Knowing What I know Now...

[Carthaginian]

If I could start my nation over knowing what I know now, this would be the battleship class I'd start off with (humor me, here). The 13" guns may or may not be kosher, but a couple of nations had them, so I figure what the heck! Hopefully, the artwork has improved as well... I'm trying to get mine up to snuff and pre-dreads are the easiest thing to draw as well as design. Also, the fact that it's CSN is just arbitrary- it could be any nation, I just use Southron names because I'm a bit 'opinionated.'



Mississippi, Confederate States of America Battleship laid down 1895

Displacement:
   12,300 t light; 12,891 t standard; 13,816 t normal; 14,556 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
   420.00 ft / 420.00 ft x 78.00 ft x 25.00 ft (normal load)
   128.02 m / 128.02 m x 23.77 m  x 7.62 m

Armament:
      4 - 13.00" / 330 mm guns (2x2 guns), 1,000.00lbs / 453.59kg shells, 1895 Model
     Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
     on centreline ends, evenly spread
      12 - 6.00" / 152 mm guns in single mounts, 100.00lbs / 45.36kg shells, 1895 Model
     Breech loading guns in casemate mounts
     on side, evenly spread
     6 guns in hull casemates - Limited use in all but light seas
      8 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm guns in single mounts, 12.50lbs / 5.67kg shells, 1895 Model
     Quick firing guns in casemate mounts
     on side ends, evenly spread
     8 guns in hull casemates - Limited use in all but light seas
      8 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm guns in single mounts, 12.50lbs / 5.67kg shells, 1895 Model
     Breech loading guns in deck mounts
     on side, evenly spread
      10 - 0.75" / 19.1 mm guns in single mounts, 0.25lbs / 0.11kg shells, 1895 Model
     Machine guns in deck mounts
     on side, evenly spread, all raised mounts
   Weight of broadside 5,403 lbs / 2,451 kg
   Shells per gun, main battery: 100

Armour:
   - Belts:      Width (max)   Length (avg)      Height (avg)
   Main:   12.0" / 305 mm   250.00 ft / 76.20 m   14.00 ft / 4.27 m
   Ends:   3.00" / 76 mm   170.00 ft / 51.82 m   12.00 ft / 3.66 m
   Upper:   5.00" / 127 mm   250.00 ft / 76.20 m   10.00 ft / 3.05 m
     Main Belt covers 92 % of normal length

   - Gun armour:   Face (max)   Other gunhouse (avg)   Barbette/hoist (max)
   Main:   14.0" / 356 mm   5.00" / 127 mm      12.0" / 305 mm
   2nd:   5.00" / 127 mm   3.00" / 76 mm      3.00" / 76 mm
   3rd:   1.00" / 25 mm         -               -
   4th:   0.50" / 13 mm         -               -

   - Armour deck: 2.00" / 51 mm, Conning tower: 14.00" / 356 mm

Machinery:
   Coal fired boilers, complex reciprocating steam engines,
   Direct drive, 2 shafts, 10,999 ihp / 8,206 Kw = 17.08 kts
   Range 5,000nm at 10.00 kts
   Bunker at max displacement = 1,664 tons (100% coal)

Complement:
   636 - 828

Cost:
   £1.312 million / $5.247 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
   Armament: 739 tons, 5.3 %
   Armour: 4,838 tons, 35.0 %
      - Belts: 2,716 tons, 19.7 %
      - Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0.0 %
      - Armament: 1,070 tons, 7.7 %
      - Armour Deck: 879 tons, 6.4 %
      - Conning Tower: 174 tons, 1.3 %
   Machinery: 1,864 tons, 13.5 %
   Hull, fittings & equipment: 4,554 tons, 33.0 %
   Fuel, ammunition & stores: 1,516 tons, 11.0 %
   Miscellaneous weights: 305 tons, 2.2 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
   Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
     15,417 lbs / 6,993 Kg = 14.0 x 13.0 " / 330 mm shells or 2.2 torpedoes
   Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.22
   Metacentric height 5.0 ft / 1.5 m
   Roll period: 14.7 seconds
   Steadiness   - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 75 %
         - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.39
   Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.70

Hull form characteristics:
   Hull has rise forward of midbreak
   Block coefficient: 0.590
   Length to Beam Ratio: 5.38 : 1
   'Natural speed' for length: 20.49 kts
   Power going to wave formation at top speed: 43 %
   Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 44
   Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 0.00 degrees
   Stern overhang: -5.00 ft / -1.52 m
   Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
      - Stem:      23.00 ft / 7.01 m
      - Forecastle (20 %):   20.00 ft / 6.10 m
      - Mid (50 %):      19.00 ft / 5.79 m (11.00 ft / 3.35 m aft of break)
      - Quarterdeck (20 %):   11.00 ft / 3.35 m
      - Stern:      13.00 ft / 3.96 m
      - Average freeboard:   15.79 ft / 4.81 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
   Space   - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 86.4 %
      - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 108.5 %
   Waterplane Area: 23,747 Square feet or 2,206 Square metres
   Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 93 %
   Structure weight / hull surface area: 137 lbs/sq ft or 671 Kg/sq metre
   Hull strength (Relative):
      - Cross-sectional: 0.92
      - Longitudinal: 2.07
      - Overall: 1.00
   Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is adequate
   Room for accommodation and workspaces is adequate
   Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
   Excellent seaboat, comfortable, can fire her guns in the heaviest weather

[P3D]

The 4th 6" gun (from the fore) is missing.
Armor is too thick for the era (unless not KC buy Harvey Nickel). 5" Turret side is thin.

The 13" gun offers nothing over the 12" one. But I'd accept prestige as justification for them.

[Jefgte]

Not a bad BB...


;)

[Sachmle]

You forgot the casemated 3" guns. Other than that..not bad if not a little heavy for a nations first Pre-dread.

[Carthaginian]

Doh... I used the wrong pic!
Fixed now, P3D; the number of everything and the length of the ship should match up. Chalk it up to the last fired brain cells of the semester. The ship I had previous to that one was the 12" predecessor to this design- and I don't even have the SS file for it anymore!

The armor is indeed Harvey, and the side armor on the turret was the ship's 'flaw'- every ship needs one, and this girl was rather well built without it. I didn't intend the 13" to be a 'prestige' thing; it was actually supposed to be a bigger, better weapon which would have had the problems that the USN's 13" MkI demonstrated straightened out*. I was working backwards from the 13.5" Vickers instead of forward from the USN's gun, though. Should a 13" gun have no real advantage, I'd drop it and go to a 12" gun.



Sam,

It wasn't the first pre-dread... it would be the second or third class of pre-dread for my nation. The predecessors would use 12" guns, this one would use the 13" gun which would start the series that would eventually arm it's dreadnoughts. And as ships that would carry 13" guns go, she's not all that heavy. If I took them down to 12" ships, they'd be positively anorexic from the weight loss. ;)


*Tan and I were working on opposing fleets for the time period covered in Dreadnought; this ship is one of the results of that exercise. Tan was going with the 28cm German guns and a long-range fire philosophy; I was going with the 13" American gun and a more up close and personal tactic. The point of the 13" was to pack more explosive into a shell that could penetrate just as deeply at short range, but suffered for it in long range performance.