Urban Designs

[Urban]

Hi all,

Been a lurker for a while and finally decided to make an account and start fiddling with ship design recently! Not tried anything too large or outside the historical so far but I am finding small stuff pretty fun.

First attempt at making a relatively cheap and cheerful ASW/patrol craft, somewhat based on the SC-1-class subchasers produced by the USA in the late 1910's, though the design ended up a bit bigger and heavier in SS than IRL. Mostly designed for patrolling harbours and coastal shipping routes, definitely not for taking on anything much heavier than a wounded submarine...

Edited as per suggestions, thank you!

PB01,  Patrol Boat laid down 1916

Displacement:
   98 t light; 102 t standard; 120 t normal; 135 t full load

Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
   (127.96 ft / 125.00 ft) x 15.00 ft x (6.00 / 6.44 ft)
   (39.00 m / 38.10 m) x 4.57 m  x (1.83 / 1.96 m)

Armament:
      1 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm 40.0 cal gun - 12.94lbs / 5.87kg shells, 175 per gun
     Quick firing gun in deck mount, 1916 Model
     1 x Single mount on centreline, forward deck centre
      3 - 0.30" / 7.6 mm 88.0 cal guns - 0.02lbs / 0.01kg shells, 2,500 per gun
     Machine guns in deck mounts, 1916 Model
     2 x Single mounts on sides, aft deck forward
      2 raised mounts - superfiring
     1 x Single mount on centreline, aft deck centre
      Weight of broadside 13 lbs / 6 kg

Machinery:
   Petrol Internal combustion motors,
   Direct drive, 3 shafts, 996 shp / 743 Kw = 18.00 kts
   Range 2,400nm at 12.00 kts
   Bunker at max displacement = 33 tons

Complement:
   17 - 23

Cost:
   £0.015 million / $0.061 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
   Armament: 2 tons, 2.0 %
      - Guns: 2 tons, 2.0 %
   Machinery: 37 tons, 30.9 %
   Hull, fittings & equipment: 50 tons, 41.3 %
   Fuel, ammunition & stores: 22 tons, 18.3 %
   Miscellaneous weights: 9 tons, 7.5 %
      - On freeboard deck: 9 tons

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
   Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
     155 lbs / 70 Kg = 11.5 x 3.0 " / 76 mm shells or 0.2 torpedoes
   Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.07
   Metacentric height 0.3 ft / 0.1 m
   Roll period: 10.2 seconds
   Steadiness   - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 72 %
         - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.23
   Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.38

Hull form characteristics:
   Hull has a flush deck,
     a normal bow and a round stern
   Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0.400 / 0.418
   Length to Beam Ratio: 8.93 : 1
   'Natural speed' for length: 11.18 kts
   Power going to wave formation at top speed: 62 %
   Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 52
   Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 10.00 degrees
   Stern overhang: 1.37 ft / 0.42 m
   Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
            Fore end,    Aft end
      - Forecastle:   20.00 %,  9.00 ft / 2.74 m,  7.50 ft / 2.29 m
      - Forward deck:   30.00 %,  7.50 ft / 2.29 m,  6.50 ft / 1.98 m
      - Aft deck:   30.00 %,  6.50 ft / 1.98 m,  6.00 ft / 1.83 m
      - Quarter deck:   20.00 %,  6.00 ft / 1.83 m,  6.00 ft / 1.83 m
      - Average freeboard:      6.80 ft / 2.07 m
   Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
   Space   - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 106.4 %
      - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 85.7 %
   Waterplane Area: 1,154 Square feet or 107 Square metres
   Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 134 %
   Structure weight / hull surface area: 21 lbs/sq ft or 103 Kg/sq metre
   Hull strength (Relative):
      - Cross-sectional: 0.84
      - Longitudinal: 5.35
      - Overall: 1.01
   Adequate machinery, storage, compartmentation space
   Cramped accommodation and workspace room
   Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
   Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily

Misc weights:
-- Above deck
---- 0t Short range wireless (100m range)
--  On deck
---- 2t - 10 x 195kg depth charges & associated rails/handling gear
---- 5t - Basic hydrophone package
---- 2t - Construction reserve


During some downtime at work I also amused myself by making a "shipbucket" style image, should hopefully be attached. Generic colour scheme, I suppose if any player or NPC nation wanted to use these in the sim for some reason I could easily personalise the colours and flag/info!

[TacCovert4]

Well, welcome.

A few suggestions, if I might.

You have plenty of composite strength left.  Your design can go all the way down to 1.0 comp strength and still be perfectly fine.  I'd say that the tonnage is great, maybe add in more equipment (misc weight) or firepower and use that extra composite strength to have a bit improved boat.

