Shipbucket

Hello again!

To answer Golly's question: Most of the WWI-era ships have been here before, but the battleships and cruisers have all received new underwater hulls. The only new items are a 1907 version of the old barbette ironclad Oireachtas, an additional battlecruiser and a new class of light cruisers (the latter are not yet finished). The WWII-era ships will all be brand-new; I'll need another two or three weeks to start with them.


Thiarian battleships

1. Thiarian battleships before 1894

1.1. Coire-Class

The oldest vessels in active service in 1894 were two 5.800-ton ironclads which were classed as first class cruisers, although with their heavy armament (4 240mm and seven 140mm guns), heavy armour (275mm wrought iron) and slow speed (14 knots) they more resembled small battleships. They were built by FCM and Loire and were considered habitable and seaworthy ships when they were completed in 1882 and 1884.

LT Coire


When the Thiarian fleet sailed against the Brazilians, they were part of the battle line, and Coimirce perished in the Battle of Gaofar under the surprisingly precise fire of the Brazilian battleship Aquidaban, together with the more modern ironclad Fianna and both Minaire-class cruisers. LT Coire survived because she was tasked with towing the crippled flagship Oireachtas home. Coire lingered in active service for another ten years after the war and was hulked in 1905. After serving as a stokers and engineers training vessel, she ended her career as accomodation ship for submarine crews. She was expended as a live-fire target in 1934 after her hull had become completely rotten.


1.2. Fianna-Class

A smallish one-of-a-kind battleship, which was considered a well balanced design when she was ordered in 1882. She was named after the resistance fighter gangs who fought the English in the insurgence campaign 1808 - 1813 and was built at France's FCM-yard. She was commissioned in 1886 and led the fledgling Thiarian fleet till 1893. By the time she was put to the test, she was too small and too slow (15 knots) to effectively operate in the open sea and carried not much punch (2x 275/35, 6x 140/40 and 8x 45mm and 37mm QF each). She was however well protected and a rather stable gun platform.

LT Fianna


During the late 1880s and early 1890s, Fianna was mostly busy showing Thiaria's flag during several journeys around the Americas; she was the first Thiarian ironclad to visit the USA in 1889. She put up the best fight of all Thiarian ships in the war of 1894 against Brazil, but was nevertheless sunk by Riachuelo and Aquidaban.


1.3. Oireachtas-Class

At her time the largest warship ever built for Thiaria by a considerable margin, LT Oireachtas (named after the designation for the common assembly of both houses of the Thiarian Parliament) was a barbette ironclad obviously based upon the spanish Pelayo, but with more engine power for 18 knots of speed, more secondary guns, more extensive superstructure and two heavy military masts. She was ordered in 1888 from the FCM yard (which built every Thiarian battleship ordered in France), launched 1890 and delivered 1892; by that time, her main armament of two 320/35 and two 275/35 guns mounted in open barbettes was quite obsolete.

LT Oireachtas



When Thiaria and Brazil went to war for the first time in 1894, LT Oireachtas was far and away the most powerful ship on either side and should have won it all by herself, but unfortunately struck a mine when bombarding Brazilian positions on the New Portugal archipelago, lost most of her bow, almost foundered and had to be towed home. The other Thiarian ships - another barbette ironclad, two cruisers with a single 320mm gun each and two 1870s vintage central battery ironclads carrying only light armament - were battered by a force of five Brazilian battleships in the Battle of Sao Jorge da Mina (Naomh Seoirse in Gaelic) and roundly defeated. Before Oireachtas was repaired, the Thiarian attempt to invade New Portugal had faltered, and the war was over. Oireachtas remained fleet flagship until 1903; during the Boer war, she almost was caught by HMS Collingwood, Rodney and Camperdown, but could escape due to her superior speed of 18 knots. She was thoroughly modernized between 1904 and 1907, losing the heavy military masts and replacing her old, slow firing guns with four of the latest 240mm guns; the secondary battery was also replaced with eight modern 140mm pieces. LT Oireachtas then took part in the 1907 war against Brazil, but remained in reserve due to mechanical troubles of her engines. After the conquest of New Portugal, she spent the next seven years as a guardship there, then returned to Noyalo to serve as Thiaria's main gunnery TS. In this function, she was operated till 1919. By that time, she was entirely worn out and was scrapped in 1921.


2. Thiarian Battleships 1894 - 1908


2.1. Neamhspleachas-Class

These battleships were the Thiarian Navy's mainstay during the war of 1907 against Brazil; they won the decisive battle of Caitriona practically all by themselves. The two units - based upon the French Suffren-class, but with a beamier hull, more secondary guns all in turrets and better horizontal protection - were ordered in 1898, one to be built on a French yard and the other - for the first time for a Thiarian capital ship - on a domestic yard, in this case the Nuatearman Naval yard. The French-built ship was delivered after four and a half years in 1903, the domestic-built ship took over seven years to build and was commissioned late in 1905. Both had much less pronounced tumblehome than contemporary French battleships and were considered much better seaboats; their outer apperance was typically French however. They were named Neamhspleachas (Independence) and Saoirse (Freedom).

LT Neamhspleachas



Neamhspleachas was fleet flagship from 1903 through 1909. She led the Thiarian fleet in both major engagements of the 1907 war against Brazil; when the Thiarians annihilated the Brazilian coastal squadron in the harbour of Naomh Seoirse (Sao Jorge da Mina at that time), Neamhspelachas destroyed the coast defence ironclad Barroso without taking any hits themselves. The battle of Caitriona against the Brazilian oceanic squadron two months later saw Neamhspleachas pitted against the Brazilian flagship Amazonas, whose crew managed to score five hits; Neamhspleachas answered with 11 main gun hits, plus 27 from her secondary battery, shooting Amazonas up beyond all recognition. During the first world war, she belonged to the reserve and training squadron. After the battle of Tristan da Cunha, the reserve squadron was employed to intercept british convoys; Neamhspleachas took part in the sinking of HMS Prince George in November 1916. In April 1917, Neamhspleachas escaped unscathed when HMS Warspire destroyed the Thiarian flagship Bunreacht. Afterwards, Neamhspleachas was kept in the Bauaine to guard it against possible british incursions, and was torpedoed by HMS G2 in February 1918, but could be brought in. She was not repaired before 1922, but was only good for 12 knots afterward, serving as a training ship. The Thiarians were allowed to replace her from 1924 with a new ship not exceeding 20.000 tons, which they did; as soon as the replacement was available, Neamhspleachas was scrapped in 1929.

LT Saoirse



Saoirse's career closely mirrored that of her older sister; both ships operated together practically all the time. During the Brazilian war of 1907, Saoirse first sunk the coast defence ironclad Tamandare and then the old battleship Riachuelo. During the first world war, she was damaged by HMS Prince George (7 hits) in November 1916, but destroyed the huge british AMC Gigantic in March 1917. Unlike her sister, she was still in prime condition in November 1918 and was retained as a gunnery training ship till 1938. She was slated for scrapping, but when Thiaria entered the second world war, she was retained for possible use, which however never materialized. After the war, she rotted in a remote bay near Coleraine till the mid-fifties; then she was towed to Carriolar harbour and refurbished as a memorial, opening 1959. She remains there to this day.


2.2. Poblacht-Class

LT Poblacht was the last battleship the Thiarians ordered abroad; like all her predecessors, she was built on a french private yard (FCM in her case). She was an upgraded variant of the contemporary french Republique class with two more 195mm guns and reduced superstructure for added stability and seaworthiness. Named LT Poblacht (Republic), she had a building period of four years (faster than the ships built for the french navy at that time, probably because the Thiarians paid more regularly and demanded fewer redesigns than the various French governments) and arrived just in time for the 1907 war against Brazil.

LT Poblacht


Although Thiaria's most powerful ship available in 1907, she was not made flagship because her crew was still too green. At the battle of Caitriona, she trailed two older battleships, and her fire was rather ineffectual, enabling the old Brazilian ironclad Aquidaban to escape. She did however play an important role because the Brazilians considered her the most important target, and their attempts to blanket her at extreme range gave the older Thiarian battleships Neamhspleachas and Saoirse the opportunity to pound the Brazilians with near impunity. After the battle, Poblacht spent nearly a year under repair. During the first world war, she belonged to the reserve squadron, and although she was a very advanced pre-dreadnought design, she quickly developed a reputation as a bad luck ship. She hit a friendly mine on the return from her very first sortie and had to be beached. After repairs, she was torpedoed by HMS J2 in February 1917 on her second trial run and barely made port. Shortly after re-commissioning in July 1917, she first rammed and sunk a friendly destroyer, then suffered from a magazine explosion under one of the 195mm turrets and sunk on an even keel. Salvage and reconstruction took till August 1918; by that time it was too late for her to have any impact upon the Thiarian war effort. She was unceremoniously scrapped in 1921 because she had become structurally unsound.


2.3. Bunreacht-Class

In 1904, the Thiarians had the most powerful fleet in South America (two reasonably modern pre-dreadnoughts in service and one building, plus one large armoured cruiser in service and two building) and decided to make their superiority entirely unassailable. They wanted to surprise everyone by designing a battleship with twice the usual main armament on a hull not exceeding the size of the latest mixed-armament designs like the US Conneticut-class. They considered superfiring guns too detrimental to seakeeping abilities and chose a lozenge arrangement for the four old-fashioned french-style turrets (these were the last heavy guns the Thiarians ever imported for capital ships). Turbine propulsion was not even considered; licenses for Parsons turbines could not be obtained due to a british embargo on high-tech products imposed in 1900, and all other turbine types were not yet ready for series production. The ship did however receive oil-spraying gear for her Belleville-type boilers, had good speed for their age and a reasonably long range. She was formidably protected for what was essentially a pre-dreadnought design (torpedo bulkheads were still rare commodities in 1904) and had a reputation of very good habitability (mostly due to the ponderous superstructure, which made her a big target) and very good seakeeping abilities. Unfortunately, when she was launched at the Abernenui Naval Yard and named LT Bunreacht (Constitution) in February 1907, HMS Dreadnought was already in service; worse still, the Brazilians had gotten wind of her design during 1906 and changed their fleet-building programme from three pre-dreadnoughts to two dreadnoughts and one used british pre-dreadnought (ex HMS Renown) which was later to be replaced by a third dreadnought. By the time the new Thiarian ship was commissioned in October 1909, both Brazilian dreadnoughts were already nearing completion themselves, and Argentina and Chile were busy selecting designs for dreadnoughts of their own. Although by no means a bad ship, Bunreacht was thus outpaced by all other participants of the South American dreadnought race.

LT Bunreacht


Bunreacht was a popular ship in peacetime due to her excellent accomodation (which was considered better than on the later Conaire-class super-dreadnoughts) and served as fleet flagship from late 1909 through early 1916. When Thiaria declared war on Great Britain, she had just been drawn out of the active battle squadron because of her five-knot speed disadvantage compared with the Conaire-class, and served as flagship of the reserve and training squadron. When the British severely mauled the active battle squadron in the battle of Tristan da Cunha, the reserve squadron was activated to back up the armoured cruisers which preyed upon British merchant shipping. They achieved a great success in November 1916 when they intercepted a convoy of 19 merchants accompanied by the old battleship HMS Prince George; after the armoured cruiser LT Urgharda had pestered the convoy for a day and radioed its position to every interesting party every half hour, three Thiarian battleships led by Bunreacht steamed up, gunned HMS Prince George to shreds and sunk eleven merchant vessels. Soon after this engagement, the British had assembled enough power around Thiaria to outnumber any Thiarian sortie, and both sides engaged in a game of hide and seek, during which the reserve squadron repeatedly only narrowly escaped an encounter with a Queen-Elizabeth-class ship. In April 1917, Bunreacht finally met her fate, when the reserve squadron ran into the recently repaired HMS Warspite, which immediately engaged. The Thiarian commander released both pre-dreadnoughts and defiantly attacked the British super-dreadnought, which blew her to pieces in a surprisingly hard-fought engagement (Warspite took seven hits herself, although none of them was critical). The fight lasted long enough to enable both Thiarian pre-dreadnoughts to escape; HMS Warspite failed to catch up with them before nightfall and finally abandoned the chase. LT Bunreacht's commander and crew were hailed as heroes and martyrs and posthumously blanketed in honours and medals. For all that, they were no less dead.


