Shipbucket

Fredrickstate class Armoured Cruiser


Fredrickstate in the CFN's traditional, colourful peacetime garb shortly after her commissioning.

History:
WiP!

_________________

Hill class


Hill after commissioning in 1928.

Year of design: 1924
Displacement: 2060 tons
Length:
Draft:
Speed: 36.2 knots

Armament (1927):
3x2 Mark 3 5” (127mm)/51 calibre guns
1x1 Mark 2 3” (76mm)/40 calibre AA gun
2x1 Clark .50 calibre (12.7mm) machine guns
2x4 Mark 9 21” (533mm) torpedoes (no reloads)
2x Mark 4 500lbs (227kg) depth charge racks aft

Protection:
Splinter proof turret faces and back plates

Design History:
As the 1920s dawned, the state of the Columbian destroyer fleet was becoming a growing concern. Some parts of the Columbian Admiralty (later coined the Battleship Mafia), as well as Congress, had preferred to push out iterations on the old four-stacker hull design, rather than offer a direct competitor to contemporary foreign designs.

This was based on the thesis that destroyers could not bring about a defeat over an enemy battle fleet. The only reliable tool to defend the Columbian shore from hostile capital ship incursions, they argued, was to draw the opposing force into a decisive engagement in the open sea. As torpedoes did not yet have the lethality or range to pose a serious threat to enemy capital ships, they were relegated to the role of torpedo boat hunters; high speed gun platforms forming a defensive screen around the Battle Force. However, since the vast distances from any enemy-held shore meant that destroyers were unlikely to form a major part of a hostile force gunning for Columbian shore targets, destroyers in the view of the Battleship Mafia and Congress were pretty much left without a purpose.

By the early 1920s however, destroyers had grown in capability, especially in the Royal Alantian Navy and the Alantian sphere of influence. Together with the rising threat of submarines, the writing was on the wall that other competing nations would soon begin to field their own large destroyers. Thus, finally, Congress pushed for a revolution in Columbian destroyer design after considerable lobbying from various Admirals. The Battleship Mafia remained stubborn, and eventually Congress had to order the decommissioning of one of Columbia’s oldest two dreadnoughts, East Mariana, to free up treaty tonnage for a new class of destroyers.

Three plans were proposed: One envisioned 16 smaller craft of comparable size to existing destroyers. Another envisioned a small run of very large destroyers based on the RAN’s oceangoing destroyer prototypes such as RNS Sable. However, a middle ground of ten quite large warships would emerge as the most rational choice.

Gun firepower was a design priority, reflected in a, for the time, heavy battery of six five-inch guns in three twin gun houses with partial splinter proofing. Speed was modest for the day at around 35 knots (though some ships would exceed 36 knots on trials). Anti-aircraft armament was a single three inch short barrel AA gun abaft the funnels and a pair of machine guns. ASW armament was considerable for the day, reflecting the Columbian Admiralty’s concerns that submarines might take a considerable toll on the Battle Force.

Early during construction, the ten ordered ships were cut down to nine as it became obvious that the design was growing overweight. The first ship, CFN Hill, would be launched in May of 1927. On trials, her seaboat quality was considered as “barely satisfactory”.

The 1927 New Bethburg Destroyer Convention:
While the first few ships were undergoing sea trials, diplomats from Alantia, Columbia, Ming, Solmonte, Basquerana and Normannia met in New Bethburg to formulate the 1927 Destroyer Convention, one in a series of treaties attempting, largely unsuccessfully, to limit the size and number of warships being built across the world. In this particular case, the Convention dictated that no future destroyer of the signatory nations would exceed the size of the Hill class, which was rounded to 2000 tons ordinary load displacement. An option was provided to build a small series of oversized destroyers to a 3000 ton displacement limit under a penalty.

Other stipulations were also made to provide a rough definition of what constituted a destroyer, however these were not always followed (For example, a destroyer was thus defined as a “warship whose main role is the employment of torpedoes”. This would by some definitions discount the Hill class themselves, as their main role was to be a gunship.) As with all the naval treaties, rules-lawyering and understating displacement figures resulted in an only notional compliance to the treaties across signatory nations.

Operational History:
During the first two years of their service, the ships would be split across various divisions to act as division or squadron flagships due to their larger size. This proved unpopular and was soon rescinded, with the ships forming the 32nd DesRon, 72nd and 73rd DesDivs, initially based out of White Cove Naval Yard on the Columbian west coast.

