Aegir Fleet

The Aegir Fleet was one of the fleets, and possibly the largest, in the Federal Erusian Navy. The fleet was nicknamed the "invincible fleet" due to its impressive power, size, and battle record. The Aegir Fleet had been operating for an unknown amount of time until its destruction on November 23, 2004 during the Usean Continental War. Its flagship was the Iowa-class battleship Tanager.

History
The Aegir Fleet's deployment history before the Usean Continental War is unknown. However, by the time the war had begun, the fleet already had a reputation as being one of the most powerful fleets in the world. It is highly likely that the fleet was utilized during the early stages of the war, instilling fear into the Independent States Allied Forces that would linger for the rest of that year. Even so, the fleet saw less action (as did the rest of Erusea's military) when ISAF completed their evacuation of the continent to their new GHQ in North Point.

Destruction of the Fleet
In September, Erusea attempted to bomb ISAF's GHQ, but their attempts were thwarted by the remainder of ISAF's air fighters. In October, ISAF successfully completed the evacuation of their ground troops. This likely worried Erusea; ISAF was in a good position to begin a counter-attack. Erusea decided to end the war in short order by deploying the Aegir Fleet with a large formation of support vessels to launch an amphibious assault on North Point. In November, the fleet left Erusea's capital at Farbanti and docked temporarily in Comberth Harbor to refuel and complete battle preparations. ISAF realized the war would be over if the Aegir Fleet launched an assault on North Point, so preparations were made for a three-operation campaign to be performed by ISAF's fighters to immobilize and destroy the fleet.

The first of these three operations was Operation: Hunting Hawk. ISAF planned to take control of the air corridors around Comberth to prevent Erusea's transport planes from resupplying the Aegir Fleet. A flight of four of ISAF's fighters intercepted a flight of three Erusea's transports, the latter being supported by E-767s providing ECM coverage. The fighters managed to destroy both the jammer aircraft and the transport planes. It wasn't a large victory, but it managed to delay the fleet long enough for the next operation, and it prevented the fleet from being resupplied with more weaponry.

The second operation was Operation: Early Bird. ISAF's pilots penetrated the airspace of the petrochemical complex just outside of Comberth that was refueling the ships. Erusea had stockpiled over 5,000,000 barrels of crude oil by the time ISAF launched their operation; it was a major success for ISAF as they stripped Erusea of one of its best oil refineries, as well as immobilizing the Aegir fleet in Comberth Harbor.

The third and final operation was Operation: Rough Seas. On November 23, 2004 at 1200hrs, a large flight of ISAF fighters entered Comberth Harbor airspace and bombed all the vessels in the area, along with various ground facilities throughout the harbor. The Erusians were caught entirely off-guard, some of them believing that it was a drill. It was a devastating battle with extreme losses to the Aegir Fleet; the entire fleet was annhiliated, with many ships caught at anchor. Some of the fleet's capital ships, including its flagship, the battleship Tanager, and its primary carrier, the Geofron, managed to escape the harbor itself but were caught by ISAF fighters before they could escape.

The operation was deemed a complete success by ISAF forces. The assault on North Point was delayed indefinitely and/or canceled, and the Aegir Fleet, now completely destroyed, was likely never employed after this battle.

Named Ships of the Fleet

 * Iowa-class battleship Tanager (flagship)
 * Ticonderoga-class cruiser Raven
 * Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier Geofon
 * Hatakaze-class destroyers
 * Kolga
 * Fenris
 * Beluga
 * Lazuli
 * Cassard-class frigates
 * Thiassi
 * Herne
 * Taisch
 * Los Angeles-class submarines
 * Beowulf &pi;
 * Beowulf &nu;

Trivia

 * The fleet's battleship being the flagship is an interesting note, seeing as how many flagships in modern real-life navies are aircraft carriers. During World War II, however, many flagships were chosen for their speed rather than their power. This implies that the Tanager may not have been as powerful as the Geofon, but it may have been faster.
 * The game classifies many ships of the Aegir Fleet incorrectly. It classifies the destroyers as cruisers, and the frigates as destroyers.
 * When engaging the submarines, the Head-up display does not display the special characters in the submarine's names ("Beowulf &pi;" and "Beowulf &nu;"). Instead, it displays the letters phonetically ("Beowulf-pi" and "Beowulf-nu", respectively). However, Sky Eye's transmission displays the special characters.
 * The fleet's name is a reference to the sea giant from Norse mythology. The names of individual ships contain further references: Kolga is Ægir's daughter,  is an alternate spelling of Fenrir,  is a frost giant, and  is a great hero of the Germanic folklore.
 * Fenrir also appears as a prototype plane of the same name, in Ace Combat X and Joint Assault.