Warships have changed a lot over time, especially in the last century. Eswube recently started with supplying some ‘generic’ designs to newbe’s who had problem with role, size and time era of their ships. We came to the conclusion that these ‘generics’ had potential to show people what to keep in mind when designing ships, and when looking at real ships to see how they work. note that this guide is considered unfinished: I myself lack time to finish the description for the images eswube provided. if somebody else want to provide that, or if you consider the description incorrect, please PM me
First in this series is the
destroyer, one of the most well known and most drawn ship types in here.
In 1894, the HMS Havock and HMS Hornet were commissioned in the RN. These ships are considered the first TBD’s, torpedo boat destroyers. These ships were considered “large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats.” The first of the generics is placed in 1900, a few years later. For real life references for these, look for example at the USN Bainbridge Class and the RN C-Class.
Noted should be the very large engine room spaces the relatively light armament, only suitable against vessels of similar size, sometimes grouped with torpedo tubes.
Per 1915, TBD was shortened to simply ‘destroyer’. Steam turbines were now used on basically every new ship, and their speed was not lowered by their larger size. Armament was slightly upgraded, now also suitable to fight slightly larger ships effectively. They were still of no real use against the large dreadnoughts which dominated the naval battle of these years, and the ships served primary in escort, support and patrol duty’s, and as ‘screen’ for the capital ships.
Good examples of these years are the Tatra, Laforey and Wickes class
Noted should be the shallow draft, large forecastle and low freeboard. Also, the still huge machinery spaces.
1930 saw the destroyers grown again, and finally the design reflected more that of an gun-ship then an torpedo attack ship. these were also the years that ASW began to influence the designs of the ships, as the submarine as weapon had grown a lot in WW1. We also see the first AA weapons being shipped, but only small batteries as there has not yet been any operational ship that has been sunk from the air.
Good examples of ships are the Dutch Admiralen class and the RN V-class.
Noted should be the lower amount of funnels, possible by the larger design (trunking) and because of better boilers available.
By 1945 the destroyer had become an unit that could operate completely independent in the heaviest war zones. The convoys showed both the power and the shortcomings of the destroyer, in that they lacked range and needed large crews, but could do a large variety of roles. It also saw the introduction of radar, sonar, and the need for large AA batteries, but this time had its drawback as well, as we saw the quality going down as the ship were build in very large numbers.
Good examples are the Fletcher and the Alan M Summer classes.
Keep in mind that this is also the time that depth charge racks were partially replaced by depth charge throwers.
By 1960 destroyers had completely changed. They had become the general purpose ship, and were often specialized in AAW or ASW. An good example is the Indomito Class. Gun armament was still important, but was slowly replaced by missile armament. Torpedo tubes had become an secondary weapon, which did not influence the design much. Eswube has made some variation in the designs here: we have an ASW and an AAW warship. Both are in fact multi-purpose but can do one of the 2 tasks better.
Note the much seaworthier design of the hull, the larger beam and freeboard and the large amount of electronics on the structure, replacing the ‘weapons were we can fit them’ on the designs from WW2.
Examples for this ship: Suffren (France), Tromp (Netherlands), Audace (Italy)
Examples for this ship: Hatsuyuki, Asagiri, Takatsuki, Tachikaze (AAW) (Japan), Spruance (USA)
Examples for this ship: Tachikaze, Hatakaze (Japan), Audace, Luigi De la Penne (Italy)
Examples for these ships: Daring (Great Britain), Horizon (France-Italy), Hobart (Australia)