WesWorld

After a rethink and made sure I'm using SS2.1a here is a reworked Project-Slugnutt.



i-Slugnutt, Greek Battleship laid down 1931

Displacement:
39,879 t light; 41,993 t standard; 43,884 t normal; 45,397 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
783.21 ft / 750.00 ft x 106.00 ft x 32.20 ft (normal load)
238.72 m / 228.60 m x 32.31 m x 9.81 m

Armament:
12 - 14.00" / 356 mm guns (4x3 guns), 1,800.00lbs / 816.47kg shells, 1931 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, evenly spread, 1 raised mount - superfiring
10 - 6.00" / 152 mm guns (4 mounts), 108.00lbs / 48.99kg shells, 1931 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on side, all amidships
24 - 5.00" / 127 mm guns (12x2 guns), 62.50lbs / 28.35kg shells, 1931 Model
Dual purpose guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on side, evenly spread, 8 raised mounts
24 - 1.57" / 40.0 mm guns (12x2 guns), 1.95lbs / 0.88kg shells, 1931 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, 3 raised mounts
24 - 0.49" / 12.5 mm guns (12x2 guns), 0.06lbs / 0.03kg shells, 1931 Model
Machine guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, 6 raised mounts
Weight of broadside 24,228 lbs / 10,990 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 90

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 17.0" / 432 mm 450.00 ft / 137.16 m 14.00 ft / 4.27 m (16" over boilers/engines 18" by magazines)
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 92 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
3.80" / 97 mm 450.00 ft / 137.16 m 28.20 ft / 8.60 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 16.0" / 406 mm 8.00" / 203 mm 10.0" / 254 mm
2nd: 6.00" / 152 mm 2.00" / 51 mm 3.00" / 76 mm
3rd: 2.00" / 51 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 3.00" / 76 mm

- Armour deck: 6.30" / 160 mm, Conning tower: 14.00" / 356 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 105,392 shp / 78,622 Kw = 27.90 kts
Range 4,000nm at 18.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 3,403 tons

Complement:
1,515 - 1,970

Cost:
£16.764 million / $67.055 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 2,387 tons, 5.4 %
Armour: 17,265 tons, 39.3 %
- Belts: 4,715 tons, 10.7 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 1,784 tons, 4.1 %
- Armament: 3,328 tons, 7.6 %
- Armour Deck: 7,063 tons, 16.1 %
- Conning Tower: 375 tons, 0.9 %
Machinery: 3,152 tons, 7.2 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 16,875 tons, 38.5 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 4,005 tons, 9.1 %
Miscellaneous weights: 200 tons, 0.5 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
62,892 lbs / 28,527 Kg = 45.8 x 14.0 " / 356 mm shells or 11.0 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.14
Metacentric height 6.9 ft / 2.1 m
Roll period: 16.9 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 51 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.67
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.02

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise forward of midbreak
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.600
Length to Beam Ratio: 7.08 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 31.79 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 51 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 35.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 15.00 ft / 4.57 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 26.00 ft / 7.92 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 22.00 ft / 6.71 m
- Mid (70 %): 21.30 ft / 6.49 m (11.30 ft / 3.44 m aft of break)
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 12.00 ft / 3.66 m
- Stern: 13.00 ft / 3.96 m
- Average freeboard: 19.17 ft / 5.84 m
Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 80.8 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 147.4 %
Waterplane Area: 60,600 Square feet or 5,630 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 102 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 212 lbs/sq ft or 1,036 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.98
- Longitudinal: 1.23
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent



Thoughts?

Myself, I'd trade off a few of the 5" guns for more 6" guns, considering the threat of destroyer attack in the Aegean or Adriatic. At least change the aft twin 6" mounts to triples for simplicities sake.

She's extremely well armored, though I might consider shaving the armor a little bit and putting on 3"-4" or so of end armor, to ward off flotation loss from lighter shells.

Looks like all of the 40mm mounts should be raised, not just 3 of them. Of course, only 6 mounts seem to have made it onto the drawing, so the other 6 could be at main deck level.

The fire of the 6" and 5" batteries will be overwhelming, which is exactly what you intend. I'd agree with Hrolf's suggestion of adding end armor. If she really is going to tangle with CLs and DDs at close ranges, she'll need it.

And that's a prodigious shell out of a 14". You're going to have great armor piercing capability with it.

Quoted

And that's a prodigious shell out of a 14". You're going to have great armor piercing capability with it.

Along with probably horrendously short barrel life. Even the UK's heavy 14" projectiles for the KG V's only weighed 721 kg, as far as I know the record for a shell of this size. You might want to back off the weight to the same weight as the US is using in their 14" guns, if you're planning on sourcing the guns/shells in the US, that would still give you a very powerful gun.

Yeah, a 14" shell that´s heavier than most 15" projectiles.... Pretty cool.

Nice work, alt naval. She's a certainly a powerful dreadnaught, and even heavier armed ships have to respect that weight of broadside.

Some additional thoughts:

I guess it's a personal preference, but I think 5" and 6" are close enough that they don't merit a two different calibers of secondaries. On rapid fire, either will ruin a destroyer or CL. She kind of reminds me of Yamato having both. Though you have done an excellent job of fitting both and showing how they utilize the deck. Sky arcs for the 5" and 40mm AA concern me due to the location of the ship's boats, catapults and cranes, as would space to increase the number of 40mm if need be. Maybe I'm bias because she seems so busy amidships but so clean at the ends...

Her belt sits very high in the hull, but the torpedo bulkhead is also very tall, so she should be well protected. Still, I'd be concerned if she ever had to fight at a light displacement. A diving shell (like PoW suffered against Bismarck) might be a concern.

The 10" barbette armor worries me. Even with her high belt, 10" seems a little vulnerable.

With that wide a stern with that shape, why not fit twin rudders? Maybe extend the hull form or centerline skeg to improve support for that long stern overhang?

She has a good distribution of firecontrol, both primary and secondary. Aesthetically, I like her tower bridge, single funnel and high mainmast. The latter being spaced well back from the funnel, balances her superstructure looks.

And she certainly has all the ingredients of a modern battleship. She'll be quite a flagship for the Hellenic Navy.

Regards,

Big Rich

OK, it seems that the heavy shell could be too heavy. The Belts may need attention too. 10" armour would probably be vulnerable to 15" gunfire so I'll look at that too.

The 5" are more for AA than AS (probably a 5"/25 given the era) so the 6" is seen as necessary for extra punch. A split secondary is more in line with the times. The cats could interfere with the midships AA. There may be scope to shift but I can't have the stack take the wing off the plane as its launched.

Good comments on the stern Rich, it does look to be a little flat and wide.

I also have a version where the armour is thinned and the speed pushes 31 knots (higher freeboard) with the engines taking up the space left in the belt length but that doesn't seem as ballanced as this design.

Thanks,

In the case of the 5"/25, then, I can see the need for the six inch. (BTW, you might want to check your shell weight for them. The 5"/25 used a 54 lb shell, about the same as the 5"/38. The sim shows the shell weight as 62.5lbs.) With all that fire control, I can just see her in a surface action with enemy light forces. The six-inch firing on the CL leading the charge, and the five-inch moving methodically from destroyer to destroyer....

Regards,

Quoted

(BTW, you might want to check your shell weight for them. The 5"/25 used a 54 lb shell, about the same as the 5"/38. The sim shows the shell weight as 62.5lbs.)

Some of us keep the default shell weight for the specific calibers. I myself prefer to use the actual shell weights for the guns.