Hello again!
Now presenting the final Thiarian battleship project of the first world war. None of the two units was ever finished due to a variety of reasons. As early as 1913, two additional battleships with 8 370mm guns each and two battlecruisers with 9 305mm guns were projected, but could not be laid down because all resources (particularly yard workforce) were tied down building the Conaire-class. During 1914, it became clear that the 370mm gun gave so much development trouble it could probably not be made operational in time, while the 305mm was considered obsolete. On the other hand, a perfectly workable 340mm gun had been licensed from Schneider to be installed in the turkish-ordered Sultan Osman I (later added to the Thiarian fleet as the LT Crionna). Consequently, in late 1914, it was decided that both the battlecruisers and the battleships were to receive the 340mm gun, nine in case of the battlecruisers and twelve for the battleships. Although most other countries had switched to larger calibers by that time, the Thiarians felt they could make do with the 340mm for which they had developed an indigenous 600kg (about 1.320 lbs.) shell which could pierce every armour afloat by that time (besides, they had no real alternative). The layout of the battleships originally was to resemble the Conaire-class, because the Thiarians felt superfiring turrets forward would add too much topweight and impair stability and seaworthiness in an intolerable way; foreign developments however clearly showed that this problem was less serious than the Thiarians thought, and finally a layout with superfiring turrets forward and aft, a very ponderous superstructure and a modern-looking clipper bow was adopted. They also were to receive locally built unlicensed copies of Parsons turbines with exclusively oil-burning boilers, and have the same level of protection than the Conaires. Size increased to 32.000 tons standard, about as big as the Nagato- or Tennessee-classes despite the much weaker armament. Since the battlecruisers of the 1913 programme were prioritized, the battleships could not be begun before the last pair of the Conaire-class was all but complete. The first unit (to be named LT Artacain after the commander of the Thiarian fleet which decisively defeated the Brazilians in the war of 1907/8) was laid down in October 1915, and the second ship (for which the name LT Tuama was chosen, after Thiaria's most influential ship designer of the early 19th century, who made the plans for all Thiarian wooden ships till the 1850s and served almost two decades as Minster of the Navy) followed in February 1916. With Thiaria entering the first world war a few months later, it was decided to concentrate on finishing the Aigean-class battlecruisers, and work on the Artacain-class proceeded very slowly. The design was finally declared obsolete in 1917 and both were scrapped on their stocks; a follow-on design for a 35.000-ton fast battlesip of 27 knots with 9 370mm guns and even more armour was approved later that year, but no ships to that new design (drawing to follow) were laid down.
According to the final 1915 plans, the Artacain-class was supposed to look like this:
and perform like this:
Artacain, Thiaria Battleship laid down 1915
Displacement:
30.160 t light; 32.044 t standard; 33.218 t normal; 34.157 t full load
Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
(672,63 ft / 656,17 ft) x 101,71 ft x (29,53 / 30,21 ft)
(205,02 m / 200,00 m) x 31,00 m x (9,00 / 9,21 m)
Armament:
12 - 13,39" / 340 mm 45,0 cal guns - 1.322,77lbs / 600,00kg shells, 120 per gun
Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1915 Model
4 x Triple mounts on centreline ends, evenly spread
2 raised mounts - superfiring
12 - 5,51" / 140 mm 50,0 cal guns - 88,63lbs / 40,20kg shells, 200 per gun
Quick firing guns in casemate mounts, 1910 Model
12 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
12 hull mounts in casemates- Limited use in heavy seas
8 - 3,94" / 100 mm 50,0 cal guns - 32,30lbs / 14,65kg shells, 300 per gun
Anti-air guns in deck mounts, 1912 Model
8 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 17.195 lbs / 7.800 kg
Main Torpedoes
2 - 22,0" / 559 mm, 26,25 ft / 8,00 m torpedoes - 1,805 t each, 3,610 t total
submerged side tubes
Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 13,6" / 345 mm 426,51 ft / 130,00 m 12,01 ft / 3,66 m
Ends: 5,71" / 145 mm 229,63 ft / 69,99 m 12,01 ft / 3,66 m
Upper: 5,71" / 145 mm 426,51 ft / 130,00 m 8,01 ft / 2,44 m
Main Belt covers 100% of normal length
- Torpedo Bulkhead - Strengthened structural bulkheads:
1,57" / 40 mm 426,51 ft / 130,00 m 27,30 ft / 8,32 m
Beam between torpedo bulkheads 73,82 ft / 22,50 m
- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 14,6" / 370 mm 8,27" / 210 mm 12,4" / 315 mm
2nd: 5,71" / 145 mm - -
3rd: 1,57" / 40 mm - -
- Armoured deck - multiple decks:
For and Aft decks: 5,12" / 130 mm
Forecastle: 1,57" / 40 mm Quarter deck: 3,94" / 100 mm
- Conning towers: Forward 14,57" / 370 mm, Aft 14,57" / 370 mm
Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Direct drive, 3 shafts, 59.940 shp / 44.715 Kw = 24,00 kts
Range 5.000nm at 12,00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 2.113 tons
Complement:
1.229 - 1.599
Cost:
£4,069 million / $16,275 million
Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 2.763 tons, 8,3%
- Guns: 2.756 tons, 8,3%
- Weapons: 7 tons, 0,0%
Armour: 13.140 tons, 39,6%
- Belts: 4.465 tons, 13,4%
- Torpedo bulkhead: 678 tons, 2,0%
- Armament: 3.120 tons, 9,4%
- Armour Deck: 4.229 tons, 12,7%
- Conning Towers: 649 tons, 2,0%
Machinery: 2.270 tons, 6,8%
Hull, fittings & equipment: 11.987 tons, 36,1%
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 3.057 tons, 9,2%
Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0,0%
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
54.010 lbs / 24.499 Kg = 45,0 x 13,4 " / 340 mm shells or 6,4 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1,12
Metacentric height 6,4 ft / 1,9 m
Roll period: 16,9 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 70 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0,84
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1,40
Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise forward of midbreak,
a normal bow and a cruiser stern
Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0,590 / 0,593
Length to Beam Ratio: 6,45 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 25,62 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 47 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 30,00 degrees
Stern overhang: 1,31 ft / 0,40 m
Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
Fore end, Aft end
- Forecastle: 20,00%, 26,25 ft / 8,00 m, 24,61 ft / 7,50 m
- Forward deck: 45,00%, 24,61 ft / 7,50 m, 24,61 ft / 7,50 m
- Aft deck: 20,00%, 17,39 ft / 5,30 m, 17,39 ft / 5,30 m
- Quarter deck: 15,00%, 17,39 ft / 5,30 m, 17,39 ft / 5,30 m
- Average freeboard: 22,21 ft / 6,77 m
Ship tends to be wet forward
Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 86,5%
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 167,8%
Waterplane Area: 48.355 Square feet or 4.492 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 106%
Structure weight / hull surface area: 205 lbs/sq ft or 1.002 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0,95
- Longitudinal: 1,59
- Overall: 1,00
Adequate machinery, storage, compartmentation space
Excellent accommodation and workspace room
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily
Greetings
GD