Apostle-class cruiser

The Apostle class was a class of fifteen heavy cruisers built for the Urcean Royal Navy in the 1910s and early 1920s. Naval theorists in the early 1910s s perceived a need for an intermediate step between well-armed light cruisers, such as Urcea's Glens Falls-class cruisers, and the battlecruisers of some other nations, which Urcea did not employ. The heavy cruiser concept was born out of the need for a ship to counter other cruisers while still fulfilling cruiser missions, such as scouting and merchant escort. It was anticipated the Apostle-class would work in tandem with a larger number of Coria-class cruisers in some missions. The Apostle-class saw heavy use in the Great War in a number of uses, but it was considered one of the more efficient anti-shipping and anti-destroyer ships of the early war. Five of the ships were converted into Gabban-class aircraft carriers between 1937 and 1940; the remainder were scrapped after the war.