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after the loss of the unicorn at the end of the utopian war, the Elvira was now a single ship with equipment on board that the rest of the fleet had not, or would loose in the near future due to the advent of the new freedom forces ships, which replaced the outdated utopia self defence ships.

because of this, in 2005 there was proposed an rebuild for the elvira class, so she could become the fleets command and flagship again. this would still make her an expensive one-of though, and with the large building programs running it was decided that she would be decommissioned after having done second line duties. in 2008, only 11 years after she was commissioned, she was permanently docked in near utopia city and kept there as an symbol of the fleet that defended utopia.


the fleet still needed an large cruiser though, for command and control, and they would need it fast. to cut design time, the concept of an arsenal and shore support ship from the first utopian war, the warlord class, was taken of the shelf, and remodelled to an heavy command cruiser.

this ship that got the name Nahel Elvira, meaning so much as 'an promise to the Elvira'

it was an huge, 45000 tonnes design, propelled by an 2 nuclear reactor build to civilian specs (due to the fact that utopia had no experience nor allies with experience with this kind of reactors) and 5 steam turbines, of which 2 were coupled to generators. this gave the ship 85000 shp, with an top speed of 32 knots.
L*B*H (D) = 227 * 31,8 * 19,31 (11,86) m
Loa*Boa = 236,77*33,36 m

arnament = 8 * 32 cell UVLS, 2 * OTO 127 Compact, 4* OTO 76 Compact
airwing = 6-8 lynx helicopters (8 on missions in waters with shore support, 6 if maintenance has to be done on board)

4 were planned to be build, with an option for 2 more.

the first ship was laid down, but only 2 months after the keel of the second ship was laid down, there was decided that this was not the way to go. huge strike cruisers had no purpose in utopia's naval doctrine, as they were only suitable to attack in the worlds view, and the ship were considered disposed off, the first one not finished anything above waterline level.
the midship section, part of the bow and stern and the power plant of the 2 ships were all reused for the class that truly became an symbol of utopia's naval future: the Avalon and the Camelot: 2 half sisters carriers. more about them in the regular Winged Heroes thread.

only years later, in 2017, the utopian navy would have their large command cruisers, which in the end would be important to the ending of the war.

it can never be said what the Nahel Elvira class would have been, apart from powerful, and what the effect would have been on the war.

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Drawings are credited with J.Scholtens
I ask of you to prove me wrong. Not say I am wrong, but prove it, because then I will have learned something new.
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