You can build something you hate, but it seems a waste to do so. And if you hate it so much, then Japan's willing to buy the class from you.
I am quite sure they are, but I don't dislike the class
that much.
You mentioned "91 aircraft carried:. Is that 91 operational planes or are there spare planes in that number as well?
Its based off the numbers I got out of
Conway's therefore there are 36 fighters, 37 dive bombers, and 18 torpedo bombers.
If this is more like (very) alternate history, then there really have to be drivers for why things are different. Personally, I'm more in the latter camp; which is why there tends to be rationale and explanation behind Italian developments.
And thats the problem, the drivers in my opinion point either to Essex as an improved
Yorktown/Hornet or to some sort of psuedo Midway clone, with the armour of
Illustrious and the airgroup of
Essex. The latter would be if the US wishes to expand its influence in the Far East, and forsees a potential conflict of interest with a power that has large amounts of land-based air and the carrier in question is required to operate far from its own base. That carrier is expensive though-too expensive, so I either get carriers in 44 which I don't like, or carriers in 46 which I do. For practical reasons I am going to go with the carriers I don't like now, and build the carriers I do like later.
A common area for multiple countries is the development of large calibre automatic weapons.
And you can add the US to that list, I am going to go with the historical dates on those ones though, with development beginning in 37, and being placed on a
Des Moines clone in 45, though I may push that ahead if everyone and their grandmother has auto 8in being laid down in 43.
Second comment is on the USN approach and the choice of not building any further battleships; this actually seems to make quite good sense. Deploying the Montana Class to the West coast nicely firms up that fleet and gives ten powerful battleships. The ships left on the East coast are rapidly approaching obsolescence, or past it, but what's the threat in that direction? Rapprochement with Iberia, Alliances with Canada, Britain and Atlantis - it's difficult to see the arguement for expensive spending on a new class of battleships for the task.
Well, the Class I was considering for the Atlantic weren't anything spectacular, nor where they all that expensive. And things aren't totally set in stone, I may reenter the battleship game just at a later date.
If we go from the beginning of the refit, and presuming its 15 years, then Texas begins downgrading in effectiveness in 1943, the Nevada's in 1945, the Pennsylvania's in 46, and the New Mexico's in 49. Thats close enough to the presumed end of the game that I can hold off on replacing all of them save Texas, and if we decide to move on then I may even stick 10in on the last 4 Los Angeles Class Cruisers that have yet to be laid down and have them replace the old battleships, or I could build them as they were originally designed and build 3 of the ships posted below, I am leaving options open at the moment until I see what everyone else does, the drivers for refitting the old ships, replacing them with 10in cruisers, or 3 of the ships below, and selling the old Five are in my mind more or less the same.
By the way, the following is the ship that got axed in favour of 2 Essex's instead of 1 of these and an Essex.
New Jersey, United States Battleship laid down 1942
Displacement:
30,009 t light; 31,507 t standard; 34,320 t normal; 36,570 t full load
Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
717.36 ft / 700.00 ft x 98.00 ft (Bulges 104.00 ft) x 33.00 ft (normal load)
218.65 m / 213.36 m x 29.87 m (Bulges 31.70 m) x 10.06 m
Armament:
9 - 14.00" / 356 mm guns (3x3 guns), 1,500.00lbs / 680.39kg shells, 1942 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, majority forward, 1 raised mount - superfiring
16 - 5.00" / 127 mm guns (8x2 guns), 55.12lbs / 25.00kg shells, 1942 Model
Dual purpose guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, all amidships, all raised mounts - superfiring
48 - 1.10" / 27.9 mm guns (6x8 guns), 0.67lbs / 0.30kg shells, 1942 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, all raised mounts
Weight of broadside 14,414 lbs / 6,538 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 100
Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 15.0" / 381 mm 414.54 ft / 126.35 m 11.88 ft / 3.62 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 91 % of normal length
- Torpedo Bulkhead and Bulges:
2.50" / 64 mm 414.54 ft / 126.35 m 29.04 ft / 8.85 m
- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 14.0" / 356 mm 8.00" / 203 mm 14.0" / 356 mm
2nd: 2.00" / 51 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 2.00" / 51 mm
- Armour deck: 5.50" / 140 mm, Conning tower: 15.00" / 381 mm
Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 89,379 shp / 66,676 Kw = 28.00 kts
Range 12,500nm at 15.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 5,063 tons
Complement:
1,259 - 1,638
Cost:
£17.704 million / $70.817 million
Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 1,672 tons, 4.9 %
Armour: 12,255 tons, 35.7 %
- Belts: 3,236 tons, 9.4 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 1,114 tons, 3.2 %
- Armament: 2,728 tons, 7.9 %
- Armour Deck: 4,836 tons, 14.1 %
- Conning Tower: 341 tons, 1.0 %
Machinery: 2,335 tons, 6.8 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 13,546 tons, 39.5 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 4,311 tons, 12.6 %
Miscellaneous weights: 200 tons, 0.6 %
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
53,449 lbs / 24,244 Kg = 39.0 x 14.0 " / 356 mm shells or 9.9 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.09
Metacentric height 5.8 ft / 1.8 m
Roll period: 18.2 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 62 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.55
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.23
Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.500
Length to Beam Ratio: 6.73 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 31.23 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 51 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 19.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 6.00 ft / 1.83 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 33.00 ft / 10.06 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 22.00 ft / 6.71 m
- Mid (50 %): 19.00 ft / 5.79 m
- Quarterdeck (20 %): 20.00 ft / 6.10 m
- Stern: 24.00 ft / 7.32 m
- Average freeboard: 21.71 ft / 6.62 m
Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 75.6 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 143.8 %
Waterplane Area: 47,531 Square feet or 4,416 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 113 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 198 lbs/sq ft or 965 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.95
- Longitudinal: 1.66
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily