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Thursday, October 27, 2005

How about a 1909 British Battleship-Cruiser

I thought that it would be interesting to try again to design a British "Battleship-Cruiser" (William Hovgaard-style) where the ship was fast, but had battleship armour. For 1909, a 13.5in-gun armament seemed appropriate. The secondary battery necessarily needed to be 16-4in QF guns for this date. I went with an armour basis of 12in with a 27-knot speed. It is so much more capable than the Lion class ships. Partly, this ship is larger, and partly, the all-oil fuel is a factor. The machinery is normal weight. I could not justify "all-or-nothing" in 1909, so the ends are armoured. From my perspective, this seems the ideal capital ship to be laid down in 1909. This is the Springsharp report:
GB/BB/1909 Battleship-Cruiser, Great Britain Battleship-Cruiser laid down 1909

Displacement:
29,004 t light; 30,193 t standard; 33,250 t normal; 35,696 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
680.00 ft / 680.00 ft x 95.00 ft x 28.00 ft (normal load)
207.26 m / 207.26 m x 28.96 m  x 8.53 m

Armament:
     8 - 13.50" / 343 mm guns (4x2 guns), 1,230.19lbs / 558.00kg shells, 1909 Model
  Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
  on centreline ends, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
     16 - 4.00" / 102 mm guns in single mounts, 32.00lbs / 14.51kg shells, 1909 Model
  Quick firing guns in casemate mounts
  on side, all amidships, 4 raised mounts - superfiring
Weight of broadside 10,354 lbs / 4,696 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 90

Armour:
  - Belts:  Width (max) Length (avg)  Height (avg)
Main: 12.0" / 305 mm 490.00 ft / 149.35 m 17.00 ft / 5.18 m
Ends: 5.00" / 127 mm 190.00 ft / 57.91 m 17.00 ft / 5.18 m
  Main Belt covers 111 % of normal length

  - Torpedo Bulkhead:
 2.00" / 51 mm 490.00 ft / 149.35 m 27.00 ft / 8.23 m

  - Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 12.0" / 305 mm 7.00" / 178 mm  12.0" / 305 mm
2nd: 5.00" / 127 mm 5.00" / 127 mm  5.00" / 127 mm

  - Armour deck: 3.00" / 76 mm, Conning tower: 12.00" / 305 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Direct drive, 4 shafts, 94,822 shp / 70,738 Kw = 27.00 kts
Range 6,500nm at 15.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 5,503 tons

Complement:
1,230 - 1,600

Cost:
£2.706 million / $10.823 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 1,294 tons, 3.9 %
Armour: 11,501 tons, 34.6 %
   - Belts: 4,840 tons, 14.6 %
   - Torpedo bulkhead: 979 tons, 2.9 %
   - Armament: 2,685 tons, 8.1 %
   - Armour Deck: 2,730 tons, 8.2 %
   - Conning Tower: 267 tons, 0.8 %
Machinery: 4,310 tons, 13.0 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 11,899 tons, 35.8 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 4,246 tons, 12.8 %
Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
  49,661 lbs / 22,526 Kg = 40.4 x 13.5 " / 343 mm shells or 7.4 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.14
Metacentric height 5.9 ft / 1.8 m
Roll period: 16.4 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 61 %
  - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.59
Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.21

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise forward of midbreak
Block coefficient: 0.643
Length to Beam Ratio: 7.16 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 26.08 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 52 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): -2.00 degrees
Stern overhang: -2.00 ft / -0.61 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
   - Stem:  29.00 ft / 8.84 m
   - Forecastle (20 %): 26.00 ft / 7.92 m
   - Mid (67 %):  26.00 ft / 7.92 m (18.00 ft / 5.49 m aft of break)
   - Quarterdeck (15 %): 18.00 ft / 5.49 m
   - Stern:  18.00 ft / 5.49 m
   - Average freeboard: 23.60 ft / 7.19 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 90.8 %
 - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 181.2 %
Waterplane Area: 49,188 Square feet or 4,570 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 109 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 172 lbs/sq ft or 838 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
 - Cross-sectional: 0.97
 - Longitudinal: 1.33
 - Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is adequate
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily

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