship/Strategic bomber 2