To make a ship absorb as much damage as possible it has to be as big as it possibly can. This means that a huge amount of fuel is needed to keep the displacement down.
The ability to absorb torpedos depends mostly on beam so the more the better.
Well, there is another way to let the ship absorb more damage of shells and Torpedoes, and that is to put less stuff on the ship. It would make the ship a worthless floating lump of steel though :-)
Total crap, Land of crappiness Crappy BB laid down 1932
Displacement:
38,880 t light; 39,930 t standard; 44,427 t normal; 47,848 t full load
Loading submergence 1,746 tons/feet
Dimensions:
800.00 ft x 114.00 ft x 31.00 ft (normal load)
243.84 m x 34.75 m x 9.45 m
Armament:
1 - 15.00" / 381 mm guns (1 Main turrets x 1 guns)
3 - 5.00" / 127 mm guns (1 2nd turrets x 3 guns)
12 - 2.00" / 51 mm AA guns
20 - 1.00" / 25 mm guns
Weight of broadside 1,933 lbs / 877 kg
Armour:
Belt 18.00" / 457 mm, upper belt 10.00" / 254 mm, end belts 5.00" / 127 mm
Belts cover 100 % of normal area
Main turrets 26.00" / 660 mm, 2nd turrets 5.00" / 127 mm
AA gun shields 1.00" / 25 mm, Light gun shields 1.00" / 25 mm
Armour deck 9.00" / 229 mm, Conning tower 25.00" / 635 mm
Torpedo bulkhead 5.00" / 127 mm
Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 119,713 shp / 89,306 Kw = 28.00 kts
Range 14,580nm at 15.00 kts
Complement:
1,530 - 1,989
Cost:
£9.357 million / $37.426 million
Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 242 tons, 0.5 %
Armour: 22,458 tons, 50.6 %
Belts: 7,557 tons, 17.0 %, Armament: 1,067 tons, 2.4 %, Armour Deck: 10,173 tons, 22.9 %
Conning Tower: 679 tons, 1.5 %, Torpedo bulkhead: 2,982 tons, 6.7 %
Machinery: 3,533 tons, 8.0 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 12,647 tons, 28.5 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 5,547 tons, 12.5 %
Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %
Metacentric height 10.9
Remarks:
Hull space for machinery, storage & compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation & workspaces is excellent
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily
Estimated overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Relative margin of stability: 1.40
Shellfire needed to sink: 129,048 lbs / 58,535 Kg = 76.5 x 15.0 " / 381 mm shells
(Approx weight of penetrating shell hits needed to sink ship excluding critical hits)
Torpedoes needed to sink: 36.7
(Approx number of typical torpedo hits needed to sink ship)
Relative steadiness as gun platform: 71 %
(Average = 50 %)
Relative rocking effect from firing to beam: 0.04
Relative quality as seaboat: 1.42
Hull form characteristics:
Block coefficient: 0.550
Sharpness coefficient: 0.39
Hull speed coefficient 'M': 6.91
'Natural speed' for length: 28.28 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 48 %
Trim: 50
(Maximise stabilty/flotation = 0, Maximise steadiness/seakeeping = 100)
Estimated hull characteristics & strength:
Underwater volume absorbed by magazines and engineering spaces: 38.3 %
Relative accommodation and working space: 171.1 %
(Average = 100%)
Displacement factor: 141 %
(Displacement relative to loading factors)
Relative cross-sectional hull strength: 1.00
(Structure weight / hull surface area: 150 lbs / square foot or 730 Kg / square metre)
Relative longitudinal hull strength: 1.01
(for 22.50 ft / 6.86 m average freeboard, freeboard adjustment 2.09 ft)
Relative composite hull strength: 1.00
You can make it actually worse, by reducing the speed to 15 kts. With less machinery in the ship and more emptiness, you'll get:
Shellfire needed to sink: 443,509 lbs / 201,172 Kg = 262.8 x 15.0 " / 381 mm shells
(Approx weight of penetrating shell hits needed to sink ship excluding critical hits)
Torpedoes needed to sink: 360.6
(Approx number of typical torpedo hits needed to sink ship)
Don't want to know what you will get when you do this to your design, Red Admiral. :-)
Walter