WesWorld

Erm,

The 240mm was originally used on the Aland class CDS of 1908.

As to the Falun Class, I cant remember which design was going to win.

High cruising speeds don't seem very worthwhile in the long run. In peacetime a lesuirely 16-20kts is about the most you'll do in everyday service. I can understand why Nordmark would want to steam at high speed to reinforce its possessions in the North and South Atlantic but is 34kts going to save much time over 20-25kts given you'll burn much more fuel which will impact on your overall fuel stocks at home and the tankers will probably need to top up after the voyage to fully support the taskforce in theatre if they are goning to stay for any time. Also the machinery is going to take a lot of punishment at those speeds and you could find your ships have more breakdowns and mechanical defects and generally more wear and tear on the turbines thus a shorter overal lifespan.

Speed is something to be used judiciously. Brock's comments on carrier screening make perfect sense too.

The RCN has always been considered a 'fast' fleet, but the cruising speed for almost all my ships is still 15 knots, with some of the older ones being 10 knots.

If you steam from Trondheim south at 15 knots, you'll still reach South Georgia in about 20 days, with about 16 days worth of travel at 20 knots. That's decent time, and if the Argie's make a move, they'll still only have about two weeks to do whatever until your battleforce arrives in theater.

20 knots is slow by the standards of the newer Nordmarchian large units, most of which have a 24 knot cruising speed - the BB33 (Oscar II) class has a cruising speed of 24 knots on a maximum speed of 27 knots!

Cutting the carrier down to a 180,000 shp plant and copying the design philosophy from the earlier ships saves about 2,000 tons for the pair, giving a 32.5 knot carrier and 31 knot cruiser for a more balanced combination.

Quoted

Originally posted by TexanCowboy
If you steam from Trondheim south at 15 knots, you'll still reach South Georgia in about 20 days, with about 16 days worth of travel at 20 knots. That's decent time, and if the Argie's make a move, they'll still only have about two weeks to do whatever until your battleforce arrives in theater.

True, but the battle group would be arriving in theatre in a rather reduced fuel state. At 20 knots cruising speed, they would have most likely outstripped their own fleet train. They would be dependent on fuel resources in theatre or on supplies made available by allies. I'd consider the latter two options high risk.

An enemy might strike pre-emptively to eliminate fuel supplies in theatre, negating the ability of a reinforcing battle group to refuel. Allies might prove obstinate for reasons of their own.

Consider - had the Japanese struck at the Pacific Fleet's fuel depot at Pearl Harbor the USN probably would have been forced to retire to the West Coast for lack of fuel. That would have severely restricted carrier operations in the Pacific for many months until a sufficient tanker force was gathered.

Quoted

Originally posted by RLBH
20 knots is slow by the standards of the newer Nordmarchian large units, most of which have a 24 knot cruising speed - the BB33 (Oscar II) class has a cruising speed of 24 knots on a maximum speed of 27 knots!

Cutting the carrier down to a 180,000 shp plant and copying the design philosophy from the earlier ships saves about 2,000 tons for the pair, giving a 32.5 knot carrier and 31 knot cruiser for a more balanced combination.

The cruising speed expressed in Springsharp is merely a matter of fuel economy at a particular speed; it doesn't denote any particular requirements that you must cruise at that speed. It's a lot of work, but I've occasionally calculated up the curve for a few different ships, such as my Constitucion:

Quoted

Range 2,130nm at 33.00 kts
Range 2,789nm at 30.00 kts
Range 3,713nm at 27.00 kts
Range 5,038nm at 24.00 kts
Range 7,001nm at 21.00 kts
Range 10,032nm at 18.00 kts
Range 15,000nm at 15.00 kts
Range 23,910nm at 12.00 kts

When I bother to calculate the fuel economy curve, I generally post it in the encyclopedia. Just because I start by setting Range = 15,000mi @ 15 knots doesn't mean much of anything to me.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
When I bother to calculate the fuel economy curve, I generally post it in the encyclopedia. Just because I start by setting Range = 15,000mi @ 15 knots doesn't mean much of anything to me.

Can you imagine the headache it would be to program in the effect of partial load on turbines, deciding which combinations of engines to run (two shafts at full load vs. four at partial load, etc), and so forth? Once you're getting into those sorts of effects, you really need the Kt-Kq-J curve for the props as well. That way madness lies.

The fuel consumption is far more interesting in terms of tons per hour at deep load: that lets you work up operating profiles more easily. But there are better uses of time.

Quoted

If you steam from Trondheim south at 15 knots, you'll still reach South Georgia in about 20 days, with about 16 days worth of travel at 20 knots. That's decent time, and if the Argie's make a move, they'll still only have about two weeks to do whatever until your battleforce arrives in theater.

Two weeks would be a bit optimistic. You need to mobilise the fleet and get things sorted out for the long voyage first of all. Looking at the RN's experience in the Falklands you're talking a good month if not more. Even then, your fleet train is operating out of Bergen and Trondheim so resupply is rather an issue.

I'd think that they'd be operating out of South Africa once down that way. A nice safe base, fuel shouldn't be a problem. Spare parts would be more of an issue.

If Argentina did attack having a month would be good for fortifying the islands and generally getting things in shape. And the Argentine fleet is much more modern now and has two modern naval wars behind it. Any Nordmarkian force would need to be strong and have sufficent persistence to remain in theatre maube at least 3 months until relieving ships could arrive from home. That would require a fleet train of tankers, depot ships and repair ships and a good sound achorage somewhere near. SAE seems the best option but diplomatically that might be akward.

Any trouble in Vinland wouldn't be too hard to contain as its only Westward from home, a long way but not a million miles away!