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Thursday, October 18, 2007

How about a modernized Centurion battleship?

This is not an original idea, but when I heard about this, I was interested. I did this unencumbered by a drawing or details, but this at least seems plausible. I tried a modernized version of the battleship Centurion, updated somewhat similar to the Queen Elizabeth class, except faster. I removed the center turret, so the armament becomes 8-13.5in/45 BLR, 20-4.5in DP, and 32-2pdr AA guns. The armour basis is 12in with a 5in deck. The ship is bulged to 104ft and has a 4in torpedo bulkhead and 1in in the bulges (whatever that means to Springsharp). I have omitted aircraft, which you might want to add. To be able to have DP guns, Springsharp requires that the laid down date be moved up, as you are not allowed to use them on a 1911 ship. This is the Springsharp report:
Centurion-modernized, Great Britain Battleship laid down 1938

Displacement:
 27,259 t light; 28,432 t standard; 29,760 t normal; 30,822 t full load

Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
 (604.50 ft / 597.50 ft) x 89.00 ft (Bulges 104.00 ft) x (29.00 / 29.98 ft)
 (184.25 m / 182.12 m) x 27.13 m (Bulges 31.70 m)  x (8.84 / 9.14 m)

Armament:
      8 - 13.50" / 343 mm 45.0 cal guns - 1,240.68lbs / 562.76kg shells, 90 per gun
   Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1938 Model
   8 x Twin mounts on centreline ends, evenly spread
  2 raised mounts - superfiring
      20 - 4.50" / 114 mm 45.0 cal guns - 45.95lbs / 20.84kg shells, 150 per gun
   Dual purpose guns in deck and hoist mounts, 1938 Model
   6 x Twin mounts on sides, forward deck aft
   4 x Twin mounts on sides, aft deck forward
      32 - 1.57" / 40.0 mm 45.0 cal guns - 2.00lbs / 0.91kg shells, 150 per gun
   Anti-air guns in deck mounts, 1938 Model
   8 x 2 row quad mounts on sides, evenly spread
  8 raised mounts
      Weight of broadside 10,908 lbs / 4,948 kg

Armour:
   - Belts:  Width (max) Length (avg)  Height (avg)
 Main: 12.0" / 305 mm 440.00 ft / 134.11 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
 Ends: 5.00" / 127 mm 150.00 ft / 45.72 m 12.00 ft / 3.66 m
   7.50 ft / 2.29 m Unarmoured ends
 Upper: 9.00" / 229 mm 440.00 ft / 134.11 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
   Main Belt covers 113 % of normal length

   - Torpedo Bulkhead:
  4.00" / 102 mm 440.00 ft / 134.11 m 29.00 ft / 8.84 m

   - Hull Bulges:
  1.00" / 25 mm 440.00 ft / 134.11 m 29.00 ft / 8.84 m

   - Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
 Main: 12.0" / 305 mm 9.00" / 229 mm  12.0" / 305 mm
 2nd: 2.00" / 51 mm 2.00" / 51 mm  2.00" / 51 mm

   - Armoured deck - multiple decks: 5.00" / 127 mm For and Aft decks
 Forecastle: 5.00" / 127 mm  Quarter deck: 5.00" / 127 mm

   - Conning towers: Forward 9.00" / 229 mm,  Aft 0.00" / 0 mm

Machinery:
 Oil fired boilers, steam turbines, 
 Geared drive, 4 shafts, 93,477 shp / 69,734 Kw = 27.00 kts
 Range 5,400nm at 15.00 kts
 Bunker at max displacement = 2,389 tons

Complement:
 1,132 - 1,472

Cost:
 £13.134 million / $52.536 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
 Armament: 1,934 tons, 6.5 %
 Armour: 12,870 tons, 43.2 %
    - Belts: 3,439 tons, 11.6 %
    - Torpedo bulkhead: 1,888 tons, 6.3 %
    - Bulges: 472 tons, 1.7 %
    - Armament: 3,334 tons, 11.2 %
    - Armour Deck: 3,550 tons, 11.9 %
    - Conning Tower: 186 tons, 0.6 %
 Machinery: 2,560 tons, 8.6 %
 Hull, fittings & equipment: 9,895 tons, 33.3 %
 Fuel, ammunition & stores: 2,501 tons, 8.4 %
 Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
 Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
   51,396 lbs / 23,313 Kg = 41.8 x 13.5 " / 343 mm shells or 11.0 torpedoes
 Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.18
 Metacentric height 5.7 ft / 1.7 m
 Roll period: 18.3 seconds
 Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 55 %
   - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.49
 Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.11

Hull form characteristics:
 Hull has rise forward of midbreak,
   a ram bow and a cruiser stern
 Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0.578 / 0.579
 Length to Beam Ratio: 5.75 : 1
 'Natural speed' for length: 24.44 kts
 Power going to wave formation at top speed: 57 %
 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 (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
    Fore end,  Aft end
    - Forecastle: 30.00 %,  27.00 ft / 8.23 m,  27.00 ft / 8.23 m
    - Forward deck: 37.00 %,  27.00 ft / 8.23 m,  27.00 ft / 8.23 m
    - Aft deck: 18.00 %,  19.00 ft / 5.79 m,  19.00 ft / 5.79 m
    - Quarter deck: 15.00 %,  19.00 ft / 5.79 m,  19.00 ft / 5.79 m
    - Average freeboard:  24.36 ft / 7.42 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
 Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 76.6 %
  - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 156.3 %
 Waterplane Area: 38,100 Square feet or 3,540 Square metres
 Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 108 %
 Structure weight / hull surface area: 179 lbs/sq ft or 876 Kg/sq metre
 Hull strength (Relative):
  - Cross-sectional: 0.94
  - Longitudinal: 1.80
  - Overall: 1.00
 Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
 Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent

1 comment:

James said...

Hi Jim,

Yes something like that I was aiming at...they would have been useful I think in 1940 but still did not have the speed of the German pocket battleships..thanks for sharing that report.

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