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KNS Uriel DD11-16

KNS Uriel is the lead ship of its class of destroyers. The Uriel is one of the two destroyer classes Khertland intended to mass produce. The other being the Adyl-class specializing in anti-submarine warfare, but due to the Adyl's relative obsolescence, production was cut short. The Uriel predates the "Army Reforms" where the central government assigned army leadership to direct the navy modernization plans. This reform was extremely controversial due to the army leadership's lack of knowledge on naval warfare. However, the navy's 2021 modernization plan had long been troubled. The plan involved construction of a large fleet of ships which could not be justified as to their purpose and role. The navy's plan had been criticized as a wish list without any consideration of the strategic reality. In contrast, the army's modernization had been highly successful with its strategically and doctrinal focused acquisition. The Hustisiya administration wanted to replicate that success with the navy which thus far had produced underwhelming ships for its price tag. Uraeus-class for example were overweight and ineffective yet extremely expensive. The Aishmail was very capable but more expensive still and Adyl was obsolete upon its commissioning. The Illustris was the most successful ship to date but as a flotilla leader, were too large and expensive to be mass produced. Despite the poor track record, the navy proceeded with the KNS Crusader which had been deemed as a failed design. The exorbitant cost of these ships despite their questionable combat capabilities had led to the modernization funds frozen until further notice.

The "Army Reforms" sought to change this trajectory. They would not design the ships or come up with a plan, but simply oversaw the planning itself. The Army advisers had two main criticisms. The first was the navy's lack of strategic objective which led to commissioning of disparate ships and not a cohesive force that could work together and win wars. The second was the navy's refusal to accept new technologies for its designs. Meanwhile the navy believed this was a political power grab by the Hustisiya administration as most navy factions were opposed to her reforms. A intense debate occurred on whether the navy's 2021 plan be scrapped or not, and whether to accept the proposed fleet structure from army advisers. Ultimately, a compromised solution was made. The navy drafted a preliminary doctrine in which ships shall operate under. Ships under the 2021 Naval Rebuilding Program that could meet this new doctrinal requirement were kept. Ships that couldn't had to be modified in its design or be cancelled entirely. In turn, the navy are to construct a series of ships incorporating and trialing the proposed new technologies by the army leadership.

Under this new arrangement, the Uriel-class survived the program cuts. The Uriel-class were to be more adept at anti-surface and anti-aircraft warfare, and was projected to be more expensive than the Adyl-class but cheaper than flotilla leaders like the Illustris-class. However, the projected cost for the ship rapidly spiraled out of control during construction. The Khertland Navy decided to temporarily cut the class short with three ships. The KNS Uriel, Grava, and Meggidon would then form the Batch I ships. The navy was concerned about designing a completely new ship as the time required would push the new class beyond the time frame negotiated. As a result, the Uriel design was modified producing the Batch II ships or known as the Solaventus subclass.

The Uriel class in order to save weight heavily utilized electric welding and aluminum for its superstructure. Special lightweight versions of the fire control directors were also procured for the class. The hull were constructed partially with wood and reinforced by steel. The wood construction were cheaper, lighter, and easier to repair than steel hull ships. During wartime, the class could be rapidly expanded without using too much steel. To further reduce topweight, the ammunition handling for the superfiring turrets are lowered further into the hull than previous designs. This also allowed for more deck space next to the guns.

These changes was supposed to make the ships more stable but it also lowered the displacement which resulted in a shallower draft. The outcome was the center of mass remained the same relative to the center of buoyancy as it was on previous classes. Uriel ended up rolling as much if not more than the other destroyers, but in turn, it had a good dry freeboard. The lower displacement did allow for a very tight turning circle and greater fuel efficiency despite using the same engines. Other innovations included a secondary combat information center for redundancy, and safer torpedo handling equipment.

Current shipbuilding plan is to have at least 8 destroyers ready for deployment and for each one on station, one is in training, and another to be in maintenance. This led to a requirement of 24 destroyers. The Uriel-class is expected to bring a total of three ships in Batch I and 13 ships in Batch II in addition to the 8 modern destroyers currently in service. This will bring the destroyer fleet to a total of 24 ships. Due to the navy's waning interest with torpedo cruisers, there has been proposals of replacing it with another destroyer in the fleet formation. If this goes through, the planned destroyer fleet would be 36 ships. The navy has specified this is only what the surface action groups would need. Destroyers for supporting carrier battle groups and amphibious assault groups and so forth has yet been published publicly. However, the composition of the surface action group under this preliminary plan was already deemed too large to manage in practice. So outright cutting the CLT without a destroyer replacement is the likely course of action. Due to these uncertainties, the navy currently has settled on 24 destroyers for its four surface action groups for now.

KNS Uriel on its maiden voyage navigated around the continent, making 7 stops. The ship traveled with KNS Crusader, Yossarian, Adyl, Aishmail, and Uraeus to the first stop at Volsar. It continued along side KNS Adyl for the rest of the journey. It ran aground on its 5th stop at Aphelos but the damage were minimal and was repaired during its port call. The final stop was at Coldhaven before returning to Khertland.

[Ship Overview]
Operators: Khertland Navy
Ordered: February 24, 2022
Laid down: January 5, 2025
Launched: January 7, 2025
Commissioned: January 10, 2025

[Class Overview]
Class: Uriel
Planned: 16 total (3 + 13)
Completed: 16
Preceded by: KNS Aishmail
Succeeded by: Sivantse-class

[General Characteristics]
Type: Destroyer
Displacement: 163,499
Volume: 8,499 m^3
Blocks: 4,493
Cost: 152,873
Overall Length: 133 m
Waterline Length: 130.5 m
Between Perpendiculars: 129.5 m
Beam: 13 m
Draft: 4 m
Freeboard: 3m
Propulsion: 2 shafts powered by 1x SSE-3 8C/1/1/1/1 Mk.I 2.2K4.4
Speed: 45 knots
Endurance: 6,186 km
Turn radius: 476 m

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

Armament:
>5x2 138mm L/65 DPG-12 Mk.2B
>4x1 28mm L/71 AAG-9 Mk.1A
>4x1 05m L/8 SS-2 Mk.4A Illumination gun
>2x Quintuple Torpedo Launcher

Other:
>1x 9m Rowing Cutter
>1x Paravanes

Armor:
>Main deck: 1m metal
>Main barbette: 1m metal
>Main turret face: 1m metal