3. Thiarian Battleships 1908 - 1918

3.1. Conaire-Class

These four near-identical battleships were the mainstay of Thiaria's fleet in the 1916-1918 conflict. When the Brazilians commissioned their Minas-Gerais-class in 1910, the Thiarian fleet, although still superior in numbers, was rendered totally obsolete. Nationalist elements in the Dail and lobbyists of the steel and yard industry took the opportunity of this shocking event to vote a sum of 255 Million Chros (Thiarian currency, meaning 'Cross' because the Southern Cross was on the first Thiarian coins minted in 1815), roughly equaling almost 11 million Pound Sterling as of 1910, to simultaneously order four ships incorporating the most modern design features of their time. Specifications called for at least 305mm guns in triple turrets, armour protection and internal subdivision equal to the contemporary German Kaiser-class, and a top speed of 24 knots. Two ships were to be built immediately, two more in 1912; one each of both groups was awarded to a naval yard, the other to a private yard. Completing the design took till late 1910; anything that was or at least sounded modern was incorporated, including a sickle-shaped bow and a tripod mainmast. The first two were laid down in March 1911, launched in October 1912 respectively May 1913 and commissioned in December 1914 respectively March 1915. The next group was laid down in September 1912; they could be built faster due to the experience gathered with the other two and were launched in November 1913 respectively February 1914 and both commissioned in February 1916. They had a slightly different internal layout, resulting in the second turret to be pointed forward and not aft as in the first two. The second group was originally to receive a main armament of eight 370mm guns in four twin turrets, but that weapon was not yet available in 1913; the 305mm triples were however large enough that the 370mm twins could be fitted on their barbettes, and the Thiarians always planned to retrofit the entire class one day, a plan that never materialized. These ships turned out remarkably well; all four reached their design speed of 24 knots and proved very stable and seaworthy. Although LT Macanta commissioned first, the class was commonly referred to as the Conaire-class. The individual units were (LT=Long na Thiariann, meaning simply Thiarian ship):

LT Macanta


Named for the second president of the Thiarian republic, who held office from 1830 through 1852 (still the record) and under whose presidency full independence was achieved, LT Macanta was built at the private CSCA yard. Like all her sisters, Macanta took part in the battle of Tristan da Cunha on June 25th, 1916, against the British 5th Battle squadron (HMS Warspite, Barham, Valiant and Malaya). She scored 8 hits on Valiant and three on Warspite, being hit herself by 7 15inch shells which put out the forward turret, annihilated the CT and killed the CO. Her seaworthiness was not impaired, and she fired her aft turrets during the entire retreat of the Thiarian squadron till the British finally cancelled the chase. She was quickly repaired and made two more sorties during the (southern) winter, but failed to locate the British convoys she was set upon. During the summer of 1916/7, the British were reinforced by HMS Queen Elizabeth and several pre-dreadnoughts and tried to blockade Thiaria, but had never enough forces to fully seal it off due to more pressing requirements of the home fleet. Both dreadnought squadrons repeatedly sortied, but met only once in February 1917, quickly disengaging after a severe summer storm made it seem prudent to RTB. When Brazil entered the war in October 1917, Macanta and Lormaic bombarded Brazilian coastal cities and thus provoked an all-out sortie of the Brazilian Fleet on for a return visit on December 11th, 1917 which culminated in the Battle of Caitriona on December 16th. Macanta scored 15 hits on Rio de Janeiro, contributing the lion's share to sinking her. After that, the British re-organized their South Atlantic squadron, replacing the Queen Elizabeths with no less than 12 dreadnoughts (the US sent 8 battleships to the Grand fleet to replace them). This was finally enough to blockade Thiaria, and any further Thiarian attempts to single out inferior groups of British ships were thwarted by superior British intelligence. On March 4th, 1918, Macanta, her surviving sisters and LN Crionna (a new battleship originally ordered by Turkey) plus the battlecruiser Aigean met eight British battleships (HMS Iron Duke, Emperor of India, Marlborough, Benbow, Erin, Colossus, Hercules and Neptune) and four allied battlecruisers (HMAS Australia, HMS New Zealand, USS America and USS United States) in the Battle of Craigmiadh, a little Island 400 nm south-east of Tir Sliceann. The British commander split his force, using the older ships to draw the Thiarians out and tried to maneuver the newer ones between the Thiarians and their homeland, but the Thiarians broke through and scored their last triumph in the war by reducing HMS Agincourt, HMS Emperor of India, HMS Colossus and USS United States to a sinking condition, then using their superior speed to escape. Macanta hit HMS Iron Duke six times to little effect. During the pursuit, two Thiarian battleships were shot up almost beyond recognition, but all made port. Macanta was hit five times, but remained operational. When the central powers collapsed in November 1918, the Thiarians were neither defeated nor starved, but fully aware that the British could now throw their entire fleet at them, so they surrendered on November 24th, 1918, Thiaria surrendered. Macanta was among the ships selected to be ceded to the Allies as reparations. She was assigned to the UK and scrapped in 1922.

LT Conaire


Named for a hero of the independence wars, a former US Navy officer who emigrated to Thiaria in 1798 in order to keep fighting the English. He scored Thiaria's first naval victory against them in 1808, later leading insurgents till 1815 and serving as commander-in-chief of the Thiarian fleet till his retirement in 1836. Conaire was built at the Nuatearman Naval yard and functioned as the official class ship and fleet flagship of the Thiarian navy throughout the first world war. As all Thiarian dreadnoughts operated together practically all the time (except for a few shore bombardments), her operations mirror those of Macanta. She had the best gunnery of the Thiarian fleet in the Battle of Tristan da Cunha and hit HMS Warspite thirteen times, taking six hits herself. During the Summer 1916/7, she was first torpedoed by HMS G4, then hit a Mine, but survived and was repaired. During the Battle of Caitriona, she first scored twelve hits on Sao Paulo, sinking her, then turned upon Rio de Janeiro and scored another six hits till she sunk as well. During the Battle of Craigmiadh, Conaire scored half the Thiarian hits on Emperor of India (9), but was herself hit no less than fourteen times and barely made it home. When Thiaria quit the fight in late November 1918, Conaire lay unrepaired at Noyalo and was not seaworthy enough to be surrendered. When peace was finally made in 1919, the Thiarians were allowed to keep her. She was later extensively modernized to fight another war.

LT Dunshayne


Named after the initiator of Thiarian insurgence against the British in the 1800s, who was hanged in 1808 and is considered Thiaria's national martyr, LT Dunshayne was built at the Abernenui Naval Yard. Her own career was the shortest of all Thiarian battleships; her green crew failed to score a single hit in the Battle of Tristan da Cunha, and she was reduced to a burning wreck by no less than 19 15inch shells from HMS Valiant and Warspite.

LT Lormaic


Named after the C-in-C of the Thiarian fleet in the victorious war against Brazil of 1907, LT Lormaic was built at the CTS yard. Although her crew was as green as Dunshayne's, she scored five hits on HMS Malaya in the Battle of Tristan da Cunha and absorbed nine hits herself; she almost sank on the return leg and had to be beached on the northern coast of the Eilean Deilf. After a successful salvage, she was out of commission for almost a year. In the Battle of Catriona, she took six hits from Minas Gerais, the only Brazilian ship to acquit itself finely in that disastrous battle, and was incapacitated by a hit on the CT which put her out of action long enough for Minas Gerais to escape after suffering only four hits. During the Battle of Craigmiadh, she was hit seven times and herself scored ten hits on HMS Emperor of India, which together with Conaire's nine hits, was enough to sink her. She was fully repaired by the time Thiaria surrendered and became a British prize; she was eventually sunk as a target.


3.2. Crionna-Class

The final battleship to be actually commissioned by the Thiarians during the first world war. When the Thiarians laid down their Conaire-class superdreadnoughts in 1911, the Brazilians cancelled the negotiations with Turkey over the sale of the Rio de Janeiro and kept her for themselves, figuring it would be more prudent to have a battleship of dubious fighting value in 1914 than having a perfect one in 1917 when it might be too late. The Turks on the other hand still wanted an additional battleship, particularly after their naval defeats in the Balkan war of 1912. To everyone's surprise, they chose a submission by Thiaria's Riordan yard (which had never built a capital ship before) over British and German offers; it was not revealed until 1923 that bribery had played a decisive part in the decision-making process. Riordan had also been selected to build a Comcheangal-class battlecruiser for the Thiarian navy, but received permission to postpone this ship, as the Thiarian admiralty was not really convinced of the design. The Ottoman ship, to be named Sultan Osman I, was laid down in July 1913 and launched in September 1915. By that time, the Turks had already stopped paying, and construction was halted. The ship was taken over by the Thiarian navy in April 1916, about 75% complete shortly before her scheduled delivery date. She was the first Thiarian ship with Parsons turbines, which were more economical and reliable than the Curtis turbines of the Conaire-class, and mounted the most powerful armament of all Thiarian warships, consisting of nine Schneider type 340/45 guns manufactured under french license and placed in Thiarian-designed turrets. The Ottoman specifications did not contain rangefinders or antiair guns, but a ram and a very heavy secondary armament of 20 152mm guns. The latter were substituted with 16 140mm ones by the Thiarians, who never installed the aft four pieces which were mounted so low as to be totally useless; the ships received four 65/50 flaks and three rangefinders also. The ex-Ottoman ship looked similar outwardly to the Conaire-class, but was shorter and beamier and had less freeboard, with the forecastle only extending to the forward funnel. She was very stable due to her more austere superstructure and the lack of superfiring turrets. At 22 knots nominal, she was also slower, but in service, her design speed was frequently exceeded by a wide margin. Seakeeping and accomodation were markedly worse than with the Conaire-class; her protection was the same in thickness, but not as widely spread and generally less well arranged.

LT Crionna

The vessel in her original turkish paintwork as the Sultan Osman I


The ship was named after 'the old man' (Gaelic: An Crionna), a legendary leader of Thiarian resistance against Britain between 1809 and 1813, whose skillful conduct of a relentless guerilla campaign drove one British governor to resignation and the next one, General Erskine, literally to madness and suicide. His true name was never made public; he supposedly died of natural causes in 1813 shortly before the British quit Thiaria, and many still believe he never existed and was only made up by Admiral Conaire in order to confuse the British. After commissioning in July 1917, one year behind schedule, LT Crionna sortied with the Thiarian main fleet for the battle of Caitriona, but hit a British mine and had to RTB. She was quickly repaired and took part in an attempt against a British troop convoy during the summer of 1917/8, but ran onto an uncharted rock and had to be repaired. By that time, she was not exactly known as a lucky ship; this changed on March 4th, 1918 during the battle of Craigmiadh, where she used up all the luck fate had allotted to her. By that time, her crew was fully trained, and she employed her 340mm guns to good effect against HMS Marlborough (10 hits). Being the slowest of the Thiarian battleships, she lagged behind the main squadron during the long chase after the Thiarians had escaped the British trap, and was hit no less than 20 times; she nevertheless made an average speed of 23,5 knots during the retreat and safely made port despite having been shot up beyond all recognition and suffering a catastrophic turbine failure 20 miles outside Noyalo. She was docked and under repair when Thiaria surrendered and eventually remained in Thiaria after the peace treaty. She finally met her fate in another war.


