Destroyers
A further four units of the Gearing class will be laid down in FY1945.
Submarines
A further five of the Gato class submarines are to be laid down for FY1945.
Amphibious Warfare Vessels
The USN delayed building the LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle Personnel) until the tenth LST (Landing Ship, Tank) was completed. Funding now has been freed up to begin building 60 LCVP in this fiscal year and a further 540 on order for the following two fiscal years, which will allow the US to land one division on a hostile shore. To support these, the USN is also going to build one LSD (Landing Ship, Dock) in FY1945 and has tenative plans to build a second in FY1946.
LCVP
Length: 36ft, 3in
Beam: 10ft, 10in
Draught: 3ft aft, 2ft 2in forward
Propulsion: Gray Marine Diesel engine, 225hp
Speed: 12 knots
Displacement: 8t light
Capacity: 6,000lbs vehicle, or 8,100lbs general cargo, or 36 troops
Crew: 4
Armament: 2 .30 cal Browning machine guns
USS Ashland, United States Landing Ship, Dock laid down 1946
Displacement:
5,029 t light; 5,209 t standard; 8,189 t normal; 10,574 t full load
Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
457.00 ft / 457.00 ft x 72.00 ft x 15.50 ft (normal load)
139.29 m / 139.29 m x 21.95 m x 4.72 m
Armament:
1 - 5.00" / 127 mm guns in single mounts, 55.12lbs / 25.00kg shells, 1946 Model
Dual purpose gun in deck mount
on centreline forward, 1 raised gun
8 - 1.50" / 38.1 mm guns (2x4 guns), 1.69lbs / 0.77kg shells, 1946 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships, all raised mounts - superfiring
4 - 1.50" / 38.1 mm guns (2x2 guns), 1.69lbs / 0.77kg shells, 1946 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on centreline ends, evenly spread, all raised mounts
16 - 0.75" / 19.1 mm guns (4x4 guns), 0.21lbs / 0.10kg shells, 1946 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, all raised mounts
Weight of broadside 79 lbs / 36 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 300
Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 2 shafts, 5,729 shp / 4,274 Kw = 16.00 kts
Range 28,000nm at 16.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 5,365 tons
Complement:
429 - 559
Cost:
£1.454 million / $5.817 million
Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 11 tons, 0.1 %
Machinery: 143 tons, 1.7 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 2,525 tons, 30.8 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 3,161 tons, 38.6 %
Miscellaneous weights: 2,350 tons, 28.7 %
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
29,536 lbs / 13,397 Kg = 472.6 x 5.0 " / 127 mm shells or 5.2 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.29
Metacentric height 4.8 ft / 1.5 m
Roll period: 13.8 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 92 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.01
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.84
Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise forward of midbreak
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.562
Length to Beam Ratio: 6.35 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 25.17 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 33 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 0.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 0.00 ft / 0.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 20.00 ft / 6.10 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 20.00 ft / 6.10 m
- Mid (50 %): 20.00 ft / 6.10 m (16.00 ft / 4.88 m aft of break)
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 16.00 ft / 4.88 m
- Stern: 16.00 ft / 4.88 m
- Average freeboard: 18.00 ft / 5.49 m
Ship tends to be wet forward
Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 39.3 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 191.6 %
Waterplane Area: 24,184 Square feet or 2,247 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 301 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 79 lbs/sq ft or 388 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.96
- Longitudinal: 1.41
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
Excellent seaboat, comfortable, can fire her guns in the heaviest weather
Notes: 4,011t for water in well deck simmed as fuel. Acutal range is 6,500nm @ 16 knots.
Size of well deck: after part of well deck is 331 ft 4in long, 44 ft wide, 9ft depth of water, forward part of well deck is 55ft long, 27.5in wide, 7ft depth of water. Total weight of water is 4,011 tons
Breakdown of Miscellaneous Weight:
Provision for radar and communications equipment: 100t
Provision for vehicle, tank, and landing craft spare parts: 100t
Provision for high capacity pumps: 50t
Provision for small boat repair shop and two cranes: 500t
Boat and Landing Craft Configurations: 1,850t available