Shogun Battleship

"The Day of the Shogun has arrived!"

- Shogun Battleship,entering the battlefield

Rivalling the Allied Aircraft Carrier and the Soviet Dreadnought in terms of firepower, the Shogun Battleship is the crown jewel of the Imperial Navy] in [[Red Alert 3.

Background
The Shogun-class battleships are flagships of the empire and naturally heavily decorated with patriotic motifs. However, the beautiful, gently curved shapes of the ship are deceptive - the Shogun is a warship first and foremost, capable of devastating foes from great distances thanks to its massive Shirada cannons.

The design of these capital ship is a catamaran to compensate for the battery recoil and stability, also allowing it to fire on the move. Each battleship carries two turrets, each with three 400mm Shirada cannons, mounted back-to back. With this setup, the Shogun can fire on targets in every direction, compensating for the slow turning speed. A turret salvo is incredibly effective, even more so when the warship turns broadside and unleashes both guns at once. Each cannon fires an energised projectile, the explosion of which is measured in thosands of degrees Celsius at ground zero.

The Shoguns can also defend themselves at close ranges, should any targets manage to close in. At that point, the captain of the battleship can supercharge the ships's engine and activate a point defence shield mounted at the front of the ship. The resulting charge is devastating, as any ship or amphibious building is going to be severely damaged or outright destroyed by the ramming ship, with no damage to it.

Apart from an expansive bridge and cannons, the ship also has an on-board detention / meditation grove.

Service aboard the Shogun battleships is one of the highest honours for an Imperial citizen. Command of these ships is reserved only for the most decorated, honorable and often eldest members of the Imperial navy. Dying in the captain's chair while fighting for the Emperor is considered to be one of the highest honours achievable by modern Japanese citizens. In polls conducted with Imperial male youths aged 8-12, 26 percent stated that their lifelong ambition was to be the captain of a Shogun battleship.

Notably, Commander Naomi Shirada was born aboard a Shogun-class battleship.

Game unit
The Shogun Battleship has very few weaknesses: it is a heavily armored vessel and has the greatest firepower of the tier 3 ships, coupled with excellent range. It is often used in tandem with Naginata Cruisers and Sea-Wing. Should an enemy unit manage through break through the Naginata Cruisers, however, the Shogun is perfectly capable of defending itself at close quarters by simply ramming into the enemy.

However, the Shogun Battleship is not perfect and it is vulnerable to air attacks. Twinblade, Centuries and Vindicators are an especially big threat. Cryocopters are also useful in helping to take them out. Asides that, 'wolf packs' of well-handled Akulas can effectively sink them too, as can Terror Drones, who are too fast to be tracked by the cannons. Hence, anti-air and anti-ship escorts are often a must.

Battleships can be upgraded with extra sensors, armor, and other equipment with Imperial secret protocols. The protocol also change the appearance of the ship affected, battleship included. The crew also have been trained in other protocol that they will reduce resource for the propulsion and turned in to fire power, for a specific time.

Behind the scenes

 * Shogun Battleship is an example from a World War Two, Japanese battleship name Yamato. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yamato
 * The reason for such an example is because, just like Yamato, these ships have a massive psychological effect on Japanese war morale.