Sometimes I take a very long break from flying and spacegoing ships to play with ones that just float, and this is one of them. I originally designed the Zama class as a Ticonderoga CG equivalent, but I lost that design about a year ago. While I was reading about pre-dreadnought battleships and the Zumwalt, specifically about their tumblehome hulls, and got my own inspiration for a new ship, moving the Roman Navy in more of a gunnery direction with rail guns. My pet project for the past month or so has been imagining how modern navies will adapt to the railgun, which offers long-range anti-ship firepower and naval gun support in a lightweight package that is much faster than a missile, specifically in bringing the battleship back. I drew up a design for a battleship and meant for this to be something of an interim ship to test out the feasibility of railguns in a naval combat zone. Anyone who wants to talk about this in the comments please feel free, I'm genuinely interested in exploring this. Anyway, let's get to the good stuff.

Specs:

Class: Zama-class
Type: Heavy Guided Missile Cruiser (Designation CAG)
Manufacturer: Flavian Naupegi (Ostia and Portus Julius Naval Yards)
First Commissioned: 3/30/2016
Length: 212m
Width: 27m
Height: 39m
Armament:

• 1 155-mm Advanced Gun System (AGS) Naval Gun
  
• 2 RWT Dynamics Mk1 Mod 1 Railguns (25MW Output)
  
• 2 RWT Dynamics Mk56 57mm Gun Turrets
  
• 106 Mk42 VLS Cells Capable of Holding RIM-162 Evolved Sea Dart Anti Ship Missiles, BGM-109T Tactical Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, or Mk17 Mod 3 Anti-Submarine Rockets (ASROC)
  
• 3 Vulcan Phalanx CIWS Gun System
  
• 1 RWT Dynamics Mk3 Mod 5 "Fulmen" Free-Electron Laser CIWS (5MW Output)
  

Top Speed: 40 kn
Powerplant: 2Uranus Technologies CC40 Gas Turbine Generators (40MW each). 2 Uranus Technologies CM4 Gas Turbine Generators (4 MW each). Thrust provided by 3 Uranus Technologies MCE-40 Electric Motors (88 MW total)
Propulsion: 3 shafts connected to 4-bladed controllable pitch propellors.
Displacement: 40,000 Metric Tons
Commissioned Ships (aka "Look I can Google history things"):

• IRS Zama (CAG-200)
  
• IRS Actium (CAG-201)
  
• IRS Mylae (CAG-202)
  
• IRS Sulci (CAG-203)
  
• IRS Aegaeo Mari (CAG-204)
  
• IRS Eurymedon (CAG-205)
  
• IRS Tenedos (CAG-206)
  
• IRS Naulochus (CAG-207)
  
• IRS Cape Ecnomus (CAG-208)
  
• IRS Aegates (CAG-209)
  
• IRS Leyte (CAG-210
  
• IRS Mare Hadriaticum (CAG-211)
  
• IRS Tangier Bay (CAG-212)
  
• IRS Sicilia (CAG-213)
  
• IRS Cannae (CAG-214)
  
• IRS Weser (CAG-215)
  
• IRS Ebro (CAG-216)
  
• IRS Sardinia (CAG-217)
  
• IRS Utica (CAG-218)
  
• IRS Metaurus (CAG-219)
  
• IRS Ilipa (CAG-220)
  
• IRS Insulae Egadi (CAG-221)
  

Crew: 160 (145 enlisted, 25 officers)
Maximum Range: 3,000 nautical miles without recharge.
Cost: 120 million denarii (At $190 USD to 1 denarius)
Auxiliary Vehicles:

