Reathach-class carrier

The Reathach-class carrier (Aen. Modern) is a two-vessel class of warship produced for the Fhainnin Army Naval Forces in the 1980s. Reathach and its sister ship, Meon (Aen. Zeitgiest, loosely). Designed as hybrid cruiser-carriers, the two vessels acted as twin flagships of the Fhainnin navy until the introduction of the X class carrier. The class would serve as an inspiration for the founding of the modern Joint Carrier Development Program between Faneria and Kiravia, as producing an aviation warship was laid down as a prerequisite for the program to proceed during negotiations in the 1970s.

Design and Construction
The Reathach was the first post-Second Great War carrier built for Faneria other than the Barefield class of helicopter carrier; as a result, it was constructed in two stages. Fhainnin naval industry had declined significantly since the wartime era, only picking up after the completion of the Grand Vandarch Canal and the expansion of cargo rail routes through the Croilaen Gap reinvigorated the economy. The class was intended to serve several purposes, one of which was to create an initial group of specialists with large warship-building experience, which would be employed to plan a class of cruiser for construction in the 1990s along with working out teething issues with the facilities needed to build and house such vessels. This meant that initially, the hull of Reathach was built by Burgundine firm O’Shea, then towed to Rihsport in Faneria, where the superstructure, armament, and most of the electronics were installed by Sae Breach Lahan prior to trials. Meon was then built in Rihsport's new facilities with oversight by an O'Shea engineering team.

The actual role of the class, aside from jump-starting the Fhainnin military's naval reconstruction program and testing new technologies, was to act as a missile-cruiser/carrier hybrid. The ships were constructed similarly to small carriers with the bow ski jump replaced by conventional missile armaments, leaving reduced space for an air wing in exchange for allowing the ships to act as somewhat independent squadron leads. This mean that while the two ships would never be able to carry an equivalent air group to a proper carrier, they could act as long-range, largely independent warships with a degree of naval aviation capabilities, which had since the 1950s been nonexistent in the ANF. The limits of the Barefield class (particularly in terms of the severe cost-saving measures taken during construction) relegated them to a role as mobile helicopter bases, as well as limiting their ranges severely. In contrast, the Reathach and Meon were constructed to a competitive standard, as the two were expected to not be replaced until the 2010s.

Systems
The class primarily functioned as an aircraft carrier, fielding up to twenty aircraft at a time, which could consist of up to sixteen fixed-wing fighters; however, both ships usually carried eight fighters. Originally, the design was intended to carry sixteen fighters and twelve helicopters, but instead internal hangar space was reduced to fit more powerful generators, a larger water filtration plant, and additional fuel and stores to extend their range and allow for greater independence of operation. Other armament consisted of twelve long-range, heavy anti-ship missiles and one-hundred and forty anti-air missiles, forty of which were stored for reloading the five launchers. Two eight-inch naval guns were added instead of extending the missile armament to sixteen ASHMs, with Meon seeing one turret removed and the originally planned count of heavy missiles restored in 2002. The ships bore navigational, combat control, and dedicated missile defense radars, as well as a bow SONAR pod. Both ships included a small rear well deck, allowing for ease of travel between ships via small craft.

Service Life
Reathach was first laid down in 1978, commissioned in 1983, and suffered from several mechanical issues during its service period, requiring it to undergo an early refit in 1987 to replace several systems including the fighter recovery cables on its launch deck and the water filtration system. The vessel served afterwards in the Kilikas Sea, acting as the flagship of the Kilikas Fleet and frequently harassing Caeric patrols in the area and acting as a poster-ship for military propaganda.Meon received most of the debugged systems during its finishing and trial phases, being laid in 1982 and commissioned in 1989. It was then based out of Barwell, Lorea Province for several years until the Vandarch Canal Crisis in 1992, during which its air group flew over two hundred sorties against Culriochan insurgents. After the Crisis, Meon was based directly out of Rihsport. Reathach was mothballed in 2008 due to the expanding fleet carrier and cruiser programs rendering it obsolete, while Meon was kept as a naval aviation trainer ship and to run out the remaining service life of its sustainment facilities as well as cannibalize machinery from its sibling ship as it did so.