Here is my take on the Lion Class Battleships planned for Great Britain in 1940. I made them along the lines of the originals, adding extra armor here and there as Springsharp allowed. I think they are very well protected (the main belt alone is 16.5" thick, which beats all the other battleships of the world, including Yamato). I thickened the conning tower from the design 6" to a more satisfactory 18". I think protection of your ship against the enemy is more important than trying to disable your enemy with your guns, and i am willing to sacrifice some speed in the process. Even though the British 16"/45 shells weighed only 2,048 lbs compared to the USA's 2,240 lb (16"/45) and 2,700 lb (16"/50) shells, they still pack a powerful punch. I think the extra protection against heavy shells is definitely well worth it. If you don't even have satisfactory armor to protect your own ship, don't go into battle and expect to win, because you probably will end up as a floating wreck. Here is the rest of the design for you guys...
Lion Class, Great Britain Fast Battleships laid down 1940
Units in Class: HMS Lion, HMS Temeraire, HMS Conqueror, HMS Thunderer
Displacement: 41,114 t light; 44,105 t standard; 47,000 t normal; 49,316 t full load
Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
(793.00 ft / 782.00 ft) x 110.00 ft x (32.00 ft / 33.26 ft)
(241.71 m / 238.35 m) x 33.53 m x (9.75 m / 10.14 m)
Armament:
9 - 16.00" / 406 mm 45.0 cal guns – 2,048 lbs / 929 kg shells, 150 per gun
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
3 x 3-gun mounts on centerline ends, majority forward
1 raised mount - superfiring
20 - 5.00" / 127 mm 38.0 cal guns – 54 lbs / 24.5 kg shells, 700 per gun
Dual-Purpose (DP) guns in deck and hoist mounts
10 x 2-gun mounts on sides, evenly spread
4 raised mounts
40 - 1.57" / 40.0 mm 60.0 cal guns – 2.14 lbs / 0.97 kg shells, 2,000 per gun
AA guns in deck and hoist mounts
10 x 2 row quad mounts on sides, evenly spread
4 raised mounts
Weight of main battery broadside = 18,432 lbs
Armor:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 16.5" / 419 mm 508.30 ft / 154.93 m 20.00 ft / 6.10 m
Upper: 3.50" / 89 mm 508.30 ft / 154.93 m 12.00 ft / 3.66 m
Main Belt covers 100 % of normal length
Main Belt inclined 15.00 degrees (positive = in)
- Torpedo Bulkhead - Strengthened structural bulkheads:
3.50" / 89 mm 508.30 ft / 154.93 m 32.00 ft / 9.14 m
Beam between torpedo bulkheads 96.00 ft / 29.26 m
- Gun Armor: Face (max) Other Gunhouse (avg) Barbette / Hoist (max)
Main: 16.0" / 406 mm 13.0" / 330 mm 15.0" / 381 mm
2nd: 2.00" / 51 mm - 1.00" / 25 mm
3rd: 0.50" / 13 mm - -
- Box over machinery and magazines:
Fore and Aft decks: 6.50" / 165 mm
Forecastle: 3.25" / 83 mm
Quarter deck: 3.25" / 83 mm
- Conning Tower: 18.00" / 457 mm
Machinery:
• Oil fired boilers, steam turbines
• Geared drive, 4 shafts, 120,000 shp = 28.2 knots
• Range 15,000nm @ 12 knots
• Bunker at normal / max displacement = 2,895 tons / 5,210 tons (fuel oil)
Complement: 1,595 - 2,074 (planned 1600 +80 as flagship)
Cost: £22.383 million / $89.533 million
Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
• Armament: 4,006 tons, 8.5 %
o Guns: 4,006 tons, 8.5 %
• Armor: 18,136 tons, 38.6 %
o Belts: 8,159 tons, 17.4 %
o Torpedo Bulkhead: 2,106 tons, 4.5 %
o Armament: 4,389 tons, 9.3 %
o Armor Deck: 2,976 tons, 6.3 %
o Conning Tower: 505 tons, 1.1 %
• Machinery: 3,209 tons, 6.8 %
• Hull, Fittings & Equipment: 15,014 tons, 31.9 %
• Fuel, Ammunition & Stores: 5,886 tons, 12.5 %
• Miscellaneous Weights: 750 tons, 1.6 %
o Hull below water: 300 tons
o Hull above water: 200 tons
o On freeboard deck: 200 tons
o Above deck: 50 tons
Overall Survivability and Seakeeping Ability:
• Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
o 80,966 lbs / 34,448 kg = 39.5 x 16.0 " / 406 mm shells or 14.7 torpedoes
• Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.15
• Metacentric Height (GM): 7.5 ft / 2.3 m
• Roll Period: 16.8 seconds
• Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 63 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.69
• Seaboat Quality (Average = 1.00): 1.37
Hull Form Characteristics:
• Hull has a flush deck, a normal bow and small transom stern
• Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0.598 / 0.603
• Length to Beam Ratio: 7.11 : 1
• Hull Speed: 37.47 knots
• Power going to wave formation at top speed: 50 %
• Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 46
• Bow Angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 10.62 degrees
• Stern Overhang: 5.00 ft / 1.52 m
• Freeboard Breakdown (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
Part of Ship % of Length Fore End Aft End
Forecastle 20 32.0 ft / 9.75 m 27.0 ft / 8.23 m
Forward Deck 30 27.0 ft / 8.23 m 24.5 ft / 7.47 m
Aft Deck 35 24.5 ft / 7.47 m 24.5 ft / 7.47 m
Quarter Deck 15 24.5 ft / 7.47 m 24.5 ft / 7.47 m
Average Freeboard 25.78 ft / 7.86 m
Ship Space, Strength and Comments:
• Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 70.4 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 192.7 %
• Waterplane Area: 64,361 square feet or 5,979 square meters
• Displacement Factor (displacement / loading): 110 %
• Structure weight / hull surface area: 214 lbs/sq ft or 1,043 kg/sq meter
• Hull Strength (Relative):
o Cross-sectional: 0.95
o Longitudinal: 1.50
o Overall: 1.00
• Excellent machinery, storage, compartmentation space
• Excellent accommodation and workspace room
• Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
• Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily