Thiaria

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Going backwards on the time-scale, now presenting the immediate predecessors of the Conaire-class. In 1904, the Thiarians had the most powerful fleet in South America (two reasonably moder pre-dreadnoughts in service and one building, plus one large armoured cruiser in service and two building) and decided to make their superiority entirely unassailable. They wanted to surprise everyone by designing a battleship with twice the usual main armament on a hull not exceeding the size of the latest mixed-armament designs like the US Conneticut-class. They considered superfiring guns too detrimental to seakeeping abilities and chose a lozenge arrangement for the four old-fashioned french-style turrets (these were the last heavy guns the Thiarians ever imported for capital ships). Turbine propulsion was not even considered; licenses for Parsons turbines could not be obtained due to a british embargo on high-tech products imposed in 1900, and all other turbine types were not yet ready for series production. The ship did however receive oil-spraying gear for her Belleville-type boilers and had good speed for their age and a reasonably long range. She was formidably protected for what was essentially a pre-dreadnought design (torpedo bulkheads were still rare commodities in 1904) and had a reputation of supreme habitability (mostly due to the ponderous superstructure, which made her a big target) and very good seakeeping abilities. Unfortunately, when she was launched and named LT Bunreacht (Constitution) in February 1907, HMS Dreadnought was already in service; worse still, the Brazilians had gotten wind of her design during 1906 and changed their fleet-building programme from three pre-dreadnoughts to two dreadnoughts and one used british pre-dreadnought (ex HMS Renown) which was later to be replaced by a third dreadnought. By the time the new Thiarian ship was commissioned in October 1909, both Brazilian dreadnoughts were already nearing completion themselves, and Argentina and Chile were busy selecting designs for dreadnoughts of their own. Although by no means a bad ship, Bunreacht was outpaced by all other participants of the South American dreadnought race.

LT Bunreacht

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Bunreacht was a popular ship in peacetime due to her excellent accomodation (which was considered better than on the later Conaire-class super-dreadnoughts) and served as fleet flagship from late 1909 through early 1916. When Thiaria declared war on Great Britain, she had just been drawn out of the active battle squadron because of her five-knot speed disadvantage compared with the Conaire-class, and served as flagship of the reserve and training squadron. When the British severely mauled the active battle squadron in the battle of Tristan da Cunha, the reserve squadron was activated to back up the armoured cruisers which preyed upon british merchant shipping. They achieved a great success in November 1916 when they intercepted a convoy of 19 merchants accompanied by the old battleship HMS Prince George; after the armoured cruiser LT Urgharda had pestered the convoy for a day and radioed its position to every interesting party every half hour, three Thiarian battleships led by Bunreacht steamed up, gunned HMS Prince George to shreds and sunk eleven merchant vessels. Soon after this engagement, the British had assembled enough power around Thiaria to outnumber any Thiarian sortie, and both sides engaged in a game of hide and seek, during which the reserve squadron repeatedly only narrowly escaped an encounter with a Queen-Elizabeth-class ship. In April 1917, Bunreacht finally met her fate; when the Thiarians attempted do duplicate her success of November 1916, the reserve squadron ran into the recently repaired HMS Warspite, which immediately engaged. The Thiarian commander released both pre-dreadnoughts and defiantly attacked the British super-dreadnought, which blew her to pieces in a surprisingly hard-fought engagement (Warspite took seven hits herself, although none of them was critical). The fight lasted long enough to enable both Thiarian pre-dreadnoughts to escape; HMS Warspite failed to catch up with them before nightfall and finally abandoned the chase. LT Bunreacht's commander and crew were hailed as heroes and martyrs and posthumously blanketed in honours and medals. For all that, they were no less dead, and the Thiarians never again attempted to intercept a british convoy in force.

