Post

Region: New World Union

Dubrovnik, the Adriatic Coast. SMS Tegetthoff has only been dry docked for a month. In that month some eight million dollars that would have otherwise been spent on her maintenance had been repurposed by the navy. However, for all of the cost saving that dry docking her had provided, there was also the downside of having a completely useless and still ever so slightly expensive vessel. This was currently the topic of discussion in the Sponza Palace. First to speak was the Serbian delegation, which brought up the point of the British HMS Vanguard. It wasn’t an active combat vessel, but it was still nonetheless a symbol of Britannia and served as a diplomatic transport, and they believed that doing something similar with the Tegetthoff wouldn’t be unreasonable. Following this the Slovenian delegation spoke on the absolute absurdity of doing such a thing. A month before and these same men had met in the same walls to all speak about doing the exact opposite. Now they wanted to reverse it so quickly? Had cost not been a complaint during the original meeting? Wouldn’t recomissioning her just defeat the purpose of any savings the navy had made? A swift rebuttal followed from the Croatian’s lead delegate, who mentioned that, while it would be silly, the Coast otherwise had no real diplomatic icons. It was just that nation south of Lethania and East of Italy.

The ensuing debate lasted two hours, most of which consisted of the Serbian and Slovenian delegation going at each other, but ultimately it was the Albanian delegation who proposed the most satisfactory ideal: A costly overhaul that would ultimately save money in the long run while also giving the aging vessel purpose. Her old engines would be ripped out and donated to the local naval museum, and her hull given a how to say “open floor plan” by removing most of the central bulkheads, save the bow and stern where the gunnery and fighting compartments were located. After this, larger rooms would be constructed in the emptied out lower decks to provide a more comfortable dwelling for any diplomat travelling abroad. Her fighting crew would be severely reduced, and in place of her old fuel burning engines, two reactors would be installed to provide more power and a larger range. Though there were some complaints from the Slovenian’s assistant delegate who claimed that “Tegetthoff is an old fighting ship, not an old ocean liner”, the vote ultimately was in favour 12-4.

As work on the overhaul began, concerns regarding her aged armament were once again brought up, mainly her AA capability. To ease the nerves of the Parliament, the shipyard in charge of her overhaul also saw about removing the old 66mm’s atop the main turrets and replacing the twelve deck mounted guns with six [blank] CIWS’s. While her interior was being reworked, painting crews set about painting her to make her look a little less, dreadnoughty. Her turrets were painted a lapis blue alongside her draft, while maintaining her grey freeboard. Though silly looking, it provided the effect they wanted. Now they just needed to wait for her overhaul to be finished, and find someone to show it off to.

I had to do something to replace the carrier post.

The democratic nation of unovia and The Unified American Federation

ContextReport