School-Ship

A **School-Ship** is a specialized vessel intended for continuing education even through voyages, they served as floating towns and even cities equipped with necessities capable of self-sufficient for long periods of time. Originally they were much smaller than Aircraft Carriers, but even since the turn of the 21st century, School-Ships are now much larger compared to their predecessors; where their dimensions rivaled and sometimes even surpassing some states and even micronations that the UN recognized.

The United Nations School-Ship Authority (UNSSA) is the governing body responsible for managing School-Ships in an international level. Though in Japan, the Japan Recrelympics Committee (JRO) holds the responsibility as the domestic governing body for managing School-Ships alongside the Ministry for Internal Affairs and Communications and the Japan Sensha-Dō Federation, with the latter acting as the representative on behalf of the JRO.

According to the International Recrelympic Committee, School-Ships are called "Recrelympic Villages" as they have the capability for transforming their surface deck to temporary accommodation center built for the Recrelympic Games. A unique feature that they frequently built during all recent Recrelympic Games.

## History

Origins of the School-Ship is skeptical and often debated around with Historians, though it boiled down between two theories that widely accepted by most historians: the Archimedes' Syracusia, and the Ptolemy IV's Tessarakonteres. Though some historians also claimed that the Chinese's Louchuan used in the Han Dynasty also was given the assumption as the School-Ship's descendant.

#### Theory 1: Archimedes' Syracusia

Widely regarded as the predecessor of School-Ships alongside the other theory, the **Syracusia** was by far claimed to be as the largest transport ship of antiquity. Designed by Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes of Syracuse for Hieron II and then a gift to the Pharoah Ptolemy III. The usage for the ship is similarly equal to the Titanic, where its purpose is to carry passengers, incorporating various amenities for passengers to use such as a garden, a working indoor bath house with running water, and a collection of recreational spaces that passengers can use.

Apart from the aforementioned characteristics, the Syracusia is without a doubt the largest ship during her time around the Mediterranean Sea; in which due to her sheer size she was reported incapable to dock in any ports in Sicily, a feat that is unheard of until the Tessarakonteres was commissioned. The legacy of the ship is still remained a mystery till this day.

#### Theory 2: Ptolemy IV's Tessarakonteres

Alongside the Syracusia, the Ptolemy IV's **Tessarakonteres**, compared to the other, is (well) documented through accounts of surviving texts by Athenaeus and Plutarch, and is also been included in the lost work *"Peri Alexandreias"* by Callixenus of Rhodes. The name Tessarakonteres means "forty-rowed" in Greek, its namesake came from its number of rowers on each column of oars that propelled it and not the number of oars which is often misinterpreted by majority of the people.

Its purpose is straightforward, the gigantic vessel that claimed to be the largest human-powered vessel ever built is meant for war. With 7 naval rams, the catamaran galley's purpose is to ram other ships and used its stable large and spacious deck as a platform for siege weapons such as catapults and transporting hundreds or even thousand of soldiers into combat. Though with the "forty" being the perfect equivalent for an Aircraft Carrier, it was (un)fortunately became a ship for exhibition only thanks to its sheer size and impractically. Though these accounts would later inspired certain famous Generals and Naval Officers in the following centuries as they reused the characteristics of the Tessarakonteres' spacious deck and militaristic value in war.

#### Theory 3: The Han's Louchuan

This theory is popular around Asia and particularly around the Far East. What this theory stated that during the Han Dynasty, Warlords used the **Lou chuan** ("Tower Ships" in English) as their sea-mobile fortresses, fitted with bulwarks, equipped with trebuchets, and even imitating its broadside with the design of defensive walls, giving them the overall appearance of literal fortresses. Like the Tessarakonteres, they were meant for war rather than a leisure ship like the Syracusia.