LT Bunreacht's SpringSharp stats:

Bunreacht, Thiaria Battleship laid down 1905

Displacement:
15.805 t light; 16.670 t standard; 17.950 t normal; 18.975 t full load

Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
(466,94 ft / 459,32 ft) x 82,02 ft x (27,89 / 29,19 ft)
(142,32 m / 140,00 m) x 25,00 m x (8,50 / 8,90 m)

Armament:
8 - 12,01" / 305 mm 45,0 cal guns - 873,08lbs / 396,02kg shells, 100 per gun
Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1905 Model
2 x Twin mounts on centreline ends, evenly spread
2 x Twin mounts on sides, aft deck forward
8 - 5,51" / 140 mm 45,0 cal guns - 84,44lbs / 38,30kg shells, 300 per gun
Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1905 Model
4 x Twin mounts on sides, evenly spread
2 - 2,56" / 65,0 mm 45,0 cal guns - 8,45lbs / 3,83kg shells, 600 per gun
Quick firing guns in deck mounts, 1905 Model
2 x Single mounts on sides, forward deck aft
Weight of broadside 7.677 lbs / 3.482 kg
Main Torpedoes
2 - 17,7" / 450 mm, 22,97 ft / 7,00 m torpedoes - 0,955 t each, 1,910 t total
submerged side tubes

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 11,6" / 295 mm 320,87 ft / 97,80 m 10,86 ft / 3,31 m
Ends: 4,33" / 110 mm 122,01 ft / 37,19 m 10,86 ft / 3,31 m
16,44 ft / 5,01 m Unarmoured ends
Upper: 4,33" / 110 mm 320,87 ft / 97,80 m 8,01 ft / 2,44 m
Main Belt covers 107% of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead - Strengthened structural bulkheads:
1,57" / 40 mm 320,87 ft / 97,80 m 26,28 ft / 8,01 m
Beam between torpedo bulkheads 65,62 ft / 20,00 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 12,0" / 305 mm 8,27" / 210 mm 11,0" / 280 mm
2nd: 6,50" / 165 mm 3,94" / 100 mm 5,51" / 140 mm
3rd: 0,39" / 10 mm - -

- Armoured deck - single deck:
For and Aft decks: 3,54" / 90 mm
Forecastle: 1,18" / 30 mm Quarter deck: 2,36" / 60 mm

- Conning towers: Forward 13,58" / 345 mm, Aft 11,61" / 295 mm

Machinery:
Coal and oil fired boilers, complex reciprocating steam engines,
Direct drive, 3 shafts, 18.811 ihp / 14.033 Kw = 19,00 kts
Range 5.000nm at 12,00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 2.304 tons (80% coal)

Complement:
775 - 1.008

Cost:
£1,644 million / $6,577 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 1.403 tons, 7,8%
- Guns: 1.400 tons, 7,8%
- Weapons: 4 tons, 0,0%
Armour: 6.781 tons, 37,8%
- Belts: 2.474 tons, 13,8%
- Torpedo bulkhead: 491 tons, 2,7%
- Armament: 1.808 tons, 10,1%
- Armour Deck: 1.635 tons, 9,1%
- Conning Towers: 372 tons, 2,1%
Machinery: 2.673 tons, 14,9%
Hull, fittings & equipment: 4.948 tons, 27,6%
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 2.145 tons, 12,0%
Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0,0%

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
21.128 lbs / 9.583 Kg = 24,4 x 12,0 " / 305 mm shells or 4,6 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1,26
Metacentric height 5,6 ft / 1,7 m
Roll period: 14,5 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 71 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0,57
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1,70

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise forward of midbreak,
a normal bow and a round stern
Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0,598 / 0,604
Length to Beam Ratio: 5,60 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 21,43 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 47 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 42
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 10,00 degrees
Stern overhang: 3,28 ft / 1,00 m
Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
Fore end, Aft end
- Forecastle: 20,00%, 24,61 ft / 7,50 m, 23,62 ft / 7,20 m
- Forward deck: 20,00%, 23,62 ft / 7,20 m, 23,62 ft / 7,20 m
- Aft deck: 42,00%, 15,75 ft / 4,80 m, 15,75 ft / 4,80 m
- Quarter deck: 18,00%, 15,75 ft / 4,80 m, 15,75 ft / 4,80 m
- Average freeboard: 18,98 ft / 5,78 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 106,6%
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 123,6%
Waterplane Area: 27.502 Square feet or 2.555 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 95%
Structure weight / hull surface area: 150 lbs/sq ft or 734 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0,91
- Longitudinal: 2,18
- Overall: 1,00
Adequate machinery, storage, compartmentation space
Excellent accommodation and workspace room
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
Excellent seaboat, comfortable, can fire her guns in the heaviest weather

Greetings
GD

Shipbucket

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