3.3. Artacain-Class (1915)

The final Thiarian battleship project of the first world war. None of the two units was ever finished due to a variety of reasons. As early as 1913, two additional battleships with 8 370mm guns each and two battlecruisers with 9 305mm guns were projected. While one of the battlecruisers was begun in 1913, the battleships could not be laid down because all resources (particularly yard workforce) were tied down building the Conaire-class. During 1914, it became clear that the 370mm gun gave so much development trouble it could probably not be made operational in time, while the 305mm was considered obsolete, resulting in the second battlecruiser to be cancelled. On the other hand, a perfectly workable 340mm gun had been licensed from Schneider to be installed in the Turkish-ordered Sultan Osman I (later added to the Thiarian fleet as the LT Crionna). Consequently, in late 1914, it was decided that two newly-designed battlecruisers and two battleships were to receive the 340mm gun, nine in case of the battlecruisers and twelve for the battleships. Although most other countries had switched to larger calibers by that time, the Thiarians felt they could make do with the 340mm if a sufficient number was mounted on a sufficiently well-protected platform (besides, they had no real alternative). The layout of the battleships originally was to resemble the Conaire-class, because the Thiarians felt superfiring turrets forward would add too much topweight and impair stability and seaworthiness in an intolerable way; foreign developments however clearly showed that this problem was less serious than the Thiarians thought, and finally a layout with superfiring turrets forward and aft, a very ponderous superstructure and a modern-looking clipper bow was adopted. They also were to receive locally built unlicensed copies of Parsons turbines with exclusively oil-burning boilers, and have the same level of protection than the Conaires. Size increased to 32.000 tons standard, about as big as the Nagato- or Tennessee-classes despite the much weaker armament. Since the battlecruisers of the 1913 programme were prioritized, the battleships could not be begun before the last pair of the Conaire-class was all but complete. The first unit (to be named LT Artacain after the commander of the Thiarian fleet which decisively defeated the Brazilians in the war of 1907/8) was laid down in October 1915, and the second ship (for which the name LT Tuama was chosen, after Thiaria's most influential ship designer of the early 19th century, who made the plans for all Thiarian wooden ships till the 1850s and served almost two decades as Minster of the Navy) followed in February 1916. With Thiaria entering the first world war a few months later, it was decided to concentrate on finishing the Aigean-class battlecruisers, and work on the Artacain-class proceeded very slowly. The design was finally declared obsolete in 1917 and both were scrapped on their stocks; a follow-on design for a 35.000-ton fast battleship of 27 knots with 9 370mm guns and even more armour was approved later that year, but no ships to that new design were laid down.

LT Artacain as designed 1915

I'm very glad this is back on track. Stellar work with both the story and the ships.

Hello again

Thiarian Cruisers

1. Large protected cruisers, armoured cruisers and battlecruisers

1.1. Urraim-Class

The first Thiarian big gun cruisers class were based on a french design for the IJN, the Matsushima-class. Unlike their japanese half-sisters, the Thiarian vessels LT Urraim (Honour) and LT Minaire (Audacity) - both were completely identical - paid the price for the grave design faults built into them, especially the very slow RoF of their main guns and their complete lack of vertical armour.

LT Minaire


Urraim and Minaire were relatively new when the war against Brazil of 1894 started, and with their heavy armament, temptation to place them into the line of battle proved too great for the Thiarian commander on the scene. Both were sunk quite effortlessly and with heavy loss of life by the Brazilians during the Battle of Gaofar (referred to as the Battle of Sao Jorge da Mina by the Brazilians), the sole serious fleet engagement of the whole war.


1.2. Dicheall-Class

An obvious half-sister to the French D'Entrecasteaux, the Dicheall (Gaelic: Utmost Effort) was laid down at La Seyne in February 1896, completed in June 1900 and delivered in October 1901. At 9.100 tons load displacement, she was beamier and heavier than D'entrecasteaux, and instead of the former's exaggerated plough bow, she had a curved stem without a ram, making her a much better sea boat. Although she had Niclausse watertube boilers and half again the engine power, she was only half a knot faster at 20 knots. Range was however considerably better (10.000 nm at 10 kts). The ship carried 2 240mm and 12 140mm guns, but she was considered poorly ventilated and had substandard habitability. She also featured the rather grave design fault of steam pipes running right adjacent of the 140mm magazines which made them extremely hot. Although that problem was well known since the initial trials phase and cooling gear was installed in 1903 before the ship was finally commissioned, Dicheall suffered the gruesome fate of being ripped apart in a magazine explosion and sinking with 394 casualties on a hot summer day in January 1907 on the Noyalo anchorage.

LT Dicheall


1.3. Urgharda-class

Thiaria engaged relatively late in the construction of armoured cruisers. When these ships were authorized in 1900, the Thiarians initially wanted an upscaled version of the French Desaix-class with more powerful armament; the final design was the same size as the French Gambetta-class at 12.700 tons. With a top speed of 23 knots, a 165mm KC belt and an armament of 8 195mm guns of a very powerful high-velocity model, they ranked among the best and most balanced armoured cruisers of their time; their only true weakness was their ponderous silhouette with a massive superstructure and four huge funnels which made them rather easy to hit. They were refitted with modern fire control gear and a flak battery of 4 65mm guns in 1916. Urgharda was the last Thiarian cruiser to be built on a foreign yard.

LT Urgharda



LT Urgharda (Gaelic: Vanguard) was laid down at FCM in La Seyne in April 1903 and completed in December 1906; like many french-built ships for Thiaria, she was built faster than comparable vessels for France's own navy. During the second Brazilian war, she served as flagship of Thiaria's scouting fleet and destroyed the Brazilian protected cruiser Almirante Barrozo at Tranacorr. In the first world war, she was assigned to the reserve squadron, which was activated after the Battle of Tristan da Cunha. Urgharda took part in the most successful convoy intercept mission in November 1917 and sunk first the escorting armoured cruiser HMS Kent and then 5 merchants. Three sorties later, she destroyed the large protected cruiser HMS Powerful in March 1917 together with her sister Cuiteamh; HMS Powerful however gave them such a fight that Urgharda had to retreat with medium damage, and the British convoy managed to scatter. After the Brazilians had joined the war, Urgharda raided the Brazilian coast and shelled several small ports, ultimately coaxing the Brazilians into attacking New Portugal where they met their fate at Caitriona (Urgharda was not present during that battle). During 1918, Urgharda was employed as a gunnery TS as she was considered no longer up-to-date enough to operate with the main fleet. Under peace conditions, she had to be scrapped, which was done in 1922.

LT Cuiteamh



LT Cuiteamh (Gaelic: Retribution) was laid down at the Abernenui naval yard in June 1904 and commissioned in December 1907; she saw no action during the second Brazilian war. She differed from her sister in the design of her main turrets, in having steam cranes rather than derricks and in carrying less 65mm guns (12 instead of 20). Together with the newer armoured cruiser LT Dibheirg, Cuiteamh made a world cruise in 1912, visiting Buenos Aires, Valparaiso, Quito, Panama, San Francisco, Honolulu, Toumachi, Kobe, Shanghai, Saigon, Batavia, Goa, Mogadishu, Suez, Constantinople, Pola, Venice, Toulon, Cadiz, Brest, Rotterdam, Wilhelmshaven, Copenhagen, Kronshtadt, Stockholm, Reykjavik, New York, and Vera Cruz. During the first world war, her operations mirrored those of her sister; both operated as a team till Cuiteamh's loss. In March 1917, Cuiteamh did the lion's share of work to sink HMS Powerful together with her sister-ship. One month later, the next convoy raid went badly awry when the Thiarian fleet encountered HMS Warspite. Cuiteamh blew up in the initial phase of that battle after a 381mm shell exploded in her forward 195mm magazine.


1.4. Siocair-class

Thiaria's final armoured cruisers belong to the transitional era between the last pre-dreadnoughts and the first dreadnoughts. They were powerful and fast ships with 8 240mm and 8 140mm guns, which comfortably outgunned every British armoured cruiser design and - at 25 knots - were also faster than practically all their contemporaries, with the sole exception of the German Blücher. Both were designed for competitive machinery; Siocair with her four funnels received the second most powerful VTE plant ever installed in a major warship, fed by no less than 48 French style Belleville boilers, whilst the three-funnelled Dibheirg had imported Curtis turbines and fewer, but more advanced US style Babcock boilers. Whilst Siocair was a fast, reliable and economical steamer, Dibheirg was a fuel hog which frequently broke down. With a vertical protection of 195mm and matching deck armour, they were very heavily protected (more so than many early battlecruisers), leading Thiarian admirals to the conclusion that they could hold their own against battlecruisers, an idea that was proven false by the guns of HMAS Australia at Craigmiadh rather cruelly. For all their excellence, the Siocair-class were luckless ships who did not achieve much and both were lost during the war.

LT Siocair


LT Siocair (Gaelic: Just Cause) was ordered from the CSCA private yard - during the entire WWI period Thiaria's finest shipbuilders - in 1907 and laid down within weeks of placing the order. She was finished within less than three years and commissioned in late 1910 as flagship of the scouting squadron. After six years of peacetime service, she joined the main battlefleet in 1916 and took part in the battle of Tristan da Cunha where she escaped unharmed, but also achieved nothing at all. A few months later in December 1916, she was torpedoed and sunk by three torpedoes of HMS J4, becoming the largest Thiarian ship to fall prey to an enemy submarine during the war.

LT Dibheirg


LT Dibheirg (Gaelic: Revenge) was ordered from the Abernenui Naval yard at the same time as her sister, but - being Thiaria's first large warship with turbine propulsion - took a year and a half longer to complete. She travelled round the world together with the older Cuiteamh in 1912 and replaced her sister as flagship of the scouting squadron after her engines had been repaired in 1913. She was badly damaged at Tristan da Cunha and only barely made it back; during the repairs that followed, she received a heavy tripod mast and a powerful flak battery. At Caitriona, she fired at the Brazilian flagship Amazonas together with two super-dreadnoughts, hitting her target 10 times and yet making no difference. Although she was clearly of limited value among a fleet of super-dreadnoughts, she remained with the main battle fleet and took part in the battle of Craigmiadh as well, where she was shot up by HMAS Australia (13 hits) and HMNZS New Zealand (4 hits). 170 of her crew survived.


1.5. Comhcheangal-Class

When the Thiarians embarked on the construction of their four Conaire-class superdreadnoughts, their navy also launched the design of a battlecruiser based upon the Conaires. The ship was to have the traditional 20% speed advantage over the battleships - translating into the ambitious figure of 29 knots - and one heavy turret less, with size and protection pretty much the same. This calculation proved faulty. The machinery necessary for 29 knots needed to have twice the power of Conaire's engines and became so heavy and voluminous that protection had to be decreased to a level no longer conforming to Thiarian standards. Vertical protection was only 250mm, and the main armoured deck was lower in the ship as in LT Conaire. To serve the no less than 42 boilers, three funnels were necessary, making for a ponderous silhouette; to save weight, the boiler rooms were larger than those of the battleships, and internal subdivision was much less pronounced. Despite these compromises, the machinery failed to deliver the specified speed, being good only for 28 knots. Although the deficiencies of the design were known to the Thiarian admiralty, the need to quickly build up strength prevailed, and two ships were authorized to be laid down in 1913, one at CSCA and one at Riordan. Only the former, named LT Comcheangal (Gaelic: Alliance, referring to the secret treaty forged by Liam Dunshayne that united the various Thiarian resistance movements against the British in 1808), was ever completed; Riordan received an Ottoman order for a battleship in 1912 and built this vessel instead. By the time a sufficiently large slipway for the second ship - the name LT Dluthchomhar (Gaelic: Solidarity, one of the three virtues in Thiaria's national motto) had already been assigned to it - was free early in 1914, the design was considered obsolete, and the second ship was cancelled in favour of the much larger - and better - Aigean-class.

