One Thousand Tears

War effects everyone. When the call to arms was summoned, there seemed to be chaos in the streets. Griffons picking sides, and building factions. Any griffon noble took up arms and the chance to be the next ruler of the Griffon Kingdom. Now only two factions are left, and the war is going to a new front for the first time. This is where I come in.

The war has been raging for years, not only on land but at sea. I would know. Factions build up navies in a naval arms race as they were separating from the kingdom. I allied my fleet with the Royalists and the banner of Galiana Von Adler. My name is Geneve Falke, Commodore Geneve Falke, and I am the leader of the 1st Royal Cruiser Flotilla.

The final push was on to take back Griffonstone, and restore the rightful heiress to the monarchy. I am not one to predict the future, but I can see that the ships in my fleet, along with others in the Royalist Navy will clash with the Navy of the Gilda Faction. Our navies have sent the commissions and our industry has built our ships for this moment

A navy is meant to show the muscle and industrial power of a country at sea. We have built every ship imaginable to protect our waters from Gilda's Faction, and any looming threats on the horizon should the war end. We have dreadnoughts, battlecruisers, armored cruisers, light cruisers, minelayers, destroyers, torpedo boats and submarines.

I command the battlecruiser Kaiserin. She is a part of one of the strongest class of warships in Royalist Navy. She is 29,816 tons and ten 14 inch guns as her main armament, twelve 152 mm guns, eight in twin turrets and four in casemates, and eight 75mm guns. There are four vessels in her class: Kaiserin, Konigin Alexandra and the Konig Guto.

With a top speed of twenty-seven knots, she can to do everything from commerce raiding to escorting convoys and bombarding offshore batteries. Escorting us are the armored cruisers Königliche Prinzessin and Penthisilea. They are each 16,800 tons and armed with eight 10 inch guns in four turrets making them a match for any cruiser.

What makes the ship unique is there is a ten inch gun turret amidships between the first and second funnel facing forward like the fore turret. Her twenty 120mm guns are her secondary armament, and are located in the belts of the ship. These guns keep the pesky destroyers, light cruisers and torpedo boats from ruining such a nice sunny day.

We needed something fast that can deliver the support needed for ground troops, and keep up with cruisers. Not all engagements will be with the massive capital ships. Most of the time, the major battles at sea are fought on ships like mine. In my opinion, I consider our armored cruisers to be some of the most dashing cruisers on the sea today.

The other class of armored cruiser joining us is the Falkeland class. These are 17,500 ton ships, and the largest class of armored cruiser in our navy. She is armed with twelve 10 inch guns, eight 150mm guns, sixteen 88mm guns, and four torpedo tubes which are standard on all warships, sometimes a few more are added to warships like mine.

The flotilla I command consists of battlecruisers, light cruisers and armored cruisers. Our job to make sure supplies get to the troops. The war started a naval arms race with the Gilda Faction. The Gilda Faction Navy has warships called dreadnoughts. Where they have battleships, so do we running training exercises in the Löwe class battleships.

I was at her commissioning ceremony in Griffonstone Harbor when she came off the slipway just before the war, and the death of King Guto. It was the last time I ever saw him alive. The Löwe class are the first dreadnoughts to be commissioned by our navy. She is 23,000 tons with an armament of ten 14 inch guns, and a top speed of 21 knots.

These are the first vessels to be named after non-griffon monarchs. The class includes Löwe, Prinzessin Celestia, Prinzessin Luna, and Konig Grover. They are also the first warships in our history to include telephone communication systems as standard. With that, our warships replaced the morse code machine with telephones which saved lives.

Every warship has an Achilles Heel, and that is where the submarine or 'U-boat' comes into it's own. These are long range ships that provide support under the waves, and their torpedoes are just as deadly as our heavy guns. We have three U-boats giving us support: U-139, U-140, and U-141. They also act as scouts and relay us information.

The 5.9 inch deck guns give our submarines the nickname 'U-Cruiser'. The captain of U-139, Gwendoline Spear, is a friend of mine. We were not getting the call to action yet. Today was the day of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's Diamond Jubilee, and they asked us to do be in attendance, and show our naval might. I am not one to show off.

We may have powerful navies protecting the one thing in Equestria that cannot be conquered, but a warship is nothing without a crew. My crew have seen many battles since the war began. Some were victories, and some were defeats. Still they stood strong in the beak of overwhelming odds such as the battle against the battleship Queen Royal.

The dreadnought had crippled our rudders leaving us dead in the water. We did what we could to fight back. I lost many of my crew. They were still at their gun positions even in death. It was not until the armored cruiser Kronprinz came with fire support from her 10 inch guns. If she did not come to our aid, I would not be here now telling our story.

We met the Princesses of Equestria at the Royal Harbor in Cantorlot. Our ships made it through the river, and the shipping canals. The dreadnoughts Princesszin Celestia, Princesszin Luna and my battlecruiser Kaiserin were the centerpieces at the docks. I bowed before the Princesses, "Commodore, it is an honor to meet you, where is Galiana?"

"She could not be in attendance, she has informed me that she is making plans for an offensive against the Gilda Faction at Falcon Ridge, we are to provide support from the bay," I explained to her majesty, then a realized something, "oh! How rude of me, these are the commanders of the fleet," they all shook talon to hoof with the princesses.

"What business do you have with us? Surely you have not come for just the Diamond Jubilee," asked Princess Luna, I admire a monarch that wants to get straight to point of a matter. I smiled and nodded. I looked over at Princess Celestia, and noticed some similarities. She and I have the same color of fur and plumage, but I have a silver beak.

"We come to ask for aid from the Equestrian Navy, and an expeditionary force from the Army, we need all we can get to help restore the crown of the Griffon Kingdom, in return for your services, we promise peace and friendship between the Kingdom and Equestria, look into my eyes, and know my word is honest, do we have terms?" I asked.

Royalist Griffon Navy Warships

Battleships

Löwe class (Based off the Greek Battleship Salamis): Löwe, Prinzessin Celestia, Prinzessin Luna, Konig Grover
Monschau class (Based off the Austro-Hungarian Tegetthoff class): Monschau, Kaiser, Prinzessin Von Griffonstone, Brunhilda
Wotan class (A coastal defense battleship based off the semi-dreadnought Radetzky class): Wotan, Donner, Kronprinz Gunter

Battlecruisers

Kaiserin class (Based off the 1915 St. Jakobus class Battlecruiser): Kaiserin, Konigin Alexandra, Konig Guto
Gepard class (Based off the SMS Von Der Tann): Gepard, Tiger

Armored Cruisers

Königliche Prinzessin class (Based off the Armored Cruiser Rurik from 'Without Tsushima'): Königliche Prinzessin, Kronprinz
Falkeland class (Based off the Armored Cruiser Blucher with a British-style ram bow): Falkeland, Adlerland

Light and Protected Cruisers

Diana class (a protected cruiser based off the Königsberg-class cruiser (1915) with two funnels instead of three): Diana, Artemis, Amazon
Diamant class (Based off the Cöln-class cruiser): Diamant, Rubin, Amethyst, Saphir, Perle

Submarines

Large MS. Type (U-135, U-136, U-137, U-138)
Type U-139 (U-139, U-140, U-141)
UB III Type (Their biggest class of submarines in terms of numbers)

Destroyers

V170-class

Torpedo Boats

V25-class

Specialty Ships

Triton class (Based off the British M-class of submarine monitors): Triton, Hai, Seehund