DNS Flandre

DNS Flandre was the second of three H-Class super heavy battleships used in the history of Nordland.

Commission
In 1938, with the war against Mazovia on the horizon, Wolf began initiating reforms to the Kriegsmarine. Based on Mazovia’s increasing relations with Britain, he determined that the Mazovians, if in a desperate situation, may call upon the British to sweep through the channel using their battleships as spearheads and perform a crushing naval invasion into the heart of Nordland. Due to this concern, he commissioned two GroBer Kurfurst class ships to be built in the dockyards of Wilhelmshaven. Their purpose would be to act as juggernauts when facing multiple British battleships. The doctrine Wolf selected for his Kriegsmarine was that of “it’s cheaper to build one super strong battleship than it is to build 10 medium ones.”

Design
Her design stems from the old GroBer Kurfurst, as the original Kurfurst was sunk in a last stand battle back in the December war, however she had a few modifications, such as more anti aircraft. Flandre stood as the second biggest ship in the community, beating the Yamato by a few meters, however falling short to the Bayerische super-battleship the BYS Tubbyboy, which is the largest ship in the community to this day. On her stern, she bears the early war TKSO coat of arms, which was only implemented on a few ships.

She has four dual 350mm turrets lining her hull from front to back, and on her

Service
Final construction of Flandre was completed after the war had already started, though she was still ahead of her time. She was commissioned to the Cold Water fleet on January 2nd, 1940, under the command of []commander.[] Though she was the biggest ship in the Nordic, fleet, she was not in fact the flagship, but served as an escort to the Edward Hyde prior to her transfer to North Africa.

English Channel
Flandre’s service in the English channel was short lived compared to what Wolf had expected. Through use of code-breaking techniques, the Nordic Naval Intelligence discovered that the British were in fact not planning on launching a direct invasion of the country, but rather opening a global offensive in Africa. Due to this, she scarcely encountered British ships, only a few instances occurring in total of encounters with British cruisers and Mazovian destroyers.

There was, however, one encounter in the Baltic sea, in which Flandre was escorting Hyde back from a mission in the East Baltics. A Russian-built Mazovian cruiser, the PMS MonJacques, fired a salvo of 6 torpedoes at the two approaching ships. By the time either ship spotted the approaching torpedos, it was determined that it would be too late to evade. At this, Flandre’s commander, who wasn’t about to let the nation’s flagship sink a year into the war, ordered an immediate starboard turn to shield Hyde. She turned broadside to the torpedos, causing a collision with Hyde, however successfully managing to block the four torpedoes that hit. Two missed, but she still sustained heavy damage and flooding. She was able to assist hyde in finishing off the cruiser with her secondaries, and the flooding was able to be temporarily repaired until she returned to Wilhelmshaven, where the committee then decided to install heavy torpedo shields to her lower hull.

After it was determined there was no clear threat in the English channel, and with the Africa campaign raging on, Flandre was re-assigned to Nordland’s colonial fleet, preparing to take part in Operation Amputate. Before she left for north africa, however, the design committee decided to beef her anti-aircraft capabilities, equipping her with new and more capable cannons.

Battle of the Alboran Sea
The primary battle of Operation Amputate was the battle of the Alboran sea, in which DNS Flandre is most notable and decorated for. She earned her legacy in this battle by sinking a whopping 7 British battleships, 3 British cruisers, and 6 British and Mazovian destroyers. Her anti-aircraft batteries downed an estimated 130 British fighters and torpedo bombers during the duration of the battle.

Her ability to sustain herself during the battle was completely due to her high AAA defense rating. During the battle, she sustained some damage. Her forward turret was knocked out by the King George V, and she received an astounding amount of damage to her superstructure, the damage to her hull was surprisingly low, however, which is what most likely kept her afloat after taking all those hits. Due to her commander’s quick decision making, she was only hit by a single torpedo on her stern.