Though sources are scarce, the historical records from Wujing Zongyao and Taibai Yinjing written during the Song and Tang Dynasty respectively were highly emphasized by modern historians as their evidence of its legitimacy of its existence, and given how the Japanese learned its adoption of the Pre-modern School-Ships from the Chinese in particular, biased can still be a factor of its popularity in these region in Asia.

### Protoschool-ships

The **Protoschool-ship** refers to the type of ancient School-Ships characterized for its small wooden framework that often floated around the littoral of lakes, rivers, and coastlines. The Protoschool-ship can also be called the Protohulk-Ship given how it's similar to hulk ships, vessels which remained afloat yet unable to go to the seas. Cited from the from Julius Caesar in his firsthand accounts, the *Commentarii de Bello Gallico* (Commentaries on the Gallic War):

*"The Britons educate their young abroad small rafts". - Caesar*

In his account, the Britons' small rafts might be a specialized version of the Welsh Coracle, which its origin may came from the Irish Currach, though Historians argued that it might be a Currach rather than a Coracle due to the latter's small framework and its 1-to-1 ratio of users. These special type of rafts were seen effective in the eyes of Caesar as they not only trained fishers exceptionally well, but it also homed their seamanship, thus evoking an inspiration to the Caesar himself.

These rafts were called *"Discendi ratibus"* or Learning Rafts, which was coined by Caesar himself during one of his accounts on describing these maritime vessels on his aforementioned commentary. *The citation below is the translated version of the original Commentary.*

*"The Britons showed themselves exceptionally well with the uses of these **Learning Rafts**, not only navigating through the river Tamesis but even to the coast of Dubris with such negligence of its material and purpose. Though teaching the young with the ways of fishing and education alongside the knowledge of handling ships is something to commend for." - Caesar*

After Ceasar finished his campaign in Great Britain, his understanding and fascination towards the Briton's Learning Rafts led him to apply the Briton technology back to his home place, where this led him to create the Minervae trirēmes or Minerva's Triremes.

### Minerva's Triremes

The **Minervae Trirēmis** (sometimes called the Minervae Navis) is a type of Triremes that were personally ordered by Caesar as an experiment in applying a continuous education and training in seamanship at the same time in Nemorensis Lacus or Lake Nemi, just few kilometers south from Rome. These ships were commissioned for the purpose of recreating the Briton's Learning Rafts in a much larger scale, acting as both a training ship and barracks ship for the newly recruited seafarers and marines. Three of the famous Minerva's Ships are: Sapientia, Intelligentia, and Doctrina (Wisdom, Intelligence, and Knowledge/Doctrine respectively).

Though education wasn't required to every Roman citizen, one Minerva's Ship from the aforementioned three was acquired legally from the Senate to the people, and with the successful application of offshore Education, the people commissioned the **Collegium pro Doctrina**, the first mobile College for the People that its teaching didn't involved any relations to warfare unlike the other two. The Ship's purpose was to study the integration of long-term education to offshore and its difference between that and inshore education with its fruitful creation the Thesis of "Offshore Education, the Maritime Exploration".

#### Sapientia

The **Sapientia** was the first to be class as a Minerva Ship during the Quinquatria, a sacred festival that commemorates the Goddess Minerva from the 19-23 of March. Built primarily as an experiment ship where it was a Trireme retrofitted for the purpose of applying certain facilities such as a library, a small bath house, and even dormitorius with the intention of making it comfortable and cozy to its passengers as much as possible for long periods of time.

After months of trial for the Sapientia, the ship was proved to be successful with little problems encountered during its appraisal, it done well for its intended role and encouraged Caesar even more to continue this line of ships, which he optimistically complied as he intended to increase the worthiness of his marines and seafarers through the uses of these ships. This in turn was superseded by the Intelligentia.

#### Intelligentia

The **Intelligentia** was the first Minerva Ship that was constructed rather than retrofitted like the Sapientia. It still uses the Trimere's layout though with few changes to separate them from the warships variant that were often frequently used by the Roman Navy, this includes a small resting place, a cabin for both dormitory and study hall, a library room, and even a small recreational space.

