WesWorld

I usually make loads and loads of designs and draw most of them to see if things fit. Here are various assorted battleship designs that I thought I'd share with you. If you want details on any of them just ask and I'll try and match up a SS file with the drawing.

Thanks for sharing.

Question: the first three designs seem to have very low mounted rangefinders which I would suspect to have a relatively limited visual range. What´s the idea behind it? Low silhouettes surely have their value but I´d expect a large gun vessel to have a high mounted RF to make use of the long range my guns have.

The main rangefinders are the ones mounted on the turrets. They are 12m long. There are two different sorts of rangefinders mounted on the first three ships. They are at 21 and 26m respectively. Those superstructures grew out of my ACR designs. The ones in the middle are from an Ansaldo 1936 design, and the lower ones are from Littorio.

On the other types rangefinders are between 20 and 35m high.

Here is a short description of the rangefinders on Littorio by E. Cernuschi;

"On top of the main tower ( Torrione ), around 30 meters from the waterline, there was the First Artillery Officer fire direction station ( Coffa del 1° D.T. Direttore Tiro ) on a cylinder with 2 lateral area for the spotters ( on the Roma going all around the cylinder ).
From this station the A.P.G ( Apparecchiatura Punteria Generale ) central targeting system type San Giorgio which allowed to monitor the target and allowed the fire with buttons that could fire the main turrets.

This top cylinder for the first artillery officer ( 1° D.T. cylinder ) was directly connected with the cylinder down below, which contained Central Artillery Room ( Centrale Servizio Artiglierie ), with the central fire system ( Centrale Tiro Principale ) on the superior rangefinder cylinder / turret ( Torretta Telemetrica Anulare Superiore ).
This big rotating cylinder was placed under the 1° DT and contained 2 big rangefinders of 7,2 meters type San Giorgio ( one stereoscopic and one at coincidence ) used to measure the target distance.

Moving down below there was the inferior rangefinder cylinder / turret ( Torretta Telemetrica Anulare Inferiore ) a bit smaller than the one above because only had 1 rangefinder still model type San Giorgio of 7,20 meters called  tactical rangefinder  used to evaluate various enemy distances as well as better target findings, etc etc , without any interference with the other 2 above rangefinders used to fire the guns. "

I looks like some of these design studies are equipped with some kind of radar installation on the main battery directors

I would enjoy seeing the Springsharp stats behind these designs.

Wow, very nice.

I like the appearance and layout of the Roma 3 and 34 best

Hi John,

Here are some of the SS files. The ones that I could find anyway. More or less variations on the same theme.


1st laid down 1935

Displacement:
39,695 t light; 41,823 t standard; 45,227 t normal; 47,950 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
786.32 ft / 765.42 ft x 106.30 ft x 34.25 ft (normal load)
239.67 m / 233.30 m x 32.40 m x 10.44 m

Armament:
9 - 15.00" / 381 mm guns (3x3 guns), 1,951.09lbs / 885.00kg shells, 1935 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, majority forward, 1 raised mount - superfiring
24 - 5.12" / 130 mm guns (8x3 guns), 79.37lbs / 36.00kg shells, 1935 Model
Breech loading guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, all amidships, 4 raised mounts - superfiring
24 - 1.85" / 47.0 mm guns (4x6 guns), 3.86lbs / 1.75kg shells, 1935 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships
16 - 1.46" / 37.0 mm guns (4x4 guns), 1.55lbs / 0.70kg shells, 1935 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side ends, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 19,582 lbs / 8,882 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 110

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 16.1" / 410 mm 459.32 ft / 140.00 m 18.04 ft / 5.50 m
Ends: 1.97" / 50 mm 229.66 ft / 70.00 m 8.20 ft / 2.50 m
76.44 ft / 23.30 m Unarmoured ends
Upper: 2.76" / 70 mm 459.32 ft / 140.00 m 8.20 ft / 2.50 m
Main Belt covers 92 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
1.57" / 40 mm 459.32 ft / 140.00 m 29.53 ft / 9.00 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 16.0" / 406 mm 9.84" / 250 mm 13.0" / 330 mm
2nd: 1.97" / 50 mm 1.18" / 30 mm 1.18" / 30 mm
3rd: 1.18" / 30 mm 0.79" / 20 mm -
4th: 0.39" / 10 mm - -

- Armour deck: 5.65" / 143 mm, Conning tower: 2.76" / 70 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 130,000 shp / 96,980 Kw = 28.43 kts
Range 5,600nm at 20.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 6,127 tons





2nd laid down 1935

Displacement:
42,766 t light; 44,962 t standard; 48,696 t normal; 51,683 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
811.96 ft / 790.68 ft x 109.74 ft x 34.58 ft (normal load)
247.48 m / 241.00 m x 33.45 m x 10.54 m