LT Comcheangal


The sole completed ships of her class entered service in July 1916, just after the disastrous battle of Tristan da Cunha. As the Thiarians had lost twobrand-new top quality ships in this engagement due to lack of training of their green crews, they kept Comhcheangal out of harm's way for nearly a year in order to thoroughly train her crew. At Caitriona, she led the Thiarian fleet into battle and hit the Brazilian flagship Amazonas four times; she was however hit six times in return, and one of the Brazilian shells penetrated the roof of Comhcheangal's forward turret and caused a serious fire that necessitated flooding her magazines and pulling her out of the battle line. The battle was won nevertheless, and Comhcheangal was repaired; the Thiarians however were acutely aware that her poor protection made her more of a liability than an asset. She went into the battle of Craigmiadh all the same, because every hull was needed; she wore a unique experimental camouflage scheme unlike all other Thiarian ships. In the initial phase, Comhcheangal scored nine hits on HMS Colossus and four on HMS Trafalgar, creating so much confusion in the British squadron that the Thiarian battlecruisers could break off nearly unscathed after the flagship Aigean had crippled HMS Agincourt and scored some more hits on HMS Colossus, which later sank. When the allied battlecruiser squadron closed in, Comhcheangal became the target of USS America and was hit by three 356mm shells at long range; she lost the aft turret, suffered serious flooding and was slowed down. The explosion of USS United States and the retreat of USS America gave only temporary respite; as LT Aigean escaped at thirty knots, the British battlecruisers HMAS Australia and HMNZS New Zealand first finished off the old armoured cruiser LT Dibheirg and then closed in on Comhcheangal, which was shot up by seven hits from each that reduced her to a burning wreck. She received the coup the grace by the destroyer leader HMS Anzac.


1.6. Aigean-class

While construction of the Conaire-class super-dreadnoughts was well under way, the 1912 battlecruiser programme met with delays, and the design itself was considered no longer up-to-date even before the first ship was finally laid down in 1913. The Thiarian navy was not very upset when the second ship was cancelled, as they had prepared a completely new type to be laid down in 1914. The navy's design department looked at the most advanced foreign types - HMS Tiger, SMS Derfflinger, USS America and the Japanese Kongo-class - and created a 33.000-ton behemoth with 9 340mm Schneider-pattern guns in three triple turrets. They incorporated anything that was good - and bad - in Thiarian ship design. Typically, superfiring turrets forward were ruled out because of concerns over topweight and stability. The battery was thus concentrated aft, which was quite anachronistic since it had already been proven that superfiring turrets were no risk to the stability of a 30.000 ton hull. On the other hand, armour protection was formidable (second only to the German Derfflinger), seakeeping was excellent, accomodation was fine and range was outstanding. Although cost and complexity of these ships bordered on the obscene, the Thiarian Oireachtas authorized two ships under the 1914 programme, which also contained the two Artacain-class battleships. The class ship was laid down in June 1914 at CSCA's, the second ship in Janaury 1915 at the Abernenui Naval yard. The first ship received license-built Curtis turbines, who were of much improved reliability than the early ones used for the Conaire-class, the second one unlicensed domestic copies of Parsons turbines; otherwise, there were few differences. During the war, massive repair requirements curtailed the availability of resources for these big ships, and building went along slower than usual; this was especially true in case of the second ship because the navy yards drew all the repair jobs for the frequently damaged capital ships of the fleet.

LT Aigean


The first ship was launched shortly before Thiaria entered the war and named LT Aigean (Ocean); fitting out took another 20 months, and she was commissioned in April 1918 after the crack crew of the old armoured cruiser Urgharda had been transferred to the new battlecruiser to speed up full readiness, For a few precious months in 1918, Thiaria possessed the largest and most powerful battlecruiser worldwide. The other ship was launched as late as January 1918 and named LT Antartach (Antarctic), but fitting-out never really got underway. LT Aigean played a prominent part in the battle of Craigmiadh, where she entered herself into the very short list of capital ships who claimed the destruction of two others of their kind. Leading the Thiarian fleet into the slightly too elaborate trap set for them by the British, Aigean blanketed the magnificient, but underprotected British superdreadnought HMS Agincourt with several incredibly precise salvoes of 340mm shells from 16.000 meters out and reduced her to a sinking condition before using her superior speed to escape; while on the run, she and LT Comhcheangal hit HMS Colossus so often that she fundered on the return leg to Capetown. When a squadron of two US and two British battlecruisers tried to close the trap, Aigean and her cruiser escorts outran them with a 30-knot dash, firing her aft turrets at USS United States and blowing her up with a single lucky hit into her forward magazines. Aigean herself was heavily damaged by 10 356mm shells from USS America, but escaped and was repaired with maximum priority till October 1918. After the war, Aigean became an US prize and was unceremoniously scrapped in 1922.

Top work! *applause*

And, well, think i've spotted a familiar name in Thiaria's fleet world cruise

_________________
My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

Hello again

2. Small protected cruisers, scouts and light cruisers

2.1. Chros-Deisceart-class

LT Chros Deisceart (Southern Cross) was a half-sister of the japanese Unebi, built by the F&C de la Gironde in France and commissioned in 1889. She carried much lighter armament than Unebi (only 6 165mm guns) and was built as a trade raider pure and simple, with no capability for fleet operations.

LT Chros Deisceart


Operating as a cadet training vessel during the first five years of her career, the Chros Deisceart was one of the few Thiarian ships to operate successfully during the war against Brazil in 1894; apart from sinking one Brazilian sloop, she captured no less than 23 merchants (among them 11 sail vessels) in a period of five months (once 7 on a single day shortly after the war started). After the war, LT Chros Deisceart was quickly assigned training duties and lingered till 1921 in secondary roles before she was broken up in 1925.


2.2. Contuirt-class

These small 1.600-ton vessels were french-designed, but the first Thiarian cruisers to be built domestically, Contuirt (Adventure) by the CSCA (Gaelic: Comhlacht Seoirseacht na Cruach Aonta [United Steel Craftsmanship Company], Thiaria's second oldest private yard at Abersiorrad) and Fiontar (Quest) by the Riordan yard in Cathair Riordan. They commissioned in 1892 and 1893, respectively. Both were very lightly built ships with doubtful seakeeping qualities, but they were fast for their age (21 knots) and carried a mean punch for their size (6 100mm guns, 8 65mm guns, and 6 381mm torpedo tubes).

LT Contuirt


During the war against Brazil, they scouted for the battlefleet but were ordered to keep out of range during the battle of Gaofar. Afterwards, they hunted Brazilian merchants, but by that time, the Brazilian merchant fleet had already been driven off the Atlantic, and they only caught five respectively three merchants. They again took part in the war of 1907 against the Brazilians, but only as convoy escorts and auxiliary minelayers. They were rebuilt to minelayers in 1912.


2.3. Fadcheann-class

The newest ship to fight in the 1894 war was Thiaria's only large warship to be ordered from a yard outside France or Thiaria herself. The Fadcheann (Providence) was laid down late in 1891 at the Schichau yard in Danzig and was taken over by her Thiarian crew only weeks before the war began. She displaced 4.100 tons and was a thoroughly modern and balanced design for her age, with six french-built 165mm guns and a speed of 20 knots. Like most Thiarian ships, she was considered a good sea boat, although her accomodation was rated inferior to that of her French-designed contemporaries.

LT Fadcheann


Fadcheann was still in transit when news of the war reached her, and she immediately engaged on a campaign against Brazilian trade during which she captured a total of 20 enemy merchants. Fadcheann was also involved in the only one-on-one cruiser duel during the war; shortly before the armistice she destroyed Brazil's only modern cruiser, the Almirante Barrozo, although she was outgunned by the latter's 10 152mm guns. Fadcheann continued to serve with distinction in the two wars to follow, as an active cruiser in 1907 (where she took part in the Battle of Tranacorr and was heavily damaged) and as a training ship and flagship of the submarine fleet during WWI. After the war, she had to be kept in service for another ten years because several more modern cruisers had to be ceded to the victorious entente powers, and finally became an accomodation ship in 1928. As such, she survived the second world war as well and was finally scrapped in 1953 at the ripe age of 59.


2.4. Spleodar-class

This class was the first wholly Thiarian-designed cruiser type. They were pretty conventional 5.000-ton protected cruisers of the kind which was built on the Tyne by the dozens for the British and foreign navies. They were however relatively thoroughly constructed and proved to be reliable steamers and good sea boats with comfortable quarters. With their long quarterdeck without a poop they had a distinctly modern look; their funnel arrangement of two forward, one aft had already become a trademark of Thiarian cruiser design. They carried a well-disposed armament of 8 165mm guns on a 5.300 ton hull, were good for 21 knots and had a range of 8.000 nm at 10 knots. Both were rearmed with 10 high-velocity 140mm guns and contemporary fire control gear between 1914 and 1916 and served through the first world war and into the early thirties.

LT Fulaingt


The Fulaingt (Gaelic: Endurance) was laid down at the CSCA yard in 1898 and commissioned in November 1902. She was intensely employed to show Thiaria's flag between 1903 and 1907 and was part of the main battle fleet in the second Brazilian war. She was damaged by a 240mm shell from the Brazilian coast-defence ironclad Floriano off Naomh Seoirse, but quickly repaired and also participated in the Battle of Tranacorr. After her rearmament, she was employed as a trade raider in the initial phase of Thiaria's involvement in the first world war and captured two small, poorly protected British convoys of five and six ships, respectively, sinking a sloop and a gunboat in the process. After a close encounter with HMS Roxburgh in January 1917, she spent eight months with repairs. Afterwards, she was set upon Brazilian coastal shipping and destroyed a dozen (mostly small) Brazilian steamers together with her sister Spleodar. While guarding a supply convoy between Thiaria proper and New Portugal she managed to ram and sink HM Submarine E33 in March 1918. After the war, she was kept in service till 1929, because most turbine cruisers had to be surrendered to the allies. At that time, she was still good for 18 kts. She was scrapped in 1932 and her name was re-assigned to a new light cruiser.

LT Spleodar


Laid down at the Nuatearman Naval yard in 1899, LT Spleodar (Gaelic: Zeal) commissioned in April 1903. She was considered the class ship although laid down and completed later than her sister, because both had been orderes at the same day. During the second Brazilian war, she destroyed the Brazilian torpedo gunboat Tupy off Naomh Seoirse and the protected Cruiser Almirante Abreu at Tranacorr; she was considered a crack ship afterwards and repeatedly became gunnery champion of the Thiarian fleet between 1908 and 1914. Rearmed 1914/15, she was employed as a trade raider in the first world war, but failed to locate any prey until January 1917 when she ran into a convoy protected by the armoured cruiser HMS King Alfred. Spleodar engaged the huge British cruiser and hit her eleven times, but broke off after suffering a 234mm hit amidships and retreated; the British commander feared that Spleodar might only be a decoy trying to lure his big cruiser away from the convoy and let her escape. After the Battle of Tristan da Cunha, she joined the reserve squadron and participated in three sorties; she was present when LT Bunreacht was sunk by HMS Warspite, but escaped again. After the Brazilians had joined the war, Spleodar raided Brazilian coastal shipping, later joined by her sister Fulaingt; Spleodar alone captured or destroyed 17 merchants. During 1918, she saw little action, and she remained in service till 1930. After she was scrapped in 1934, her name was reassigned to a new light cruiser.