• 1 Triton Naupegi Mk5 Riverine Command Boat<
  
• 2 Triton Naupegi 13m Utility Boats
  
• Triton Naupegi 11m Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats
  
• 2 Triton Naupegi Mk2 Life Boats
  
• 2 MQ-6 Excursor Helicopter Drones
  
• 1 SH-80 Belgae Utility Helicopter
  

Research into the railgun by RWT Dynamics immediately caught the eye of the Roman military, specifically the Navy, who was looking for a way to surpass advanced Carthaginian laser CIWS systems. While originally developed to be a long ranged and relatively low cost weapon system for ship-to-shore fire support, naval strategists immediately began adapting it to anti-ship. The advantages of the railgun well exceeded the disadvantages of a complicated development and high power requirement, as a ship could carry many rounds without worrying about explosives, the rounds were extremely fast and could pack a lot of punch without much size, and their immense speed enabled essentially massive range direct fire. Even the most powerful Carthaginian CIWS was inadequate, as even if it could intercept the round in time and melt it, the ship would still be hit by molten slag flying at Mach 6 or faster as opposed to a whole projectile. The dream of these strategists, currently in dry dock under secret construction, was bringing back the battleship. The IRS Augustus,, the first battleship to be built in almost 80 years, will not be done for a while, but the Romans hope use their huge lead in railgun technology to keep them ahead of both Carthage and the Caliphate. As if to add icing on the cake, decades of ships not fighting each other led to most modern combat vessels being lightly armored at best. An old battleship could shred a modern destroyer, provided it could get close enough without being sunk by missiles. The railgun provides a way to have this firepower without worrying about one's projectile being shot down. The Zama-class was the Navy's first major venture into railgun technology, and will serve as a testbed for further development to ensure all nine of the Augustus's guns will be the most effective.

The Zama was designed as an interim warship, a secret testbed for the main weapons of a new generation of naval warships while still fulfilling all of the tactical requirements of a contemporary vessel. Visually very similar to the Zumwalt-class of the USA's Navy, Zama was not developed specifically as a stealth ship, and thus has a radar signature only the size of a Marcus Lurius-class LCS despite being 20 meters longer than the Zumwalt, which shows up as a fishing boat. (Due to the Lurius's own stealth features, a good rule of thumb for radar is if it's the size of an LCS, it probably isn't one.) Equipped with missile cells, dual railguns, a 155mm Advanced Gun System providing additional powerful long range gunnery, a laser CIWS, and two 30mm gun turrets for more powerful close-in defense, the Zama is easily one of the most heavily armed ships on the sea today, and is the only other ship designated "heavy cruiser" aside from the aging Carthaginian Hamilcar-class ships, the other candidate for most heavily armed. They however have inferior radar and fire control systems, and thus are a small threat to the Zama. To keep up with the transition to littoral operations, the Zama-class is also capable, albeit not on its own. The ship carries two RHIBs and a Riverine Command Boat on a steam catapult, although the vessel is usually launched by the crane above it. The RCB and its accompanying Naval Riverine Squadron provide a brown water capability to a blue water ship. With two drone helicopters to provide reconnaissance and close air support, RHIBs for SOF insertions, and the RCB for more firepower in a river, the Zama is in essence a "QRF in a box." While expensive, the Roman Navy considered the ship useful enough in almost every field to order one for every Cape Ecnomus-class guided missile cruiser that previously filled those roles as they were speedily retired, the last coincidentally stricken upon the commissioning of the new IRS Cape Ecnomus. Despite not being perfect, as some critics have brought up the use of the tumblehome hull for a ship not intended to be stealthy, and suffering a momentary power loss if the railguns and laser CIWS fire at the same time, the Zama-class is powerful and capable enough to hold its own against most ships of hostile nations.

Reception of the Zama among Rome's enemies and friends has been mixed, as usual. Allies like the Shogunate of Japan, USA, and Britannia eagerly admired the vessel's sea trials and actions, such as the Actium's shelling and missile bombardment of Caliphate and Caliphate-backed Pan-Persian State forces in the Middle East in support of the League of Nations peacekeeping operation and the sinking of the retired supercarrier Julius Caesar in minutes by the Zama and Leyte. Carthage reacted with accusations of deliberate preparations for war with them, citing the railgun and the fact that most of the ships are named after Roman naval victories against Carthage specifically, although the Roman Navy has dismissed these claims. China and the Caliphate reacted with suspicion, and are expected to begin their own research into railgun technology in the near future. While some fear the introduction of the Zama started the railgun arms race, not the eventual introduction of Rome's secret battleship-shaped trump card, until then the Zama has and will continue to hold its own in naval combat.

I love descriptions.