Large sloop

[Korpen]

I'm just thinking that it would be hard to manage to fire rapidly enough to provide appropriate adjustment data at range, while the belt is inadequate against an armored cruiser. The advantage of speed is there, presuming visibility allows, and steam is up to exploit it...and that a HE shell blowing a hole in the bows doesn't cause a sudden reduction in speed.

Well, she would not really be intended for a fight against her equals; that is the job of the battlecruisers she is scouting for. Should also mean that help should not be far away. But getting hit and slowed is a risk for sure, but one that all ships have to live with. At least her belt is long, so most of the ship is protected against HE. If a short-range engagement in poor visibility, she is almost equal to anything, as the 38cm guns are massively destructive despite being few, and at point-blank range  pretty much all heavy guns can defeat any armour.

The tripple 12" idea ain't bad.

Really bad idea, as I do not like tripple turrets! But 2x3 305mm gun works fine, got a version with it on the first page in this thread were the weight saving as used to make her smaller. If basing the design on the Dunkerque-style ship, adding a third 30cm gun turret aft (raising the 12cm mount there and putting the two aft 12cm mounts sided by side superfiring the 30cm turret.) would allow for an increase in belt to 125mm and a size of 17 900 ton. 

[maddox]

12" G2 lay out?

[Korpen]

12" G2 lay out?

If you mean G3, then no. Like this:

The 12cm guns above the aft turret are two mouts side-by-side.

[maddox]

I mean G2

The designation in G 3 stands for design G with tripple turrets

So G 2 stands for design G with twins.

[mentat]

The G2 3 twin 12" solution sounds good

An alternative on your original preferred 4 x 15" A Y - is move the aft superstructure island forward to open forward arcs for Y turret.

It's a long ship with 2 Big Turrets - so they should have lots of 'fighting room' ...

Maximum flexibility seems optimum - tactically she is all or nothing - either chasing (CLs) or running away (BCs + )

[Kaiser Kirk]

Maximum flexibility seems optimum - tactically she is all or nothing - either chasing (CLs) or running away (BCs + )

I was thinking it was chasing CLs or running away from anything larger.  The 4" belt will work against 6" but should be carried forward.

A CL faced with this would be advised to run as fast as she can. This beast will be faster. But in a stern chase, the slow firing big guns will be faced with fast firing little guns. 6" HE rounds would be the logical choice to fire back with, and those have a reasonable chance of ventilating the bow and slowing the beast.  With the higher rate of fire to help adjust aim, and bigger target, the 6" should be hitting long before the beast manages to land one.

Now an AC, ala OTL Blucher, would have no chance of running. She'd have to stand and fight. However this ship is just as vulnerable to Blucher's guns as Blucher would be to it's main battery.

The difference is again- given the same fire control- Blucher is firing more guns with a higher ROF, and should be able to manage to adjust on target faster, giving a higher % of hits sooner, so a better chance of hitting something vital.   

Considering all available spare space below water on this beast is filled, every penetrating hit should be of concern.

Just my opinion, which can be wrong :)

[Korpen]

I was thinking it was chasing CLs or running away from anything larger.  The 4" belt will work against 6" but should be carried forward.

A CL faced with this would be advised to run as fast as she can. This beast will be faster. But in a stern chase, the slow firing big guns will be faced with fast firing little guns. 6" HE rounds would be the logical choice to fire back with, and those have a reasonable chance of ventilating the bow and slowing the beast.  With the higher rate of fire to help adjust aim, and bigger target, the 6" should be hitting long before the beast manages to land one.

Well a 15cm gun has a rate of fire of about 4-6 RPM, compared to about 2 for a 38cm gun. However if it is a chase the cruiser will only use about half it guns, so say four against the four forward have guns of the sloop. At most ranges the danger zone (the distance the shell travel at a height were it can strike a target) of the 38cm gun is about twice that of a 15cm gun, and it is also less affected by atmospheric conditions. The effect of all this is that I think the lager guns inherent superior ballistics will compensated the higher rate of fire of the lighter gun at most ranges over 7km. At over 12km the time of flight of the shells also result in the ROF advantage being almost zero.

Now an AC, ala OTL Blucher, would have no chance of running. She'd have to stand and fight. However this ship is just as vulnerable to Blucher's guns as Blucher would be to it's main battery.

The difference is again- given the same fire control- Blucher is firing more guns with a higher ROF, and should be able to manage to adjust on target faster, giving a higher % of hits sooner, so a better chance of hitting something vital.   

Well, as soon as guns are getting into barbarettes (20cm+) the ROF depends more of the design of the mounting then the calibre of the guns, but let's say 3 vs. 2.
Would say bout the same scenario as the smaller guns, the superior ballistics compensating for much of the inferiority in spotting. However she do have enough of an advantage in speed to disengage if hit early, and she takes less damage from a hit then an opponent is likely to do when hit by her guns. So the opposite is less likely to be true. :)

Considering all available spare space below water on this beast is filled, every penetrating hit should be of concern.

No it is not, there are 55m without vital stuff. The "Space   - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 114,7 %" do mean that the engine and magazine space need 15% more then "normal" space of the hull. Normal being 65% of the hulls length (Springsharp notes).

However I am far more likely to build ten 1500-ton DDs and a few auxiliaries instead...