Shipbucket

Map of Tequilapoli


Tequilapolian National Flag


Naval Jack

Introduction

The Federal Republic of Tequilapoli is an island nation in the Central Pacific's Greater Sunda Islands. Tequilapoli was initially founded as the British colonial assets of Borneo and Celebes in 1848, the result of a colonial scramble in the Sunda Islands between several European powers (Including Spain, The Netherlands, and Great Britain.)

In the mid-1890s, the Tequilapolian Independence Movement began to take root, with the populations of Borneo and Celebes (Now known as Sulawesi) voting for independence from the crown in a referendum in July, 1898. For the remainder of 1898 and all of 1899, the British government assisted in the establishment of the government, including the drafting of a constitution, and setting up the first elections. The British military also sold the provisional government the arms needed to form the Armed Forces.

On January 1st, 1900, the national flag of Tequilapoli rose above the Capitol in Victoria, Borneo for the first time. Tequilapolian troops relieved British servicemen of their stations in ceremonies around the islands, and the 1st Division marched in review with their British counterparts before the Capitol.

At it's founding, the Tequilapolian armed forces consisted of the Army, Navy, and National Police Force, a reserve component handling both law enforcement and national defense.

During the 1st World War, Tequilapoli honored it's treaty commitments by sending the 1st Division of the Tequilapolian Army to the Western Front, and several cruisers steamed to join the British fleet at Scapa Flow. Elements of the 3rd Division participated in the Gallipoli campaign, taking heavy casualties.

The Armored Cruisers TNS Borneo and TNS Makassar, and the light cruiser TNS Victoria participated in the Battle of Jutland. Borneo was lost in the battle, while Makassar and Victoria both survived despite being damaged. Author's note: Drawings of these ships will be done eventually.

During the Interwar period, Tequilapoli began modernizing her fleet, upgrading her cruisers and destroyers. Ships of this period transitioned from British influence to American influence. Among the programs produced near the outbreak of World War II was the Makassar class Anti-Aircraft Cruiser:

The Makassar class was 625 feet long, 62 feet wide, and capable of steaming at better than 30 knots. She was armed with twenty-four 5"/38 Caliber guns (4x3, 6x2, 36x 40mm guns, and 16x 20mm guns.

In the post-WWII world, Tequilapoli reaffirmed it's commitment to alliances with her wartime allies, the US, Great Britain, and their allies. Tequilapolian ships and troops fought in Korea and Vietnam, as well as several border skirmishes with Indonesia (Who had joined the Soviet sphere of influence after the war.)

Following the Korean conflict, Tequilapolian leaders took an unusual approach to National Defense: Combining the entire Defense Ministry into a single service. The Air Force, only in existence since the 1930s, was combined with the Navy's Fleet Air Arm. The Army, which had cooperated extensively with the US Marines in both World War II and Korea, became the conventional fighting arm of the Marine Forces, which until that point had been largely a special warfare branch of the Navy. By combining the services, redundant civilian leadership was eliminated, and supply lines and chains of command were streamlined.

At the end of the Cold War, Tequilapoli's main battle line consisted of the Dominator class Guided Missile Cruiser, a variant of the American Kidd Class destroyer, and the Valor Class Frigate, a modified Oliver Hazard Perry Class:





Despite lacking an Aircraft Carrier since the late 1970s, Tequilapoli's air power was centered around carrier capable aircraft. Tequilapoli ordered A-6 Intruders and F-14 Tomcats in the 1970s, upgrading the Intruders to Intruder IIs during the 80s, and ordering upgraded F-14E models in the late 1990s.

In 2010, the Navy got it's three-decade wish for a carrier, when the legislature ordered the TNS Greater Sunda from Huntington Ingalls in the US. In 2015, recognizing the need for new escorts, the fleet ordered 4 new frigates and two new Cruisers, to be delivered by 2025.



Greater Sunda was commissioned into service in 2017.

The new Cruisers were laid down at Makassar Industries shipyards concurrently in August, 2017. Plans call for the four new frigates to be laid down at two smaller yards, Coorstown Shipworks and Quervo City Steel.

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As the newer ships come online, the Tequilapolian Navy has issued the following plans for existing ships:

Valor class Frigates FFG-6, FFG-7, FFG-8, FFG-9:

To be transfered to Federal Police Maritime Service (Coast Guard), for use as large cutters.

Valor Class Cutters will have their Mk. 13 launchers removed, but will retain Mk. 41 SDLMs, as they may be sharing the seas with potential hostile ships (Namely Indonesian warships). The Valors will also receive a lighter hull paint and a racing stripe on the bow, as well as red/blue strobe beacons mounted port and starboard.



Dominator class cruisers will be preserved in Mothballs unless reactivation becomes necessary.

Federal Police Maritime Service

Tequilapoli's Federal Police Maritime Service is the seagoing arm of the Federal Police Force. They are, essentially, a Coast Guard force, tasked with both law enforcement and national defense within Tequilapoli's territorial waters.

FPMS small craft operate within the coastal zones, rivers, and lakes, while larger vessels patrol deeper waters in the Makassar straight, and the seas and gulfs surrounding Tequilapoli.

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