Colony of Victoria (AU)

HMVS Victoria (III)

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Kind of fielding to see any glaring issues pop out that I've missed (I'm aware the turrets are blocked kind of by the lifeboats to a fair degree, BDIIK why the original design was so committed to it)

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Victoria Subclass, Colony of Victoria Armoured Cruiser laid down 1906

Displacement:
	12,354 t light; 12,881 t standard; 15,028 t normal; 16,745 t full load

Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
	(516.50 ft / 507.00 ft) x 74.50 ft x (26.40 / 28.73 ft)
	(157.43 m / 154.53 m) x 22.71 m  x (8.05 / 8.76 m)

Armament:
      4 - 9.20" / 234 mm 45.0 cal guns - 392.66lbs / 178.11kg shells, 100 per gun
	  Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1906 Model
	  2 x Twin mounts on centreline ends, evenly spread
      10 - 7.50" / 191 mm 45.0 cal guns - 212.74lbs / 96.50kg shells, 100 per gun
	  Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1906 Model
	  10 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
      16 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm 45.0 cal guns - 13.62lbs / 6.18kg shells, 150 per gun
	  Breech loading guns in deck mounts, 1906 Model
	  16 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
		16 raised mounts
      Weight of broadside 3,916 lbs / 1,776 kg
      4 - 18.0" / 457 mm, 8.00 ft / 2.44 m torpedoes - 0.398 t each, 1.593 t total
	In 4 sets of submerged side tubes
      1 - 18.0" / 457 mm, 8.00 ft / 2.44 m torpedo - 0.398 t total
	In a submerged stern tube

Armour:
   - Belts:		Width (max)	Length (avg)		Height (avg)
	Main:	6.00" / 152 mm	250.00 ft / 76.20 m	14.00 ft / 4.27 m
	Ends:	4.00" / 102 mm	257.00 ft / 78.33 m	14.00 ft / 4.27 m
	  Main Belt covers 76 % of normal length

   - Gun armour:	Face (max)	Other gunhouse (avg)	Barbette/hoist (max)
	Main:	8.00" / 203 mm	7.00" / 178 mm		7.00" / 178 mm
	2nd:	8.00" / 203 mm	6.00" / 152 mm		6.00" / 152 mm

   - Armoured deck - single deck: 2.00" / 51 mm For and Aft decks
	Forecastle: 1.50" / 38 mm  Quarter deck: 1.00" / 25 mm

   - Conning towers: Forward 10.00" / 254 mm,  Aft 0.00" / 0 mm

Machinery:
	Coal fired boilers, steam turbines, 
	Hydraulic drive, 2 shafts, 30,000 shp / 22,380 Kw = 22.49 kts
	Range 8,150nm at 11.71 kts
	Bunker at max displacement = 3,865 tons (100% coal)

Complement:
	678 - 882

Cost:
	£1.090 million / $4.360 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
	Armament: 987 tons, 6.6 %
	   - Guns: 985 tons, 6.6 %
	   - Torpedoes: 2 tons, 0.0 %
	Armour: 3,440 tons, 22.9 %
	   - Belts: 1,496 tons, 10.0 %
	   - Armament: 1,024 tons, 6.8 %
	   - Armour Deck: 788 tons, 5.2 %
	   - Conning Tower: 131 tons, 0.9 %
	Machinery: 2,143 tons, 14.3 %
	Hull, fittings & equipment: 5,785 tons, 38.5 %
	Fuel, ammunition & stores: 2,673 tons, 17.8 %
	Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
	Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
	  21,230 lbs / 9,630 Kg = 54.5 x 9.2 " / 234 mm shells or 2.9 torpedoes
	Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.23
	Metacentric height 4.7 ft / 1.4 m
	Roll period: 14.4 seconds
	Steadiness	- As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 71 %
			- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.35
	Seaboat quality  (Average = 1.00): 1.41