Intelligentia was among the first Minerva Ships to ever been constructed and using the ship's seaworthiness, they used this ship as their foundation in creating other Minerva Ships that the Romans used to their advantage in selling these through designs or even the ships themselves, thus the Minerva Ship soon became widely used and popular throughout the Mediterranean and the Ancient world itself. In one account, the Intelligentia in particular was used for training Caesar's frumentarii, homing their skills which allowed them to cover even the furthest corners of the Roman Empire, thus further elaborates the ships' usefulness as Ships for continuous education and training.

#### Doctrina

The **Doctrina** became the first ship to be fully intended as a vessel for education without any militaristic teachings or intention. This ship was bought by a group of scholars from Rome that persuaded the Senate to let them allow to establish a Collegium to the newly-bought ship in which the Senate approved their request and even cooperated with them as both of them shared interest towards education on the seas.

When Doctrina became affiliated with these group of scholars, the ship itself became the first mobile college in the world, the **Collegium pro Doctrina**, its intended purpose was to further research this breakthrough as they started conducting experiments that they can apply to this type of ship in the future, and as a result of their fruitful labor they created the thesis of *"Offshore Education, the Maritime Exploration"*, a groundbreaking thesis that answers the possibility of using vessel schools such as the Minerva Ship as the future system of education and its capability of creating utopia.

### Caligula's Prima nave

As the Minerva ship continued its legacy as a mobile school on the seas even after Ceasar's death, the question still remained of whether or not these ships can become large in size similar to the Syracusia or even the Tessarakonteres. Though during Caligula's ruling, he answered the question left by his predecessors about the size of floating schools through the construction of the Nemi Ships, specifically the Prima Nave. The purpose of the Prima Nave was different from Seconda Nave, the latter's purpose is to make a lavish ship similar to the Syracusia while the former's purpose was changed from a leisure ship to a mobile floating college similar to the Doctrina.

Prima Nave was much far larger than any Minerva Ships to ever sailed in the Mediterranean Sea with its size overly dwarfs the Briton's Learning Rafts, incorporating not only the important necessities from the Minerva Ships but also including leisure amenities similar to the Syracusia. The look of the ship was different unlike any ships of the time of the ancient world with its top deck fitted with two main blocks of two buildings each connected by stairs and corridors, thus this gave the ship a unique look compared to any other ships during its time.

Prima Nave alongside its sister ship was never completed and were lost throughout history underneath Lake Nemi, though historical records claimed their existence were real and after they were excavated in the early 20th century, not only it proved its existence but it also proved that the Romans were capable enough of building large ships, and seeing the legitimacy of the historical records also meant that the thesis affected Caligula's decision in making these large ships, thus confirming the impact of the thesis throughout all the empires in the ancient world in regards of offshore education.

### Mosaic Vase Dromon

The Mosaic Vase Dromon is an excavated mosaic painting in Istanbul. The archeological piece depicts a massive Dromon that is being accompanied by smaller ships with a full-rigged configuration, probably Brigantines or Barques. The name originated by how the painting was discovered, it was discovered accidentally by the townsfolks when they knocked an old Vase, but behind the shattered vase is a hidden path that leads to a chamber, this chamber offers a lot of archeological pieces and this includes the important piece in Schoo-Ship history, a Mosaic painting that is still intact that depicts the ancestor of the School-Ships.

Historians suggested that the Mosaic was painted around the 12th to 13th century.

### Burciogrando

The *Burciogrando* is a large Venetian catamaran ship made by the Arsenale Shipyard somewhere around the early 13th century. This two-hull configuration design is the mainstay of the Venetian exemplar prowess of both its navy power and the continuation of education through the seas. Shaped like a large *gondola*, the ship is propelled through small ship towing the study hull.