Careful with Springsharp, it's addicting. 

[Jefgte]

Welcome aboard
;)

Misc weights:
-- Above deck
---- 0t Short range wireless (100m range)
--  On deck
---- 2t - 10 x 195kg depth charges & associated rails/handling gear
---- 5t - Basic hydrophone package

You could add more reserve misc Weight.

Hull strength (Relative):
      - Cross-sectional: 1.09
      - Longitudinal: 7.01
      - Overall: 1.32

Overall: 1.00

IMO, increase range & use 1 or 2 shaft(s)
Stability is a bit short.

Careful with Springsharp, it's addicting.

I agree  ;D
--------------------------
In a short time you could build a Fleet for an Empire.

Jef  ;)

[Urban]

Thanks both for the welcome and suggestions!

Knew I'd completely miss something important, I've added updated the design with a small construction reserve, possibly for adding additional depth charge storage, some DC throwers or some other miscellaneous purpose in the future (air conditioning, wet bar?). Stability should be a bit better now too. In addition the range exactly doubled, making for a much more capable boat I think!

Decided against up-gunning it as there isn't a huge amount of deck space spare for another 3" gun which would probably be the most desirable additoon (the SC class was originally planned to have 2 x 3" guns, however one was removed to make way for the centreline DC thrower I believe) - changing the amount of shafts didn't seem to have any effect as far as I could tell, so I've left it at 4 for now?

[The Rock Doctor]

Howdy!

The number of shafts doesn't seem to affect the sim - so far as I've ever seen - but a unit like this would like have one or two rather than four.

Handy little craft, though - I've got some slightly larger types building at the moment.

[Urban]

Ah thank you, that's good to know! There seem to be a few little things in SS that only change things cosmetically or not at all.

I've had another look at the ship's drawings I based the design on and it appears to have 3 shafts rather than the 4 I originally thought it had, 1 central and another flanking each side. I'll change the amount once I get back to my PC!

[snip]

Howdy!

The number of shafts doesn't seem to affect the sim - so far as I've ever seen - but a unit like this would like have one or two rather than four.

Handy little craft, though - I've got some slightly larger types building at the moment.

I have seen a difference going from 1 to more than 1.

Welcome Urban!

[Desertfox]

Now that you're hooked on Springsharp, perhaps we could interest you in a small country...?

[Urban]

Unfortunately between work and other commitments I don't think I can bear the responsibility of running even a small country at the moment, making random designs is about all I can handle at the moment I think! ;)

[Jefgte]

Unfortunately between work and other commitments I don't think I can bear the responsibility of running even a small country at the moment...

On average, 1 hour per day to play an Empire.

For exemple, Iberia is free  ;)

[The Rock Doctor]

Unfortunately between work and other commitments I don't think I can bear the responsibility of running even a small country at the moment, making random designs is about all I can handle at the moment I think! ;)

No worries.  Look forward to seeing what you design, and don't be shy about commenting on our stuff in turn.

[Urban]

Thanks for the offer of Iberia, but I would hate to leave people in the lurch after commiting myself should things take a turn for the more turbulent (as they have a tendency to do as of late)! ;)

I'd love to try taking on something bigger in the future when things quieten down a tad - not to mention I still haven't entirely gotten the hang of this designing lark or how the backend of empire running really works, still much to learn and catch up on in the meantime!

Started another small ship design in my lunchbreak today, should be able to polish it off tomorrow if all goes well.

[TacCovert4]

Ethiopia is also spooled up, or can be finished spooling up with just a little help from some of us.  It's a lot smaller, and merely a foil to Jef and sort of Kirk rather than a world power and major shipbuilder like Iberia. 

[Kaiser Kirk]

Welcome and as others have said, feel free to chime in and as questions / offer suggestions.

There are occasional 'design competitions' - which are open to all.

As for nations, I fully understand time commitments. The past two years have seen a remarkable pairing of 'Hey I have free time coming' and '@#$ dropping out the sky to fill my free time'.

Anyhow, if there comes a time you wish to try your hand at playing a nation, let us know.
There is deliberately a range of  powers, and most have some overseas colonies and angst with their neighbors.

[Urban]

Thank you! Not sure if I can offer many suggestions to the more experienced, but questions I think I can do!

A minor nation would probably be more managable sometime in the near future, and seems like a better way of learning the ropes than dropping into the deep end of a globe spanning empire. I'll be sure to shout when I think that becomes feasible.