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Thursday, April 27, 2006

A Super Lion design from the Red book

The Red book has a Super Lion design with 10-15in BLR and 16-5in QF guns. The paper design was extremely over-optimistic about displacement and speed. By going very large, the design worked out very well. I say "going very large" in the sense of bloating the displacement. I scaled back the speed to 30 knots, which was Admiral Fisher's desired speed, anyway. I find the resulting ship very satisfactory, despite the rather thin side armour:
Super Lion, Great Britain Battlecruiser laid down 1912 (Engine 1916)

Displacement:
 34,200 t light; 35,780 t standard; 38,300 t normal; 40,316 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
 800.00 ft / 800.00 ft x 97.00 ft x 27.00 ft (normal load)
 243.84 m / 243.84 m x 29.57 m  x 8.23 m

Armament:
      8 - 15.00" / 381 mm guns (4x2 guns), 1,687.50lbs / 765.44kg shells, 1912 Model
   Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
   on centreline ends, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
   Main guns limited to end-on fire
      2 - 15.00" / 381 mm guns (1x2 guns), 1,687.50lbs / 765.44kg shells, 1912 Model
   Breech loading guns in a turret (on a barbette)
   on centreline amidships
      16 - 5.00" / 127 mm guns in single mounts, 62.50lbs / 28.35kg shells, 1912 Model
   Quick firing guns in deck mounts with hoists
   on side, evenly spread, 8 raised mounts
 Weight of broadside 17,875 lbs / 8,108 kg
 Shells per gun, main battery: 80

Armour:
   - Belts:  Width (max) Length (avg)  Height (avg)
 Main: 6.00" / 152 mm 500.00 ft / 152.40 m 17.00 ft / 5.18 m
 Ends: 5.00" / 127 mm 190.00 ft / 57.91 m 17.00 ft / 5.18 m
   110.00 ft / 33.53 m Unarmoured ends
   Main Belt covers 96 % of normal length
   Main belt does not fully cover magazines and engineering spaces

   - Torpedo Bulkhead:
  1.00" / 25 mm 500.00 ft / 152.40 m 26.00 ft / 7.92 m

   - Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
 Main: 9.00" / 229 mm 5.00" / 127 mm  7.00" / 178 mm
 2nd: 9.00" / 229 mm 5.00" / 127 mm  7.00" / 178 mm
 3rd: 2.00" / 51 mm 2.00" / 51 mm  2.00" / 51 mm

   - Armour deck: 3.00" / 76 mm, Conning tower: 9.00" / 229 mm

Machinery:
 Oil fired boilers, steam turbines, 
 Direct drive, 4 shafts, 145,804 shp / 108,770 Kw = 30.00 kts
 Range 6,500nm at 15.00 kts
 Bunker at max displacement = 4,537 tons

Complement:
 1,368 - 1,779

Cost:
 £3.834 million / $15.338 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
 Armament: 2,234 tons, 5.8 %
 Armour: 9,291 tons, 24.3 %
    - Belts: 2,789 tons, 7.3 %
    - Torpedo bulkhead: 481 tons, 1.3 %
    - Armament: 2,532 tons, 6.6 %
    - Armour Deck: 3,268 tons, 8.5 %
    - Conning Tower: 220 tons, 0.6 %
 Machinery: 5,432 tons, 14.2 %
 Hull, fittings & equipment: 17,243 tons, 45.0 %
 Fuel, ammunition & stores: 4,100 tons, 10.7 %
 Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
 Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
   48,957 lbs / 22,206 Kg = 29.0 x 15.0 " / 381 mm shells or 5.5 torpedoes
 Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.10
 Metacentric height 5.8 ft / 1.8 m
 Roll period: 17.0 seconds
 Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 58 %
   - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 1.06
 Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.17

Hull form characteristics:
 Hull has rise forward of midbreak
 Block coefficient: 0.640
 Length to Beam Ratio: 8.25 : 1
 'Natural speed' for length: 28.28 kts
 Power going to wave formation at top speed: 51 %
 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:  33.00 ft / 10.06 m
    - Forecastle (20 %): 29.00 ft / 8.84 m
    - Mid (67 %):  29.00 ft / 8.84 m (21.00 ft / 6.40 m aft of break)
    - Quarterdeck (15 %): 21.00 ft / 6.40 m
    - Stern:  21.00 ft / 6.40 m
    - Average freeboard: 26.68 ft / 8.13 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
 Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 112.6 %
  - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 219.6 %
 Waterplane Area: 58,891 Square feet or 5,471 Square metres
 Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 101 %
 Structure weight / hull surface area: 206 lbs/sq ft or 1,003 Kg/sq metre
 Hull strength (Relative):
  - Cross-sectional: 0.98
  - Longitudinal: 1.23
  - Overall: 1.00
 Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
 Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent

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