WesWorld

The Gabbiano -class proved to be a bit small in service and the Dianas too large and expensive. This one is in between the two at around 1000tons displacement.

I'm just wondering which version to build, both have the same specs. Is the appearance of a merchant vessel worth it? It sacrifices living space and stowage a bit but would be useful for confusing submarines.

A few thoughts.

The forward gun seems to have restricted arcs on the merchant look-alike bieng closer to the superstructure and the mast and boom might interfere too.

There is less room for the electronic equipment/ aerials on the masts

The AA defence seems lighter too.

The higher freeboard would give better seakeeping and it might be cheaper to build.

One side effect is your enemies target every merchant you have incase they are disguised escorts. Still it is a fiendishly good plan

Is it possible for your "merchant" ship option to carry cargo. If it could, you could build a large number of these for 'merchant' service and then convert the necessary number to military roles as needed.

(You could hide the initial construction costs & tonnage used under the civilian budget)

In fact if it could still carry cargo as an escort, it could be useful in 2 roles at the same time.

Unfortunately It wouldn't be possible to carry cargo as it's quite a tight design. They are similar to the "Convoy Sloops" of WWI.

It began as a purpose built design but having a dual merchant/escort role would be good. Probably have to make the ship a bit bigger in order to carry cargo but this'll also make it more seaworthy.

I'd say that the looks of the ship will depend on what you like to do. With the merchant-type, you could confuse the enemy subs and lure them closer. The military-type will show its presence and perhaps scare away enemy subs.

Not sure how many you have in mind, but it might be an idea to build a few of both. Could also be an idea to have a few merchants that look like the merchant-type escort, only with the small guns on it while the main gun is just a fake.

Wouldn't it be in oposition to International Law? If warships start looking like merchants, submarines will have the green light to start shooting merchants without warning.

"But your honor, it looked just like an escort..."

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Wouldn't it be in oposition to International Law?

Not if you hoist your flag before attacking.

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If warships start looking like merchants, submarines will have the green light to start shooting merchants without warning.

No they definitely won't.