Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/San Juan Frigate

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The San Juan Frigate is the primary frigate vessel used by the Minutemen. This frigate is planned to be voiced by *TBA*

History
"Time to teach the Guardians a whole new lesson."

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With the introduction of the Hispanolia-class hydrofoil, the San Juan-class Frigate (and to a lesser extent, it's Patriot Missile System equipped sister class, the Raytheon-class) were obsolete, despite their helipad capability. Given their large deck space, they were converted into museum ships instead of being scrapped. Much of the machinery was left inside preserved with cryotechnology, while the outer deck and choice rooms inside were converted into displays, multimedia presentations, and gift shops. Spread liberally across ports throughout Guardian nations, all people from the young and old could visit these ships and learn about the war, the ocean, and the world in general. The Minutemen thought differently. Though they respected the veterans of old, they also needed their skies clear of Aquilan aggressors.

To that end, they sent entire reservations worth of Shoplifters to steal these floating museums. Masquerading as lost children and school groups, they infiltrated these ships and disabled the cryotechnic preservers with a hammer, before cutting the moorings and pushing off, where pre-hijacked tugs pushed them to friendly anchorages. A similar system used on Destroyers was used to power the Frigate, though due to the helipad, the paddle wheels had to be put on the sides. Soon, the Frigate was able to bring down Aquilan airplanes that foolishly flew over water.

The helipads presented an opportunity to further the Frigate's usefulness. Trials were held using Hawkers and Longbows, but both proved useless due to the inability to supply these quick-firing aircraft (though Hawker pilots had an inexplicable desire to stay on the frigates due to the number of males in close proximity, either due to patriotic fervor or to flirt with the crew). Instead, the answer literally came flying when a group of young patriots stole most of the fleet of Pelican Subhunters from their poorly guarded reserve base. These originally Zemurian tiltrotors were intended to be mounted on the back of helipad-equipped Ironclad-class destroyers, but the project was scrapped with the introduction of the Michell-class. The Minutemen Frigates proved an ideal platform for these helicopters, and the only question left was what to arm the Pelicans with. Strangely enough, the Minutemen decided on oil-filled drums that would explode when fired upon. Though highly unconventional, the innocuous appearance of these barrels has allowed them to evade the notice of many an Aquilan ship until it is too late.