Those who were present on chat the other day will be aware of my fairly unhappy reaction to the revelation that the Gam class carriers, unlike every other existing Nordmark vessel I've examined so far, featured dual purpose 130mm mounts.
See, one of my 'design goals', if you will, is to clear up and clean up the inconsistencies I perceive looking at Nordmark's fleet. As part of that, I'd determined as a 'first principle' that I'd be standardizing across the fleet on one particular gun of any given type; for DD primary and capital-ship secondary guns, I had two existing calibers suitable for conversion, 110mm and 130mm, both of which - in the vessels I'd examined first, the destroyers suitable for quick refitting - were available only in low-angle, anti-surface mounts.
Since I had a considerable existing fleet, since it was more common, since the question of a dual-purpose mount apparently hadn't been weighed previously in character, and since the 110mm could be expected to 'fit' on a ship designed for 130mm but not vice versa, I settled on 110mm as my 'caliber of choice'.
But then there's Gam, with 130mm DP. So apparently the decision has been made in-character. Retconning it doesn't seem to be an option, not with Gam and her sister so advanced, which leaves me...
Well, about to find a big chunk of my fleet due for phasing out rather than refit. And with most of my work done so far unusable.
Ah, well. Scrapping the unsuitable vessels at least puts me considerably closer to wiping out the consequences of my predecessors lamentable lack of understanding of the fact of the backwards nature of the United States' customary system of measures.
All that said, the disposal list includes about two thirds of my destroyers, meaning I'll need to build replacements so that I can get rid of them without a major fleet draw-down.
Thus, this:
Type 42, Nordmark Destroyer laid down 1942
Displacement:
2,000 t light; 2,150 t standard; 2,643 t normal; 3,037 t full load
Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
405.32 ft / 393.70 ft x 42.65 ft x 10.83 ft (normal load)
123.54 m / 120.00 m x 13.00 m x 3.30 m
Armament:
8 - 5.12" / 130 mm guns (4x2 guns), 66.14lbs / 30.00kg shells, 1942 Model
Dual purpose guns in deck mounts with hoists
on centreline ends, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
8 - 1.57" / 40.0 mm guns (2x4 guns), 2.05lbs / 0.93kg shells, 1942 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, all amidships, all raised mounts - superfiring
4 - 1.57" / 40.0 mm guns (1x4 guns), 2.05lbs / 0.93kg shells, 1942 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in a deck mount with hoist
on centreline amidships
24 - 0.79" / 20.0 mm guns (6x4 guns), 0.24lbs / 0.11kg shells, 1942 Model
Machine guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 559 lbs / 254 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 300
8 - 24.0" / 610 mm above water torpedoes
Armour:
- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 0.98" / 25 mm 0.39" / 10 mm -
2nd: 0.39" / 10 mm 0.39" / 10 mm -
3rd: 0.39" / 10 mm 0.39" / 10 mm -
4th: 0.39" / 10 mm 0.39" / 10 mm -
Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 2 shafts, 49,699 shp / 37,075 Kw = 34.00 kts
Range 5,000nm at 20.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 887 tons
Complement:
183 - 239
Cost:
£1.873 million / $7.493 million
Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 71 tons, 2.7 %
Armour: 21 tons, 0.8 %
- Belts: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Armament: 21 tons, 0.8 %
- Armour Deck: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Conning Tower: 0 tons, 0.0 %
Machinery: 1,178 tons, 44.6 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 668 tons, 25.3 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 643 tons, 24.3 %
Miscellaneous weights: 62 tons, 2.3 %
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
701 lbs / 318 Kg = 10.5 x 5.1 " / 130 mm shells or 0.4 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.18
Metacentric height 1.9 ft / 0.6 m
Roll period: 13.0 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 50 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.43
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 0.54
Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.509
Length to Beam Ratio: 9.23 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 22.76 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 69 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 93
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 30.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 3.28 ft / 1.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 14.44 ft / 4.40 m
- Forecastle (15 %): 14.11 ft / 4.30 m
- Mid (30 %): 13.78 ft / 4.20 m
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 13.12 ft / 4.00 m
- Stern: 13.12 ft / 4.00 m
- Average freeboard: 13.59 ft / 4.14 m
Ship tends to be wet forward
Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 169.1 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 94.5 %
Waterplane Area: 11,731 Square feet or 1,090 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 81 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 39 lbs/sq ft or 191 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.50
- Longitudinal: 0.72
- Overall: 0.51
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
Room for accommodation and workspaces is adequate
Caution: Lacks seaworthiness - very limited seakeeping ability
Misc Weight:
5 tons main battery director radar
5 tons search radar
3 tons AA director radar
24 tons torpedoes and support equipment
9 tons sonar
18 tons 60x depth charges and launching racks