During the interwar years, the DesRon would be split up, with DesDiv 73 (now 173) heading to the east coast, but by the outbreak of war they were recalled in a hurry.

The west coast ships were heavily engaged during the opening days of the war. Blair was on patrol on the night of September 1st when she encountered the Ming destroyers Banwai and Tsogang, providing distant escort for the troop ships headed for Tunfish Bay. Upon spotting them, she issued a challenge via blinker light. Initially, the Ming vessels identified as Fushani destroyers, but Capt. Henry Baker aboard the Blair was suspicious and ordered to close and illuminate the ships with searchlights, whereupon the Imperial vessels opened fire. Blair was caught off guard at point blank range, with the opening salvo crippling her No1 mount shell handling room and starting a fire forward. Capt. Baker ordered a radio alert to be broadcast and attempted to open the range, but a torpedo impacted Blair amidships and split the vessel in two. Blair’s radio alert did serve to provide some kind of warning however, and bought crucial minutes for the island’s garrisons to prepare.

As the war progressed, the single purpose nature of the ship’s guns, and their small margin for upgrades became a major concern. Many of the ships were relegated to East coast operations or the northern theatre where they could be kept away from carrier aircraft. Nevertheless, Henry would be sunk by air-dropped bombs in 1941, while Clint would sink three years later after hitting a Solmontian mine. This made them one of the most loss-intensive classes of destroyers in the CFN during the conflict by units lost.

Postwar, the ships were regarded as wholly obsolete and, after their Magic Carpet runs, were soon listed for disposal, with the entire class being sold off in 1946 for scrapping.

Ships In Class:
CFN Hill (DD-287) - Sold for scrap, 1946
CFN Blair (DD-288) - Sunk by hostile gunfire during the Battle of Henshel Harbour, 1938
CFN McMahern (DD-289) - Sold for scrap, 1946
CFN Aldern (DD-290) - Sold for scrap, 1946
CFN Henry (DD-291) - Sunk by aerial bombs during the Battle of Tusk Island, 1941
CFN Turville (DD-292) - Sold for scrap, 1946
CFN Travis (DD-293) - Sold for scrap, 1946
CFN Clint (DD-294) - Sunk by a mine off Pays-des-îles, Normannia, 1944
CFN Geyers (DD-295) - Sold for scrap, 1946


Aldern in Measure 5 camouflage during the early stages of the war. The mainmast has been cut down to reduce topweight and clear arcs of fire for her AA gunners.


The Hill class was rarely dressed up in the otherwise popular three-colour dazzle patterns. This is Turville wearing Measure 14. Note the early powered director for her 37mm gun. This unit proved to be maintenance-intensive and was later replaced with manually operated ones.

_________________

Owens class


Owens a year before the beginning of the Great War.

Year of design: 1934
Displacement: 2000 tons (officially)
Length: 108.20 meters
Draft: 3.81 meters
Speed: 36.9 knots

Armament (1937):
3x2 Mark 4 5” (127mm)/35 calibre DP guns
4x1 Clark .50 calibre (12.7mm) machine guns
3x4 Mark 10 21” (533mm) torpedoes (no reloads)
2x Mark 4 500lbs (227kg) depth charge racks aft

Protection:
None

Design History:
The Owens class marked the attempt to squeeze every last bit of capability out of the 2000 ton convention-mandated displacement limit that the Navy could manage by cramming a third quadruple torpedo tube set onto their destroyers.

This afforded the class an unprecedented twelve tube broadside, made possible in part thanks to trunking the exhaust from the boilers into a unified stack aft of the bridge house and the wholesale removal of medium AA armament, leaving only the dual purpose main guns and a set of light machine guns to fend off air attacks.

As launched, the ships exhibited poor seakeeping and stability qualities, which was partially remedied by removing two of the four as-designed launches from the design. Most vessels would be launched and all would enter fleet service with two onboard boats.

Operational History:
The class was an active participant in the hectic early war skirmishing occurring around Fushan waters and in the fighting retreat in the Northern Orienne. Lowe was sunk on the 29th of December 1939 by submarine ambush in these waters.

The Owens ships would have their moment in the limelight during the 1st Battle of Halgoa in 1941, where four ships of the class - Owens, Rone, Palser and Buck, escorting the armoured cruisers Golden Falls and Saint Jane - partook in a night action against Fushani forces. The objective of the CFN force was to suppress the devilish airfield on Halgoa that was playing host to air raids hitting Columbian supply convoys to Chandiya and Alantian holdings on the Cold Sea.

The FEN force managed to achieve strategic surprise and successfully shelled the airfield with the cruisers’ twelve inch guns. However, what they did not know was that a surface task force that had been dispatched the day before due to erroneous intelligence was now returning to harbour. CFN Rone established radar contact using her SD radar at 0210 hours, however the report was not acted upon by the Columbian Admiral, which allowed the FEN elements to set up a torpedo attack.

Saint Jane was hit twice and went dead in the water. The resulting engagement left FEN destroyers and light cruisers present to retire while their heavy units stayed on field due to a breakdown in communication in the heat of battle - An action that would see Adm. Yuntze Lin executed a year later.

Rear Adm. Johanne ordered his destroyers to charge the embattled FEN forces at high speed and to engage with gunfire and torpedoes, but the poor angle on the enemy armoured cruisers did not allow for a shot and many of the destroyers took a withering fire from enemy guns. Buck suffered a twelve inch hit to her stern which set off her depth charges and left her unable to make way, while Owens was struck seventeen times by secondary battery fire but managed to live through the night.

In spite of the eventual loss of the armoured cruiser Saint Jane and the destroyer Buck - both of which were scuttled in the early morning light to avoid the spectre of a possible enemy air attack from the airfield they had just shelled, and the death of Adm. Richardson, CinC of the operation - The Columbian force had achieved their objective. Rear Adm. Johanne would incur the wrath of Adm. Archer for his decision to scuttle the damaged but potentially salvageable ships, and he only retained his posting when Fleet Adm. Chester personally opined that the cautious decision may have saved his battered force from a much worse fate.

The temporary denial of enemy air operations allowed Columbian forces to gain a foothold in the Southern Orienne and the resulting arduous campaign of defending this foothold saw the Owens class enter the breach repeatedly to maraud along the coastline, bringing their five inchers to bear on enemy troop concentrations, depots and railroads, or providing air defence coverage in the day, while at night the ships acted as guard dogs to the vulnerable Columbian troopships swinging at anchor in Panchong Bay. However, many of the ships now faced a new enemy: The Solmontean Navy.

The Occidenne became a new challenge to Columbian destroyermen after Solmonte entered the war, and suddenly the Owens class sailors found themselves engaged in convoy escort across the ocean, testing their patience in the long hunt for enemy submarines. In 1941, Wickes found herself transferred to the Occidenne, scoring her first submarine kill during the same year. She would go on to be accredited with two more during the war, with shared credit for an additional two.

In 1945, the Allies initiated Operation Stonetoss: The Invasion of Solmontean-held territory in Oria. The invasion was not challenged significantly by air or sea, but was staunchly opposed on the ground. CFN Esherwood earned herself a unit citation during this invasion for manoeuvring dangerously close to shore and providing quick and rapid fire in support of ground troops.

However, at this point, more modern and more capable destroyers were sailing off the slipways in Columbia, and the naval opposition in both theatres was becoming negligible. Once the war was over, the ships were surplus to requirements. Even foreign navies could get more modern castoffs from the CFN in such numbers that no interest arose for the ships, even though they were barely a year older than their contemporaries. As such, many of the class were expended in weapons testing, while others were scrapped shortly after the conclusion of hostilities.

Ships In Class:
CFN Owens (DD-394) - Sold for scrap, 1948. Bow preserved.
CFN Lowe (DD-395) - Sunk by submarine, 1939.
CFN Wickes (DD-396) -
CFN Gagley (DD-397)
CFN Rone (DD-398)
CFN Hutchins (DD-399)
CFN Wools (DD-400)
CFN McFleece (DD-401)
CFN Esherwood (DD-402)


Rowe in 1941 during the 1st Battle of Halgoa. She was one of two destroyers in the force carrying the then-new SD surface and air search radar set. This was less intuitive than the later SH sets, with no PPI scope, and requiring operators in the charthouse to manually turn the aperture. Her light AA guns have been replaced with six Schleicher 20mm guns and her aft superstructure has been reduced to save topweight. Many of her portholes have been plated over to minimise light emissions.


Esherwood during Operation Stonetoss in Measure 41 Mod.1 camouflage and with a late war typical AA battery. A pair of Sampson 37mm guns and directors replaced the No3 torpedo launcher on all ships by the end of the war. Depth charge storage racks are fitted aft to accommodate reloads for her K guns. The ship is fitted with SF air search radar and SH surface search set.

_________________