WesWorld

In 1938, Lexington and Saratoga will begin a major refit that will last two years. Main battery will be changed to twin 16" turrets, with 5"/38 secondaries. Superstructure is a hybrid of North Carolina with Iowa funnels.


USS Lexington, United States Battlecruiser laid down 1919 (Engine 1938)

Displacement:
43,192 t light; 45,849 t standard; 49,053 t normal; 51,617 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
871.54 ft / 850.00 ft x 100.00 ft (Bulges 110.00 ft) x 31.55 ft (normal load)
265.65 m / 259.08 m x 30.48 m (Bulges 33.53 m) x 9.62 m

Armament:
8 - 16.00" / 406 mm guns (4x2 guns), 2,700.00lbs / 1,224.70kg shells, 1938 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
24 - 5.00" / 127 mm guns (12x2 guns), 55.00lbs / 24.95kg shells, 1938 Model
Dual purpose guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, all amidships, 4 raised mounts - superfiring
16 - 1.10" / 27.9 mm guns (4x4 guns), 0.67lbs / 0.30kg shells, 1938 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships, all raised mounts - superfiring
12 - 0.50" / 12.7 mm guns in single mounts, 0.06lbs / 0.03kg shells, 1938 Model
Machine guns in deck mounts
on side ends, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 22,931 lbs / 10,402 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 130

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 12.0" / 305 mm 624.00 ft / 190.20 m 12.00 ft / 3.66 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 113 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead and Bulges:
3.00" / 76 mm 624.00 ft / 190.20 m 29.00 ft / 8.84 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 13.0" / 330 mm 6.00" / 152 mm 12.0" / 305 mm
2nd: 2.00" / 51 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 2.00" / 51 mm

- Armour deck: 4.50" / 114 mm, Conning tower: 12.00" / 305 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 210,436 shp / 156,985 Kw = 32.00 kts
Range 10,000nm at 15.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 5,768 tons

Complement:
1,647 - 2,142

Cost:
£9.158 million / $36.632 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 2,237 tons, 4.6 %
Armour: 14,740 tons, 30.0 %
- Belts: 3,732 tons, 7.6 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 2,009 tons, 4.1 %
- Armament: 3,564 tons, 7.3 %
- Armour Deck: 5,089 tons, 10.4 %
- Conning Tower: 346 tons, 0.7 %
Machinery: 5,762 tons, 11.7 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 20,252 tons, 41.3 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 5,861 tons, 11.9 %
Miscellaneous weights: 200 tons, 0.4 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
66,243 lbs / 30,047 Kg = 32.3 x 16.0 " / 406 mm shells or 10.5 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.10
Metacentric height 6.0 ft / 1.8 m
Roll period: 18.9 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 61 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.87
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.08

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has low quarterdeck
Block coefficient: 0.582
Length to Beam Ratio: 7.73 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 29.15 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 53 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 56
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 34.20 degrees
Stern overhang: 0.00 ft / 0.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 31.70 ft / 9.66 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 27.70 ft / 8.44 m
- Mid (50 %): 25.70 ft / 7.83 m
- Quarterdeck (18 %): 18.70 ft / 5.70 m (25.70 ft / 7.83 m before break)
- Stern: 18.70 ft / 5.70 m
- Average freeboard: 25.42 ft / 7.75 m
Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 93.4 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 185.2 %
Waterplane Area: 61,129 Square feet or 5,679 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 111 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 222 lbs/sq ft or 1,084 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.98
- Longitudinal: 1.23
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is adequate
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent

Gorgeous!

Very impressive, both the sim and the drawing.

Neat work, but I do question the drop in speed. 30 knots isn't much of a margin over the 27-28 knot combatants that are fairly common, and none at all over some of the 30 knot modern battlerships built or building. It's also worth noting that, while as the Nordmark thread points out, a speed advantage over carriers for escorting purposes isn't essential, I'd think it'd be desired in this case.

I'd also start considering examining the cruising speed of the fleet; Most navies are in the 15-16 knot cruise speed range, with some trying to push 20 knots.

Crap, hadn't even noticed the loss in speed. Hadn't updated the engines from the original refit, under Cleito. Updating...

Can add new engines, considering it's already a 50% rebuild.

Ah, I think that's better.

I do love how there are more heavy AA guns then light AA guns.....Well, besides the .5'' cals, anyways.

By the way, the refit you listed in your encyclopedia only lists 30 knots as the speed?

He hasn't updated it from what he originally posted here, and changed. That's where the comments about the speed were coming from, Tex.

Updated the encyclopedia. US AA fits are still pre-WW2, mainly because I'm not sure how effective aircraft have been in the various wars during my absence. Like their real world counterparts, their AA fit will grow as the need arises.

A airraid by the SAE sunk two Brazilian battlecruisers in harbor, and damaged a battleship. In addition, the Peruvian battleship Husacar was sunk at sea by Chiliean and Atlantean aviation....IIRC.

There's also been two NATO Fleet Problems in which airpower doctrine and effectiveness have been evaluated.

Beautiful, Canis.

When does the "Wesworld" collection go up on your "Various Stuff" page?

Regards,

Canis hasn't worked on the "Various stuff" page in a couple years, and I don't think he ever really intended to update it with WW Material; He's got it all up on his photobucket if you want to browse the raw graphics, or you can check the US Encyclopedia here.

At 32kn speed this vessel surely will be among the fasted full-size capital ships. However, its armor both horizontal and vertical is not impressive. Is this worth such an expensive rebuild?

Other nations have smaller, cheaper ships of likewise speed and an armament that is dangerous to the Lexingtons at least the same way the new 16" guns are to them - so where is the benefit of having a 45kts big ship to maintain?

(Also hardly ever an opponent to the USN, the RSAN Triumph class can, IMHO, take on the Lexingtons any time on equal terms but is only 2/3 the size. Just add this example as I know my own designs best. Guess there are other examples around too.)

IMHO, 12'' of armour is fine....all of the post-Washington Treaty USN battleships had that level of armour, and the South Dakota stood up fine in the area's that were covered vs. the Kongo class...(Yes, she did come out with a damaged superstructure and demolished radars, but those were areas that weren't covered by armour)

As long as these ships aren't used within the line of battle, against first rate battleships, they should be fine.

They're not ideal ships, no. Neither are Repulse and Renown. But I think they're a superior investment (For the same cost) than a pair of 20k ton cruiser replacements would be. Since the USN seems to be earmarking these as carrier escorts, the size makes them better suited, both for piling on AA (eventually), endurance, and other factors.

Don´t get me wrong. I like the idea to keep them around as they are something special and not every single design has to be perfect. Still, I´d like to know a little bit more about the rational behind the idea to keep them alive and rebuild them to that degree.

I like them overall, though if I were to refit the lex's I'd drop the speed to 30 knots and add some deck armour and add more quad 1.1' mounts. That said in her current guise she'd make a good carrier escort, though I still think her light AA is, well, light.