View source for Reathach-class carrier

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The '''Reathach-class carrier''' (Aen. ''Modern'') was a two-vessel class of warship produced for the [[Office of the National Army (Faneria)|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 light carrier|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 Mountains|Croilaen Gaps]] 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 [[Burgundie|Burgundine]] firm [[O’Shea Container Shipping|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.

==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 [[Caergwynn|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|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.

[[Category:Fhainnin Army]]
[[Category:Warships]]