2.5. Dushlan-Class

The Thiarians were very content with the german-built medium cruiser Fadcheann, and when a requirement for a fast scout cruiser was formulated in 1899, they wasted little time before choosing Schichau's proposal for a near-sister of the Novik then under construction for the Russian navy. This oddly old-fashioned looking ship was laid down early in 1901 and delivered late in 1903. LT Dushlan (Gaelic: Challenge) displaced slightly more than Novik (3.400 tons), carried a more powerful armament (2 140mm and 6 100mm guns) and was equally fast at 25 knots. She was however lightly built and not really suitable for Southern Atlantic climatic conditions, and the Thiarians were neither content with her seakeeping nor with her habitability.

LT Dushlan


Despite her inadequacies, LT Dushlan was assigned to the scouting force of the main battle fleet in the second Brazilian war and took part in both battles without being damaged. At Tranacorr, she evaded several torpedoes and shot up a Brazilian torpedo boat; she also delivered the coup de grace for the crippled enemy flagship Amazonas. In the first world war, she initially belonged to the reserve and training squadron, which started to hunt for enemy convoys after the first line fleet had been battered in the battle of Tristan da Cunha. She participated in four sorties in 1916 and 1917 before she accompanied the armoured cruiser Cuitheamh on a mission to destroy British installations on St.Helena in order to force the British to spread out their forces more widely. They encountered HM Submarine G4 on the return leg, which fired for torpedoes, one of which tore off Dushlan's bow. Then the British armoured cruisers Achilles and Duke of Edinburgh appeared, and the Thiarians decided to scuttle the Dushlan in order to enable Cuiteamh to escape.


2.6. Pioraid-class

This very successful class displaced 3.600 tons, were good for 25 knots and carried ten modern 100mm guns with high rates of fire. They also were good sea boats and displayed excellent stability. Both were built on domestic yards and were considered mechanically very reliable. Between 1916 and 1917, the first ship was refitted with 4 140mm guns and 5 75mm HA guns; the hull torpedo tubes were removed and triple 457mm deck TTs were added. The second ship was not rebuilt due to war requirements.

LT Tainiu an Sceimh



Laid down at the Riordan yard at Cathair Riordan late in 1904, the Tainiu an Sceimh ('Tainiu the Ghost', named after the famous Thiarian corsair Tainiu Muillchoinn who fought the English during the independence war 1808 - 1816; that fame however resulted not from any actual successes but rather from the fact she was female) commissioned a few months before the second Brazilian war in 1907 and served with the scouting group of the main battle fleet. Due to her still green crew, Tainiu fired very many shells but failed to hit anything; at Tranacorr, she was hit several times by the Brazilian cruiser Almirante Vidal (herself named for the winner of the battle of Gaofar) and suffered 60 casualties. After her repairs, she took part on a round-the-world voyage with her sister and the new armoured cruisers Siocair and Dibheirg in 1912 before docking for refit in February 1916. She missed the first year of the first world war and was assigned to the main battle fleet when she recommissioned in May 1917. At Caitriona, she scored hits on the Brazilian cruiser Rio Grande do Sul and was hit herself 9 times; Rio Grande do Sul was later finished off by two newer Thiarian Turbine scouts. At Craigmiadh, she and her sister trailed the main fleet and had a head start when the fleet executed a battle turn to escape the English trap; she escaped unharmed and survived the war. Afterwards, she remained in service till 1933, mostly as a training ship, and her hulk survived as a minesweeper depot ship till 1941, when she was scrapped.

LT Cormac Blaosc


Named for the corsair Cormac O Donaill, called An Blaosc (Gaelic: Skull), who performed some spectacular raids against British shipping in French service during the revolutionary wars, then joined Conaire's resistance fighters and retired as one of Thiaria's richest landowners in 1816, the Cormac Blaosc was laid down at the CTS (Gaelic: Comhlacht na Thiarann Saorloingeocht, Thiarian Shipbuilding Company) yard at Abersiorrad in October 1903, but needed till March 1808 to complete; at that time the action in the second Brazilian war was all but over. During the first world war, she took part in the Battle of Tristan da Cunha and scored five hits on the British scout cruiser HMS Active, which was heavily damaged; she was herself hit by a dozen 102mm shells. After repairs, she remained with the main battle fleet and fought at Caitriona, where she again dealt as much damage as she received without sinking anyone. Her luck ran out at Craigmiadh where she was set ablaze by two 305mm shells from HMS Australia and several 152mm and 102mm hits from HMS Newcastle during the breakthrough of the Thiarian fleet past the allied battlecruiser force.


2.7. Teanntas-class

These two handsome 4.000-ton cruisers were thoroughly modern when designed in 1909. They were fitted with turbine engines (imported three-shaft Curtis-turbines from the USA for Fuaimint, which worked satisfactorily, and license-produced two-shaft swiss Zoelly units for Teanntas, which did not) for a top speed of 27 knots and a main battery of uniform caliber (six 140mm guns). They were built in little over two years and handsomely countered the contemporary Brazilian Bahia-class. In service, they proved fast and fair sea-boats, although their motions were a little too lively to be really good gunnery platforms; like all Thiarian ships, they had good range and excellent accomodation.

LT Teanntas



LT Teanntas (Gaelic: Audacity) was built by the CTS yard and commissioned in July 1912. She was hampered throughout her service life by her unreliable engines, which kept breaking down for no good reason; she missed the battle of Tristan da Cunha due to a major turbine failure and the battle of Craigmiadh due to leaky boilers and spent 14 of the 30 war months under refit or repair. Her greatest hour came with the battle of Caitriona, where she was involved in the sinking of the Brazilian scout Rio Grande do Sul together with the newer LT Ardcheim (in fact, she only delivered the coup de grace, but claimed the kill nonetheless). She was herself heavily damaged by a 305mm shell from the Minas Gerais and comprehensively rebuilt afterwards with a high tripod forward which carried a director FCS, but quite ruined her lines. After the rebuild, she saw little service, as her engines put her into dock three more times. She was nonoperational at the armistice and remained in Thiarian possession. She was completely re-engined from 1923 to 1925 and served as a first-line cruiser till 1933 and as a TS afterwards. She was sunk by HM submarine Otus in November 1943 while on convoy escort duty.

LT Fuaimint


LT Fuaimint (Gaelic:Vigour) was by far the more satisfactory vessel of her class; she also was built faster by the Riordan Yard and commissioned in late 1911. She accompanied the armoured cruisers Dibheirg and Cuiteamh on their round-the-world voyage in 1912. In 1916, she took part in the battle of Tristan da Cunha and scored hits on both HMS Liverpool and HMS Newcastle without suffering any substantial damage herself. A few weeks later she was torpedoed twice by HM Submarine G2 and capsized and went down with all hands.


2.8. Ardcheim-class

A much improved and enlarged 4.800-ton-development of the Teanntas-class, the Ardcheim-class was Thiaria's direct answer to the Royal Navy's Falmouth-class. They repeated all favourable features of the Teanntas-class, including high speed (27 knots), good seakeeping, long range, fine accomodation and a powerful battery of unified calibre, eight 140mm guns in her case. Ardcheim had imported Curtis-Turbines and Cinseal license-produced ones; both worked reliably. Despite the lack of vertical armour, both ships proved very resilient to battle damage; Cinseal once survived a direct hit from a 381mm shell. Together with their improved half-sisters of the Ceannairc-Class, these ships were the mainstay of Thiaria's scouting force throughout the war and were held in very high regard.

LT Ardcheim


LT Ardcheim (Gaelic: Uprightness) was built by the Nuatearman Naval Yard. She commissioned early in 1914 and spent her first two years on patrol duty. She collected valuable intelligence about British shipping routes and escort movements, frequently shadowing British forces for days. She took part in all major engagements of the war; unlike her sister, which was frequently damaged, Ardcheim mostly escaped serious damage. At Caitriona, she reduced the Brazilian scout Rio Grande do Sul to a wreck and dealt crippling damage to the larger light cruiser 9 de Julio, which was later finished off by Thiarian destroyers. Immediately afterwards, she received a major refit, which included a tripod foremast with director fire control, two 450mm twin deck TT sets in lieu of the useless underwater torpedo tubes, a flak outfit and a rather extravagant camouflage scheme. During a brief cruiser engagement in the middle of the southern Atlantic in February 1918, she set HMS Gloucester ablaze. She remained undamaged at Craigmiadh and scored eight hits on HMAS Melbourne before escaping. After the armistice, she became a Brazilian prize. Although she would have been a valuable addition to Brazil's fleet, she was expended as a target in live-fire trials during 1924.

LT Cinseal


LT Cinseal (Gaelic: Pride) was built by the Abernenui Naval Yard and spent the war mostly together with her sister, except when she was under repair. She was hit by a 381mm shell from HMS Valiant at Tristan da Cunha, suffered 80 casualties and barely made it home. She was then repaired and received the same refit that would be given to Ardcheim a few months later. She was back in time for the Battle of Caitriona and damaged the Brazilian cruiser 24 de Mayo, which however managed to escape. Shortly before her sister destroyed HMS Gloucester, she was damaged by a Brazilian mine and had to undergo five months of repairs. She was ready just in time for the battle of Craigmiadh, where she accompanied the battlecruisers and covered the destroyer attack on the allied formation during which USS America was torpedoed, causing the Allies to break off the chase after having sunk a battlecruiser, an armoured cruiser and a light cruiser. Ceannairc was ceded to Great Britain after the armistice and scrapped in 1922.


2.9. Ceanairc -Class

The high quality of the Ardcheim-class was quite apparent even as they were still building, and the decision to base the follow-on class on a slightly modified repeat of them was quickly made. The main difference was the addition of 60mm side protection in addition to the protected deck; the hull had to be made a little longer and beamier to compensate for the added weight, increasing deplacement to 5.150 tons. Both ships also carried tripod foremasts from te beginning; their older half-sisters received them only in retrofits. The use of narrow-tube boilers and improved turbines allowed to retain the Ardcheim's speed of 27 knots. Both ships were designed for the new 559mm torpedoes, carrying two twin deck sets, which however became available only in 1917, more than a year after commissioning. Both ships lived up to the Navy's high expectations, although the second one only for a very short time. Neither survived the war.

LT Ceannairc


LT Ceannairc (named for An Ceannairc (Gaelic: The Rebellion), the first uprising of Irish settlers and former African Slaves against the French in 1803 after Napoleon had revoked most revolutionary liberties and re-instated slavery, a central part of Thiaria's founding myth) commissioned in December 1915 after having been built by Riordan. When the war started, she had just completed her initial training cycle and was at peak readiness; she became flagship of the Thiarian main battlefleet's scouting forces, which she remained throughout the war. She remained undamaged at Tristan da Cunha, but also failed to score. At Caitriona, she was at the focus of the attention of three Brazilian cruisers and showed her great resiliency by absorbing over thirty 120mm and 152mm hits; at the end of the battle, all her guns had been silenced. She later was present when LT Ardcheim crippled HMS Gloucester, fighting a long-range artillery duel with HMS Nottingham and preventing her from coming to Gloucester's aid; later, she administered the coup de grace to the burning Gloucester. At Craigmiadh, she valiantly placed herself between the crippled armoured cruiser LT Dibheirg and a British force of two battlecruisers (HMAS Australia and HMNZS New Zealand) and one light cruiser (HMAS Melbourne), who blew her to kingdom come with 5 305mm hits, 7 152mm hits and about 50 102mm hits. Despite Ceannairc's sacrifice, the British eventually finished off the Dibheirg as well, but thanks to the stubborn Thiarian resistance this took them unreasonably long, giving the rest of the Thiarian formation (battlecruiser Aigean and light cruisers Ardcheim and Cinseal) enough time not only to dash past two US battlecruisers, but also to sink one of them. Of Ceannairc's complement, only 55 survived, which were treated very well by the Australians.

