WesWorld

Hello everyone.
I present you my more recent creation. At the star it was going to be a river monitor but I change my mind at the end anf made it a gunboat. I am not sure if the secondarys are good on deck mounts or woul be better on cassmates. Also one of the reassons why I made it a gunboat is that I want it to be better on a sea and not only on rivers to give it the capacity of fullfile diferent rols.
Now I am making a monitor version to fight on rivers. How bad do you think that is the idea of a casamate main gun? I am thinking on it to face enemy ships on front and smaller secondaris and machinguns to atack the coast.






Nilo Class, Gunboat laid down 1922

Displacement:
850 t light; 917 t standard; 1.127 t normal; 1.294 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
233,03 ft / 229,66 ft x 34,45 ft (Bulges 36,09 ft) x 9,51 ft (normal load)
71,03 m / 70,00 m x 10,50 m (Bulges 11,00 m) x 2,90 m

Armament:
2 - 6,00" / 152 mm guns in single mounts, 108,00lbs / 48,99kg shells, 1922 Model
Breech loading guns in deck mounts with hoists
on centreline ends, evenly spread
10 - 3,00" / 76,2 mm guns (4 mounts), 13,50lbs / 6,12kg shells, 1922 Model
Quick firing guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships
6 - 0,50" / 12,7 mm guns in single mounts, 0,06lbs / 0,03kg shells, 1922 Model
Machine guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 351 lbs / 159 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 200

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 5,51" / 140 mm 104,07 ft / 31,72 m 6,53 ft / 1,99 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 70 % of normal length

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 4,92" / 125 mm 0,20" / 5 mm 4,33" / 110 mm
2nd: 1,18" / 30 mm - -
3rd: 0,39" / 10 mm - -

- Armour deck: 0,39" / 10 mm, Conning tower: 3,94" / 100 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 2 shafts, 3.779 shp / 2.819 Kw = 18,50 kts
Range 5.000nm at 15,00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 378 tons

Complement:
96 - 126

Cost:
£0,231 million / $0,923 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 44 tons, 3,9 %
Armour: 257 tons, 22,8 %
- Belts: 177 tons, 15,7 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0,0 %
- Armament: 33 tons, 2,9 %
- Armour Deck: 38 tons, 3,4 %
- Conning Tower: 9 tons, 0,8 %
Machinery: 128 tons, 11,4 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 421 tons, 37,4 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 276 tons, 24,5 %
Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0,0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
2.058 lbs / 933 Kg = 19,1 x 6,0 " / 152 mm shells or 1,0 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1,32
Metacentric height 1,7 ft / 0,5 m
Roll period: 11,8 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 66 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0,27
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1,05

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
Block coefficient: 0,500
Length to Beam Ratio: 6,36 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 15,15 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 56 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 63
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 10,00 degrees
Stern overhang: 1,64 ft / 0,50 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 9,84 ft / 3,00 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 9,84 ft / 3,00 m
- Mid (50 %): 9,84 ft / 3,00 m
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 6,56 ft / 2,00 m
- Stern: 6,56 ft / 2,00 m
- Average freeboard: 8,78 ft / 2,68 m
Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 69,2 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 93,7 %
Waterplane Area: 5.271 Square feet or 490 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 130 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 55 lbs/sq ft or 268 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0,94
- Longitudinal: 1,91
- Overall: 1,01
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is adequate

From the looks of things, it definitely works well as a gunboat.

Riverine craft are rather hard to sim with anything approaching realistic specs, I've found - although some of us have managed some pretty decent designs.

For the river monitor, I'd strongly advise staying away from casement-mounted main guns. There are a few reasons for that:
1. A river monitor is best armed with much the same sort of artillery used by the army; these guns are distinctly different from those used on ocean-going warships. A pair of 6" Army howitzers would have shorter barrels firing at higher elevations: the idea is to stick to indirect fire, lobbing shots over hills or river bends, etc. For this, deck mounts or full turrets are best.
2. Casemates aren't terribly flexible.
3. Even if the casemate is above deck level, it places the guns very close to the waterline on a riverine ship.

I see. Then I may go with a single or doble 6 inchs gun and a pair of 4 inches at font to provide some good support to both sides and complete the artillery fire.