Freedom Class Pocket Superdreadnought

Introduction

The prevalence of the Doujin Class Super Dreadnought led many nations to attempt to create their own competitors to the class or to attempt to find ways of dealing with a class of warship that had a cachet like none other. With Sarzonia gradually emerging as a maritime power, it began to see a need to address the threat posed by such a warship but without the exorbidant cost associated with the purchase of a Doujin class. Ultimately, Sarzonia began to search for a design that would allow it an effective tool of projecting naval power anywhere in the world without simply following a trend it couldn't afford to keep up with. Engineers at the Wilmington Shipyard Corporation, the precursor to the Portland Iron Works, contacted Praetonia's Imperial Praetonian Shipyards with a proposal to design a new warship class to fit their unique vision of a warship they envisioned would be a respected combatant and command centre in its own right. The established engineers at IPS were receptive to the idea and work soon began on the concept for the Freedom class pocket SD.

Developing the pocket SD

The pocket SD idea borrowed from various historical inspirations of ships that were larger than most of the other ships they expected to combat and fast enough to evade the larger ships. One example that inspired the Sarzonians was the Deutschland class pocket battleships, while another was the so-called super frigates like the USS Constitution. The result would be a warship that wouldn't be expected to slug it out with a Doujin class superdreadnought, but would be impressive in their own way. The export version eventually adopted three triple turrets of 30 inch naval guns, a large missile complement, and an impressive secondary armament including naval railguns. The Freedom was 743 metres in length, over 200 metres shorter than the 981 metres Doujin measured from bow to stern. The Freedom class arguably was the class that gave birth to the Portland Iron Works, as the Wilmington Shipyard Corporation chose to retain its focus on civilian ship sales, and the engineers chose to adopt the four original warship designs they intended to sell at Wilmington Shipyard Corporation.

Effects of the design

Almost immediately upon the rollout of the new Freedom class, the ship caused several nations that were opposing it to react with consternation, with admirals worried that one ship of the class could singlehandedly wipe out one fourth of their entire naval fleet. The design soon resulted in several export buyers acquiring it and it became a highly-regarded design. The Freedom was arguably the catalyst for the emergence of the Portland Iron Works, first as a legitimate source for warship designs, then later as a world class military storefront. Eventually, PIW acquired the Wilmington Shipyard Corporation and included its civilian designs into its storefront.

Replaced but not forgotten

Years after the original Freedom class, Sarzonia saw a need to design a successor class and developed the Independence class pocket SD, which spawned the creation of several new classes of command battleships that were similar in size and function to the Independence and its predecessor design, the Freedom. Praetonia rolled out its own replacement for the Freedom, the Glorious, Isselmere-Nieland commissioned the Jimnam class, and several other nations rolled out similar warships. Sarzonia eventually created sub genres of warships that filled similar roles and could serve as station command ships without incurring the expense of a SD. Even though the original Freedom class itself now only performs a limited role as a coastal bombardment vessel for Praetonia and has been eclipsed in Sarzonia, its role as the vanguard of a whole new genre of warships results in the ship being fondly remembered.

Conclusion

Even though no ship built prior to the Doujin or currently will likely carry the same cachet as that legendary class, the Freedom class can be credited as the forefather of its own breed of warship, the pocket SD. Even in a navy that now can afford to employ ships of similar size and complexity to the Doujin, and does so with its own Vigilant class, the nation that was one of two pioneering countries still has a place for the design in its naval registry.