ZNS Imperator Drekevak (CVN-22)

ZNS Imperator Drekevak Thunderking-class aircraft carrier
Imperator Drekevak underway, 2198
Operation History
Builder		Freetowne Shipyards
Laid Down		February 27th, 2142
Launched		August 2nd, 2143
Commissioned		January 23rd, 2144
Homeport		Ezekialgrad, Zokesia

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The ZNS Imperator Drekevak (CVN-22) is a Thunderking-Class carrier, designed by the Orion Empire, and constructed in Freetowne Shipyards, Zokesia. She is the 1st Zokesian ship to bear the name of Imperator Drekevak, Emperor of Zokesia 842-966. The flagship of the 1st Zokesian Naval Task Force based in Ezekielgrad, Zokesia, Imperator Drekevak has seen service in the Strelkan Crisis and nearly a dozen exercises over her 16 year career.

Service History

Construction and Sea Trials

ZNS Imperator Drekevak was the second of two Thunderking-class carriers built for the Zokesian Royal Navy. The class featured dual hydraulic elevators allowing aircraft to be stowed below deck, much like previous fleet carriers, and incorporated a considerably larger landing area thanks to its angled flight deck. Equipped with six CIWS defense turrets and dual LANTRN-Lazer pods for missile evasion, the ship was heavily defended at the immediate close range while sacrificing medium and long range missile capability. As such, the carrier was designed with an escort force in mind, designed to keep enemy aircraft, missiles, and ships as far from the ship as possible in the event of conflict. Her primary combat weapon was her fighter and bomber wings. With a capacity of 80-100 fighters, and reduced numbers of bombers, the class was the largest fleet carrier ever constructed at the time, and ought weighed by factors of two to three fleet carriers from just a few decades prior.

Imperator Drekevak underway in the Central Sea, 2180s.

The ship's initial contract was signed as far back as 2135, when the Zokesian budget for shipbuilding was at an all time high.

Unfortunately, with the Great Kolusian Dust Bowl of 2136, funding was slashed and the order was shelved for several years, with the first carrier's hull finally being laid down in December of 2139, as the Green party president Herbert Mundarius was on his way out of office and the pro-military spending John Kallan Kurrman was just taking office. Still, the lingering economic recession meant of the initial budget of 4 fleet carriers, only two would ever be built in Freetowne Shipyards, the Emperor Zeroth and her sister, ZNS Imperator Drekevak.

CVN-22 Imperator Drekevak undergoing sea trials, 2144

Construction began while the Zokesian civil war was still raging, and the need for a second carrier was dire following the theft of the Gordon S. Kirman in May. The war ended before she was complete, and her shakedown cruise went without a hitch as many of her crew had allready trained on her sister, the ZNS Emperor Zeroth.

The Strelkan Crisis

The unrest that sparked in 2144 in Strelka meant the Imperator Drekevak was deployed to Slen to patrol the waters in reaction to both mercenaries fighting in the internal struggle as well as deter foreign powers from meddling with Kafrican affairs. Working closely with the Morser class battleships that were left in service, the operation and fleet coordination formed a reliable and capable air-sea operations force which would sow the seeds for the future for the Zokesian Royal Navy, when war brewed in the east.

As part of 1st Task Force, Imperator Drekevak has spent much of her career in the Tau sea supporting allied powers, performing naval exercises, and performing neutral sea passages without incident.

Defense of Chikushinal

After Weeks of rhetoric being thrown around by Kafrican president Blimp Drimp, an assault on Chikushinal was ordered by the disgraced president on January 16th, 2205. The first Kafrican tanks began lining up on the border with Chikushinal. Led by a dogmatic lunatic, the Kafrican Army was acting on its own, defying the legitimate government's orders to halt. Drimp was going to try to take Chikushinal back from the Zokesians, and all hell was about to break loose.

In the command center of Naval Air Station Fournloke, Vice Admiral John Hershen went over the final touches on the operation. A pre-emptive retaliatory strike to decapitate Kafrican warfighting and prevent invasion of Chikushinal. It was unknown if the Air Force had also defected with Drimp but John "Mad Sahren" Hershen was taking no chances. In 30 minutes, operations would commence. Operation Red Rocket began in the dawn hours, with KZ-20J AWACS and EF-4 Skyshields took up stations over Task Force 91, as Z-41s and Z-81s of VFQ-103 "Jolly Rogers" and VFA-32 "Bombcats" roard into the morning sky. B-52s from NAS Fournloke split into groups of 5 and began tracking east and west, covered by Z-41s of VFQ-6 "Vipers". First Blood went to the 20 Z-81 Boggers attacking Diosca International Airport. Encountering no hostile aircraft, the Z-41s flew topcover as the Boggers bored in, unleashing AGM-65 ER standoff precision weapons, eliminating anti-air defenses and damaging the airbase, though not enough to render it inoperative. The capture of Diosca International was performed by the 21st Airborne, inserting Special forces onto the island and securing the airbase for Zokesian use. The 10 B-52s lined up on their targets. Below them, vast swaths of Kafrican cities, and directly in front, large factory complexes. These factories would be vital to a continued war effort and the strike today would cripple Drimp's ability to wage continued war should he fail. The B-52s released 50 Mk84 2000lb bombs on the targets, leaving a bombed out ruin nearly half a mile long over the targets. The firestorm consumed everything in its path below.

In the west, Stahlsieg aircraft hit hard the Kafrican units along the western border. Z-80s, ZH-66 DAP attack helos ripped into the tanks. In the east, the Zokesian Marine Corps struck at Kafrican tanks, their Z-40 Harriers performing low altitude precision bombing runs on heavily defended targets, taking horrific losses. The Zokesian Marine Corps lost 10 Harriers and 20 ZAH-1s at the cost of 50-60 enemy tanks. One Z-40 pilot, 1st LT Carmen Nadon, took heavy fire and resulted in the loss of the engine of the Harrier. Instead of ditching, 1st LT Nadon flew her crippled Z-40 into the flak again, dropping the rest of her ordinance and destroying two enemy tanks before bailing out. Recovered by friendly forces but badly burned, 1st LT Carmen Nadon was awarded the Ellanic Cross, the nation's highest award for Valor in combat. By the end of the Operation, Red Rocket had accounted for nearly 60 enemy ground units, 2 factories, and the capture of Diosca and her vital airport.