WesWorld

Ok, new ships for 1925, I´m going to post a few of them, beginning with this little one.

These are the first light cruisers of the RN that have their main armament in turrets.

Small units, they´ll replace the older Boadicea class cruisers that will be decomissioned shortly after this class enter service. Lacking a seaplane, this class is most likely to be used as destroyer leader. They can be fitted for minelaying or armed with depth charges in case it´s necessary.



HMS Diana
HMS Apollo
HMS Minerva

Diana class, British Light Cruiser, laid down 1925

Displacement:
4.685 t light; 4.830 t standard; 5.138 t normal; 5.363 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
445,89 ft / 440,00 ft x 44,00 ft x 18,00 ft (normal load)
135,91 m / 134,11 m x 13,41 m x 5,49 m

Armament:
6 - 5,50" / 140 mm guns (3x2 guns), 83,19lbs / 37,73kg shells, 1925 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, majority aft, 1 raised mount aft - superfiring
6 - 4,00" / 102 mm guns in single mounts, 32,00lbs / 14,51kg shells, 1925 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships
4 - 1,57" / 40,0 mm guns (1x4 guns), 1,94lbs / 0,88kg shells, 1925 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mount
on centreline aft
8 - 0,79" / 20,0 mm guns (4x2 guns), 0,24lbs / 0,11kg shells, 1925 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships
Weight of broadside 701 lbs / 318 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 100
8 - 21,0" / 533,4 mm above water torpedoes

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 1,50" / 38 mm 416,00 ft / 126,80 m 8,00 ft / 2,44 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 145 % of normal length

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 3,50" / 89 mm 1,00" / 25 mm 1,00" / 25 mm
2nd: 1,00" / 25 mm - -
3rd: 0,50" / 13 mm - -
4th: 0,50" / 13 mm - -

- Armour deck: 0,80" / 20 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 2 shafts, 64.668 shp / 48.242 Kw = 32,00 kts
Range 8.000nm at 10,00 kts (Bunkerage = 554 tons)

Complement:
303 - 394

Cost:
£1,740 million / $6,958 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 88 tons, 1,7 %
Armour: 463 tons, 9,0 %
- Belts: 196 tons, 3,8 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0,0 %
- Armament: 80 tons, 1,6 %
- Armour Deck: 187 tons, 3,6 %
- Conning Tower: 0 tons, 0,0 %
Machinery: 2.100 tons, 40,9 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 2.023 tons, 39,4 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 453 tons, 8,8 %
Miscellaneous weights: 12 tons, 0,2 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
3.307 lbs / 1.500 Kg = 39,8 x 5,5 " / 140 mm shells or 0,6 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1,22
Metacentric height 2,1 ft / 0,6 m
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 52 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0,56
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1,04

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has low quarterdeck
Block coefficient: 0,516
Length to Beam Ratio: 10,00 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 20,98 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 64 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 15,00 degrees
Stern overhang: 0,00 ft / 0,00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 22,00 ft / 6,71 m
- Forecastle (10 %): 21,00 ft / 6,40 m
- Mid (50 %): 21,00 ft / 6,40 m
- Quarterdeck (35 %): 13,00 ft / 3,96 m (21,00 ft / 6,40 m before break)
- Stern: 13,00 ft / 3,96 m
- Average freeboard: 18,24 ft / 5,56 m
Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 145,3 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 119,2 %
Waterplane Area: 12.619 Square feet or 1.172 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 96 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 81 lbs/sq ft or 395 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0,90
- Longitudinal: 2,59
- Overall: 1,00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
Room for accommodation and workspaces is adequate

What a wonderful little creature she is - much like an ARETHUSA backwars. :o) She looks very british, with some influence from historical EXETER, LEANDER and ARETHUSA if I´m right.

Top view could be more detailed, though (and no, i won´t stop mentioning it everytime! *g*).

You´ve build her to reduced cross-sec hull-strength as per our "Rules for Gentlemen", haven´t you? Good move even though with her freeboard lowered a little bit and probably 2 secondaries removed it should have been possible to build her up to 1,0. But hey, that´s two guns less...

Keep it coming,

HoOmAn

Glad you like her Hooman. I´m trying to mix bits from here and there, trying to get an appearance as british as posible. Good to know that thins are working out well.

As for the aft superfiring layout, initially I was going to draw a mini-Arethusa, but when I was drawing the bridge... I felt it was too high... even if it was not reflected in the sprignsharp report, so I thought lowering one deck would look better. That meant putting the superfiring turret aft. I know that was not really usual for RN ships of that time, that´s why I had my concerns about her look.

And don´t worry about metioning that the top view could be more detailed, I´m used to It, It wouldn´t be the same without your usual comments ;-) . I´m trying to detail it more with every new drawing I do.

As for the cross-sec strength, I´d love to get it to 1.00, but as you say, two guns less would be quite worse, especially if they´re part of the AA battery.

Very very nice!!

I like her, very beautifull ship!

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Nicely done. Sweet picture too.