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Monday, November 21, 2005

This is my latest attempt at an "edgy" very fast cruiser killer

Frank Fox calls this sort of ship a "cruiser killer". That is how he describes the Alaska class, which is one of his favorite ship designs. I tried my hand again at a very fast armoured cruiser, and given that the design has 14in guns, we would be destined to call the design a battlecruiser. I wanted at least 36 knots, and I was able to achieve 36.5 knots. the armour belt is 9in, which should be sufficient to protect against the lesser cruisers. Those who have been following my string of designs may recognize this as being reminiscent of a design I did in the summer of 2001. This is the Springsharp report:
GB/CB/1923, Great Britain Battlecruiser laid down 1923 (Engine 1950)

Displacement:
 41,508 t light; 43,039 t standard; 44,550 t normal; 45,758 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
 867.97 ft / 865.00 ft x 112.00 ft x 34.00 ft (normal load)
 264.56 m / 263.65 m x 34.14 m  x 10.36 m

Armament:
      9 - 14.00" / 356 mm guns (3x3 guns), 1,372.00lbs / 622.33kg shells, 1923 Model
   Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
   on centreline ends, majority forward, 1 raised mount - superfiring
      16 - 5.50" / 140 mm guns (8x2 guns), 83.19lbs / 37.73kg shells, 1923 Model
   Quick firing guns in turrets (on barbettes)
   on side, all amidships, 4 raised mounts - superfiring
      6 - 4.70" / 119 mm guns in single mounts, 51.91lbs / 23.55kg shells, 1923 Model
   Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts 
   on side ends, majority forward, all raised mounts - superfiring
      36 - 1.57" / 40.0 mm guns (3x12 guns), 1.95lbs / 0.89kg shells, 1923 Model
   Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts 
   on side, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts
 Weight of broadside 14,061 lbs / 6,378 kg
 Shells per gun, main battery: 80

Armour:
   - Belts:  Width (max) Length (avg)  Height (avg)
 Main: 9.00" / 229 mm 700.00 ft / 213.36 m 16.00 ft / 4.88 m
 Ends: Unarmoured
   Main Belt covers 124 % of normal length

   - Torpedo Bulkhead:
  2.00" / 51 mm 700.00 ft / 213.36 m 33.00 ft / 10.06 m

   - Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
 Main: 11.0" / 279 mm 6.00" / 152 mm  11.0" / 279 mm
 2nd: 4.00" / 102 mm 4.00" / 102 mm  4.00" / 102 mm
 3rd: 1.00" / 25 mm       -         -

   - Armour deck: 4.00" / 102 mm, Conning tower: 11.00" / 279 mm

Machinery:
 Oil fired boilers, steam turbines, 
 Geared drive, 4 shafts, 268,276 shp / 200,134 Kw = 36.50 kts
 Range 5,400nm at 15.00 kts
 Bunker at max displacement = 2,719 tons

Complement:
 1,533 - 1,993

Cost:
 £11.135 million / $44.540 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
 Armament: 1,758 tons, 3.9 %
 Armour: 14,184 tons, 31.8 %
    - Belts: 4,109 tons, 9.2 %
    - Torpedo bulkhead: 1,709 tons, 3.8 %
    - Armament: 3,220 tons, 7.2 %
    - Armour Deck: 4,848 tons, 10.9 %
    - Conning Tower: 298 tons, 0.7 %
 Machinery: 6,418 tons, 14.4 %
 Hull, fittings & equipment: 19,148 tons, 43.0 %
 Fuel, ammunition & stores: 3,042 tons, 6.8 %
 Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
 Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
   65,787 lbs / 29,840 Kg = 47.9 x 14.0 " / 356 mm shells or 9.9 torpedoes
 Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.13
 Metacentric height 7.4 ft / 2.3 m
 Roll period: 17.2 seconds
 Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 51 %
   - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.47
 Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.03

Hull form characteristics:
 Hull has low forecastle
   and transom stern
 Block coefficient: 0.473
 Length to Beam Ratio: 7.72 : 1
 'Natural speed' for length: 34.41 kts
 Power going to wave formation at top speed: 57 %
 Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
 Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 5.00 degrees
 Stern overhang: 0.00 ft / 0.00 m
 Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
    - Stem:  34.00 ft / 10.36 m
    - Forecastle (20 %): 26.00 ft / 7.92 m (27.00 ft / 8.23 m aft of break)
    - Mid (50 %):  27.00 ft / 8.23 m
    - Quarterdeck (15 %): 27.00 ft / 8.23 m
    - Stern:  27.00 ft / 8.23 m
    - Average freeboard: 27.44 ft / 8.36 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
 Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 93.1 %
  - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 219.8 %
 Waterplane Area: 65,509 Square feet or 6,086 Square metres
 Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 108 %
 Structure weight / hull surface area: 205 lbs/sq ft or 1,003 Kg/sq metre
 Hull strength (Relative):
  - Cross-sectional: 0.95
  - Longitudinal: 1.47
  - Overall: 1.00
 Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is adequate
 Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent

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