### Explorable School-Galleons

It is once thought before the discovery of Prima Nave that the Age of Sail during the 16th Century was the first time they applied the thesis to ships much larger than even the Syracusia of the ancient times. Sailing ships that were multi-decked were repurposed as floating schools and were given the name "School-Galleons". School-Galleons were often included in fleets at first as part of training to sailors during peacetime and even in battles in most cases as the ship was still an armed cargo ship, though decisions of these ships to only used as peaceful means were set around many decades after it did its purpose as a floating military academy for sailors, after the decision of making these ships only used for peaceful means, they were outfitted with educational facilities and even recreational spaces such as an outdoor garden, a bath house, a pub, and even an artificial land on the top deck to simulate real grass to increase the crew's morale.

School-Galleons acted as both a cargo ship and barracks/school for sailors and tradesman, often used as either a normal ship, a bargaining chip, or even a ship for diplomat means, where this type of ship was particularly used to project influence through sharing culture from their trade and trading its crewmates' immense knowledge about their particular field such as agriculture, literature, culture, and even weaponry. Some School-Galleon were actually hulks and thus they were aptly called "School-hulks" as they were used as stationary school-galleons for newly recruited sailors or even the general public in certain countries.

School-Galleons were divided by 3 classifications: The general educational-oriented School-Galleons, the stationary floating school, the School-hulks, and the seafaring Military Academy, the Garrison Galleons, with the latter becoming the predecessor of the Ironclad Forts, and after that, the Dreadnaught Barracks.

### Ship of the Learning and Ironclad Forts

As School-Galleons becoming irelevant during the late of the 19th century, and with the rise of steam-powered ships, this left the Naval Galleons, the frigates, and most notably the colossal ships of the Ship of the Line and other wooden-made ships outmatched from their ironclad successors, and with this revelation became apparent to them all, instead of decommissioning these ships; plans were made to convert them into School-Ships, from small ships able to host a small town's population to the largest of ship that can accommodate even the population from an urbanized city, with the latter receiving the name "Ship of the Learning" because of their enormous size.

Ship of the Learning are converted Ship of the Line ships, and due to their huge size, this type of School-Ships in particular gained attraction from higher institutions such as Colleges, Universities, and in few cases, private schools as this can expand their courses that allows them to transition their land-based schools to floating Satellite Campuses that opens maritime-based courses.

In regards of the Military aspect, Garrison Galleons were replaced by Ironclad Fortresses or Iron Forts for short. This type of Ironclad ship is basically an upgraded version of the Garrison Galleons, where they add iron or steel armor plates to its broadside to add more protection as the type of this school-ship before was often included in a fleet, making them a first target in naval confrontation. Like its predecessor, Iron Forts are armed with powerful naval guns that fires explosive shells, such as the Paixhans guns.

### Dreadnaught Barracks and Study-hulls

Beginning of the 21th century showed the introduction of Dreadnaughts, this rendered the pre-dreadnaughts obsolete and thus allowed them to convert them into Academy Ships, creating two classification of School-Ships in this era: The Dreadnaught Barracks and the Study-hulls, with the latter using the pre-dreadnaught and soon dreadnaught ships as the former were refitted to answer their requirements of becoming a School-Ship. Meanwhile Dreadnaught Barracks were also the same as their twin variant that usually serves alongside the fleet, most notably the Royal Navy, the United States' Navy, the Imperial Russian Navy, and many more.

Study-hulls were small vessels until the commissioning of Her Majesty's Study-hull "Royal Sovereign" in the 1910's in Britain, it showed the world the capabilities of their naval prowess and advanced technology through the successful maiden voyage of the largest ship during her construction. After the British Empire constructed their class of Study-hulls, other major nations followed suit like Germany's "Deutschland", France's "Marianne", Russia's "Borodino", and the United States' "Constitution".

Both type of these learning vessels remained relevant for the first few decades until they were superseded by the Barracks Carrier and the School-Ships.

