Citana Naval Arsenal

The Citana Naval Arsenal, formerly known as the Citana Imperial Dockyards, is the Imperial Riyatic Navy's chief naval shipyard, located in Citana, Taxata. The Arsenal has been continuously operated and expanded since its establishment and is one of the oldest working shipyards in the world. It built wooden ships for the Imperial Navy up until the 1870s, after which it transitioned to building steel ships. It has a long history of capital ship construction and built two out of three of Riyata's current commissioned aircraft carriers.

16th to 18th century
Citana's naval tradition dates back to the 16th century, roughly a century after the !SouthAsian discovery of Riyata. Although it had been a rather poor city throughout Riyatic history, at least relative to other cities in Taxata and the Mirati Confederation, the burgeoning global trade transformed Citana into one of the primary ports through which outside powers gained access to Vatupaya. The Commerce District was established in the mid 16th century, along with a complex of shipyards and armories in 1561, representing the beginning of Citana's strong naval history. Although it primarily produced civilian vessels and not warships, the Citana Shipyards became one of the largest naval facilities in the Mirati Confederation by the 1670s and remained so for the rest of its history.

The Citana Shipyards were briefly seized by Gladomyr during the 1789 Taxic Expulsion Crisis, as a part of a wider occupation of Citana.

This facility remained intact for the next few centuries until it burned down in the 1802 Citana Fire, which devastated the city's Commerce District as well as many adjacent neighborhoods. The shipyards were deemed irreparable and were demolished by the end of 1803, and there was no plan for constructing a replacement facility for nearly two decades.

Citana's explosive economic growth in the first quarter of the 19th century prompted the Kingdom of Taxata to seriously consider re-establishing a naval yard in the city. A location was chosen close to the city, and construction on the facility began in 1824 and by 1828 the facility was operational. The first ship built at the new dockyards was !Ship, which was launched in early 1829.

Although it was meant to usher in an age of Taxic naval superiority amongst the kingdoms in the Mirati Confederation, the Citana Shipyards ultimately did not see much activity in the following decade. There was great internal turmoil in the Mirati Confederation during Riyatic Unification Wars, and conflicts during the period were mostly fought inland with almost no naval elements. However, they did see the construction of the ship-of-the-line Prince of Citana in 1834, which had 98 guns mounted on three gun decks. For a while, the Prince represented one of the most powerful naval vessels in the Tupic Sea, becoming the Riyatic flagship following unification. She survived the Riyatic Unification Wars but was ultimately sunk in the Riyatic-Salian War.

19th century
Following the establishment of the Riyatic Empire in 1838, the Citana Shipyards became owned and operated by the Imperial Riyatic Navy, which renamed the facility to the Citana Imperial Dockyards.

The Citana Imperial Dockyards was one shipyard among many in the early decades after Riyatic Unification. However, the development of iron and steel vessels saw it quickly grow to be the dominant shipyard in Riyata, by virtue of its close proximity to Citana's large steel industry. In the 1870s, advancements in naval technology and the development of steel-hulled steam-powered warships saw the Dockyards go through a major expansion and modernization. From 1874-1889, the facility almost doubled in size, and was merged with another, smaller shipyard in the city to create the Citana Naval Arsenal.

A major steel mill was constructed in the Arsenal in 1886, along with several munitions factories, funded by investors from the private sector. By the turn of the century, Citana was one of the largest shipyards in the world and could accommodate any ship afloat.

20th century
For much of the 20th century, the Citana Naval Arsenal was one of seven major shipyards in Riyata, along with !Shipyard, !Shipyard, !Shipyard, !Shipyard, !Shipyard, and !Shipyard. Citana was the largest of these facilities and more capital ships were launched from Citana than any other shipyard in Riyata.

During the Ta’arohan Occupation of Riyata during World War II, a combined Riyatic-Koranelan force staged a naval raid of the Citana Naval Arsenal, which succeeded in sinking a Ta’arohan battleship and damaging the facility to the point where it would not be operational for several months.