Hull form characteristics:
	Hull has raised forecastle, rise forward of midbreak, raised quarterdeck ,
	  a ram bow and a cruiser stern
	Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0.527 / 0.540
	Length to Beam Ratio: 6.81 : 1
	'Natural speed' for length: 22.52 kts
	Power going to wave formation at top speed: 48 %
	Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
	Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): -20.00 degrees
	Stern overhang: 1.50 ft / 0.46 m
	Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
				Fore end,	 Aft end
	   - Forecastle:	25.00 %,  27.50 ft / 8.38 m,  25.00 ft / 7.62 m
	   - Forward deck:	40.00 %,  16.50 ft / 5.03 m,  14.00 ft / 4.27 m
	   - Aft deck:	0.00 %,  0.00 ft / 0.00 m,  0.00 ft / 0.00 m
	   - Quarter deck:	35.00 %,  14.00 ft / 4.27 m,  17.00 ft / 5.18 m
	   - Average freeboard:		18.03 ft / 5.49 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
	Space	- Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 68.7 %
		- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 110.6 %
	Waterplane Area: 25,811 Square feet or 2,398 Square metres
	Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 135 %
	Structure weight / hull surface area: 164 lbs/sq ft or 800 Kg/sq metre
	Hull strength (Relative):
		- Cross-sectional: 1.29
		- Longitudinal: 2.22
		- Overall: 1.36
	Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
	Room for accommodation and workspaces is adequate
	Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
	Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily

HMVS VICTORIA (III) represents what was to be an extremely ambitious project to which at one point represented a small fleet of a battleship, one large cruiser, two scout cruisers and at least 6 destroyers, while most of this plan was fulfilled by the expected completion date of of 1915, Victoria was the largest unit procured. Essentially a fourth unit of the Minotaur Class, she was built to design specifications, avoiding the modified hull that HMS Shannon was built with that cost nearly a knot in speed despite an attempt to gain speed. The difference between the RN ships and Victoria was deck fittings and internal layout of crew spaces, Victoria was expected to operate with 60 less crew and 4 less officers alongside her steam turbines which made for 0.6 extra knots and a reduction of coal consumption t higher speeds alongside a shorter hull (2.5ft). Funding was agreed to be staggered across 4 years, starting 1905, estimated at 1.375 million pounds, this was an enormous undertaking which saw much debate as to whether the RN would still expect the same conditions for the operation of the future ship. Laid down 23rd of April 1905 in the Devonport Dockyard, she was launched by the young Princess Royal Mary on the 15th of October 1907 and completed by 28th of April 1909 where she was Commissioned into the VCN as HMVS VICTORIA (III), by the stage she was launched she was slightly outdated but with her impressive range she made a 65 day trip of Melbourne via Cape Town and Albany. Arriving to much fanfare, Victoria conducted some exercises with the VCN before a boiler issue required a few months alongside at Williamstown to repair.

