Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

October 5728 (backdated)

The Imperial Luthorian Navy is exceptionally pleased today as the Emperor and Empress officially launched the first Type-24 destroyer built (in large part) by Reynolds Heavy Industries. The ceremony was notably attended by Hugo Asquith-Churchill, the Secretary of State for Defence, Joseph Lowe, the Secretary of State for Naval Affairs, Mark Houghton, CEO of Reynolds Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Reynolds Heavy Industries and finally overall Reynolds CEO and billionaire Lydia Reynolds in a grand display of Luthorian military renewal and power.

His Majesty and Her Majesty arrived at Briarford, Shipleyriding to attend the ceremony held at the Reyonlds-held naval dockyard in which the first Type-67 destroyer had been built. 

Her Majesty the Empress, while visibly physically weakened after years of public service for the nation, officially named the new ship as HMS Yellow Marble, under the applause from the crowd.

His Majesty the Emperor made a speech after the ship’s official inauguration, the monarch said that the ship was a “powerful symbol of our [Luthori’s] continued resilience and willingness to step up in light of the crises that surround our fair land,” he said. The Emperor continued by congratulating and thanking the numerous workers that were involved in the project, notably saying: “We shouldn’t forget that without the tireless and most exquisite involvement from every party, that ship that we are today inaugurating, wouldn’t even exist.”

Admiral Todd King, Chief of the Naval Staff addressed the crowd shortly after the Emperor did, in his speech, he outlined the objectives of the Imperial Luthorian Navy with the addition of new equipment at its disposal. He stated that the Imperial Navy, with the addition of the new Type-24 destroyer, the Imperial Navy will begin the process of decommissioning the relatively old and aging Type-67 destroyers, besides that, the Imperial Navy will look towards “reinforcing” current deployments with modern ships rather than creating new deployment orders.

“Our aim with the slow and steady replacement of our ships is to reinforce our current deployments orders first and foremost, later we’ll look with the increased number of ships at our disposal to reinforce other areas in the world where Luthori isn’t as present and where security is left to be desired.”

The ceremony was concluded by a speech by Defence Secretary Asquith, as while his government is currently embroiled in controversy after the Prime Minister’s “secret” holiday in Cildania and her failure to appropriately answer the grievances of the nation’s representatives in the Imperial Diet about her behaviour left her government in a difficult position, he, personally isn’t in such a difficult state, having narrowly avoided government cuts to the military in the first Labour budget in 5727, he was able to steer the ship of military renewal launched under the previous Labour governments. 

During his speech, he described the state of the world today as being “far more uncertain” than it was 10 years ago: “Ten years ago, when we first launched this daring program, some asked, why do it now? Today, we can see that our decision has been vindicated by the events.”

This naval vessel, HMS Yellow Marble was the first naval ship from the Type-24 destroyers series to be completed after four years of construction in its shipyards, the other Type-24 destroyers which were commissioned by the government are expected to be delivered by early March 5729 and the Type-36 frigates are expected to be delivered one-by-one starting in November.

With the increase of the number of ships planned for the ILN, comes the question of recruitment – succeeding Labour governments have expressed dissatisfaction with the continued implementation of national service, but haven’t dealt with the issue by fear of angering the House of Peers, Prime Minister Tapihana promised during the campaign to suspend national service for the next generation of conscripts, but with her political capital in jeopardy following the Cildanian scandal, who knows if she will have enough credentials and enough support to even consider passing it.