WesWorld

He might just be waiting to see if I have some fiendish plans of my own to unleash. By itself, that's prudent.

... or perhaps waiting to see what Japan will do. After all, they also signed that note back in April, and the Philippines, too. However Japan is the bigger CT member (bigger than Italy).

There is no need to build these ships larger. The CL is probably a bit too large for it's designed role if anything. The Battleship can compete with anything likely to be built. Hey, given most people's belief that Iowa can beat Yamato, then it should be a piece of cake for this ship.

Italy already knows what Japan is going to do. Just not when.

I had some spare materiel so I decided to build some more destroyers, they're always useful.

A small improvement over the previous Soldati class of 18 ships taking into account some of the design work done on the large Impavido-class destroyers and recent developments (Soldati is a 1931 design).

The armament is rearranged to give equal firepower fore and aft. 4x130/45 SP guns are carried as normal. AA armament comprises of ten duple 25mm mountings giving a considerable rise in close-range firepower. Madsen 57mm mountings are being trialled on one of the ships (pictured).

The powerplant is laid out differently, again returning to the unit principle with B-E-B-E to improve protection.

4 examples to be laid down. As yet unnamed.

Cacciatorpediniere, laid down 1934

Displacement:
1,583 t light; 1,675 t standard; 1,953 t normal; 2,176 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
373.73 ft / 360.89 ft x 36.09 ft x 13.12 ft (normal load)
113.91 m / 110.00 m x 11.00 m x 4.00 m

Armament:
4 - 5.31" / 135 mm guns (2x2 guns), 70.55lbs / 32.00kg shells, 1934 Model
Breech loading guns in deck mounts with hoists
on centreline ends, evenly spread, 1 raised mount
2 - 2.24" / 57.0 mm guns in single mounts, 5.51lbs / 2.50kg shells, 1934 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships
20 - 0.98" / 25.0 mm guns (10x2 guns), 0.55lbs / 0.25kg shells, 1934 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, 4 raised mounts
Weight of broadside 304 lbs / 138 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 300
4 - 23.6" / 600 mm above water torpedoes

Armour:
- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 1.42" / 36 mm 0.79" / 20 mm -
2nd: 0.39" / 10 mm 0.39" / 10 mm -
3rd: 0.39" / 10 mm - -

- Conning tower: 1.42" / 36 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 2 shafts, 34,000 shp / 25,364 Kw = 32.85 kts
Range 3,200nm at 20.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 500 tons

Complement:
146 - 190

Cost:
£1.036 million / $4.143 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 40 tons, 2.1 %
Armour: 22 tons, 1.1 %
- Belts: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Armament: 17 tons, 0.9 %
- Armour Deck: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Conning Tower: 5 tons, 0.2 %
Machinery: 871 tons, 44.6 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 585 tons, 29.9 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 370 tons, 19.0 %
Miscellaneous weights: 66 tons, 3.4 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
655 lbs / 297 Kg = 8.7 x 5.3 " / 135 mm shells or 0.4 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.35
Metacentric height 1.8 ft / 0.6 m
Roll period: 11.2 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 50 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.38
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.01

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has raised forecastle, rise forward of midbreak
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.400
Length to Beam Ratio: 10.00 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 21.97 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 65 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 49
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 20.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 3.28 ft / 1.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 26.25 ft / 8.00 m
- Forecastle (10 %): 21.33 ft / 6.50 m (18.04 ft / 5.50 m aft of break)
- Mid (45 %): 18.04 ft / 5.50 m (11.48 ft / 3.50 m aft of break)
- Quarterdeck (10 %): 11.48 ft / 3.50 m
- Stern: 11.48 ft / 3.50 m
- Average freeboard: 14.96 ft / 4.56 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 164.9 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 114.1 %
Waterplane Area: 8,320 Square feet or 773 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 83 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 37 lbs/sq ft or 183 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.50
- Longitudinal: 1.76
- Overall: 0.57
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
Room for accommodation and workspaces is adequate

10t = 2 x 57mm mounts
24t = 8 x 600mm TT
7t = Scaricabombe
9t= SONAR
16t = ASW mortar + reloads
=66t

150x28kg HE Shells
150x36kg SAP Shells

Hmmm, are these equipped with 135mm guns or 130mm guns? Ie, Treaty-legal for destroyers or not?

130 as before with all previous ships.

I seem to recall a lengthy discussion as to why the 5mm really made any difference.

Indeed.....

Easy 135mm is a more historical Italian calibre. I just wanted to keep 135mm for historical consistancy.

On reflection I think I should have kept to the 120mm line of weapons instead of moving to the 135/130 at the start fo the sim. The 120mm would probably have given a better DP weapon. Now I have an excellent AA gun in the 100/65 with insufficient surface punch and a 152/53DP which is excellent against surface targets, quite good for AA but weighs far too much for smaller applications. Thats where the close range AA systems of 47mm and 25mm guns come in.

Well, we disagree on how well your 152mm DP will work, my suspicion is it will work as well as the French 152mm DP guns on the historical Richeliu class ships, ie, not well at all as an AA gun. Too big, too heavy, and your rate of loading isn't going to be consistent enough with manual loading to give much accuracy.