### Atoms for Peace, Atoms to Ships

In the 1950s where the world is still set in another global conflict but through influence and proxy wars, a beam of hope then sparkled in New York City on December 8, 1953 by President Eisenhower.

*"I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new—one which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare." - Eisenhower*

The United States then launched the "Atom for Peace" Program. The initiative is intended to show the merits of Nuclear Energy through a myriad of application and supplying information and equipment to hospitals, research institutions, schools, and even a few ships. Though with a few setbacks and severe outcry from the public, overall the program achieved its goal in improve the people's perception of Nuclear Energy and with the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an international governing body that seeks the promotion of peaceful uses of the Nuclear Energy.

The NS Savannah and the NS Diomede were the catalyst for creating the modern the School-Ships; the integration of Nuclear Energy to these mobile-seasteads.

### School-Ships and Barracks Carriers

After the introduction of the Study-hulls and the successful Atom for Peace program, the size and practicality of these vessels only increased even more through time, and once they were seen as floating cities as they were even designated as artificial steel islands, they were now called as Barrack Carriers and School-Ships, with the latter becoming a term to all modern large vessels that its main purpose is to continue the "maritime exploration" to its inhabitants, notably the students that decided to live on these large ships.

School-Ships are divided by its design classification; in total there are 3 classes and these are: School-Carriers, School-Cruisers, and School-Subs. These classifications are all separated through its design blueprint. School-Carriers are often the largest out of the three and School-Subs are often the smallest out of the three.

The reason why modern School-Ships are gigantic compared to their predecessors is that they were specialized in education, accommodating certain infrastructures, and to provide self-sufficient facilities to its population. Modern School-Ships are often dubbed as "Mobile Seasteads", "Floating Cities", and "Cities on the Sea".

Currently all School-Ships are under the jurisdiction of the United Nations School-Ship Authority (UNSSA).

## Characteristics

Every School-Ship has their own unique and distinct features to distinguish them from the other; one may have an underground theme park, and the other may have a zoo, nonetheless, all of them are required to accommodate its inhabitants and must be able to support them, independently.

### **Structures**

Each School-ship is first required to comply the standards of the International Regulation of Commissioning School-Ships by the UNSSA. Each vessel is an investment and must stayed competitive as the years goes by. Facilities, establishments, and infrastructure are also been prescribed by the **UNSSA** as these vessels must be able to be self-sufficient under a period of time.

Here's one of the features of a typical School-Ship:

#### **Well Dock**

Also called as the **Well deck**, or **Wet Well** by the US, is a hanger-like deck located at the waterline in the stern of a School-Ship. By taking on water/ballasting, the ship can lower its stern, flooding the well deck and allowing boats and landing craft vessels to dock within the ship.

This is often the use of many School-Ships that were dependent from supply-ships, and transporting passengers as well if commercial air services are not available.

For emergency purposes, on every well dock, there's at least one vessel that is ready at all times. Typically this ship is an all-purpose built, ready to adapt at every situation while being able to perform basic needs such as transporting people and goods.

#### **Top Deck**

Also called the **Surface Deck** or simply the **Surface**, is the surface from which most of the occupants lived. All Top Decks are required to have a basic network of roads, a plethora of establishment, and a 'large' educational facility. Depending on the design of the Surface, all of the necessary buildings must be positioned that it covered its service's range to the entirety of the deck.

Normally, the Surface is divided by two sectors, the Residential Area and the Commercial Area, though in some cases, pieces of Industrial Buildings can be seen scattered in between of these two sectors.

One feature that every School-Ships has the capability now is the "Recrelympics/Olympics Transition", i.e turning the Surface into a Recrelympics Village, and sometimes into an Olympics Village under a period of time. This feature in return will make a huge investment and benefit to that particular School-Ship once the event of both the Olympics and Recrelympics is over.

