Absconder-Class Hulk

The Absconder-Class Hulk is a floating battery that protects the entrance to the New Loria City port with a powerful array of guns.

First designed as the two-decker 'Prince of Darkness,' 52 guns, it was meant to be the flagship of the Lorian Navy. It was laid down in December 2022 but the upcoming war halted its construction and remained moored for six months. Having been stripped of some scantlings and even hulled by scavengers and bad weather, it was conveyed to be re-designed as a floating battery to protect the port in New Loria City. Doted with 26 nine-pounders per broadside, it was one of the most powerful ships ever built in terms of fire-power. However, in its conversion to a floating battery, a series of modifications were conducted to make it more apt to its job. While retaining its original guns in the starboard battery (3 guns in the quarter-deck, 11 in the upper-deck and 12 in the lower deck), the larboard battery, being the one always engaged, was modified. The 3 guns on the quarter-deck remained, as well as the 12 in the lower deck. In the upper-deck, however, 9 nine-pounders were changed for four 24-pounders to further increase the fire power. This change meant that the scantlings had to be heavily reinforced to support the weight.

A ship of such proportions is prone to have a spacious orlop and thus it was decided that in addition to the battery, it would also hold an eight-cell prision to imprison the criminals that had scaped from the NLPD. The name 'Absconder' came naturally.