Gracia de Régne
The ARC Gracia de Régne is the lead and only ship of her class, serving as the flagship of the Royal Corric Armada (Armada de Réal Corric). Built in 1968 as a planned first of three new helicopter cruisers for the First Fleet of the ARC, budget constraints necessitated only the single ship be finished.
 ARC Gracia de Régne exiting Porta Armada in 2005 | |
| General characteristics | |
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| Type: | Helicopter Cruiser |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 182 m (597 ft) |
| Beam: | 24 m (79 ft) |
| Draft: | 8 m (26 ft) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 28 kn (52 km/h; 32 mph) |
| Range: | 3,000 nmi (5,600 km) at 16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: | 4 × RHIB |
| Complement: | 200 marines, 100 passengers |
| Crew: | 31 officers, 182 petty officers, 417 quartermasters and sailors, 40 pilots, 50 cadet officers |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
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| Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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| Armament: |
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| Armor: | 1 cm |
| Aircraft carried: |
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| Aviation facilities: | Flight deck and enclosed hangar underneath with 2 elevators, space for 10 aircraft |
Serving as a humanitarian aid escort and the official naval conveyance of King Sebastián II in peacetime, the ship is able to serve as a front-line combatant in war. It can fulfil a variety of roles, but is usually tasked with air defense and anti-submarine duties.
Despite talks in the Armada to replace her with a new class of guided missile cruiser, the Gracia remains in service in large part due to her aircraft carrying capabilities, which at 10 helicopters is the largest naval aircraft complement in the ARC.
Design & Development
Gracia de Régne was conceived as part of the Naval Large-Scale Surface Combatant Program, which set out to address the Armada’s lack of either a cruiser-tonnage class of combat vessel or aircraft carriers. Selected out of four designs and built entirely domestically by Arma Nautico shipyards, the Gracia class of helicopter cruisers were initially designed to be a multi-mission class.
Included in armament were four 100mm deck guns, four surface-to-air missile launchers, two multi-use missile cells, and space for 200 marines and 6 helicopters.
Later upgrades after the ship was completed was the removal of two deck guns to make room for CIWS systems, an addition of four missile cells, and removing the storage and launchers for the SAMs to expand the helicopter hanger to accomodate 2 more aircraft.
While initially projected to cost $2.870 billion per ship, the Gracia class ran into budget overruns since much of the technology for the fire-control systems and anti-ship missiles was underdeveloped for the Armada. After designs were researched, it was concluded that importing the necessary systems would be cheaper, though this required a further restructuring of portions of the ship.
Costs wound up totalling $4.621 billion for the first hull alone, and the Armada Procurement Bureau cut the contract down to that single ship. Gracia de Régne would be commissioned on the first of August, 1970, after a year and two months of trials. King Benito Ares headed the ceremony to name the ship.
Named for the ‘Grace of the Crown,’ the ship automatically became the ship that the reigning monarch of Cassilo y Real would travel aboard. The Crown reserved the use of the largest and most powerful warship of the nations’ fleet for their personal conveyance in the First Constitution, and so the designers included a stateroom in the aft superstructure that mimics old sailing ship suites.
Capabilities
The mission profile intended for the Gracia reflects her multirole capabilities.
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Her Bolotor-99 missile cells can be loaded for tactical strikes against sea or ground targets up to 150 km away, or for both long-range interception and close-in defense against enemy aircraft or missiles.
Her Guacamayo TEA-04 CIWS turrets can provide additional screening air defense capabilities, with the radar and fire control systems capable of tracking up to 10 simultaneous air targets at ranges of 25 km. Along with the crew operated machine guns, the CIWS are effective against medium and soft surface targets.
The 100mm HeFiSys-5 cannons allow for tactical engagement and bombardment at a range of 12 km. They are specifically recommended for naval surface combat and cover for amphibious landings. The cannons are rated as a secondary-line air defense if necessary, bridging the gap between the anti-air missiles and the CIWS.
The helicopter complement can be used in conjunction with the SSPP 9A sonar for anti-submarine duties, as well as transport of troops and search-and-rescue. The hangar and deck facilities can store up to 6 heavy helicopters, or 10 light ones, and handle launching and landing of up to 3 at a time. Two elevators are built-in to the flight deck to move aircraft between the hangar and the launching pads.
The Gracia can operate as part of a battlegroup, or independently for long periods of time thanks to her large storage capabilities. Her age prevents any more modern upgrades to her systems and armaments, which limits her strategic impact and long-range operating capabilities.
Replacement
The Armada Procurement Bureau has proposed several times to design or commission a new class of warship to replace the Gracia, citing her age and armament.
The vessel is fully functional and has a proposed service lifetime of up to 2035, but increasing costs of maintenance and the fact that the hull cannot reasonably fit more up-to-date weapons systems has caused some flag officers to recommend the Gracia be retired.
Proposals for a replacement include a dedicated aircraft or helicopter carrier, or a class of guided missile cruisers.
These initiatives rarely get past the informal proposal stage due to estimated costs far outweighing the current budgetary allowances to keep the Gracia functioning.
Operational History
The Gracia underwent a year and two months of sea trials, testing her various systems, training her crew, and undergoing several refits before her official naming and commissioning in 1970. This shakedown tour took the vessel through the Concordian Ocean and back.
In October 1972 the Gracia was deployed on a humanitarian aid mission, carrying food and medical supplies to nations affected by the 1972 Gondwanan Earthquake.
The first instance of true combat that the ship faced came in 1979, during the Corric Succession Crisis. Former Crown Prince Astolfo threatened armed conflict if his father King Benito Ares did not reinstate his status, intending to do so with the garrison at Armada Port Francisco.
The king made the decision to travel aboard the Gracia to the naval base to discuss the matter with his son. The ship was met outside the harbor by the ARC Hernando de Numia, an older Rége Philípé-class frigate that Prince Astolfo had commandeered. The prince threatened to have the warship fire its missile battery upon the town if his father did not surrender.
The king ultimately decided to have the Gracia fire upon the Hernando de Numia. The main guns of the cruiser disabled the smaller warship by destroying the bridge, and an Avia anti-ship missile sunk the frigate. The Gracia sustained a hit from the 50 mm gun aboard the Hernando de Numia, but the more modern armor prevented significant damage. As a trial-by-fire against a significant surface combatant, the cruiser passed with flying colors.
This event has added some superstition to the Gracia de Regne. The filicide of Prince Astolfo by the order of King Benito Ares and at the guns of the Gracia affords the ship a semi-cursed status by servicemembers of the Armada. It is said that one must be careful if serving aboard her, or else the Gracia will ask one to do terrible things in defense of the nation. There is no argument that while the Succession Crisis continued for several more weeks, the initial removal of Prince Astolfo took the legitimacy from the insurrection.
In 1987, when King Benito Ares abdicated the throne, the Gracia was his transport during the coastal portion of his farewell tours to the major towns and cities of the nation. It further transported then-Crown Prince Sebastián from the city of Porta Tranquila to Barreale at the mouth of the Río Dorado, which he would further travel up aboard ARC Garra to his coronation at Eleçeron
The second combat deployment of the Gracia was during the hijacking of the CB Minimo in 1995. The ship deployed the helicopters tasked with intercepting the merchant vessel. It remained on-station for radar tracking and operational support, during which it dispatched a fleeing pirate vessel with long-range cannon fire.