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Description
Length: 434 feet
Beam: 72 feet
Draft: 23 feet
Installed power: 15 boilers producing 15,225 shp
Propulsion: x3 shafts, x3 triple expansion steam engines
Displacement: 15,500 tons
Armament: x4 12 inch guns, x6 8 inch guns, x8 4 inch guns, x10 12.7mm machine guns
Armor: 9-12 inches belt, 2-3 inches 2-3 inches deck, 10 inches barbettes, 9-12 inches turrets,
Speed: 18 knots
Crew: 700

Ordered by the Kingdom of Laurentin in 1899, the three Judicious class battleships were intended as the Laurentin Navy's keystone piece for their nations introduction to the 20th century political scene. Intended originally for local rivalries, the Judicious class are decidedly smaller than some of the early dreadnought styled battleships on account of localized parameters in regards to the nearby rival kingdoms, to the extent that considering the Judicious as battleships is somewhat a disservice to the designation. It's worth considering however its major peer at the time, the Project E class, was only slightly smaller in size than the Judicious class, but substantially less in terms of tonnage. Indeed, it was Aerah's naval development that spurred the design's conception just as much as it was an exercise in "keeping up with the Jones" as the design featured considerably more modern design philosophies than her Aerah-designed rival. However, whereas the Royal Laurentin Navy ordered the construction of three vessels of this class, Aerah had ordered ten of the Project Es, which resulted in the navy considering a second batch of the Judicious class. Ultimately however rumors of Aerah's ongoing naval development spurred Laurentin naval engineers to expand the design considerably in anticipation of what future vessels might be introduced, ultimately leading to the Judicious' larger brothers, the Honorable class.

Like their larger brothers, the Judicious class served throughout the length of the Great War, though not in combat roles as the Kingdom of Laurentin's political view made them wary of engaging with Caesulia up until the winter of 1918 with the introduction of the Pious class battleships; however, Sagacious was damaged by what is believed to have been a drifting mine in 1917, putting her out of commission for a considerble while. Judicious also found her place in history as the first vessel to come across the capsized hull of the armored cruiser Persistent in 1919, and first radioed news of the death of the king and crown prince to the mainland.

With the establishment of the Greater Confederated Kingdoms in 1922 and the first military provisioning bill in 1924, the Laurentin royal family--now starkly pacifist following the deaths of the king and his heir aboard Persistent--strongly advocated for downsizing the navy, as well as cutting back on capitol ship construction substantially. The newly established grecken, recognizing the second-rate firepower and speed of the Judicious class, argued instead for their conversion into coastal defense ships, but the uff de Laurents were adamant, and accordingly the Judicious class ships were written off in 1924--Judicious and Sagacious ultimately were sold to the Cacean Republic the following year, and Prudent was converted into a remote controlled target ship and used in that role till she was ultimately sunk in 1934.

Honorable class--first launched 1902

SCK Judicious
(service history goes here)

SCK Sagacious
(service history goes here)

SCK Prudent
(service history goes here)

UPDATE 27 MARCH--MAJOR redraw. After a few months of dabbling, I think I'm finally getting up to speed with how to go about drawing ships properly. Some small history reworking as well, given that the group this was designed for was stillborn. Anyone reading this, check out Thin-Red-Line for more details.

UPDATE 17 AUGUST--MINOR redraw. Slight design tweaks that made sense, replaced turrets with more scale accurate ones. Reworked hull beneath waterline.

UPDATE 28 SEPTEMBER--TOTAL REWORK of lore and design. Based on conversation with the notable shipbucket artist Krakatoa I came to the conclusion that the design present for the Honorable class was too small for the specifications presented, and so I set about expanding the old design into one more fitting of its indicated specifics. The old Honorable class, with slight modification to more conventional specifications, is now relabelled as the Judicious class, and the "new" Honorable class has been retconned into place of the preceding design.

Description
Length: 434 feet
Beam: 72 feet
Draft: 23 feet
Installed power: 15 boilers producing 15,225 shp
Propulsion: x3 shafts, x3 triple expansion steam engines
Displacement: 15,500 tons
Armament: x4 12 inch guns, x6 8 inch guns, x8 4 inch guns, x10 12.7mm machine guns
Armor: 9-12 inches belt, 2-3 inches 2-3 inches deck, 10 inches barbettes, 9-12 inches turrets,
Speed: 18 knots
Crew: 700

Ordered by the Kingdom of Laurentin in 1899, the three Judicious class battleships were intended as the Laurentin Navy's keystone piece for their nations introduction to the 20th century political scene. Intended originally for local rivalries, the Judicious class are decidedly smaller than some of the early dreadnought styled battleships on account of localized parameters in regards to the nearby rival kingdoms, to the extent that considering the Judicious as battleships is somewhat a disservice to the designation. It's worth considering however its major peer at the time, the Project E class, was only slightly smaller in size than the Judicious class, but substantially less in terms of tonnage. Indeed, it was Aerah's naval development that spurred the design's conception just as much as it was an exercise in "keeping up with the Jones" as the design featured considerably more modern design philosophies than her Aerah-designed rival. However, whereas the Royal Laurentin Navy ordered the construction of three vessels of this class, Aerah had ordered ten of the Project Es, which resulted in the navy considering a second batch of the Judicious class. Ultimately however rumors of Aerah's ongoing naval development spurred Laurentin naval engineers to expand the design considerably in anticipation of what future vessels might be introduced, ultimately leading to the Judicious' larger brothers, the Honorable class.

Like their larger brothers, the Judicious class served throughout the length of the Great War, though not in combat roles as the Kingdom of Laurentin's political view made them wary of engaging with Caesulia up until the winter of 1918 with the introduction of the Pious class battleships; however, Sagacious was damaged by what is believed to have been a drifting mine in 1917, putting her out of commission for a considerble while. Judicious also found her place in history as the first vessel to come across the capsized hull of the armored cruiser Persistent in 1919, and first radioed news of the death of the king and crown prince to the mainland.

With the establishment of the Greater Confederated Kingdoms in 1922 and the first military provisioning bill in 1924, the Laurentin royal family--now starkly pacifist following the deaths of the king and his heir aboard Persistent--strongly advocated for downsizing the navy, as well as cutting back on capitol ship construction substantially. The newly established grecken, recognizing the second-rate firepower and speed of the Judicious class, argued instead for their conversion into coastal defense ships, but the uff de Laurents were adamant, and accordingly the Judicious class ships were written off in 1924--Judicious and Sagacious ultimately were sold to the Cacean Republic the following year, and Prudent was converted into a remote controlled target ship and used in that role till she was ultimately sunk in 1934.

Honorable class--first launched 1902

SCK Judicious
(service history goes here)

SCK Sagacious
(service history goes here)

SCK Prudent
(service history goes here)

UPDATE 27 MARCH--MAJOR redraw. After a few months of dabbling, I think I'm finally getting up to speed with how to go about drawing ships properly. Some small history reworking as well, given that the group this was designed for was stillborn. Anyone reading this, check out Thin-Red-Line for more details.

UPDATE 17 AUGUST--MINOR redraw. Slight design tweaks that made sense, replaced turrets with more scale accurate ones. Reworked hull beneath waterline.

UPDATE 28 SEPTEMBER--TOTAL REWORK of lore and design. Based on conversation with the notable shipbucket artist Krakatoa I came to the conclusion that the design present for the Honorable class was too small for the specifications presented, and so I set about expanding the old design into one more fitting of its indicated specifics. The old Honorable class, with slight modification to more conventional specifications, is now relabelled as the Judicious class, and the "new" Honorable class has been retconned into place of the preceding design.