General Social/Chatter Thread

[The Rock Doctor]

Did some plonking with different sims to see if there is a consistent pattern to range versus speed.

Seven ships, engine year ranging from 1912 to 1927, hull strengths from 0.55 to 1.00, natural speed for length ranging from 17.8 to 26.7.  All are fully oil-fired.

The chart on the left side of the sheet is speed versus actual range for the seven types.

The chart on the right is speed versus (range as a fraction of the range at 10 kts) for the seven types.  It's actually a fairly consistent curve.  The natural speed for length may make a slight difference - the sloop with 17.8 is least fuel efficient, the AC with 26.7 most fuel efficient - but it's not dramatic.

[The Rock Doctor]

On average (nine designs, 1700 t sloop to 39,000 BB, all oil-fired), multiple the range at the slow speed by __ to get the range at the higher speed:

10 kts to 12 kts:  x0.69
10 kts to 15 kts:  x0.42
10 kts to 18 kts:  x0.27
10 kts to 20 kts:  x0.21
10 kts to 25 kts:  x0.11
10 kts to 30 kts:  x0.07

12 kts to 15 kts:  x0.61
12 kts to 18 kts:  x0.39
12 kts to 20 kts:  x0.30
12 kts to 25 kts:  x0.16
12 kts to 30 kts:  x0.10

15 kts to 18 kts:  x0.64
15 kts to 20 kts:  x0.50
15 kts to 25 kts:  x0.26
15 kts to 30 kts:  x0.17

18 kts to 20 kts:  x0.78
18 kts to 25 kts:  x0.41
18 kts to 30 kts:  x0.26

20 kts to 25 kts:  x0.52
20 kts to 30 kts:  x0.33

25 kts to 30 kts:  x0.64

If converting from higher to lower speed, divide instead of multiply.

Ships with lower "natural speed for length" figures may be 0.02-0.03 lower than this average.  This might impact shorter hulls but not sure if L:B ratios are a factor.

[Kaiser Kirk]

Nice !

For what we do, that's quite useful.

OTL wasn't that simple, as gearing ratios meant there were defined cruising speeds, affected by hull form,  and fuel efficiency would get worse at other speeds.
But that's probably a level of realism we don't need to add !

[The Rock Doctor]

Anybody remember how SS determines if a ship is wet forward?  I'm sure there's more to it than bow height but my googling is not accomplishing anything.

[Kaiser Kirk]

As far as I know it's strictly based on the height of 'freeboard forward' spot.
Usually the Default means no warning,
while 0.01 under the Default gives that Ship tends to be wet forward

On rare occasions, the default is not sufficient, and you need to add 0.01 to the 'freeboard forward'.
The most recent iteration of Flight Deck Cruiser I'm working on- has a default of 8.10m.
but that gets the Wet Forward,
but 8.11 does not.

Reducing from 29 knots to 24 knots (Hull natural speed)...does not seem to change that.

[Kaiser Kirk]

Sorry, I wandered away for a little bit unannounced.
Instead of life slowing down Late-January, it just got more busy.
I still managed to tinker with ships a bit, but no time for more.

However, I seem to now finally be at a point where I
can start catching up on things, so hopefully I can work on Foxy's Mayan problem.
...and finish my carrier efforts. Rome is SO far ahead...

[The Rock Doctor]

Do as the Romans do...

[Kaiser Kirk]

Do as the Romans do...

Attack a nearby power with a weak garrison in the Americas ?

Hmm, let me think about that...

[TacCovert4]

Do as the Romans do...

Attack a nearby power with a weak garrison in the Americas ?

Hmm, let me think about that...

Looks at Arizona

Sends Telegram to Dept. of Military Engineering

[Kaiser Kirk]

Looks at Arizona

Sends Telegram to Dept. of Military Engineering

Parthia can only send about 31 Land Units by Amphibious Task Force,
who would find that threatening?


...but the time to take protective custody of San Diego/ Arizona seems past....

[snip]

Hey now, no scheeming without me.

[TacCovert4]

Speaking of scheming

Diesels and Destroyers

I'd like to explore it.  But I'm unsure if the extra tonnage we add for diesels would be counted as machinery.   It definitely is machinery,  and compact high performance engines like diesels would be an ideal option for getting Destroyers with oceanic cruising range and rapid response acceleration.

[Kaiser Kirk]

Speaking of scheming

Diesels and Destroyers

I'd like to explore it.  But I'm unsure if the extra tonnage we add for diesels would be counted as machinery.   It definitely is machinery,  and compact high performance engines like diesels would be an ideal option for getting Destroyers with oceanic cruising range and rapid response acceleration.

Snip wrote the section.
So most certainly as Mod Emeritus gets to chime in.

I think the key question is - In that period can you you make higher power-weight, but less reliable, lightweight diesels ?

That is essentially what they did with steam plants for Destroyers, then Cruisers.
My perception is  the weight in SS is if you have a Battleship-type installation, and we use the Comp Hull as kludge to compensate for the engine weight.

Foxy wanted to do Turbo-electric, and I ruled that Turbo-generators did not count.   
Turbogenerators are separate plant, and had less efficiency gains than steam plants over time, so they did not get greatly lighter in tons : KW.
So they would not scale the same.

[snip]

Ships built to Destroyer Architecture must have at least 50% of the Distribution of weights at normal displacement section of their Springsharp allocated to Machinery

I read that as the Machinery section of the report must be at least 50%, any MISC weight adjustments based on engine type would therefor necessarily be in addition to that minimum, not counting towards it.

[TacCovert4]

Re: guns, to move the convo from Jefs ship thread.

My interpretation of the gun rules is that the fire control systems are optimized for the type.  So a QF gun is going to have proper FC for anti shipping.   And operate at reduced efficiency against aircraft if it's something capable of that at all.  Conversely,  an AA gun can shoot at ships but only with HE  shells and over local open sights.   

So a 90mm AA gun really isn't going to be a good surface gun, it has the punch but not the fire control to be truly effective.  But something like a 40mm pom pom works ok as a last ditch anti MTB weapon.