LT Breathacht


LT Breatacht (Gaelic: Splendour) was built at the CSCA yard and commissioned in May 1916. She was brand new when Thiaria entered the war, and her crew was still badly green when the Thiarian fleet engaged the Royal Navy off Tristan da Cunha. She ran right into a British destroyer attack and was torpedoed three times by HMS Lochinvar and HMS Laokoon. She lost two of three shafts and most of her steam and stopped dead; she was then finished off by HMS Valiant with 18 152mm hits after the Thiarian battefleet had retreated.


2.10. Tiopraid (ex-Turkish Malazgirt) -class

These 3.600ton-vessels were ordered by the Ottoman Empire in 1914 from Thiarian private yards when it had become clear that the two scouts they had ordered in Great Britain earlier that year would not be built. They received the names Malazgirt and Miryakefalon upon placement of the order, referring to two Seljuk Turk victories over the Byzantine Empire in 1071 AD and 1176 AD, respectively.

Malazgirt-class in Turkish livery


Due to Turkey's entrance in the first world war, it was unlikely they could lay their hands on these ships during the hostilities; Thiaria however granted them benign conditions, with the afterthought of acquiring both themselves, which they eventually did in the spring of 1917. Upon completion, they were briefly the world's fastest operational cruisers at 30 knots. Originally, they were designed for two 140mm and eight 100mm guns, but both were completed with four 140mm guns. They differed in their torpedo battery; Sean an Dearg still had 450mm torpedoes, but Tiopraid the new 559mm ones. Despite deficiencies in sea-keeping, range and accomodation compared to the earlier larger Thiarian light cruisers, both ships were reliable and popular.

LT Tiopraid


LT Tiporaid (named after the early 19th century Thiarian corsair Liam O Tiporaid, who was one of Conaire's best captains with an impressive prize list; he later joined the French Pirate Jean Lafitte in his fight against the British) was built by the Riordan yard and commissioned in August 1917, just before the battle of Caitriona. She took part in that battle, but achieved nothing due to her still green crew. She later teamed up with the battlecruiser Aigean and assisted the Thiarian fleet's breakthrough at Craigmiadh, where she was lightly damaged. After the war, she was surrendered to the USA and used for experiments; she was scrapped in 1925.

LT Sean an Dearg


LT Sean an Dearg (named after the 18th entury Thiarian corsair Sean Roinan, called Sean an Dearg (Red John) by his crew; he fought for France during the seven years war, was ennobled after the war and enjoyed a life of luxury till he fell victim of the Reign of Terror and was guillotined at age 80 in 1793) commissioned in November 1917 after being built by the Boldisaire yard, a small company without experience in building large ships. For all that, the ship turned out very well, only to become Thiaria's most infamous cruiser. During her first combat sortie in February 1918, she was the site of the only significant war crime committed by Thiarian forces during the first world war after she rescued 110 survivors from HMS Gloucester (previously sunk by LT Ardcheim). Due to reports that HMS Gloucester had shelled Galway during the Easter uprising with several dozen casualties (in fact, only a sloop had fired a few rounds and not hit anything), Sean an Dearg's CO held a brief court-martial over the four surviving British officers and had them hanged from his cruiser's yardarms. He was hailed by Thiarian media as a hero and thus kept his command although having overstepped his authority rather badly. A few months later, the cruiser was severely damaged by British cruisers at the battle of Craigmiadh while accompanying the main battle fleet; crippled and burning, she was scuttled to avoid capture. Her officers chose to go down with their ship, thus avoiding certain death by hanging if captured by the British. 291 of her crew were rescued by the British and handled very roughly, in stark contrast to the good treatment of Cinseal's survivors by the Australians aboard HMAS Melbourne.


2.11. Calloid-class

The final Thiarian light cruiser design was prepared in 1915 in response to the latest Town-class variants with 9 152mm guns and vertical armour; since the Thiarians could not hope to match British numbers, their new cruisers were designed not only to outgun, but also to outrun them. Specifications asked for 12 140mm guns and 30 knots speed on a 6.000-ton hull with at least 60mm vertical armour. This was of course unrealistic; the final design was 6.450 tons, had two 140mm guns less and was only good for 28 knots. Side armour however was increased to 80mm and a powerful battery of four 559mm twin torpedo sets and 5 75mm HA guns were added. Four units were ordered in 1915; two were laid down immediately and two more in 1916. One each year was ordered from a navy yard and the other from a private yard. Names and yards were: LT Calloid (Tumult), laid down 1915 at the CTS yard; LT Diograis (Ardour), laid down 1915 at Nuatearman Naval Yard; LT Cathgangaid (Warspite), laid down 1916 at the CSCA yard; and LT Mioscais (Defiance), laid down 1916 at Abernenui Naval Yard. The navy yard ships received unlicensed copies of Parsons turbines, the private yard units the standard license-produced Curtis turbines; all had three shafts. Due to their narrow-tube boilers, they got along with three rather small funnels, with the distinctive gap between the second and the third that had become a trademark of Thiarian ships. They were handsome vessels with a rather extensive superstructure, foreshadowing the upcoming 1920s cruiser design (and looking a lot like the contemporary British E-class as well, whose design was a direct result of intelligence reports about the original specification of the Calloids).

LT Calloid


Despite the size and complexity of the ships, construction proceeded quickly, and by November 1918, the first two were completed, with Calloid commissioned in September and Diograis still undergoing acceptance trials in November. The other two were launched during 1918, but fitting-out was still in its first beginnings at the time of the armistice. Calloid became a British prize and Diograis a French one. The British scrapped Calloid rather unceremoniously in 1923, but the French commissioned her as the Nancy and kept her in service till 1937. Nancy was still afloat in 1940 and recommissioned for the French Navy; she made it to Britain and became a part of the FNFL in 1942, although she was not in any shape to be actively employed against her erstwhile builders. After serving as a TS, she was scuttled as part of a mulberry port in Normandy in 1944. The two unfinished ships remained in Thiaria and were completed to a totally revised design with 8 140mm guns in twin turrets, 8 100mm flaks, 12 559mm torpedo tubes, a lengthened stern and new engines for 31 knots of speed.

Greetings
GD

Fantastic additions!
All of these battlecruisers and cruisers are such beautiful ships.

_________________
Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

Awesome drawings and backstories!

This is fantastic...quite out of words but these are quality vessels and lore.

_________________
>"Emotions are prohibited." —YoRHa No. 2, Type B ("2B"), NieR: Automata
>"Wow, if I wasn't a hardened killing machine, that mightta hurt..." —SSgt. John Lugo (1st SFOD-D), Spec Ops: The Line

Absolutely stunning ships all around!

_________________
My worklist
Any help and source material is always welcome.

Hello again

Thiarian destroyers and torpedo boats

1. Torpedo boats

1.1. Seangan-Class
By 1890, Thiaria possessed a ragtag force of third-class torpedo boats, mostly wooden and armed with spar torpedoes, but no experience at all in the design of seagoing torpedo craft. The first foreign types with sufficient size to be halfway useful in the South Atlantic did not appear until the mid-nineties; to speed things up, the Thiarians bought them off the shelf. Their first - and only - seagoing torpedo boat class was based on the French Forban-class. They were armed with three swiveling 381mm TTs - quite a heavy punch for their size - and two 37mm revolvers, one on each side. If the skipper felt suicidal, a spar torpedo could be fitted, but this option was not exercised in service. Three largely identical batches of 4, 4 and 8 boats were ordered in 1896, 1898 and 1900. All except the last four were built in France. All were named for insects: Seangan (Ant), Beach (Bee), Foiche (Wasp), Cearnabhan (Hornet), Damhan (Spider), Creithleog (Horsefly), Daolpog (Stag Beetle), Dreancoid (Flea), Corrmhiol (Gnat), Snathaid (Dragonfly), Muiscit (Mosquito), Tarantula (Tarantula), Bumbog (Bumblebee), Ciogar (Cricket), Dreoilin (Grasshopper) and Maintis (Mantis). Although they were rated as robust and reliable vessels, these tiny craft fared not very well under South Atlantic weather conditions.

Twelve of them accompanied the fleet in the war of 1908, but failed to approach close enough to the enemy fleet to bring their obsolete 381mm torpedoes to bear. Daolpog foundered in heavy weather on the return leg. They were rebuilt to costal minesweepers between 1911 and 1913.


2. Torpedo gunboats

2.1. Iaguar- and Crogall-Classes
Thiaria followed the trend towards the torpedo gunboat late, when it was nearly over. They ordered two at FCM in France to a design specifically prepared for Thiarian requirements by downscaling a third-class cruiser design also prepared by FCM (Contuirt-Class). They turned out sufficiently satisfying that the French Navy adopted the design as the Cassini-Class, despite being armed with an unlikely assortment of 14 guns of 4 different calibers and no less than six fixed 381mm torpedo tubes firing athwartships. Unlike their French clones, the Thiarian ships were unarmored, hence the designation as torpedo gunboats despite their size which was big enough to label them third class cruisers; the Cassinis had lightly armoured decks rather high in their hulls which added too much topweight and made them roll rambunctiously. The Thiarian vessels, which displayed much better seakeeping abilities, were named Iaguar and Puma (no translation required there) and came too late for the war of 1894, but actively served in the 1908 war against Brazil. Two more flat copies of the French-built ships were built by Thiarian shipyards. They were named Crogall (Crocodile) and Ailegeadar (Alligator). They took very long to complete - 1895 through 1900, ridiculously long for ships of this size - but were thoroughly finished and reliable ships.

They accompanied the main fleet during the battle of Tranacorr as flagships of the torpedo boat flotillas, but scored no significant hits; Puma was damaged by Brazilian gunfire, but not severely. After the war, they were relegated to secondary duties and served as minelayers during the first world war.


3. Destroyers

3.1. A-Class
Although able to build satisfying torpedo-boats domestically by 1900, the Thiarians decided to go the safe way and order their first destroyer class in France (eight units, two each at Dyle&Bacalan, Brosse&Fouché, Atlantique and Normand, but all identical to a Normand design). Like all following destroyer-classes, these ships were named for abstract qualities beginning with the same letter as the class designation. Their names were: Aibiuil (Alert), Aclai (Agile), Adhuil (Lucky), Abalta (Capable), Ainscianta (Furious), Amharach (Lucky), Aigeanta (Clever) and Ardreimiuil (Brilliant). They were identical to the Framée-group of the french Durandal-class.

The boats were delivered in 1902 and 1903 and served in the 1908 war, were Abalta was lost to a Brazilian mine. Although they made exhaustive use of their torpedoes, they achieved very little due to the short range of their 381mm torpedoes.

All had their armament changed to 2 - 65mm guns in 1908 immediately after the war, landing the useless 47mm pieces. They were refit to minesweepers between 1912 and 1913.


3.2. B-Class
Based on the Claymore-group of the French Durandal-class, but slightly longer, fitted with four funnels instead of two and much improved 450mm torpedoes, this second class of Thiarian destroyers was ordered in 1904 and commissioned in 1906. Two were built at Normand's and two at Dyle&Bacalan in France, the other four on Thiarian state yards. Their names were: Briomhar (Vigourous), Beartach (Resourceful), Bithdhilis (Constant in Loyalty), Brosanta (Quick), Buach (Victorious), Beomhar (Vivacious), Broduil (Proud) and Buan (Steadfast).

