Type: Naval Warfare Service
Size:
12 main ships, numerous patrol craft
Prefix: "H.M.S."
Flagship:
HMS Queen Ainsley I
Her Majesty's Royal Navy, the Royal Pyrrhian Navy, or also sometimes called the Pyrrhian Naval Force, is the naval warfare service branch of the Pyrrhian Armed Forces, and the navy of the Kingdom of Pyrrhia. For a time, the RPN was the smallest navy to have an Aircraft Carrier in service, and was largely a coastal defense force operating in the littoral waters and the territorial area of Pyrrhia, along with occasional cruises further out, but thus far always accompanied by allied ships of larger size.
The Pyrrhian Navy traces it's origins back to the original MRD Navy and the Dauntless Navy, both of which are direct predecessors in nationality to Pyrrhia. The Pyrrhian Navy participated in the Second Great Prairie War, with the HMS Goosenought present at the decisive Battle of the Governor's Cape and the surrender of the UNSC Fleet.
Following the war, the Pyrrhian Navy joined the SPATO joint naval force and central command, (NAVCOM) as Pyrrhia entered the alliance.
In the modern context, the Royal Pyrrhian Navy has seen it's small size as a relative weakness, and has the goal of becoming a partial blue-water navy. Plans for the future increased Navy Size include new cruisers and frigates, along with more coastal patrol vessels. It has, however, no plans to decommission the Goosenaught despite her old age. She was supplemented by a much larger and more capable carrier, named HMS Queen Ainsley I.
The Pyrrhian Navy has it's oldest history in the New Olympus Naval Militia, founded while the future Pyrrhian Queen, Ainsley Wall, was the Federation President. During that time, the Naval Militia built ships alongside the New Archton Naval Facilities of Gateway.
During the First Despa War, the newly-created Midnight Navy was largely a major failure, as it's only battleship, the MRS Midnight was never launched, and was heavily damaged on the stocks by Federation Air Power. The two cruisers it had were both sunk in the Independence River Skirmish, and it's patrol ships failed to stop the advancing Federation forces.
Following the first Despa War, Crimson Dusk joined the MRD, and as such the MRD gained major shipbuilding advances. The MRDS Midway and Forrestal, the largest aircraft carriers in the history of the Sun Prairie Nations, were now in the service of the MRD and it was the design of these ships that would inspire the construction of the future MRDS Goosenaught. With this, the MRD had an effective carrier force of five carriers, with the two light carriers built by the Despan Shipyards. Despite this, the Second Despa War ended in a defeat for the MRD Navy and the MRD as a whole collapsed during the war. This left the now independent Dauntless Navy with only three patrol ships and the Goosenaught.
The patrol ships, named the Lightning, Speeder, and President were far too old to actually remain in service, and so they were decommissioned. By the end of the Dauntless nation, only the Goosenaught was serviceable, held up to an extremely high standard by the government.
As the Second Great Prairie War began, the Kingdom of Pyrrhia was just forming, but the (now re-designated) HMS Goosenaught was hauled out of her drydock and, thanks to both Federation and Despan engineers, heavily upgraded and modernized. During the war, the Goosenaught saw action in the Battle of Mendotan Bay, during which her fighters engaged the frigate UNSC Rydonian Rap City, but with no major damage. As the oldest and slowest ship in the main carrier battle line, the Goosenaught was sometimes seen as a liability by the Allied fleet commanders, and so when the F.W.S. Ronald Reagan arrived in the Battle Fleet she was placed in port.
However, in the major fleet deployment of the UNSC Grand Fleet caused the Goosenaught to see action once again at the Battle of the Governor's Cape. During this battle, she assisted in the sinking of her rival, the Rydonian Rap CIty and her strike group was the first to engage the flagship, UNSC Destructor. Later in the same battle, Goosenaught was struck by two torpedoes from the destroyer UNSC Firestorm and took a missile hit to her port side from the cruiser UNSC Spirit of FIre. Despite this, the ship somehow managed to limp away from the battle where the USS Token Springs, a fleet tugboat, hauled her back to port.
The Current Day Pyrrhian Navy fields only four ships, two of which are named. This makes the Pyrrhian Navy the smallest navy in the SPN to field an Aircraft Carrier.
HMS Queen Ainsley I (the first) is a much larger and more capable vessel than the Goosenaught and could very well replace her. However, the navy has no plans to do so. The ship, named after the current reigning monarch, Queen Ainsley Wall, the QA1 was built by Gatway Co and commissioned on the 20th of July 2020, shortly after Goosenaught's cruise with the Federation Fleet.
The Flagship of the fleet, HMS Goosenaught has been in service for almost 25 months, making her not only the oldest active ship in the Pyrrhian Fleet, but also the oldest primary combatant of any navy in the SPN. The ship is considered one of the most decorated naval warships in the SPN's History, despite the ship never originally being intended to outlast the Midway class they were based on.
In July 2020, the Pyrrhian Government announced that the ship would be under greater scrutiny, after a successful but highly difficult cruise along with USS Exeter and USS Bonaventure.
The frigate USS Maughan and the Littoral Frigates USS Calvinia, Shorewood Hills, and New Anchorage were transferred to Pyrrhia under the names Warspite, Tsunami, Auklet, and Anemone.
The newest vessel of the Pyrrhian Navy, and only the fourth ship to ever be commissioned by the Kingdom, HMS Sommerset is the first of her class of Patrol Frigates built by Gateway Co. for various other navies. Sommerset is the backdrop flag vessel for Pyrrhia, meaning that in the event of the loss or incapacitation of the Goosenaught the Sommerset would be the new flagship.
The Pyrrhian Navy also fields two patrol ships, built in the UNSC and acquired after the Second Great Prairie War.
The RPN has a fleet of three attack submarines, built in the Federation for the Dauntless Navy shortly before the nation ended. All three are in full operational capacity.