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KNS Crusader CL3-3

KNS Crusader is a one-off light cruiser built for the Khertland Navy as a replacement of older light cruisers then in service. It was intended to be the first of many cruisers as part of the 2021 Naval Rebuilding Program. It is a much more heavily armed ship than existing Khertland designs taking in lessons from the Azuro class heavy cruisers incorporating heavier armor, much more powerful projectile designs, and a armored centralized fire control tower. Ordered as part of the 2nd phase of the 2021 Naval Rebuilding Program, the ship had been delayed by nearly a year due to budgetary constraints. KNS Crusader is the final ship produced under the 2021 Naval Rebuilding Program before it was supersceded by the Comprehensive Naval Reform. Despite the ship being stuck in the fitting out stage for an entire year it was still used in a number of exercises due to a shortage of ships. These exercises also showed a number of flaws in the design that needed to be addressed in the future. The Crusader is slated to serve as the flagship of the modernized Khertland navy in the foreseeable future until newer and larger surface combatants enter service. it is the second ship to bear the name 'Crusader.'

In 2021, Khertland economy's started to recover under the stewardship of Aila Hustisiya's administration. Somce the government was looking to modernize its military, the navy proposed a large rebuilding program separated in to four phases. Phase 1 was completed and phase 2 were halfway through before it was cancelled. The completed portion of phase 2 included multiple destroyers and one cruiser; namely the KNS Crusader. The rest included many more heavy cruisers, battleships, carriers, and even smaller frigates and torpedo boats.
The Crusader was 206 meters long overall, and had a beam of 23 meters. At a 1,091,732 displacement, the ship had a draft of 8 meters. The ship used two SSE-3 8C steam turbine engines as seen on earlier destroyers giving it a top speed of 40 knots and a maximum operational range of 7,633 kilometers. The navy had originally intended to power the ship with the SSE-4 12C engine but found two SSE-3 8C offered better fuel economy. Despite this change, the navy actually had originally wanted twice the operational range but it was deemed unfeasible due to the ever increasing displacement needed for more fuel.
For the design of the Crusader, many new sub systems had to be developed due to the relative age of the equipment used on previous cruisers. It was designed with eleven 152mm gun mounts. Three in triple gun mounts and two in single gun mounts. These guns fire at a impressive 20 rounds per minute with longer more powerful projectiles than existing guns. The single mounts were selected so it can fit on the narrower extremities of the armored citadel to create a more hydrodynamic hull shape. These main guns were found to be over built with loading trays and elevator mechanisms larger than necessary. This was blamed on poor quality control and training of the factory workers who built these guns. Attempts were made to address these manufacturing defects but the mounting were still nonetheless much heavier than it needed to be given its performance. As turrets and guns are long lead time items, the navy opted to not order replacements due to the ship already having been delayed. The secondary armament are eight twin 138mm dual purpose guns each barrel with a rate of fire of 24 rounds per minute. This heavy firepower is further augmented by six 76mm guns each capable of firing 50 rounds per minute. The 76mm caliber was first used on the modernized Azariya and Ostland classes. The current 76mm AAG-10 is a completely new design but nonetheless follows the same philosophy. Modern aircrafts are extremely resilient to damage and flies extremely fast which necessitates the superior stopping power of a autoloaded 76mm gun. The anti-aircraft suite is rounded off with twelve 28mm autocannons for close in defense.

The KNS Crusader was not a glass cannon either; protected by 4.5m of main belt armor and up to 5.5m over magazine spaces. The main deck was 2m thick and up 3m over magazines and machinery spaces. The forward and aft armored bulkheads were also 2-3m thick. This formed the armored citadel of the cruiser and as dictated by the all-or-nothing armor concept, the rest of the ship is basically unprotected. Exceptions to this includes the conning tower with anywhere between 3-6m of armor and the main barbette protected by 2.5m of armor. lastly, the turret face on the main turret is 5m thick. This relatively heavy protection makes it resistant to its own guns and those of other cruisers. Lastly, the ship features a double bottom. However the survivability of the ship was still disappointing as during shock trials, they found the damaged stability of the ship to be poor. Particularly, the stability were at a dangerous level even if the citadel was not penetrated and flooded. This went against the core concept of the all-or-nothing armor scheme; a ship's ability to remain stable, buoyant, and combat capable even if unarmored sections have been flooded. Despite many attempts at addressing this issue, it was deemed unfeasible without a new design from the ground up and so the ship was commissioned without ever fully resolving this critical flaw.

The KNS Crusader was constantly delayed due to lack of funding by the Hustisiya administration. That was despite official approval of the modernization program itself. As time passed, the government had increasingly focused on the army due to domestic political and geopolitical reasons. Due to internal political reasons, new leadership was assigned to the Naval Procurement and Naval Warfare Directorate offices. The new leaders scrapped the 2021 Rebuilding Program due to a lack of cohesive strategy behind the requested procurement. Nitram Dleverc developed a new naval strategy based off of lessons learned from their older existing navy. This Comprehensive Naval Reform was set as the basis for future ship design and dictated what new ships will be procured for years to come. Several existing planned designs were moved from the 2021 Naval Rebuilding Program to the new naval expansion program but many were also slashed or redesigned. As a result, the KNS Crusader were the last ship to be completed under the 2021 Naval Rebuilding Program.

[Ship Overview]
Operators: Khertland Navy
Ordered: February 28, 2023
Laid down: March 4, 2023
Commissioned: January 27, 2024

[Class Overview]
Class: Crusader
Planned: 1
Completed: 1
Preceded by: None
Succeeded by: Desidra

[General Characteristics]
Type: Light Cruiser
Displacement: 1,091,732
Volume: 37,710 m^3
Blocks: 18,450
Cost: 485,864
Overall Length: 206 m
Waterline Length: 204m
Between Perpendiculars: 188m
Beam: 23 m
Draft: 8 m
Freeboard: 5 m
Propulsion: 4 shafts powered by 2x SSE-3 8C/1/1/1/1 Mk.I 2.2K4.4
Speed: 40 knots
Endurance: 7,633 km
Turn radius: 935 m

Sensor and Processing Systems:
>1x CSST-2 m9 Mk.1 Centralized Fire Control
>1x RSS-YU-5 Mk.1 Surface Search Radar
>2x FCS-5 m5 Mk.1 Fire Control Director
>1x FCA-1 m0 Mk.1 Fire Control Director
>1x REWR-9 Mk.1 Early Warning Radar

Armament:
>3x3 152mm L/53 DPG-13 Mk.3C2
>2x1 152mm L/53 DPG-13 Mk.3A
>8x2 138mm L/65 DPG-12 Mk.2B
>2x2 76mm L/79 AAG-10 Mk.5B
>2x1 76mm L/79 AAG-10 Mk.4A
>3x2 28mm L/71 AAG-12 Mk.1B
>6x1 28mm L/71 AAG-9 Mk.1A
>2x1 05m L/8 SS-2 Mk.4A Illumination gun

Other:
>4x 9m Rowing Cutter
>7x 4m Inflatable Rafts
>2x Paravanes

Armor:
>Weather deck: None
>Main deck: 2 - 3m metal
>Main belt: 4.5 - 5.5m metal
>Bulkheads: 2 - 3m metal
>Conning tower: 3 - 6m metal
>Main barbette: 2.5m metal
>Secondary barbette: 1m metal
>Main turret face: 5m metal
>Main turret side: 1m metal
>Main turret rear: 1m metal
>Main turret roof: 0.5m metal
>Secondary turrets: 0.5 - 1.5m metal