They led the Thiarian fleet into the battle of Tranacorr and helped to keep the Brazilian torpedo flotillae away from the Thiarian fleet with their guns, although they scored no kills.

They had their armament changed in a similar fashion as the A-class in 1908/9. After they had been left behind by progress, they were refitted to mine warfare craft in 1913 through 1915.


3.3. C-Class
The first Thiarian destroyer class that was no flat copy of a French design, the C-class units had the same hulls as the B-class, but some significant improvements. They were beamier and heavier (380ts), had stronger machinery to compensate for the increased weight and beam and, most importantly, a single-caliber armament of four 65mm guns. The two 450mm torpedo tubes were re-arranged to improve fields of fire for the guns. Four were ordered in the 1906 estimates, and four more in the war emergency programme of October 1907. They were built with maximum haste, and the first group was completed just in time for the war against Brazil, although they all missed the battle of Tranacorr. The second group was completed late in 1908, just after the war was over. Their names were: Ceanndana (Headstrong), Ceimiuil (Impressive), Cailiuil (Illustrious), Ceanntrean (Obstinate), Croiuil (Cheerful), Croga (Intrepid), Calma (Courageous) and Cliste (Adroit).

The two last ones were experimentally fitted with a raised forecastle, which improved seakeeping, but made the ships quite bow-heavy.

They were the oldest Thiarian destroyers which served in this capacity during the first world war; all were assigned to the reserve squadron of four pre-dreadnought battleships, two armoured and four protected cruisers. After the main fleet was bloodied in the battle of Tristan da Cunha, the reserve squadron made several forays into the Atlantic to intercept British convoys, at first with some success; these sweeps made it painfully clear that the C's - even those with raised bows - were unsuitable for oceanic warfare. From late 1916, they only accompanied the fleet out of port and back in. By that time, all of the class were fitted with DC racks and an 8mm AAMG.


Despite their lack of activity, Croga was lost in an accident after being rammed by the old battleship Pobhlacht, and Ceimiuil was dispatched by the British submarine HMS G1. After an unfortunate and bloody encounter with HMS Warspite in 1917, the reserve squadron remained entirely inactive, but its destroyer detachment was employed as escorts. Cailiuil was the most successful: In December 1917, she and Cliste fought a savage gunnery action against HM Submarine K3 and got the better of her; late in 1918, she first waterbombed, then rammed the brand-new HM Submarine L6 which pursued the Thiarian fleet on its long escape after the Battle of Craigmiadh. The six surviving units continued to serve in training and supporting functions till the first generation of interwar destroyers was commissioned in the early 1930s; when the remaining C's were scrapped in 1931/2, they were little more than hulks.


3.4. D-Class

3.4.1. Batch 1
With this class, the Thiarians reverted to their usual practice of copying the newest French type. Although the 450-tonnes-class, the first of which were ordered in 1906, was an obsolete design for its day, the Thiarians were at war with Brazil when the type for the 1908 emergency estimates was chosen, and the Brazilians had recently ordered eight 550-ton River-class destroyers in Great Britain. Lacking alternatives, the Thiarians adopted an improved Spahi-class with the three forward 65mm guns replaced by a single 100mm on the forecastle. They were named Daingean (Resolute), Danartha (Fierce), Diail (Excellent) and Dilis (Steadfast). Despite all efforts, none of these ships was launched when the war against Brazil was over, and all were completed in 1909.

In the first world war, they served alongside the C-class with the reserve squadron. Unlike the C's, they were seaworthy enough to take part in a few sweeps and score some successes against British convoys; between them, they accounted for five transports, the old destroyer HMS Dove and the small monitor M16 (en route to Brazil to be loaned to the Brazilian Navy). Diail and Dilis were lost, the former torpedoed by HM Submarine G7, the latter shot up by HMS Skirmisher in the last foray of the reserve squadron. The two survivors completed the Thiarian postwar destroyer training squadron and were scrapped in 1930 and 1932.


3.4.2. Batch 2
With the war against Brazil underway, the Thiarians sought for ways to quickly expand their destroyer fleet. As their domestic shipyards were largely busy, they ordered four standard Spahi-class ships to the original French specifications in France. They were named Dorrga (Grim), Dana (Daring), Domharaite (Immortal) and Dolba (Bold). All were delivered in 1909 after an average building time of 10 months, an all-time record for French-built ships. They were however of poor quality due to the haste of their construction; a few years after their completion, they were already leaking and good for no more than 24 knots.

They were relegated to training duties in 1914 and emerged from the war unscathed in 1918, except Dana which foundered off Noyalo in 1917 for no discernible reason while lying at anchor. Unlike many older ships, they were considered useless after the war and scrapped forthwith.


3.4.3. Batch 3
Although the two modified C-class destroyers with raised forecastles were not yet finished, the third group of Spahi-analogues, begun at the same time as the second group, but on Thiarian domestic yards, received the same modification. Due to their larger size - they were beamier and had more draught as the earlier D-class ships and displaced 540 tons (almost as much as the British River-Class) topweight and increased sail area proved less of a problem as on the C-class, and they were generally regarded as very satisfactory. Their names were Dobhogta (Unyielding), Dobhriste (Untouchable), Dochloite (Indomitable) and Dochoisthe (Irresistible).

During the first world war, they were assigned to the reserve fleet and took part in most of its forays till the disastrous encounter with HMS Warspite terminated these activities. Dobhriste finished off the crippled large cruiser HMS Powerful with two torpedoes and sank a Flower-class sloop with another one; Dochloite torpedoed and sunk the destroyer HMS Stour. None were lost.

Although they were in fair shape when the war ended, they were not demanded by the allies and remained in service with the Thiarian fleet. Although they were good for no more than 22-23 knots in the 1920s, they continued to serve as first-line destroyers alongside the M-class till enough newer ships were available in 1932. They were scrapped in 1933/35.


3.4.4. Batch 4
During the war against Brazil, considerable funding was made available for expanding the fleet; contrary to expectations, it was over after ten months, and the last four of the war emergency programme ships were not even begun. When the plans for another group of repeat Spahis were finalized in mid-1909, first experiences with the modified C-class were available, and it was decided to fit raised forecastles to them as well. More importantly, these ships, which were not needed too urgently after the war was over, were employed as testbeds for turbine propulsion. LT Dolubtha (Inflexible) was fitted with French Rateau-Turbines, LT Doshasta (Implacable) received Swiss Zoelly-Turbines, LT Doscriostha (Indestructible) had American Curtis-Turbines and LT Dothreaithe (Impregnable) received Swedish deLaval-Turbines. Only Doscriostha was considered fully satisfactory, leading to the adoption of Curtis-Turbines for most Thiarian warships in the following years; Dolubtha and Doshasta were unreliable and prone to breakdowns (Doshasta also was a fuel hog with less than half the range of her sisters), and Dothreaithe's machinery was practically unserviceable, so she had to be refitted with license-produced Curtis-Turbines in 1913 (after that, she was the best performer of her group).

All belonged to the main fleet in the war, although their seakeeping was too limited compared with newer destroyers to be really able to operate efficiently with the fleet. Dolubtha was lost in the battle of Tristan da Cunha, cut in half by a British 533mm torpedo from HMS Cockatrice, and Doshasta suffered the embarrassing fate of having to be scuttled after running out of fuel during the escape run after the battle of Craigmiadh.

The other two survived the war. Their engines were in poor shape by then, and they were scrapped as soon as the M-class destroyers were completed in 1924/5.


3.5. E-Class
By the time the large orders of destroyers issued during the war against Brazil in 1907/8 were completed, several foreign countries had commissioned much larger, faster and better armed destroyers than the 450 - 550 tonners preferred by the Thiarian navy, most notably the British with their Tribal- and G-classes and the huge HMS Swift. Germany and the US also built destroyers in the 650 - 750 ton category by that time, and the French had ordered their first 800-tonners. This time, the Thiarians decided not only to follow the foreign lead, but to eclipse it; although they had become quite good at building 450-550 tonners, they enlisted French aid again. During 1910, the Chantiers de Bretagne yard was preparing a design for a 950-tonner for Argentina, armed with 4 102mm guns and six 457mm torpedo tubes and capable of 32 knots. With their good connections to Argentina, the Thiarians surveyed the design and considered it highly promising; they however needed better stability, better seakeeping abilities and more range, so they modified the design by changing the subsurface hull shape and increasing draught, thus increasing displacement to 1.050 tons. Two units were ordered at the Bretagne yard in October 1910, plus one each at Dyle&Bacalan and the Chantiers d'Atlantique, on the condition that four more were to be license-built in Thiaria in the following year. Like the Argentine ships building at the same time, the Thiarian vessels received imported Curtis-turbines from the USA. The two units built by the Chantiers de Bretagne had French Guyot du Temple type, with one boiler less than the Argentine original, but one funnel per boiler, slightly less hp and a design speed of only 30 knots. They were named Ealaionta (Artful) and Easca (Quick). All four Thiarian license-built vessels - one each at the Nuatearman and Abernenui Naval Yards, plus one each at the private yards of the CSCA and Boldisaire - followed that pattern, although they had Thiarian license-built Normand boilers with slightly more hp for a speed of 31 knots. Their names were Eolgaiseach (Skilful), Eascardiuil (Hostile), Eachtach (Adventurous) and Eagnai (Wise). Apart from the different speed, these six units were for all practical purposes identical.

The boats built by the Chantiers d'Atlantique and at Dyle&Bacalan's used five Normand and had three funnels arranged as on the Argentine destroyers; they had a design speed of 32 knots. Their names were Eifeachtuil (Effective) and Eirimiuil (Clever).

All were armed with four 100mm guns and four 450mm torpedo tubes, the latter still singles arranged at the ship's sides for a broadside of only two fish. They had sickle-shaped bows and a raised poop deck and were considered very good sea boats with comfortable accomodation. While delivery of the Argentine boats was delayed by lackluster payment, the Thiarian destroyers were delivered on schedule late in 1912; their domestic clones followed early in 1914. All eight served with the main battle fleet from 1916 and were refitted in 1917 with a single 65mm flak, three or four 8mm AAMGs, a DC rack, a rangefinder for the guns and hydrophones.

They took part in the battles of Tristan da Cunha (Ealaionta torpedoed the British cruiser HMS Nottingham, which however escaped), Tranacorr (Ealaionta sunk the Brazilian destroyers Pedro Ivo and Gustavo Sampaio with gunfire and Eirimuil did the same to the Brazilian destroyer Piaui) and Craigmiadh (no kills, but Eolgaiseach was sunk by several 152mm hits from HMS Marlborough). Of the other seven, only Easca was sunk, hitting a mine of unknown origin off Naomh Proinsias Xavier in July 1917; the entire crew could be taken off. None of the other six lost a single crewmember during the war survived the war; altogether, the E's were considered a particularly lucky class. All six survivors were awarded to Brazil as reparations in 1919; as they were in good shape, they served with the Brazilian Navy for a quarter of a century. Their luck held under new management too; while employed as escorts during the second world war, they accounted for two Thiarian and two German submarines and still suffered no losses. They were scrapped in 1946 - 1948.


