runsforcelery wrote:Okay, so you guys started talking about cruisers that Charis could build in numbers, and I had this neat new software package I’d been playing around with, and I had the rough notes I’d put together at the same time I was designing the KH VII, and one thing led to another. I’m not going to go into quite as much detail with these two, but I think they make interesting comparisons to the KH VIIs.
I’m assigning hypothetical lay-down dates for the ships, but don’t jump to any conclusions. On the other hand, don’t
not jump to any conclusions; who knows how my plans may change before the next book.
Hurricane-class heavy cruiser:Charisian Empire
Laid down: 896 (King’s Harbor Dockyard)
Dimensions:Length (waterline): 380’
Length (overall): 408’2”
Beam: 66’
Draft (normal): 24’
Draft (deep): 26’1”
Displacement:Light: 7,047 tons
Standard: 7,409 tons
Normal: 8,754
Full load: 9,765 tons
Armament:4 x 8”/40 BL M895, 2 x 2 in centerline turrets (260-lb AP shell; 200/gun)
14 x 5”/50 BL M896, 14 x 1 in broadside casemates (65-lb AP shell; 300/gun)
Weight of broadside: 1,950 pounds
Armor:Main belt: thickness = 6”; length = 205’; height = 10’
Upper belt (casemate): thickness = 6”; length = 137’6”; height = 8’
Ends: thickness = 1.5’; length = 175’; height = 6’
Deck (fore and aft): 1.5”
Deck (machinery & magazines): 2.5”
Conning tower: 6”
Turrets: face = 6”; side = 4”; roof = 6”; barbette = 6”
Casemate: (see “upper belt”)
5” Shell hoists: 6”
Machinery:Triple expansion, direct drive, 1,469 sdp (37,453 ihp); 2 shafts; 28.8 knots (25 Old Earth knots).
Range: 12,000 nautical miles @ 11.5 knots (10 Old Earth knots)
Bunkerage (normal): 1,264 tons
Bunkerage (max): 2,275 tons
Complement: 520
Cost: CM 814,000
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:Survivability (penetrating hits to sink ship): 27.2 x 8”
Stability (unstable if below 1.00): 1.23
Metacentric height: 3’11”
Roll period: 14 seconds
Ship space, strength, and comments:Hull space below water (magazine/engines; low = better): 109%
Hull space above water (accommodation/working; high = better): 148.6%
Waterplane area: 16,848 ft.²
Displacement factor (displacement/loading): 104%
Structure weight/whole surface area: 81 pound/square foot
Hull strength (relative): cross-sectional = 0.69; longitudinal = 2.69; overall = 0.79
Adequate machinery, storage, compartmentation space.
Excellent accommodation and workspace room.
Ship has slow, easy roll; steady gun platform.
Good seaboat; rides out heavy weather easily.
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Maikelberg-class cruiser:Charisian Empire
Laid down: 896 (Delthak Dockyard)
Dimensions:Length (waterline): 345’
Length (overall): 374’ 2”
Draft (normal): 27’
Draft (deep): 27’3”
Displacement:Light: 5,668 tons
Standard: 5,902 tons
Normal: 7,086 tons
Full: 8,033 tons
Armament:4 x 6”/45 BL M895, 2 x 2 in centerline turrets (115-lb AP shell; 175/gun)
12 x 4”/45 BL M895, 12 x 1 in broadside casemates (32.5-lb AP shell; 220/gun)
Weight of broadside: 850 pounds
Armor:Main belt: thickness = 4.5”; length = 208’; depth = 10’
Upper belt (casemate): thickness = 4.5”; length = 137’; depth = 6’
Ends: thickness = 1.5”; length = 227’; depth = 10’
Turrets: face = 4”; side = 2’; top = 4”
Barbette: 5”
4” Shell hoists: 5”
Machinery:Triple-expansion, direct drive, 1,568 sdp (39,979 ihp); 2 shafts; 31 knots (27 Old Earth knots).
Range: 12,000 miles @ 10 knots.
Bunker (normal): 1,385 tons
Bunker (max): 2, 131 tons
Complement: 420
Cost: CM 539,000
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:Survivability (penetrating hits needed to sink): 84.3 x 6”
Stability (unstable if below 1.00): 1.24
Metacentric height: 3’10”
Roll period: 13.9 seconds
Ship space, strength, and comments:Hull space below water (magazine/engines; low = better): 92.2%
Hull space above water (accommodation/working; high = better): 138.6%
Waterplane area: 14,041 ft.²
Displacement factor (displacement/loading): 126%
Structure weight/whole surface area: 99 pounds/square foot
Hull strength (relative): cross-sectional = 0.90; longitudinal = 5.08; overall = 1.07.
Adequate machinery, storage, compartmentation space.
Excellent accommodation and workspace room.
Ship has low, easy roll; a good steady gun platform.
Average seaboat.
