Shipbucket

That's a fair point Erik. Sea Cat is intended to replace the 40mm Bofors, in its earlier MRS-3 guided form its no anti-missile missile. It does well at close-in AA work but its subsonic. Orange Nell is not an area-defence weapon, that role is for Sea Slug, Orange Nell is designed as an anti-missile system. In effect the Type 80 is a goalie. Now I could have made her a double-ender and put a second Nell aft instead of the flightdeck but that would have meant losing the Wasp and possibly Limbo. I wanted the Type 80 to have an ASW escort role too, she meant to be a Type 12 with the 4.5in replaced by a missile system as the Admiralty intended doing. She is a goalie protecting the carrier with the County or Admiral (both of which also have Nell) further out for area defence. I figure the vertical 40-round magazine would be pretty bulky and would require a lot of internal space.
And because Sea Cat is light it makes sense to fit it to make a double-ender ship without the loss of capablity and gorwth in hull size and weight two Nells would require. Like everything, you have to compromise somewhere.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

Sorry shipmates, I somehow posted this incorrectly, so here it should be:

We are going back now to fill in some of the gaps. Hood has proposed an A, B, and C of anti air cruisers/destroyers, with the previously posted Admirals in the B period for cruisers (with C still to follow). In A position were the four Bellona sub class of the Dido's: Bellona, Diadem, Black Prince, and Royalist; modernised postwar for screening carriers with what was current and with the new 4.5-in replacing the 5.25's. The logic being to have commonality of guns, and the earlier availability of the new mount. These ships had decent anti air for the period, with the two directors offering double the control of contemporay destroyers; the rest being bofors in single and twin mounts, the later being the STAAG mount, which was now being introduced (with mixed results). By the introduction of the bigger Admirals these Dido conversions could have been either further modernised or sold out as they were to foreign navies - still with some life left in them:

First installations of Sea Cat were GWS.20 using optical director only (can be seen on HMS Cavalier, and HMS Fearless). Later there was the GWS.21 using the same director as CRBF-8 (the dustbin shaped director seen on the real life AD conversions of Battle class destroyers or were also on HMS Devonshire (the first County destroyer). Later came GWS.22 using the standard MRS-3 director as seen on the Leanders and later County class. GWS.24 was using Type 912 radar on the Type 21 frigates and this system ws unique in not having a person on the director.

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Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"

How Lovely!! There is a new version of that 40mm HM gun btw!

Hi PB's
Hmmm, for a British "Dido" modernised by late 1940's/early 1950's, you can easily delete the 2 "side" twin 40mm mounts (in the central part of the ship) and replace it by the more powerfull 6-barreled heavy AA mount (for a larger AA firepower)...

I really love these designs.
Is there any chance of having some developments of the large destroyers planned by the British with the amidships helicoppter facilities? (They also used a automatic 5" gun if memory serves)

Always nice to see the Union Jack atop the mast of a warship! Great drawings and great scenario!

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Fan of Dreadnaughts, Super-Dreadnaughts, Fast Battleships and Battlecruisers.

Thanks Mike. What I've done (essentially) is dupicate much of the actual HMNZ Royalist, the sole Dido modernised and sold on to the Kiwi's; so the basic layout follows that version, and it will do for the purpose we have assigned the type. But I'm interested in a '6 - barrelled heavy AA mount'; we don't use one here and I'm not aware of any used by the RN.
We haven't got that far yet, and I know the type you're refering to; I would expect Hood to decide on the later ships

6-Barrelled 40mm mount (same used onboard Battleship "HMS Vanguard" and Carrier "HMS Eagle"), used by 1946-late 1950's

The six-barrelled 40mm would be too heavy to fit two of them. For the firepower given they would require better directors and would be a large addition of topweight. The bulk and complexity is why these mounts were only used aboard Vanguard and the carriers.

_________________
Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft