My Shipyard

- Pesada Cruz Class Battleship -

# Ship Version

At the start of the decadency years of the Iberia Empire, many problems were noticed that only intensified the fall of the once major power of the seas. One of the most noticeable problems of theirs would be the Imperial Iberian Navy slowly becoming outdated compared to other nations, and the constant loss of the riches to pirates and privateers, depriving the Iberians of resources to keep their warships up to date. Their colonies soon were added to the problems as well, starting to deny the authority, power, and rule of the Iberia Empire by not complying with any of the metropolis orders. To certificate the Iberian Navy can put an end to these events, it developed a class of warships that should reinforce their rule on the seas and land, named Pesada Cruz class. Two battleships, from the ten planned, were finished first and they secured the order of the seas for a time as well as they were responsible for suppressing many rebellions over the colonies, allowing more resources to enter the Iberian Empire again. The resources entered in a limited quantity again, as the crisis of the empire returned, forcing them to rushedly build, with insufficient resources, a third ship to help the already existent ones, named Capitanía.

Signalizing the reascension of the Iberia Empire at the time they were built, the Pesada Cruz class battleships came equipped with eight twin mounts of 30 cm guns, displayed three on each of the sides, one in the bow, and a last one on the aft. The most noticeable weapons of the warship were the high amount of secondary guns, about 36 single mounts of 15.2 cm guns placed in casemates on the sides of the warships, 18 on each side. Four twin mounts of 14 cm guns helped in the battle, placed two on each side although spots for four more are noticeable. Smaller guns, 7.7 mm single mounts, were installed, about 12 on each warship, six for each side. Lastly, the ships could rely on four submerged torpedo tubes of 533 mm.

Capitanía, limited by the resources, was equipped instead with only six 20 cm guns in twin mounts, placed one in the front, one in the back and two on each side, leaving the spot for a third gun between the two side ones quite visible. The secondary guns were also reduced to 18 single mounts of 14 cm guns on casemates, and four single mounts of 10.5 cm guns, half on each side. The torpedo tubes were changed into two twin launchers, one on each side, occupying the place where the third gun of the sides should be. The 7.7 mm guns were the only ones to have not suffered any changes, however.

In armor, the warships were noticeable to resist the guns the privateers and the pirates would use at them, giving the warships the upper hand when dealing with them, at the cost of favorable maneuverability and speed, 27.3 knots. Capitanía would often take the enemies by surprise when, having lighter armaments and armor but the same size as the other warships, it could travel much faster about 29 knots.

With the temporary and brief reascension of the Iberia Empire signalized by the construction of Pesada Cruz and Catecismo, the definitive fall of the same nation would be marked by the damages the Pesada Cruz started to suffer from more modern pirates and privateers, and, as it's mostly remembered, the sinking of Catecismo when fighting the Brasa battleship. Capitanía and Pesada Cruz were preserved from the wars and crisis. After the Iberia Empire accepting its loss of supremacy for the Monarch Empire, those two would still be used over the years and be deactivated to rest as museums, months before the global crisis caused by the Eagle Empire, broke out.

No appearances schemes were done to the class, but archives show that it was planned. The lack of resources just not allowed its restoration and afraid of destroying the current historical value of the warships, the appearance schemers were discarded as an option, but it is archived. If it were to receive it, they would be painted in white, mostly, with the Order of Christ painted on the freeboard of the bow. The coat of arms of the two known parts of the Iberia Empire was mixed into a new one and painted on the top armor of the first and last gun, on the bow and aft respectively. The bow mast would have a golden statue of the Iberian Imperial Eagle and the aft mast was in the form of a cross. The most known thing that would be used was the exaggeration of golden details on the edges of the guns, decks, conning tower and many other places.