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RI Irian - Sverdlov-class Light Cruiser (Alternate History)

Historically after President Suharto gained power, ties to the Eastern Bloc promptly deteriorated and so the flow of spare parts for RI Irian was cut off. This resulted in the cruiser's condition deteriorating and the ship was marked for disposal in 1972.

This version of the old Sverdlov-class cruiser is represented in an alternate Cold War timeline where the Indonesian Revolution solidified under President Sukarno’s enduring leadership, leading the archipelago nation into a powerful, Soviet-aligned communist bloc. With support from both Moscow and Beijing, Indonesia became a strategic anchor in the Pacific for a Warsaw Pact-aligned 'Pacific Red Axis'.
RI Irian, the pride of the fleet, was retained as the national flagship well into the 1970s, benefiting from continued maintenance and a major modernization program in 1974 thanks to Soviet technical support. This overhaul marked a significant transformation from a WWII-style gun cruiser into a capable command and surface warfare platform, optimised for task force leadership, basic anti-air protection, and sustained presence in contested waters.

This mod also contains a further refit of the ship in the early 1980's, transforming it into a hybrid gun-missile cruiser, likely concerning their neighbours to the south, with it being a bigger threat if tensions were to boil over.

• RI Irian 1974 - as close as possible to the historical vessel, more or less a re-flag of the Sverdlov-class light cruiser in-game with the historic pennant number 201. This version has gone through a reft and gets the eight CIWS guns plus the enhanced, modern sensor suite as seen on the modernised Soviet cruisers of the same class. Standard 152mm and 100mm gun armament makes this a dated, however still potentially dangerous ship in regional sea lanes.
  
  
• RI Irian 1983 Refit - In an attempt to modernise its forces, the flagship of the fleet went through another refit in order to pose a threat to the more technologically advanced western powers in the region. The rear 6-inch gun turrets were removed to make way for two quadruple P-15M Styx anti-ship missile launchers, significantly boosting her surface strike capability. Four manually trained Strela-9M32M naval SAM mounts, similar to those fitted on Soviet Tarantul-class corvettes, were added for point-defense against low-flying aircraft and helicopters. While increasingly dependent on escorts for layered air defense, the 1983 Irian remained a potent surface combatant and command platform - ideal for spearheading naval operations in Southeast Asian waters.

This ship should provide an interesting dynamic in Pacific focused campaigns, especially with the modernised variant and its mixed weapons array.

***I also could not for the life of me work out how to change the flag in the unit reference card so it is just the regular Indonesian flag.The custom communist flag shows up on the ship perfectly fine however. If anyone knows how I can fix this, please comment or ping me on the modding discord if you are on there.***


✅ A full evolution from classic gun cruiser to hybrid missile-gun armament.
✅ Explores a possible timeline where Indonesia went further down the road of communism, allowing supply of weapons from the Soviet Union and other communist allies and nations.
✅ Provides a strong surface combatant with the right escort vessels.
✅ Has the best possible variant of the Styx anti-ship missile, potentially available to Indonesian forces as a key Soviet ally in the pacific region.
✅ Only relies on in-game assets, and does not require Sea Lifter.

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Please leave a bug report if there are any issues!