Armament:
9 - 15.00" / 381 mm guns (3x3 guns), 1,951.09lbs / 885.00kg shells, 1935 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, majority forward, 1 raised mount - superfiring
24 - 5.31" / 135 mm guns (12x2 guns), 79.37lbs / 36.00kg shells, 1935 Model
Dual purpose guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, all amidships, 4 raised mounts - superfiring
24 - 1.85" / 47.0 mm guns (4x6 guns), 3.86lbs / 1.75kg shells, 1935 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
16 - 0.98" / 25.0 mm guns (4x4 guns), 0.52lbs / 0.24kg shells, 1935 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side ends, evenly spread, all raised mounts - superfiring
Weight of broadside 19,566 lbs / 8,875 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 110

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 15.6" / 396 mm 459.32 ft / 140.00 m 14.76 ft / 4.50 m
Ends: 1.97" / 50 mm 295.28 ft / 90.00 m 8.20 ft / 2.50 m
36.09 ft / 11.00 m Unarmoured ends
Upper: 2.76" / 70 mm 459.32 ft / 140.00 m 8.20 ft / 2.50 m
Main Belt covers 89 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
2.99" / 76 mm 459.32 ft / 140.00 m 31.82 ft / 9.70 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 16.0" / 406 mm 9.84" / 250 mm 13.0" / 330 mm
2nd: 1.97" / 50 mm 1.18" / 30 mm 1.18" / 30 mm
3rd: 1.18" / 30 mm 0.79" / 20 mm -
4th: 0.39" / 10 mm - -

- Armour deck: 5.53" / 141 mm, Conning tower: 2.76" / 70 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 195,000 shp / 145,470 Kw = 31.22 kts
Range 5,900nm at 20.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 6,721 tons

4th laid down 1934

Displacement:
39,847 t light; 41,940 t standard; 46,053 t normal; 49,344 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
806.34 ft / 787.40 ft x 108.27 ft x 33.46 ft (normal load)
245.77 m / 240.00 m x 33.00 m x 10.20 m

Armament:
9 - 15.00" / 381 mm guns (3x3 guns), 1,951.09lbs / 885.00kg shells, 1934 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, majority forward, 1 raised mount - superfiring
12 - 5.98" / 152 mm guns (6x2 guns), 99.21lbs / 45.00kg shells, 1934 Model
Dual purpose guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on side, all amidships
40 - 1.85" / 47.0 mm guns (10x4 guns), 3.86lbs / 1.75kg shells, 1934 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 18,905 lbs / 8,575 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 110

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 13.8" / 350 mm 426.51 ft / 130.00 m 14.76 ft / 4.50 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 83 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
1.57" / 40 mm 426.51 ft / 130.00 m 32.81 ft / 10.00 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 13.8" / 350 mm 9.06" / 230 mm 11.8" / 300 mm
3rd: 5.31" / 135 mm 2.76" / 70 mm 3.94" / 100 mm
4th: 0.39" / 10 mm 0.39" / 10 mm -

- Armour deck: 6.18" / 157 mm, Conning tower: 2.76" / 70 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 140,000 shp / 104,440 Kw = 30.07 kts
Range 4,200nm at 25.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 7,403 tons

7th laid down 1932

Displacement:
28,257 t light; 29,781 t standard; 33,359 t normal; 36,220 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
747.29 ft / 721.78 ft x 93.83 ft x 30.51 ft (normal load)
227.77 m / 220.00 m x 28.60 m x 9.30 m

Armament:
6 - 15.00" / 381 mm guns (2x3 guns), 1,951.09lbs / 885.00kg shells, 1932 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, evenly spread
24 - 3.94" / 100 mm guns (12x2 guns), 33.07lbs / 15.00kg shells, 1932 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, all amidships, 4 raised mounts - superfiring
24 - 1.85" / 47.0 mm guns (6x4 guns), 3.86lbs / 1.75kg shells, 1932 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships, all raised mounts - superfiring
16 - 0.98" / 25.0 mm guns (8x2 guns), 0.48lbs / 0.22kg shells, 1932 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 12,601 lbs / 5,716 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 120

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 12.6" / 320 mm 410.11 ft / 125.00 m 13.12 ft / 4.00 m
Ends: 2.76" / 70 mm 164.04 ft / 50.00 m 13.12 ft / 4.00 m
147.64 ft / 45.00 m Unarmoured ends
Upper: 2.76" / 70 mm 410.11 ft / 125.00 m 8.20 ft / 2.50 m
Main Belt covers 87 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
2.76" / 70 mm 410.11 ft / 125.00 m 28.28 ft / 8.62 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 13.8" / 350 mm 9.06" / 230 mm 11.8" / 300 mm
2nd: 1.18" / 30 mm 0.79" / 20 mm -
3rd: 0.39" / 10 mm 0.39" / 10 mm -
4th: 0.39" / 10 mm - -

- Armour deck: 4.72" / 120 mm, Conning tower: 2.76" / 70 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 110,000 shp / 82,060 Kw = 29.55 kts
Range 7,600nm at 20.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 6,439 tons

Thanks for the information.
It is nice to see the various designs that lead to the actual ships chosen for construction.

It adds a lot to the validity of a design to see the various ships in the development process.

In answer to your other question, Yes some of them do have radar sets on the directors. The small ones are EC.3 Gufo sets, the larger ones Lince sets.

None of these designs has been chosen for construction yet, but I very much like the 4th. It might be laid down in 1934 or 35.