With the Outbreak of War, Victoria spearheaded the effort to Rabaul alongside HMQS Encounter and HMCS Psyche to capture German New Guinea. Victoria then assisted in the capture of Samoa, transporting New Zealand Troops before heading to Melbourne via Auckland to join the convoy transporting 12,000 men to the European and African Theaters, meeting for the second time, her half-sister ship HMS Minotaur as well as HMS Pyramus along the way. After rendezvousing with the rest of the Convoy, Victoria was to return to Melbourne with the possibility of joining the hunt for the East Asian Squadron, however word reached Albany that the armoured cruiser Nisshin had run aground off Borneo and as such Victoria had been selected to fulfill the role left open. She was bunkered with some extra coal and stores to make the journey to Aden, it was a surprise when the convoy got a message about an unidentified warship off the Cocos Islands. Victoria was chosen to peel off to investigate on the matter of that she was able to make 20 knots whilst Ibuki was unable to quite match that. Within 2 hours lookouts sighted a cruiser off the North side of Cocos Islands which was without doubt the Emden. Keeping dead ahead course, Captain Glossop was able to confuse Emden as to it's true identity and size until at a range of 9,000 yards, she turned slightly to port to match Emden's possible movement, immediately shells began landing around Victoria, which lead to Glossop sheering off and taking a nearly parallel course whilst returning fire with the 9.2 fore turret. Emden scored the first few hits after a few minute of firing, one shell destroying the after searchlight position and a direct hit of the conning tower though this failed to penetrate and caused casualties around the position. Victoria scored a hit not long after a 9.2 shell penetrated above the waterline and exited below on the otherside, causing flooding in Emden's aft engine space. Closing to 6000yds, Victoria brought the starboard battery into action, starting the task of demolishing Emden shell by shell. Accuracy was marred by the similar splashes of the 7.5 and the 9.2 shells but at the range of fighting Victoria quickly silenced the infamous raider's guns less than an hour into the encounter. Emden aflame and missing a fair amount of her upper-works was aground, listing heavily as her crew abandoned ship. Victoria stayed to pick up survivors which the remaining boats it had, two had been shattered by a hit. Once sure the Emden was taken care of, Victoria dispatched a small party to hold the survivors on the islands whilst Victoria searched the rest of the day for Emden's collier. Failing to conclusively locate it around the islands, Victoria embarked the landed men and headed for Aden and reached the convoy there, remarkably missing the men who had made wise an escape after watching the battle unfold from the wireless station. Once news reached London and Victoria, the mood was ecstatic, a 60 year investment had finally bore decisive dividends. Victoria served as escort in the Red and Arabian Seas for two more months before returning to Melbourne via Fremantle. Much feted in Fremantle, she was the first colonial warship to defeat an enemy ship, excepting the handful of launches and armed steam yachts in German Pacific Territories at the outbreak of war. If the celebrations in Fremantle were considered wold, when the ship reached the heads on the 12th of March she was greeted by "enough sight-seeing steamers, excursion boats and small private craft to walk to Melbourne without aid of land" as well as salute from Fort Nepean. Docking in Williamstown she was the start of a parade and subsequent party that went though every pub from Williamtown to Richmond. The crew were awarded for their conduct by both the RN and the VCN before the ship entered a period of repairs and maintenance that was required to remove the fouling she had accumulated.

In 1916 she served in the South Atlantic, based out of Cape Town, patrolling for raiders and the few remaining German colliers left on the seas. By 1917 she was selected to trial aircraft platforms but she spent most of the war mainly in the Atlantic Ocean, mainly prowling the coasts before she headed to England for a refit in August 1918. She received modifications to her foremast that made it a tripod mast, armoured deck,3" HA mount aft, magazine layout and changed a number of boilers to be oil firing. Serving in the home fleet for eight months, she was present at the scuttling of Scapa Flow.

Once back in Victoria waters in early 1919, she was kept in service till 1923, paid off into reserve. She was to have mention at the WNT where long simmering tensions between the RN and the VCN boiled over behind the scenes. As the RN was building the Hawkins class, they wanted the VCN to downsize by scrapping Victoria. The VCN argued that not only had it paid for the entirety of Victoria's cost bar operation costs abroad and the refit, a sum of roughly 5 million pounds across her service. Surveyed the same year found her to be very sound, accredited to a regular schedule of maintenance in Victoria and the refit in England. Things came to a head when the Admiralty wrote to the Prime Minister, voicing concern the the colonial navy was at risk of going rogue with it's behavior. The VCN was not moving however on the matter arguing that the aged Cerberus was hardly a fighting vessel and to have a replacement for Victoria in the foreseeable future would mean at the very least a three year wait for a ship of the Hawkins Class which the VCN had turned away as a prospective purchase in 1917 due to the 7.5 guns which were found in VCN service to be rather mediorcre as well as the length of the Hawkin's class which would make drydocking impossible in the colony. Eventually the RN and the VCN came to an agreement, if the ship was placed in reserve for the time being, the RN would permit it to remain a part of the VCN, as long as it didn't become a drain of resources on the RN later down the track. During this time the VCN brought spare parts from the scrapped Minotaur Class ships to extend the life of Victoria till a suitable replacement could be found, expected to be by 1935.

