Hi all,
Well, after a long train journey and a hotel room without decent internet access, I've finally been motivated to start on the drawing ... I've jigged the SpringSharp around a little and I'm a little concerned about topweight as a result - basically, moved two of the amidships 6" automatics to fore-and-aft behind the 8" automatics - if I can make that stick the increase in fire arc is definitely worth it.
Anyway, less waffle, more picture:
Revised SpringSharp here:
Final Countdown Cruiser, U-S-A, U-S-A Heavy Cruiser laid down 1950
Displacement:
20,479 t light; 21,339 t standard; 23,180 t normal; 24,652 t full load
Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
799.79 ft / 787.40 ft x 85.30 ft x 25.16 ft (normal load)
243.78 m / 240.00 m x 26.00 m x 7.67 m
Armament:
9 - 7.99" / 203 mm guns (3x3 guns), 335.10lbs / 152.00kg shells, 8"/55 (20.3 cm) RF Mark 16
Automatic rapid fire guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, majority forward, 1 raised mount - superfiring
4 - 5.98" / 152 mm guns (2x2 guns), 130.07lbs / 59.00kg shells, 6"/47DP (15.2 cm) Mark 16
Automatic rapid fire guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on side, all amidships
4 - 5.98" / 152 mm guns (2x2 guns), 130.07lbs / 59.00kg shells, 6"/47DP (15.2 cm) Mark 16
Automatic rapid fire guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, evenly spread, all raised mounts
16 - 3.00" / 76.2 mm guns (8x2 guns), 24.03lbs / 10.90kg shells, 3"/50 (7.62 cm) Mark 33
Automatic rapid fire guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, 6 raised mounts
16 - 0.79" / 20.0 mm guns (8x2 guns), 0.27lbs / 0.12kg shells, 20 mm/70 (0.79") Mark 24
Breech loading guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, all raised mounts
Weight of broadside 4,445 lbs / 2,016 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 150
Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 5.98" / 152 mm 511.81 ft / 156.00 m 11.09 ft / 3.38 m
Ends: 0.79" / 20 mm 275.56 ft / 83.99 m 11.09 ft / 3.38 m
Main Belt covers 100 % of normal length
- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 7.99" / 203 mm 3.94" / 100 mm 7.99" / 203 mm
2nd: 6.50" / 165 mm 2.99" / 76 mm 5.98" / 152 mm
3rd: 6.50" / 165 mm 2.99" / 76 mm 5.98" / 152 mm
4th: 0.79" / 20 mm - -
5th: 0.79" / 20 mm - -
- Armour deck: 3.54" / 90 mm, Conning tower: 6.69" / 170 mm
Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 126,101 shp / 94,071 Kw = 33.00 kts
Range 10,500nm at 15.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 3,313 tons
Complement:
939 - 1,221
Cost:
£12.229 million / $48.917 million
Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 506 tons, 2.2 %
Armour: 5,797 tons, 25.0 %
- Belts: 1,511 tons, 6.5 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Armament: 1,173 tons, 5.1 %
- Armour Deck: 2,995 tons, 12.9 %
- Conning Tower: 117 tons, 0.5 %
Machinery: 3,017 tons, 13.0 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 9,160 tons, 39.5 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 2,700 tons, 11.6 %
Miscellaneous weights: 2,000 tons, 8.6 %
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
37,396 lbs / 16,962 Kg = 146.5 x 8.0 " / 203 mm shells or 3.7 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.14
Metacentric height 5.0 ft / 1.5 m
Roll period: 16.0 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 56 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.32
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.12
Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.480
Length to Beam Ratio: 9.23 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 32.31 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 51 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 20.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 1.64 ft / 0.50 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 29.53 ft / 9.00 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 19.69 ft / 6.00 m
- Mid (50 %): 19.69 ft / 6.00 m
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 19.69 ft / 6.00 m
- Stern: 19.69 ft / 6.00 m
- Average freeboard: 20.47 ft / 6.24 m
Ship tends to be wet forward
Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 69.5 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 182.4 %
Waterplane Area: 45,689 Square feet or 4,245 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 130 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 143 lbs/sq ft or 696 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 1.00
- Longitudinal: 1.00
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
4th Battery Shell weight too heavy
Oh, and TJ: Matches my thinking more-or-less exactly - unless you're planning on expending the ship at Pearl Harbour you're going to want to keep it around a few years so steam plant and 1940s electronics would appear to be the way to go. Perhaps sent back with a large cache of precision-manufactured valves and other high value components to keep things working well for as long as possible but sooner or later you're going to be falling back on 1940s resources. Regards radars - looking at the parts sheet, I thought I'd seen some SPS-17 types on 1950s carriers, have I just got the dates wrong? While I'm really unsure on the radar, I'm
fairly confident on the sonar fit, any comment one way or the other? As described before, I'm not expecting this thing to chase down sonar contacts, but it'd be nice to be able to spot them for the presumed 1941 destroyer escort to go drop some depth charges on.
Regards,
Adam