#### **Level Deck**

The Level Deck is a deck below the Top Deck, often these decks accommodated Occupants that worked/studied about the School-Ship rather than the general courses that the School from the Surface offered, it is divided by 3 Levels; A Level Deck, B Level Deck, and C Level Deck.

Here's a brief outline of each Level Decks:

* **A Level** **Deck** - The deck below the Surface, in which the Industrial Sector can normally be seen. Sometimes the A Level Deck from other School-Ships also offered Residential and Commercial Buildings that benefits the occupants from both the Surface and below decks, thus making them an 'undersurface Top Deck'.
* **B Level Deck** - This deck is where an Educational Institution is built specifically for Students in the Naval Department, since most of their time will be spent under the surface and typically be hassled if their School is on the Top deck rather than a below deck. Not only this Educational Institution is meant for the Naval Department, but also the Students who worked themselves to the Industrial Sector above the deck.
* **C Level Deck** - The living quarters of the Students of both the Naval Department and the Industrial Sector, as well as the students and Adults that worked the Upper and Lower Decks.

Another thing to note is that the **B Level Deck** has an accompanying necessary establishments for emergency services, like a Police Station, a Clinic, a Fire Station, and many more, though these necessary establishments are smaller to their Surface counterpart.

#### **Below Deck**

The Below Deck is divided by both the **Upper Deck** and the **Lower Deck**. These Decks can offer a wide range of uses depending on the School-ships' decision about them. Upper Decks are more oriented towards Agricultural and Aquaculture sectors, meanwhile Lower Decks are more drawn to the organs of the Vessel such as the facilities of the Nuclear Reactor Room, the Boiler Room, the Electrical Room, and many more.

## Types of School-Ships

There are 3 classifications of School-Ships depending on its structure and these are: School-Carrier, School-Cruiser, and School-Subs.

#### School-Carriers (Gakuenkūbo)

The largest out of the three, dubbed as "Floating Islands" or "Floating City/Town", they are always based on former Aircraft Carriers' design. Seaplane tenders are often classified as School-Carriers as well. Gakuenkūbo derives from two words,

*Gakuen*, which means School, and *kūbo*, which means Aircraft Carrier.

#### School-Cruiser (Gakuenkurūzā)

Smaller than the School-Carrier but slightly larger than a School-Sub. Often depicted as School-Ships which are based on the designs of Battleships, Battlecruisers, Cruisers, Destroyers, Torpedo boats, and many more.

*Gakuenkurūzā* derives from two words, *Gakuen*, which means School, and *kurūzā*, which means Cruiser.

#### School-Subs (Gakuensabu)

A unique type of School-Ship in which its half-portion is completely submerged under water compared to School-Cruises and School-Carriers in which only their hulls are submerged. Often used by schools with specialty in cookery, Fisheries, Aquatic courses, and Oceanography. Always based on Submarine design.

*Gakuensabu* derives from two words, *Gakuen*, which means School, and *sabu*, which means Sub or Submarine.

## List of School-Ships

The listed School-Ships below are (almost) all the ships that the JRO recognized, each vessel has their designation of the ***Fune*** on the end of their name, denoting their unique position within the Administrative divisions through the orders of the Cabinet of Japan (example: Zuikaku-Fune, Ark Royal-Fune).

 * Lunenburg Academy
* Royal Baron
* Red Square High
* Yankee Koza High
* Lorraine-Labrys
* Lazio Academy
* Fennoscandia Inst.
* Wojtek High
* Yin-Yang
* Numazu Inst.
* Wallachia High
* Rubik Academy
* Illyrian Academy
* Rose Valley Academy
* K-K Academy
* Azalan Academy

 * Ōarai Co-Ed Academy
* St. Gloriana
* Saunders University
* Pravda High
* Kuromorimine
* BC Freedom
* Maginot Girls' Acad.
* Koala Forest High
* Anzio Girls' High
* Chi-Ha-Tan