My Shipyard

- Big Ben Class Battlecruiser -

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Being one of the major nations of the world, the Monarch Empire never thought that the Eagle Empire's crisis would be drastic enough to hit the Monarch people, but it hit them and hit them hard. At the same time, the Rome Empires, Monarch's southeast neighbors, and the Sun Empire, lying just North of the Monarch colonies, started militarizing themselves at faster and dangerous rates, with their campaigns against smaller nations showing their power and possibly hinting that their expansion will not stop there, they will threaten the Monarch Empire very existence. "In order to protect themselves against the unavoidable conflict", in the words of the emperor himself, "We must intensify our militarization as well", and as a result of that, series of warships started being developed and researched. Big Ben class of battlecruisers was a noticeable one that was developed in these times, with several ships built, the most noticeable being the Big Ben, leader of the class; Sighs, a traitor ship that defected to the UDN and was there renamed to Democracy; and Bethel, battlecruiser responsible for protecting the Monarch colonies near the Sun Empire.

In armaments, the class was armed with four triple mounts of 31 cm guns, two of them in the front of the ship, two on the rear. As a complement for ships that are sailing closer and are harder to aim at, the ship was also armed with 12 single mounts of 15.2 cm guns, and other four twin mounts of the same gun, accompanied by very neglected AA defense composed of eight twin mounts of 40 mm AA guns. The targeting and radar systems of the warships were also the latest model available, allowing the warship to target enemy ships rather accurately, making the dispersion the only real problem of aiming. A good aspect of the warship was that, despite the good armor and the well-placed citadel that was much harder to be hit being very below the waterline, it still retained a high speed for a battlecruiser, of 34.1 knots at best.

Claiming that the speed was the cause of the relatively lighter armament of the battlecruiser compared to what was expected, the people and the emperor himself started complaining that the battlecruiser was too incapable, with very little firepower to at least face other battlecruiser or battleships. In answer, the navy planned a refit for the cruisers, changing the triple 31 cm guns to twin 40 cm guns, much more heavy punching, and with an increased range. The twin mounts of 15.2 cm guns, were to be removed and open space for four single 533 mm torpedo launchers and six twin mounts of 10 cm dual-purpose guns while the single mounts of 15.2 cm guns remained untouched, receiving extra support from extra four guns that were added. Lastly, but not least, the AA guns were to be complemented with extra four twin mounts of 40 mm AA guns. In armor design and thickness, nothing changed, but the top speed certainly decreased, to 30.7 knots at best. This speed was only confirmed late in the War of the Empires, as after countless delays and moments of scarce resources, the Monarch Empire finally received the necessary materials for the refit on the battlecruisers. 

The Sighs has an interesting history as the crew of the ship betrayed the Monarch Empire, opposing the imperial regime, motivated, mainly, by an injustice committed by both the Rome Empire and the Monarch Empire with them. The warship was heading, with some destroyers, to meet with a convoy carrying resources to the main islands, but on their way there, they were spotted by a roman recon planed and eventually attacked by land-based aircraft. The engagement was a lesson for the Monarch to pay more attention to their airpower, as the battlecruiser was moderately damaged and its entire escort of destroyers sunk by aerial torpedoes. With the engine damaged and possible next waves of aircraft incoming to their position, Sighs maneuvered and tried to surrender... But even after the radio communications confirmed that the Romans agreed with the surrender, the aerial attacks continued and the damages became severe. The Sighs was lucky to have friendly aircraft coming just before the final blow, escaping with a good amount of survivors, but almost not making it to a port due to a flood. Its arrival at the port, however, was received harshly... The admiral and the emperor himself ordered that they be punished for surrendering themselves and risking giving a whole battlecruiser to the Romans. Feeling like that was unfair, the crew started to question the authority of the emperor and, little by little, the imperial regime as a whole, and this eventually led them to plan a complete betrayal. On the night the battlecruiser was repaired, it was immediately called to meet with another convoy to the south and escort it to the Monarch Empire. Instead, however, the battlecruiser went southwest, avoiding the convoy and heading towards the UDN, where they would vow to fight against the imperial regime.