This is the most fictional of the navies in my Alternate History, provincially known as Frontlines. There are a load of points of departure for it, which will be regaled at length, but the most important for the below fleet is that France fell to Fascism in 1934 and invaded the Netherlands and England in the late 1930s in an event known as the Fascist Crisis. Britain is severely weakened by the depression and is only able to resist the invasion because of fanatical resistance. After the French are pushed back to the continent, they begin to look seaward towards colonies in the Caribbean. The problem is the large nation in the middle of the Atlantic - the Confederation of Lavrunaria, which fancies itself an empire and has already taken over a good part of the Caribbean (including former French colonies) to shore up its oil reserves, as the Lavrunarian continent has little oil. For that reason, tensions build until the Franco-Lavrunarian War is declared in January 1943.
The Lavrunarians practically go at it alone, with very little assistance from any nation, besides their oil trading partners in South America and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, the French are joined by Fascist Italy and Fascist Spain. Thus, the enemies of Lavrunaria have a very significant fleet, since all three of these countries have entered into vigorous building programs with the collapse of the treaty system in the 1930s. The Washington Naval Treaty still took effect, albeit without the US, as well as the First London Naval Treaty, but the resurgence of France made the Second London Naval Treaty practically a moot point. This wasn't helped by the fact the Lavrunarians also rejected it.
(If you're wondering about Germany, they had a Civil War in the 1920s after a successful 1922 Munich Putsch. Eventually, the NSDAP were pushed out of Germany and a Centrist party known as the Blue Centrists took over the country, and still rule it at the time of the Franco-Lavrunarian War. The United States, meanwhile, joined WWI on the side of the Central Powers and was so soundly defeated that the government fell apart. Several nations then began to re-colonize the American continent, while some smaller states pop up there. More information will be revealed later.)
This is a work in progress. It is my first Shipbucket Project, and, while the information for all the ships is pretty much complete, the drawings are not. I will be updating them as I improve them. Thanks for any thoughts!
The Imperial Navy of the Confederation of Lavrunaria
Dye Ymperiskot Eskydredsforbunndahf Lavrunaria
![[ img ]](http://i.imgur.com/nWEVFuV.png)
Strategic Situation
![[ img ]](http://image.prntscr.com/image/20bd3faf6e0e425b89ac80b32f24936e.png)
My navy belongs to an Island Nation which is in competition with France for dominance in the Atlantic ocean. Our opponents have a large, albeit non-homogeneous fleet of ships from several different nations, with varying abilities. However, all my opponents are on the European continent while I require imports of oil in order to continue the war. Furthermore, treaties with Britain, Italy and France have forced me to accept a lesser amount of ships than I would like, before their collapse in 1936.
Since my enemy has a large fleet of cruisers, destroyers, etc., my fleet has to be qualitatively superior to theirs. Furthermore, my fleet has been relatively small until around the First World War. This means I have no major capital ships from before 1914, and these capital ships will have to be modernized. The enemy fleets have a number of modernized vessels as well, but a significantly larger amount of new construction.
The Lavrunarian and British governments reached an agreement in 1931. This agreement had far-reaching consequences for both navies. Controversially, the Lavrunarians were allowed to build two new capital ships before 1937. However, to allow this, the Lavrunarians had to accept a significant numerical inferiority in aircraft carriers and retain their numerical inferiority in cruisers and destroyers which they were forced to accept in 1922. The Lavrunarians were allowed to build 5 new aircraft carriers before 1937 and maintain a total fleet of 8 aircraft carriers. They were also forced to maintain a maximum of 280,000 tons of cruisers and 165,000 tons of destroyers, but with no limits on new construction. Auxiliaries, escort vessels and submarines are not affected by this agreement.
However, there is a six-year gap between the end of this agreement and the start of the war. This allows time for a reinforcement of the Lavrunarian fleet, but not for a significant amount of new capital ships.
Fleet
Ocean-Going Destroyers - Ookeanitraaleritel Jagtyhhryn
The Lavrunarians refer to large destroyers meant to operate with the main battle fleet as Ookeanitraaleritel Jagtyhhre - translating literally to 'Ocean-Going Destroyer'.
Schnelltypp Ships
After the expiration of the London Naval Treaty and the related British agreement, the Lavrunarians identified a need for ships that could be built quickly but also have the ability to fight the large destroyers of the French navy on something like equal terms - Lavrunarian light cruisers, though ideal for the task, well-armored and powerful ships, took a long time to build, and the Lavrunarian experience in World War One made it clear that would be unacceptable during wartime. The Lavrunarian solution to this was acquired from Blue Germany, where a study of the new German 1936A Type Destroyers resulted in the Lavrunarian Schnelltypp - ships that were designed to be fast and heavy surface combatants, sacrificing some torpedo and AA armament for a heavy gun outfit.
Vyoru class
Ships in class
- Vyoru
Rakvyre
Juhvyoi
Lyzsno
Zorynyu
Sansoweic
Emasstantye
Tabvyere
Laekvyere
Aanyenkoski
Kolvereid
Skye
![[ img ]](http://i.imgur.com/0er2ovd.png)
The first Schnelltypp destroyer was the twelve ship Vyoru class. Unusually for a Lavrunarian destroyer, the ships of the Vyoru class were named after cities and towns rather than people, as was normally the case for destroyers. This helped to confound enemy intelligence services, who sometimes mistakenly referred to the Vyoru class as light cruisers, an effect enhanced by Lavrunarian intelligence work. The class were built from 1938 to 1940. The statistics of the ships as built are as follows:
- A main battery of five 155mm guns in one dual and three single turrets in an APXY configuration. These guns fire a 117 lb projectile out to 23,200 yards at a maximum 45° elevation at a rate of fire of 4-5 RPM. These guns also have limited function as AA guns with a maximum ceiling of 31,000 feet at a 55° elevation.
A torpedo battery of two trainable quadruple 25 inch tubes on the centerline. These torpedoes have a maximum range of 42,000 yards at 36 knots, or up to 20,000 yards at 50 knots. They have a warhead weight of 1,250 lb. Eight torpedo reloads are carried.
An anti-submarine outfit of twenty four depth charges with three Y-guns mounted on the rear deck and two eight-charge depth charge racks. The depth charge carried has a 600 lb explosive charge with a total weight of 750 lbs.
A mining outfit of 45 moored mines. The mines carried have a charge of 350, 500 or 600 lbs, and can be moored at depths of 50, 105, 155 or 205 fathoms.
A sea speed of 37.5 knots with a trial speed of 39 knots using a conventional high pressure steam propulsion system.
A range of 4,650 nautical miles at 15 knots.
A displacement of 2,750 tons.