WesWorld

The Armada de Chile Arma Aérea - Fleet Air Arm - currently has a prominent place in the Armada's planning, as a Chilean "brownshoe" - Almirante Moore - is currently Naval C-in-C. Among Moore's other programs is an interest in lighter-than-air operations.

Chile draws their naval traditions from four foreign navies: the British, of course, followed by the US, Nordish, and Atlantean navies. The final three powers are currently operators of their own lighter-than-air fleets, and that has given some substantial credence to the idea in the eyes of the Armada. Rumors and intelligence from the 1936 NATO exercises also indicated the usefulness of airships.

With those precedents, the Chilean LTA proponents have gotten the funding for six new antisubmarine blimps of the SSC class, and one rigid airship named Capitan Prat. The design is being built in Atlantis by the same manufacturer as the SSC class; the designers offered the AdCAA a "regular" airship, and a more unorthodox metalclad airship, which the AdCAA decided was superior.


[SIZE=1]Image originally by CanisD and modified (colored) by Brockpaine.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]Stats:[/SIZE]
Type: Metalclad airship
Length: 680 feet
Diameter: 90 feet
Gas Capacity: 2,860,000 cubic feet
Maximum Speed: 78 mph (67 knots)
Cruising Speed: 57 mph (50 knots)
Range: 168 hours at 50 knots (8,400 nm)
Crew: 12 officers, 41 men
Airplanes: 3 scout planes
Equipment: 1 radar set