This is the secret 'Special' that will be laid down next year. This ship is a wholly new kind of concept and has been in development since 1940 and armed with a new model of 5.5in automatic gun developed in Canada at the request of the Admiralty. This info is strictly OOC, IC the ship is veiled with even more secrecy than the Admiral Class.
This ship revives the policy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries of building 'Specials', ships that incorporate new ideas and concepts in full size for extensive testing. This new revolutionary design has numerous new features, machinery, weaponry, concept of operations and electronics.
The object is to build a warship that has the speed and agility and economic cost of a destroyer combined with the firepower of a light cruiser. Two of these vessels should be capable of dealing with any large CL.
Canadian Vickers has developed the new 5.5in calibre, 60 calibre barrel gun, the 5.5in Mk VI. It is a single mount weapon, fully enclosed with 1-2 crewmen to oversee the gun/ local control and full access while at sea for maintenance. The desired RoF is 35 rounds per minute against aerial and surface targets and the mount features 80 degree elevation for AA gunnery, automatic loading at all elevations/ traverse and a high traverse speed. Initial static barrel proof firing began during late 1943, automatic loader trials during early 1944 followed by basic mount trials ashore later in the year. Britain is funding the sea-going ship for its firing trials and the fire-control system. HMS Revolution should be thought of as a trials vessel rather than a combat-ready warship.
HMS Revolution, Great Britain Cruiser-Destroyer laid down 1945
Displacement:
3,419 t light; 3,589 t standard; 4,087 t normal; 4,485 t full load
Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
463.00 ft / 448.00 ft x 48.60 ft x 14.60 ft (normal load)
141.12 m / 136.55 m x 14.81 m x 4.45 m
Armament:
4 - 5.50" / 140 mm guns in single mounts, 80.00lbs / 36.29kg shells, 1945 Model
Automatic rapid fire guns in deck mounts with hoists
on centreline, evenly spread, 1 raised mount
Aft Main mounts separated by engine room
4 - 2.24" / 57.0 mm guns (2x2 guns), 5.65lbs / 2.56kg shells, 1943 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, all raised mounts
4 - 0.66" / 16.8 mm guns (2x2 guns), 0.14lbs / 0.06kg shells, 1940 Model
Machine guns in deck mounts
on side, all forward, all raised mounts - superfiring
Weight of broadside 343 lbs / 156 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 450
8 - 21.0" / 533.4 mm above water torpedoes
Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 2.00" / 51 mm 120.00 ft / 36.58 m 7.00 ft / 2.13 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 41 % of normal length
Main belt does not fully cover magazines and engineering spaces
- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 1.50" / 38 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm
2nd: 0.50" / 13 mm 0.50" / 13 mm -
- Conning tower: 0.50" / 13 mm
Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 2 shafts, 58,487 shp / 43,632 Kw = 34.00 kts
Range 7,000nm at 16.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 896 tons
Complement:
255 - 332
Cost:
£2.562 million / $10.248 million
Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 53 tons, 1.3 %
Armour: 113 tons, 2.8 %
- Belts: 86 tons, 2.1 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Armament: 24 tons, 0.6 %
- Armour Deck: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Conning Tower: 3 tons, 0.1 %
Machinery: 1,477 tons, 36.1 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 1,507 tons, 36.9 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 668 tons, 16.3 %
Miscellaneous weights: 270 tons, 6.6 %
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
2,800 lbs / 1,270 Kg = 33.7 x 5.5 " / 140 mm shells or 0.7 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.19
Metacentric height 2.3 ft / 0.7 m
Roll period: 13.3 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 70 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.25
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.30
Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.450
Length to Beam Ratio: 9.22 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 24.47 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 65 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 54
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 24.36 degrees
Stern overhang: 3.00 ft / 0.91 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 26.50 ft / 8.08 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 21.50 ft / 6.55 m
- Mid (50 %): 20.50 ft / 6.25 m
- Quarterdeck (14 %): 20.50 ft / 6.25 m
- Stern: 20.50 ft / 6.25 m
- Average freeboard: 21.25 ft / 6.48 m
Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 135.6 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 166.8 %
Waterplane Area: 14,427 Square feet or 1,340 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 109 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 56 lbs/sq ft or 273 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.65
- Longitudinal: 2.67
- Overall: 0.75
Caution: Hull subject to strain in open-sea
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily
Belt armour is box protection for magazines (40 tons misc weight to sim box roofs)
Torpedo tubes are fixed at an angle of 55 degrees with one reload for each tube
Twin Squid A/S Mortars are fitted
Electronic Systems;
Surface Search Type 970 X-Band
Height-Finder Radio-Location Type 277
Aerial Search Type 978
Two Gunnery Director Type 288 with 'Tallboy' console
Four Heavy Automatic Gunnery Director Type 289 mounted on four CRBF (Close-Range Blind Firing)
HF/DF Type 292
VHF Direction Finder Type 295Q
Type 293 Passive Radio Intercept series Type 297 Passive Radio-Location Intercept
ASDIC Type 147
Passive ASDIC Type 148 (linked with Type 147 and 178 RDF)
Passive ASDIC Type 941 (torpedo warning)