The Lemurian Navy had its strategy for its War Emergency Building Program. The Vazimba would be the only battleship completed during war time. It sistership was cancelled in 1939 on the out break of war. The funds being transferred to two new aircraft carriers (Rajaraja). Light carriers and escort carriers would be built as well. The cruiser class would be the Analanjirofo type, three other one offs would be built later in the war. The Henri Class would be the destroyer type. A multi-role escort type would also be built. Those would be the major warship types in the War Emergency Program.
The first order was for twelve ships, the first of which would be completed in 1942. With the later completion dates, the ships were built with the 40mm guns and predictors from new. Further orders for four at a time were placed 1941, 1943, and 1944. These orders were replacements for ships lost during the war. Every Navy was always short of destroyers. The four ordered in 1944 did not complete till 1946 and had a lot of advanced fittings. Lattice masts were fitted to carry more and larger radar arrays. New DP director.
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Being brand new destroyers, they would go to the main fleet posting. 1942-43 this would be to the Mediterannean where the bulk of the Lemurian Battlefleet was based. Once four of the class was completed and posted to the Med they would join a Sapphire class Leader and become a Squadron. Once the Vazimba and Rajaraja are ready for service, two squadrons would be sent to be the escort for what would become the Allied Pacific Fleet. Late 1943 and the Allied Pacific Fleet sails for the South China Seas and its opening attacks on Japanese positions.
Two of the class were lost. Both in the Arctic in late 1943 during operations to put the last of the Germanic States Battlefleet ships out of action in their base at Trondheim. Eight Allied fleet carriers and four light fleet carriers with escorts were to bombard the Fleet and damage the German ships to the point where they would no longer be a threat to Allied shipping in the Arctic Convoys. This would allow ships to be released from the Home Fleet to be used in the D-Day landings for which the build up for is well underway.
One is lost to a torpedo hit from an attack on the Fleet by HE-111 torpedo bombers, the other by a hit from an HS293 glider bomb hit. Both were in the guard position outside of the carriers to do exactly what they did. Take the hit instead of the much more valuable carriers.
Twenty-four destroyers of this type seems a lot for Lemuria, but during the same period the Royal Navy, built the O, P, Q, R, S. T, U, V, W, Z, C, Ca, Ch classes of 8 ships each = 96 ships. That was just the War Emergency classes.
