| Battleship Karlsruhe | |
 |
|
| Owner | |
| Rheinland Federalists | |
| Status | |
| Wreck | |
| Location | |
| 3C, Stuttgart |
CLASS: Westfalen
CREW: N/A
ARMAMENT: N/A
The Battleship Karlsruhe was completed in 813 AS alongside its sister ships Westfalen and Koblenz. Intended to revitalize the chronically under-equipped Rheinland Military, the Karlsruhe was deployed to Stuttgart in response to escalating LWB and Red Hessian attacks on Planet Stuttgart’s orbit. The Karlsruhe’s Marines were frequently deployed to execute arrest warrants against suspected LWB activists on the planet, leading to complaints from both the sidelined RFP and concerned progressive politicians. The captain of the Karlsruhe traditionally held a well-compensated seat on the Stuttgart Grower’s Association (WVS), while many officers moonlighted as Synth Foods security consultants.
The battleship saw no significant action until the Rheinland Civil War, avoiding deployment during the Hudson and Saigon Wars thanks to Stuttgart lobbying. Caught entirely unaware by the Imperial coup, the vessel was forced to fight off mutinous elements of its own battlegroup, before fleeing to Cologne to escape the approaching Battleship Altenburg. The Karlsruhe eventually withdrew to Zurich, after being forced from Cologne by the Red Hessian conquest. The Gallic Confederation demanded the Westfalen's internment for the duration of the conflict in an attempt to avoid being drawn into their neighbor’s dispute. Following months of difficult negotiations, the Westfalen’s captain eventually secured resupply and permission to depart from the Battleship Le Fierte, on the terms that the battlegroup only be used to attack the Red Hessians and reopen the Alsace Passage for neutral trade.
Despite this, the Karlsruhe immediately set a course for Stuttgart, avoiding Red Hessian positions. Having received orders to launch a diversionary attack in support of the Federalist summer offensive of 827 AS, the Karlsruhe’s reappearance immediately drew Imperial reinforcements from New Berlin and the Omegas. In the Battle of the Nordnebel, the Battleships Altenburg and Westfalen finally pinned the Karlsruhe, which ultimately sacrificed itself to enable the survivors of its battlegroup to escape. In the years since the Civil War, ALG has worked to decontaminate the outskirts of the Nordnebel, and recover the most sensitive pieces of military wreckage.