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Comet-class cruiser:Charisian Empire
Laid down: 896 (Delthak Dockyard)
Dimensions:Length (waterline): 310’
Length (overall): 337’ 3”
Draft (normal): 24’
Draft (deep): 26’6”
Displacement:Light: 4,793 tons
Standard: 4,976 tons
Normal: 6,044 tons
Full: 6, 900 tons
Armament:2 x 6”/45 BL M895, 2 x 1 in centerline turrets (115-lb AP shell; 200/gun)
8 x 4”/45 BL M895, 8 x 1 in broadside casemates (32.5-lb AP shell; 220/gun)
Weight of broadside: 490 pounds
Armor:Main belt: thickness = 4.5”; length = 224’; depth = 10’
Upper belt (casemate): thickness = 4.5”; length = 115’; depth = 8’
Ends: thickness = 1.5”; length = 76’; depth = 9’
6” Gunshield: face = 4”; side = 2’
Barbette: 4”
4” Shell hoists: 4”
Machinery:Triple-expansion, direct drive, 1,158 sdp (29,515 ihp); 2 shafts; 28.8 knots (25 Old Earth knots).
Range: 12,000 miles @ 11.5 knots (10 Old Earth knots).
Bunker (normal): 1,069 tons
Bunker (max): 1,924 tons
Complement: 394
Cost: CM 497,000
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:Survivability (penetrating hits needed to sink): 52.7 x 6”
Stability (unstable if below 1.00): 1.22
Metacentric height: 2’11”
Roll period: 13.5 seconds
Ship space, strength, and comments:Hull space below water (magazine/engines; low = better): 111.1%
Hull space above water (accommodation/working; high = better): 130.8%
Waterplane area: 11,818 ft.²
Displacement factor (displacement/loading): 112%
Structure weight/whole surface area: 77 pounds/square foot
Hull strength (relative): cross-sectional = 0.84; longitudinal = 4.80; overall = 1.00.
Cramped machinery, storage, compartmentation space.
Excellent accommodation and workspace room.
Ship has low, easy roll; a good steady gun platform.
Slightly above average seaboat.
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There are some interesting trade-offs here, both between these three ships and between them and the KH VIIs. They’re all designed for 12,000 miles range (and, by the way, I didn’t really notice that the program calculates in terms of
nautical miles, which is actually a tad over 13,800 statute miles), and at normal displacement, the 2 x 10”
KH VII displaces 11,980 tons; the 4 x 10”
king Harold seven displaces 12,819 tons; the
Hurricane displaces 8,754 tons; the
Maikelberg displaces 7,086 tons, and
Comet displaces only 6,044. So, the tonnage trade-off for the cruisers would be:
1 2x10”
KH VII = 1.37
Hurricanes, 1.7
Maikelbergs, or 1.98
Comets.
1 4x10”
KH VII = 1.46
Hurricanes, 1.81
Maikelbergs, or 2.12
Comets.
The
monetary trade-off for the cruisers would be:
1 2x10”
KH VII* = 2.27
Hurricanes, 3.43
Maikelbergs, or 3.7
Comets*there isn’t enough difference between the cost of the two
KH VIIs to worry about.
Maikelberg is fully capable of dealing with any galleon or galley she’s ever going to meet, and she’s by far the fastest of the three designs. She has much more limited capability to support landing operations or carry out bombardments, since the biggest gun she has is only 6”.
Hurricane is slower, bigger, and more expensive than
Maikelberg. She’s also better protected, in the event that the Church should — oh, I don’t know, come up with a decent rifled gun, for instance — and better armed. She not only has heavier guns, she has more of them with 2.3 times
Maikelberg’s weight of broadside, and there isn’t much difference between their guns’ rates of fire, either.
Hurricane is also far better suited to supporting landing operations or carrying out bombardments.
Comet is slower than
Maikelberg (although far faster than anything she’s likely to meet) and the same speed as
Hurricane, but she (obviously) has the lightest broadside of the trio. She and
Hurricane both draw less than
Maikelberg at normal displacement, because
Maikelberg needed more depth of hull to support the weights placed aboard her.
Of course, all three of them are totally outclassed by
KH VII (either iteration) for shore support and bombardment. The original 2x10” design has a 5,044-pound broadside and the 4x10” has a 6,064-pound broadside. So if the 4x10”
KH VII's broadside is assigned a value of 1.00,
Comet's would be worth 0.08,
Maikelberg's would be worth 0.14;
Hurricane's would be worth 0.32; and the 2x10”
KH VII's would be worth 0.83 (which sorta puts their relative combat power --- and "terror factors" --- into perspective). And, of course, that doesn’t consider the potential range of the various ships’ weapons or the greater effect of the individually heavier shells against shore targets.
Of the three smaller cruisers,
Comet would have the poorest habitability, although it wouldn’t be all that bad, since most of the cramping would be below decks in way of the engine rooms and boiler rooms. She’s also the poorest seaboat, however, although, once again, she isn’t
all that much worse than
Hurricane or
Maikelberg. However, if the ICN really wanted to maximize its deployable units
and combat power, it should probably invest in
Maikelbergs. They’d be getting substantially more combat power per mark invested, and they’d be getting 92% as many hulls.
There’s not much point in their building anything smaller than one of these cruisers. They need the cruising radius, the firepower would come in handy for dealing with shore threats (if they should happen to arise), and they would be far more seaworthy (especially in terms of durability) than destroyers, while it gets very difficult to build more than 4-5,000 miles endurance into something destroyer-sized with a worth while armament.
Mind you, I’m not saying that they are actually going to build any of these, but it does make for an interesting thought experiment . . . and I’m not saying they
won’t build any of them, either.
and, Mangy Fur the Smart Alick Spacecat.