3.6. F-Class

3.6.1. Batches 1 and 2
In 1912, Brazil ordered eight K-Class destroyers on British yards and entered negotiations with the USA for an order of eight 1000-tonners to be built in 1914-1916. To keep up with this development, the Thiarians ordered a slightly modified repeat of the E-class, four in 1912 and four identical ones in 1913. They no longer had a poop deck, resulting in slightly more cramped accomodation, but also a smaller sail area of the hull, resulting in better maneuvrability. Their armament was re-arranged with two of the 100mm guns mounted superfiring aft, and their 450mm torpedo tubes now were twins arranged on the centerline. The aft searchlight was suppressed. All had five boilers of domestic design with three funnels and locally produced Curtis-turbines, and a design speed of 32 knots. They also were the first Thiarian destroyers to be completed with rangefinders. Their names were Faghartha (Fiery), Fiain (Untamed), Faireach (Vigilant), Fuafar (Zealous), Fearuil (Manly), Fial (Selfless), Feidhmiuil (Overpowering) and Forsiuil (Forceful). Two were commissioned in 1914, the other six in 1915.

All served with the main battlefleet during the war. At Tristan da Cunha, Fial was destroyed by HMS Yarmouth; at Tranacorr, Feidhmiuil torpedoed the Brazilian destroyer Goias. By that time, all had received the usual wartime upgrade with a 65mm flak, four 8mm AAMGs, a DC rack and hydrophones. Their forward gun had received a gunshield, the bridge breastwork was strenghtened and enlarged, and the rangefinder was replaced by a larger unit with better performance.

The battle of Craigmiadh was quite disastrous for this class: Faireach, Fearuil and Forsiuil were destroyed while securing the retreat of the damaged battleship Crionna. Their flotilla of four (Fuafar made it home as the sole survivor) launched three torpedo attacks against the pursuing British battleships HMS Marlborough and Benbow and their escorts, scoring a hit on the destroyer Laertes (which was however a dud), but getting themselves pounded by the battleships, two light cruisers and eight destroyers; all losses were due to gunfire. Their mission was accomplished, however; Crionna made it home. Faghartha, Fiain, Fuafar and Feidhmiuil survived the war and were awarded to the USA as prizes; they were used for trials and eventually sunk as targets.

3.6.2. Batch 3
When the first world war started in late July 1914, Argentina and Turkey lost four respectively six modern destroyers under construction on french yards, as France requisitioned them for her own navy. Thiaria, still neutral, approached both governments within days and offered to build replacements at a discount price. As the Argentine ships had served as a basis for the Thiarian E-class and the Turkish ships were quite similar to the Thiarian F-class, the offer seemed logical, and both governments placed orders for four ships. Turkey entered the war a few days after the order was placed, making delivery effectively impossible, but the Thiarians kept building; they already anticipated that they might need these destroyers themselves one day. Four were laid down in late 1914, four in early 1915. All eight were built to an identical design. They had the same hull shape and length as the Thiarian F-class, but were a little beamier. Their ventilation arrangements were changed to create additional deck space needed to replace the 450mm torpedo twins with 559mm twin sets; they also got the aft searchlight back and received the larger type rangefinder from the beginning. They drew slightly more than the first batch, displacing 1150 tons, and design speed had dropped to 30 knots. Building took longer than the anticipated 18 months, and the planned delivery dates could not be met, due to the large number of destroyers simultaneously under construction in 1915 (the G-class of the Thiarian Navy was built at the same time, with greater priority). When Thiaria rather abruptly declared war on Britain after the Easter Uprising in 1916, they immediately seized all eight ships, of which two were already running trials. Six of them were completed and commissioned before the year 1916 was over, and the other two followed early in 1917. All missed the intial battle of Tristan da Cunha. They were given F-names: Fuinniuil (Strong), Fraochmhar (Fierce), Fireanta (Righteous), Feilmeanta (Excellent), Fiochmhar (Furious), Fadbhail (Pugnacious), Flaithiuil (Generous) and Fairtil (Sturdy).

Although the seized F-class vessels clearly fell behind the first two batches in terms of speed and stability, they had longer range, better torpedo armament and were similarly reliable and habitable. Modifications were less visible than on the first two batches; the bridge for instance was left unchanged, and none of this batch ever received a heavy flak. The usual four AAMGs, DC rack and hydrophones were fitted however. The forward 100mm gun received a gunshield.

Their more powerful torpedo armament paid off handsomely: At Tranacorr, Feilmeanta's torpedoes accounted for the brand new Brazilian light cruiser Quinze de Novembro, and Fiochmhar and Fairtil sunk the destroyers Para and Santa Caterina, respectively (although Fairtil did it with her guns). Fairtil survived her triumph only for six weeks, being blown up by a British drifting mine off Abernenui; Fadbhail was sunk in a short cruiser-destroyer engagement early in 1918 by the Guns of HMS Liverpool, and Flaithiuil was torpedoed by the British destroyer HMS Trident at Craigmiadh. Fraochmhar and Fireanta avenged her sister by torpedoing HMS Lookout and HMS Lightfoot; Fadbhail also put a torpedo into the battleship HMS Colossus (which however had received so many 305mm hits from the Thiarian battleships by that time that she would have been lost anyway). After the war, the five remaining ships were awarded to the USA (4) and France (1). The Americans soon scrapped their allotment, but Fiochmhar survived till 1936 under French colours.


3.7. G-Class
By 1914, several nations were building destroyers with speeds of 35 knots or above; the Thiarians were particularly impressed by the Russian Novik. Their E- and F-class ships were generally satisfactory, robust and well armed ships, but the follow-up class was to be considerably faster. To accomodate the stronger machinery (for 36 knots, 40.000 hp were necessary, compared to the 28.000 of the F-class), the hull had to be considerably stretched, and deplacement increased to nearly 1.300 tons. For the first time in Thiarian destroyer design, the bow was flared; construction was complicated by this feature, but seakeeping was significantly improved. The added deckspace and weight reserve allowed for an increase of the torpedo caliber to 559mm and the fitting of a fifth 100mm gun; with their large deckhouse aft, they were the most comfortable of all Thiarian destroyers. They were also the first Thiarian destroyers to be commissioned with two 8mm AAMGs, and their forward 100mm guns had gunshields from the start. Their names were: Glormhar (Glorious), Gusmhar (Lively), Gaisciuil (Valiant), Gasta (Clever), Galach (Valourous), Galanta (Elegant), Glic (Cunning) and Gniomhach (Active). The four begun under the 1914 estimates were ready for action when Thiaria entered the war; the four 1915 ships needed till mid-1917 to complete.

Unlike their predecessors, these ships were large enough to be refitted with two 65mm flaks each (abreast the after funnel), plus two additional 8mm AAMGs, a DC rack and hydrophones.

Gasta had the shortest career of all Thiarian destroyers and was sunk at Tristan da Cunha by a torpedo from HMS Ithuriel. At Tranacorr, only Galanta was missing; Glormhar sunk the Brazilian destroyer Pernambuco with gunfire. Later in 1917, Gaisciuil and Gniomhach intercepted the US-built destroyers Marcilio Diaz and Traiano on their transfer to Brazil and sunk both with guns and torpedoes. At Craigmiadh, all seven belonged to the advance squadron around the battlecruiser Aigean, and repulsed an attack by US destroyers, with Galanta sinking USS Rowan and Glormhar sinking USS O'Brien. Then they launched an attack of their own, and Gaisciuil put a torpedo into USS America, which did not critically endanger the US battlecruiser, but prompted her commander to disengage, enabling the Thiarian fleet to escape after reducing USS United States to a sinking condition. Glic was hit by several 127mm shells from USS America and finished off by USS Shaw, and Galach was hit by two 533mm torpedoes from USS Conyngham and blown up. The five survivors were awarded to Great Britain (4) and France (1); as with the F-class the French retained their prize in service till 1935, while the English scrapped their loot.


3.8. I-Class
As advanced as the E- and F-class had been in 1910, they were nothing special anymore in 1916; they were outgunned (more exactly out-torpedoed) by newer US-supplied Brazilian destroyers, which started to enter service in 1916, and badly outnumbered by contemporary British destroyers. Facing rather overwhelming numerical odds, the Thiarians decided to try and build ships of individually superior quality, one of which could take on two or three enemy destroyers. The design for the FY 1916 destroyer was remarkably similar in size, speed and armament to their German contemporaries of the S113-class; both designs however owed nothing to each other, the Thiarian I-class being an evolutionary development of the G-class with eight instead of five boilers and more powerful turbines (52.000 hp for 34 knots). The Thiarian ships were built around four very powerful 140/55 cannon and carried four 559mm torpedo tubes, four (!) 65mm flaks, two or four 8mm AAMGs and a DC rack. Two were ordered from private yards and two from naval dockyards in April and May 1916. The former ones were named Inniuil (Capable) and Ionraic (Honest), the latter Iontaofa (Reliable) and Inmholta (Admirable).

The dockyard-built ships differed by having a simpler bridge, a different location for the mainmast and a heavy crane behind the aft funnel.

Although it was clear that these ships would need at least two years to complete, their construction was continued after Thiaria entered the war; a proposition to cancel them and build more F- or G-class vessels instead was rejected, mainly because eight additional F-class destroyers under construction for Argentina and Turkey could be acquired anyway. In the end, only Inniuil and Iontaofa were completed before the end of hostilities. Both took part in the battle of Craigmiadh with the advance squadron and engaged the light cruiser USS Salem, flagship of the US destroyers. Each of the Thiarian destroyers would have outgunned the old US cruiser, and together they peppered her with a dozen hits and forced her to retreat. If the Thiarians had not been on the run themselves, they would probably have sunk the Salem. After the war, both completed I-class destroyers became British prizes. Inniuil briefly underwent a comparative test series against S113 and was rated superior in nearly every respect; for the British, this was one reason more to scrap both of them forthwith. The unfinished ships remained in Thiaria and were classed as light cruisers under the conditions of the Washingtion Naval treaty. They were renamed with scout cruiser names (LT Brilhante and LT Mhuraic an Siorai, both referring to 18th and 19th century Thiarian privateers) and completed in 1923. Both served in the second world war as fast minelayers; particulars of their service will follow later.


3.9. L-Class
With the war against Great Britain in full swing and losses mounting, the Thiarians soon reversed their decision to stick with the I-class. The FY 1917 destroyers (remarkably enough, the peacetime procurement procedures were retained throughout the war) reverted to an austere version of the G-class design with less superstructure aft and many detail simplifications to speed up production. It was planned to complete all eight ships within one year; actual building times varied between 13 and 16 months, still no bad performance for a shipbuilding industry yet unaccustomed to modern mass production methods. Although six could be completed before the war ended, none saw any active service, and only two were in full commission at the time of the armistice. Their names were Laochta (Heroic), Lasanta (Irascible), Luachmhar (Worthy), Luaimneach (Nimble), Laidir (Strong), Lufar (Awake), Luath (Swift) and Lubach (Subtle). All were completed with ASW gear, two 65mm flaks and four AAMGs.

After the war, all were ceded to Great Britain and scrapped.


3.10. M-Class
First reports about Britain's new V/W-class destroyers reached Thiaria early in 1918. Superfiring guns forward had previously been rejected for stability reasons, but in order to counter the V/Ws, the Thiarians decided to adopt that feature for their FY 1918 destroyers. Britain's adoption of triple torpedo tubes was matched by adding a third twin set. The hull had to be lengthened almost to the length of the I-class and widened accordingly to retain stability. Deplacement increased to 1.400 tons; as the machinery of the G- and L-classes was retained, speed dropped to 33 knots. The bridge was kept unusually simple in an attempt to reduce topweight; as none was completed to the original design, their open bridges were never put to the test. They were named Maorga (Majestic), Maisiuil (Graceful), Misniuil (Brave), Mearganta (Daring), Maistriuil (Authoritative), Mallaithe (Wicked), Meanmhach (Obstinate) and Mealltach (Devious). None were launched when the war ended. They were not mentioned in the armistice conditions nor the peace treaty and completed to a slightly different design in 1924/5.

All eight had active careers in the second world war, where six were lost.


Greetings
GD