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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

A battleship in the design philosophy of my "lost series"

I believe that my battleship design in the series that is lost, perhaps permanently, included a feature where the guns, even in 1905, were on the centerline, but there were only four turrets, not five. I tried this approach for a 1905 British battleship. There is nothing special here, except that the belt is 16ft high and there are the four turrets, with one superfiring over the other at the stern. If the boilers were oil-fired, the ship could be rather fast. I tried this, in fact, and with no other changes, 22.5 knots could be reached with oil-fired boilers. This is the Springsharp report:
GB/BB/1905, Great Britain Battleship laid down 1905

Displacement:
 16,560 t light; 17,272 t standard; 18,850 t normal; 20,112 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
 540.00 ft / 540.00 ft x 80.00 ft x 27.00 ft (normal load)
 164.59 m / 164.59 m x 24.38 m  x 8.23 m

Armament:
      8 - 12.00" / 305 mm guns (4x2 guns), 864.00lbs / 391.90kg shells, 1905 Model
   Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
   on centreline ends, evenly spread, 1 raised mount aft - superfiring
      16 - 4.00" / 102 mm guns in single mounts, 32.00lbs / 14.51kg shells, 1905 Model
   Quick firing guns in casemate mounts 
   on side, evenly spread, 8 raised mounts
 Weight of broadside 7,424 lbs / 3,367 kg
 Shells per gun, main battery: 80
 4 - 18.0" / 457.2 mm submerged torpedo tubes

Armour:
   - Belts:  Width (max) Length (avg)  Height (avg)
 Main: 10.0" / 254 mm 365.00 ft / 111.25 m 16.00 ft / 4.88 m
 Ends: 5.00" / 127 mm 175.00 ft / 53.34 m 16.00 ft / 4.88 m
   Main Belt covers 104 % of normal length

   - Torpedo Bulkhead:
  1.50" / 38 mm 365.00 ft / 111.25 m 26.00 ft / 7.92 m

   - Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
 Main: 10.0" / 254 mm 7.00" / 178 mm  10.0" / 254 mm
 2nd: 4.00" / 102 mm 4.00" / 102 mm  4.00" / 102 mm

   - Armour deck: 2.00" / 51 mm, Conning tower: 10.00" / 254 mm

Machinery:
 Coal fired boilers, steam turbines, 
 Direct drive, 4 shafts, 26,418 shp / 19,708 Kw = 21.00 kts
 Range 4,500nm at 12.00 kts
 Bunker at max displacement = 2,840 tons (100% coal)

Complement:
 803 - 1,045

Cost:
 £1.667 million / $6.669 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
 Armament: 928 tons, 4.9 %
 Armour: 6,569 tons, 34.9 %
    - Belts: 3,031 tons, 16.1 %
    - Torpedo bulkhead: 527 tons, 2.8 %
    - Armament: 1,727 tons, 9.2 %
    - Armour Deck: 1,132 tons, 6.0 %
    - Conning Tower: 153 tons, 0.8 %
 Machinery: 2,202 tons, 11.7 %
 Hull, fittings & equipment: 6,861 tons, 36.4 %
 Fuel, ammunition & stores: 2,290 tons, 12.1 %
 Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
 Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
   24,306 lbs / 11,025 Kg = 28.1 x 12.0 " / 305 mm shells or 3.9 torpedoes
 Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.08
 Metacentric height 4.2 ft / 1.3 m
 Roll period: 16.4 seconds
 Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 78 %
   - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.80
 Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.56

Hull form characteristics:
 Hull has rise forward of midbreak
 Block coefficient: 0.566
 Length to Beam Ratio: 6.75 : 1
 'Natural speed' for length: 23.24 kts
 Power going to wave formation at top speed: 44 %
 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:  26.00 ft / 7.92 m
    - Forecastle (20 %): 22.00 ft / 6.71 m
    - Mid (67 %):  22.00 ft / 6.71 m (14.00 ft / 4.27 m aft of break)
    - Quarterdeck (15 %): 14.00 ft / 4.27 m
    - Stern:  14.00 ft / 4.27 m
    - Average freeboard: 19.68 ft / 6.00 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
 Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 103.2 %
  - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 143.6 %
 Waterplane Area: 30,594 Square feet or 2,842 Square metres
 Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 102 %
 Structure weight / hull surface area: 152 lbs/sq ft or 742 Kg/sq metre
 Hull strength (Relative):
  - Cross-sectional: 0.95
  - Longitudinal: 1.66
  - Overall: 1.00
 Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is adequate
 Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
 Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
 Excellent seaboat, comfortable, can fire her guns in the heaviest weather

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