During this period of idleness, she was moored in Hobsons Bay, coming back into service briefly to celebrate Victoria's 75th anniversary and the 150th anniversary of Cook's landing but beyond that she remained idle till 1928 when serious consideration was given to replacing her with what would be a late subclass of the County class heavy cruiser. However the financial climate for Victoria changed and there was talk of scrapping her but by 1933 she was back in drydock in what would be the start of an ambitious refit. Gone were her 7.5' turrets, ram bow and four funnels, she emerged with an extended bow (making a tight fit into the dry dock with ft to spare), torpedo bulge were also fitted as were 4" turrets and 3" HA mounts adding to the one aft. Added work was done to her bridge which was rebuilt to a modern style and she emerged in late 1933 looking like a completely different ship for the cost of 390,000 pounds. A tour of New Zealand in 1936 was marred by running aground outside of Wellington Harbour, twisting the rudder noticeably. However luck was on her side and she was refloated the same day with minimal damage beyond the rudder.

In 1938 she was back in reserve but with the outbreak of war was called to service. Initially as a convoy escort to Aden like in the previous war, she also helped pen the Italian Red Sea flotilla in at Massawa, by May 1941 she was struck on the forecastle by a small bomb whilst assisting with the Battle of Crete, the damage was enough that it left her unable to raise or lower any anchors by power and required repairs in Alexandria to fix a hole in the deck which had been caused by the hit as well as repair the winches.

Recalled to Victoria in the immediate aftermath of war breaking out in the Pacific, she was sent initially to help relieve Singapore by by the time she reached Batavia, it had fallen. Joining forces with the Allied ships in the area (USS Houston and HNLMS Evertsen), she sailed to intercept a troop convoy to the North. However they themselves were intercepted by Japanese naval forces.

Caught between two forces the group was pinned by fire. Houston soaking up an incredible amount of punishment before she went down. Victoria was hit a number of times, three hits to the stern caused the maligned rudder to jam leaving the ship on a SW course. Victoria slipped past the destroyer force to her immediate east but without steering she was exceptionally vulnerable. Down to 5 knots, crews furiously worked to get the rudder back to service and were rewarded when they got some steerage back three hours later. Spotted by Japanese reconnaissance planes shortly after dawn, Mogami and Mikuma were dispatched to sink Victoria. By 1000, Victoria spotted two ships astern closing at 15 knots. Making more speed, she passed between Java and Panaitan Island almost grounding in an attempt to put some distance between the Japanese cruisers and themselves. In the light Victoria was an easy target and shells started to fall around her. In no time there were hits but in an attempt to close with the enemy, Victoria turned to close with them on a NW bearing. Fighting was briefly halted as the terrain prevented accurate firing, turning back the SE to cross the T as the cruisers exited the strait, Victoria put herself in the path of a spread of Type 93 torpedoes, one of which struck just immediately aft of the stem. The result was instantaneous, the decks around the impact zone collapsed and the forward 50ft of the hull was waterlogged almost immediately, speed dropped from 20 knots to a mere 8. Returning fire with full broadsides, she turned to the NW again, turning away from the cruisers which were landing hits consistently. Under such horrendous fire she was struck by another torpedo just forwards of the rudder, destroying the starboard propeller and wrenching the rudder to port which left the ship heading out to sea. numerous hits forwards loosened and perforated the bulkhead holding back the sea as well as knocking out four boilers. Limping SW, she rolled over and sunk at 1335 in deep water off the coastal shelf. With her went Captain Waller and 318 men, the survivors made it to Panaitan Island where there were captured later and placed into POW camps across SE Asia, It wouldn't be till after the war that word got out about Victoria's fate. For her efforts a substantial amount of damage was awarded to both cruisers, a handful of 9.2" shells had hit both cruisers, Mogami suffering the most with a knocked out B turret and severe damage amidships from a fire which had ignited a Type93.

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