Perusia Class Light Aircraft Carrier

In the year 1996, the Stallenbourgian Navy was looking to obtain new aircraft carriers for the fleet, as the Bonaventure class of two ships were starting to show their age, with the Astraea in drydock for repairs to her propeller shafts and hull after grounding off the coast of South Africa, and Bonaventure herself suffering engine problems at sea and increased catapult launch failures.

Following this the Navy chose to look at foreign ventures in carrier design and new developments in aviation. Close work with Japan Marine United, and Lockheed Martin, along with technical help from Newport News Shipbuilding, led to hundreds of hydrodynamic tests with models and test flying top of the line prototype aircraft such as the X-32, X-35A and B model, and even the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the Mitsubishi F-2.

20 years after the program started, the first ship of the CVLX program hit the water and after several months of working up, was commissioned as the SNS Perusia (CVL-9) on May 14th, 2016. She would be accompanied over the following years by her sister ships the Sarlona, Mercosia, and Cambria. The Perusia class was launched with 4x NH-90 Helicopters for ASW, 2x E2-D Hawkeye’s for AWACs, 2x CMV-22B Ospreys for COD duties, and 20x F-35C Lighting II’s for Air Supremacy and Strike missions.

On June 14th, 2018, she embarked for exercise Surging Tides, her third major exercise since commissioning. There were several pictures of her sporting a new blue camo scheme, it had been spotted before on several smaller ships but those were experimental, with this being the new standard scheme for the Perusia class CVL.

As of the 16th of June 2022, Perusia is undergoing a refit and cleaning after her year long deployment in the South China Sea, deterring the PRC’s aggression towards other nations and making close calls with Chinese destroyers.