Ok, I finally got my PAB order and was able to finally finish this monstrosity (although it is still rather light on crew):
Baton Rouge Starboard side view by
Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr
Baton Rouge Port side view by
Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr
These are pics of the entire ship from port and starboard views.
Baton Rouge 02 Level by
Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr
Pic of the uppermost deck, showing the two 20mm automated anti-air point-defense cannons (BrickArms miniguns) and the two lookouts manning their heavy machineguns.
Baton Rouge Bridge by
Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr
Completed view of the bridge and radio room... Not much change here from the previous pics.
Baton Rouge Main Deck by
Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr
Pic of the main deck interior, showing the Captain's cabin and Combat Information Center.
Baton Rouge belowdecks, Fwd by
Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr
Forward view of the belowdecks area, showing the Storage/Anchor Windlass room... The crates and chests are packed with food and other supplies.
Baton Rouge Belowdecks Aft by
Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr
Finally, the aft view of the belowdecks area, showing the Engine Room and Crew Berthing in all their glory.
I'll try to post more background information tomorrow, but I hope you enjoy what you see.
EDIT: and now for the promised bacground info:
Shortly after the Final War, when the worst of the temporal disturbances occurred (one of which warped the Pentagon to heaven only knows where), one such portal, linking directly to the realm of Chaos opened up in eastern Louisiana, but fortunately, unlike the great rift up in northern Canada, this occurred near a populated area and was much smaller. As hordes of mutants, monsters and vile abominations poured forth, the mountaineers rallied behind a descendent of P. G. T. Beuregard and slowly pushed the invaders back and were eventually able to collapse the rift. From those humble beginnings, the new Confederate States of America slowly spread out, offering stability in the wake of the power vacuum left by the great war (the remnants of the North American Union that would eventually come to be known as the Federal Republic of America had their hands full dealing with incursions by the Grand Duchy of New York and the main Chaos incursion from Canada, which was led by none other than Sauron the Black), eventually spreading to cover the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
The dark side of the new nation, born from its first, horrific encounter with sapient non-humans in the post-Final War era, was its extreme pro-human, xenophopic policies: Only humans were given full rights to vote and work in the CSA, with Dwarves and Elves (being very human-looking) given nearly equal status... All other non-humans had to register with the "alien registration act" and carry their alien registration cards on them at all time, or risk being jailed or worse. Furthermore, most non-humans could only get menial, low-paying jobs and were generally treated with suspicion and reviled by the human citizens of the Confederacy.
Needless to say, when the Confederacy finally met with the Federal Republic of America (which had recently expanded into Tennessee and the Carolinas), the fact that they allowed non-humans to live freely and become full citizens was an immediate bone of contention and source of mistrust (not to mention the fact that the FRA occupied territories that the Confederates considered "theirs", such as the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia), which soon degenerated into open hostility when a Confederate border patrol murdered an alien member of the Federal Republic army on Federal Republic soil. Since the Federal Republic was a significant player in the Naval arena, not to mention increasing pirate attacks on their coastal regions, the CSA was forced to begin a crash naval construction program.
The
Mobile-class Battle Cruiser (CC) was the result of this program. While somewhat primitive compared to most Federal Navy ships, it was capable of operating far afield with minimal logistical support: Instead of the gas turbine engines used by the Federal Navy, most Confederate Navy ships used biogas-fired boilers (with the food garbage and other... waste generated by the crew being used to produce more biogas), and rely heavily on guns, rather than missiles, due to the fact that the ammunition is cheaper and more of it can be carried per explosive yield weight as compared to missiles. The main armament of the ship consists of four 10-inch guns and four 5-inch side-mounted guns. Secondary armament consists of various medium-heavy machine guns and two 20mm automated anti-air/anti-missile point defense vulcan cannons for dealing with small boats and aircraft. Finally, most ships in the class are being retrofitted with guided torpedo launchers for anti-submarine warfare and dealing with some of the nastier sea monster that have infested the Atlantic Ocean since the Final War.
The ships primary role is convoy escort, commerce raiding, shore-fire support and anti-piracy (most pirates crap themselves when they see one of THESE ships coming at them). They have even proven themselves in battle against smaller detachments of Federal Navy and Lone Star Republic Navy ships in various sea skirmishes, although the
CSS Mobile was sunk by a Federal Navy
Kestrel-class frigate using a combination of daring, luck, and good solid hits from both its torpedoes and a merculite missile, but that was considered somewhat of a fluke by commanders on both sides.
Those flags look so great.