Shipbucket

The Admiralty was always conscious of the need for numbers of cruisers not just large cruisers. To this end instead of 13 County class, 3 are cancelled and replaced with six 5,000 ton light cruisers.

The 'G' class cruisers were based on the 1916 design of the Modified extended 'D' class long range cruisers. The basic design was swept clean of superstructure and the latest models were designed into the new ships. The ships were wider than the original D class. The Royal Navy had been introduced to the 5.5" gun with the two Greek cruisers taken over by the RN and commissioned as the Chester and Birkenhead. This had proved to be a very handy weapon and was fitted to many ships of all sorts of different classes. (This allows me to have an extra gun size in the armouries). Four twin light splinter proof turrets were fitted with these weapons. 4" AA guns provided the heavy AA while two 4 barrel 2 pounder pom poms were fitted as the light AA armament. Two banks of triple 21" torpedoes, a catapult and handling facilities for one aircraft.



The original design showed the '0' degree bow while the production models had the trawler bows and were slightly longer because of it.

Those Surrey parts fit surprisingly well.
I think generally the D Class hull is a bit outdated for the mid/late 1920s. The DNC would want to fit new machinery and better hullforms from Haslar trials etc. Generally though it looks about the right size.

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

Would a reduced "Leander" studies hull from your series be a better bet for the hull form? The hull is about 490x50 at present.

I cut down the funnels, superstructure and crane to make them 'fit' the hull size better. Those Surrey parts gave it a good late 20's look.

For what it's worth, some time ago for the Falkland AU that someone has kicking about I came up with something similar in purpose (I imagine) to what you have although to a later period in the form of these.



~Mark.

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AU Projects: | Banbha et al. | New England: The Divided States
Blood and Fire

Yes thanks B.B., I did a couple of designs for the FI AU as well which I looked at before deciding on the time frame for this drawing. I was not sure whether to make the G's a four or six ship class. I could have gone for a six by six inch armament, but I have already done a couple of CL's with that armament, so I wanted something different. I will keep the superstructures and do a new hull to suit.

Having taken the above comments into consideration, I have redone the hull, but kept the original superstructure. I have used Hoods design A cruiser hull from the same period. The main change is the raising of the bow plane by 2.5 feet to give more sheer forward. I did this as these ships were to be patrol cruisers, spending their time at sea in all conditions. One thing a lot of British cruisers were known for was being 'wet' forward.

This now looks great!
Fully looks the right period.

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

Silly 5.5-inch gun question. I like the fact that you are using a gun mount similar to the one used aboard the Yubari. At 50-tons for a pair of 5.5's (according to Campbell), they are half the weight of the Mk.XXI twins aboard the Leanders. If weight was a major issue, wouldn't you prefer the twin-shielded mounts aboard the Principe Alfonso [and which also showed up quite a bit in Vicker's export designs during the 20s and 30s]? They would be even lighter and would not need to bring in another gun type that was being phased out (since the 5.5's weren't really used after they were installed aboard Hermes)?

Being 'Patrol Cruisers' I was trying to avoid using 'open shielded' mounts. The turrets give the crew some extra protection whether it is from the weather or enemy action which shield only mounts do not. I could have gone for just 3 twin 6" turrets, but then I am just recreating another Arethusa type cruiser. I wanted something different.

My original thought was to create a series of 5.5" cruisers much like the Japanese did. But it is hard to get past the 6" for RN ships.