"Can I Play With Madness?"

[The Rock Doctor]

Had to design something this afternoon.  This was the outcome. 

My heart says, "That's f*****g cool". 

My head says, "Four destroyers will do a better job, for less cost". 

My heart replies, "Yeah, but do I have any thirty-two knot destroyers?", and my head answers, "I will with the next engine tech", to which my my heart retorts, "Well, then the cruiser can be faster too."

To which my head says, "Piss off."



Madness, Colombian Unprotected Cruiser laid down 1913 (Engine 1912)

Displacement:
   4,599 t light; 4,733 t standard; 5,203 t normal; 5,578 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
   480.12 ft / 475.72 ft x 47.57 ft x 17.88 ft (normal load)
   146.34 m / 145.00 m x 14.50 m  x 5.45 m

Armament:
      4 - 5.51" / 140 mm guns in single mounts, 83.72lbs / 37.97kg shells, 1913 Model
     Breech loading guns in deck mounts with hoists
     on centreline ends, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
      2 - 2.56" / 65.0 mm guns in single mounts, 8.38lbs / 3.80kg shells, 1913 Model
     Breech loading guns in deck mounts
     on side, all amidships
      4 - 0.31" / 8.0 mm guns in single mounts, 0.02lbs / 0.01kg shells, 1913 Model
     Breech loading guns in deck mounts
     on side, evenly spread
   Weight of broadside 352 lbs / 160 kg
   Shells per gun, main battery: 150
   24 - 21.0" / 533 mm above water torpedoes

Armour:
   - Gun armour:   Face (max)   Other gunhouse (avg)   Barbette/hoist (max)
   Main:   0.98" / 25 mm   0.98" / 25 mm      0.98" / 25 mm
   2nd:   0.98" / 25 mm         -               -

Machinery:
   Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
   Direct drive, 2 shafts, 62,000 shp / 46,252 Kw = 32.20 kts
   Range 8,500nm at 10.00 kts (Bunkerage = 845 tons)

Complement:
   306 - 398

Cost:
   £0.593 million / $2.374 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
   Armament: 44 tons, 0.8 %
   Armour: 21 tons, 0.4 %
      - Belts: 0 tons, 0.0 %
      - Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0.0 %
      - Armament: 21 tons, 0.4 %
      - Armour Deck: 0 tons, 0.0 %
      - Conning Tower: 0 tons, 0.0 %
   Machinery: 2,472 tons, 47.5 %
   Hull, fittings & equipment: 1,885 tons, 36.2 %
   Fuel, ammunition & stores: 603 tons, 11.6 %
   Miscellaneous weights: 177 tons, 3.4 %
-100 t:  Fire Control
-25 t:  Long range Wireless
-24 t:  Torpedoes
-26 t:  Weight Reserve

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
   Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
     2,253 lbs / 1,022 Kg = 26.9 x 5.5 " / 140 mm shells or 0.6 torpedoes
   Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.08
   Metacentric height 1.9 ft / 0.6 m
   Roll period: 14.4 seconds
   Steadiness   - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 70 %
         - Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.22
   Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.00

Hull form characteristics:
   Hull has rise forward of midbreak
   Block coefficient: 0.450
   Length to Beam Ratio: 10.00 : 1
   'Natural speed' for length: 21.81 kts
   Power going to wave formation at top speed: 60 %
   Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 70
   Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 10.00 degrees
   Stern overhang: 0.00 ft / 0.00 m
   Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
      - Stem:      24.93 ft / 7.60 m
      - Forecastle (20 %):   21.00 ft / 6.40 m
      - Mid (41 %):      21.00 ft / 6.40 m (13.12 ft / 4.00 m aft of break)
      - Quarterdeck (15 %):   13.12 ft / 4.00 m
      - Stern:      13.12 ft / 4.00 m
      - Average freeboard:   16.67 ft / 5.08 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
   Space   - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 163.8 %
      - Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 38.1 %
   Waterplane Area: 14,436 Square feet or 1,341 Square metres
   Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 95 %
   Structure weight / hull surface area: 76 lbs/sq ft or 370 Kg/sq metre
   Hull strength (Relative):
      - Cross-sectional: 0.94
      - Longitudinal: 1.62
      - Overall: 1.00
   Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
   Room for accommodation and workspaces is extremely poor
   Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform

[maddox]

I don't wanna meet a flottila of these monsters.

[Jefgte]

A big DD Leader or a Torpedo Cruiser  ???


Jef

[maddox]

Both in the same package. If the design has a bit more flexibility and a flag bridge.

[Sachmle]

All right, how did Fox sign in as Rocky?  ;)

My heart says: "I want one too!!!"

My head says: "I'm glad he's on our side, cuz I can't outrun it or keep it far enough away to stop it from using those torpedoes."

The Nueva's can't decisively outshoot it, and the San Carlos can't come close to keeping it away....just have to shoot the s*%t out of it before it gets close.

[Guinness]

I think if you start building these, the CSA will probably spend a lot of money and BP on 7.5" 29 knot cruisers.

[The Rock Doctor]

So the question is - do I want CSA to build a bunch of 7.5", 29 kt cruisers?

[maddox]

Yes , you want that Rocky. 

Imagine fleet actions in the Caribbean, with fleets racing to each other at 60kts.

[Desertfox]

Mommy!!! I want one!  ;D

[P3D]

As a sidenote, if we had to account for the considerable weight of the torpedo tubes, the TTs alone would weight 60t not 24t.

And one main caliber hit would disable 24 TTs not 6 or 8.

[Tanthalas]

MOMMY im building one

[The Rock Doctor]

We don't account for tube weight anywhere, so I won't worry about it here.  Still, a modest decrease in range or speed would offset the additional 36 t.  Actually, the weight reserve would capture most of it as is.

One main caliber hit's unlikely to wipe out the entire bank of fish - they're over a wide area.  If it does, the ship's probably screwed anyway.

Imagine fleet actions in the Caribbean, with fleets racing to each other at 60kts.

Mmm...

Maybe I'll show it to those visiting Egyptians and see if they can imagine them in the Med.

[Korpen]

I think the entire "torpedoes exploding when hit"-risk is overrated. Even a direct hit by a shell is unlikely to set off the HE warhead by sympathetic explosion, and the risk for that from an AP/SAP shell is basically zero.

The thing that is easy to blow in a torpedo is the airflask, and that is only really, really nasty if it is full of pure oxygen...

[Guinness]

I was just reading in Friedman's Cruisers (which just showed up last week), that the US Bureau of Ordnance objected to storing Torpedo reloads on deck on the Omahas because of the risk of air flask explosion. The warheads would have been below in magazines.

They preferred storing all torpedoes in tubes, even if it took up more deck space and weight, as the tubes were considered safer than deck storage (and had the added benefit of being available for use on short notice).

I don't know what the practice was in the US navy, or any navy for that matter, as to warhead storage for fish in above deck tubes. Did they keep the warheads below and hurriedly fit them for action? Or maybe they went on the fish when action was possible?

Edit: Wrote "Bureau of Engineering", meant "Bureau of Ordnance".

[Jefgte]

TT had no protection & are very exposed to splinters or direct hit.
Cover them with the deck is the minimum...like I made on Panzerschiffs studies




Jef  ;)