An unsustainable deficit drives the retirement or mothballing of older battleships and regional forces. One group of capital ships costs roughly two billion per turn, and the largest hulls carry much of the maintenance burden. A mothballed ship costs far less but cannot be used immediately. Scrapping ends the expense permanently, while reserve status preserves a hull for later reactivation. Even 1929-vintage submarines begin to disappear before they are twenty years old, since redundancy and fleet scale matter more than calendar age. The campaign applies the two measures differently across regional fleets and likely contingencies. The sequence makes capital-ship upkeep tangible and separates nominal hull numbers from usable combat power.
Chapter · 47:24-1:05:24
Mothballing and scrapping to make a fleet affordable
The campaign turns fleet reduction into a practical exercise: retire old capital ships, place regional forces in reserve, and weigh mothball savings against active readiness.