Covassna Battleship
The Covassna was the first battleship design ever developed by the Solassi Republic. As with much of the early explosion of Solassi military development the decision to build this first battleship was induced by the unexpected arrival of the Ukal Combine. The overwhelming superiority of the Ukal cruisers impressed upon the Solassi the inferiority of their own ships and technologies. The Solassi pursued numerous projects in an attempt to solve this problem. One of these was the development of a 'super-cruiser' design that would be more powerful than any other ship in their fleet. It would take over ten years to go from the commissioning of the first design schematics to the production of the Covassna prototype before the Solassi would realize their goal.
The Covassna Battleship put special emphasis on heavy armor. The Solassi hoped that the heavier armor belts on the Covassna would give it an edge in combat and improve its survivability in battle. The decision to install heavy armor on the Covassna was dictated by combat performance just as much as economics. The young Solassi Republic simply could not afford to build large numbers of 'throwaway' starships. Given the speed of new ship construction it would take two years to replace the loss of even a single heavy cruiser, five for a battleship.
The ship's armament was varied in hopes that a mix of available weapon technologies would be able to handle any potential enemy. Again, the Solassi could not afford specialist ship designs and they needed their battleship to be able to stand against anything thrown at her in battle.
The Covassna was initially armed with light particle beams, but particle projectors later replaced these weapons. The light particle beams were foreign technologies that relied on Ukal contractors to maintain, and their higher rate of fire did not warrant their much higher maintenance expense. The Covassna Battleship saw several other minor refits over its service history, though very few were as comprehensive as the light particle beam overhaul.
The prestige of the Covassna Battleship tarnished over time as the Republic deployed newer warships. It soon became evident to military planners that the Covassna Battleship was no longer any better than one of their heavy cruisers in firepower and durability. The design had been rendered obsolete by the Solassi's rapid technological development.
The Solassi's five Covassna Battleships were rotated back home and mothballed. They were reactivated to take part in the Ghotekhen/Solassi War and only three of the five battleships survived that conflict. Two of these were scrapped due to the severity of the damage they had received. The last Covassna was not put back into mothballs but was instead converted into a permanent naval museum celebrating the early space history of the Solassi. The museum was later destroyed during the Great War.
Covassna Battleship - SCS