Can the new river class ironclads bypass the Salthar Canal?

Not really. The current Delthak is the unit described under River-class ironclad gunboat (refit), but that is not the River II, which is not the City. See viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6299&p=163261&hilit=eraystor#p163261 for clarification.

AFAICT, the River IIs are the original purpose-built design, as modified based on the experinces of Delthak and the others. The current Rivers are the 4 barges that were diverted for conversion when Merlin realised that there was a good chance that these vessels would be needed well before they could be built from scratch. Pushing them through probably delayed the IIs, as well as creating the reason why they are considered to be "II" in the first place. There was only enough material - armour in particular - for the 4 of them on hand, so they are all there is of the first flight. No point in building more, because by the time you had the armour, guns and engines available, you could also have the purpose-designed hulls for their replacements.

anwi wrote:

captinjoehenry wrote:Here is the design for the River I and the Delthak II which I think is the River II

Thanks. My take on that is: The River I design we've seen with Delthak. The River II design we've also seen with Delthak - after her refit with new weaponry.
The Delthak II design ("cities") we haven't seen, yet.
Now, between the current rivers and the cities, there are apparently no additional, purpose-built ships.
As to the number of River class ships: Are there really only 4? I seem to recall that those could be rushed to completion, but there were more in the pipeline. Were these scrapped or are they ready to be deployed now?

lyonheart wrote:it suddenly occurred to me only a few days ago that the new smaller River II class ironclads [I realise they're really steel armored, but they're still being called ironclads] are probably small enough for not only the Salthar locks, but those of the Dairnyth-Alyksberg Canal at the north end of the Seridahn River, so they could get to the Bay of Bess far sooner than I'd previously considered.

The River II class is bigger than the River I, assumming the Delthak I and II classes correspond to the River I and II ones.

Lenght Beam Weight (Full load)
River/Delthak I 140' 40' 1543 Tons
River/Delthak II 160' 40' 1580 Tons

So the River II would not fit into an older canal, assumming of course the Dairnyth-Alyksberg canal is one of those, since the smaller River I do not.

Hi JMBM,

From RFC's posts, the longer River II with its rounded bow and stern are more seaworthy the than river/canal type and closer in concept to the sea going City class, which he could have developed into them, while something smaller was/is still needed for the smaller canal locks, even at the expense of another broadside mount etc.

The advantages of being able to put ironclads on the smaller canals and rivers seems too obvious not to have some that can do just that.

Waiting to see RFC's thinking here is so frustrating, but I have lots of reading to catch up on.

L

jmbm wrote:

lyonheart wrote:it suddenly occurred to me only a few days ago that the new smaller River II class ironclads [I realise they're really steel armored, but they're still being called ironclads] are probably small enough for not only the Salthar locks, but those of the Dairnyth-Alyksberg Canal at the north end of the Seridahn River, so they could get to the Bay of Bess far sooner than I'd previously considered.

The River II class is bigger than the River I, assumming the Delthak I and II classes correspond to the River I and II ones.

Lenght Beam Weight (Full load)
River/Delthak I 140' 40' 1543 Tons
River/Delthak II 160' 40' 1580 Tons

So the River II would not fit into an older canal, assumming of course the Dairnyth-Alyksberg canal is one of those, since the smaller River I do not.

captinjoehenry wrote:Here is the design for the River I and the Delthak II which I think is the River II


Thanks. My take on that is: The River I design we've seen with Delthak. The River II design we've also seen with Delthak - after her refit with new weaponry.
The Delthak II design ("cities") we haven't seen, yet.
Now, between the current rivers and the cities, there are apparently no additional, purpose-built ships.
As to the number of River class ships: Are there really only 4? I seem to recall that those could be rushed to completion, but there were more in the pipeline. Were these scrapped or are they ready to be deployed now?

IIRC RFC said there would be 28 River II's available for HFQ.

I have expected they would run up the Sheridan to take Evrytyn and hopefully pass by Alyksberg to Dairnyth. Since this has been a main canal route previously, hopefully it can be restored. It opens up the Bay of Bess and closes the Fairmyn River.

Both are key to Killing the CoGA logistics.

dwileye13 wrote:

captinjoehenry wrote:Here is the design for the River I and the Delthak II which I think is the River II


Thanks. My take on that is: The River I design we've seen with Delthak. The River II design we've also seen with Delthak - after her refit with new weaponry.
The Delthak II design ("cities") we haven't seen, yet.
Now, between the current rivers and the cities, there are apparently no additional, purpose-built ships.
As to the number of River class ships: Are there really only 4? I seem to recall that those could be rushed to completion, but there were more in the pipeline. Were these scrapped or are they ready to be deployed now?

IIRC RFC said there would be 28 River II's available for HFQ.

I have expected they would run up the Sheridan to take Evrytyn and hopefully pass by Alyksberg to Dairnyth. Since this has been a main canal route previously, hopefully it can be restored. It opens up the Bay of Bess and closes the Fairmyn River.

Both are key to Killing the CoGA logistics.

So far we have seen locks on the canals - which are obvious points for the COGA to destroy in a retreat.

Even if no locks, there may be other canal features which would be much more difficult to repair - for example, viaducts!!

So far none have been mentioned, but I would have thought that there would be some at least. If properly destroyed they would require a complete rebuild, which might take years, besides completely emptying the canals for miles around.