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Now presenting: Thiarian cruisers 1908 - 1918
This post wraps up the Thiarian cruisers of the first world war era. The victory over Brazil and the conquest of resource-rich Nua Phortangheil (New Portugal) in 1908 had rendered Thiaria the single most powerful nation in South America and second only to the USA in the entire western Hemisphere. With the Navy's prestige at its all-time high, for the next ten years it needed only ask and received pretty much anything it wanted; as Brazil was rearming her fleet rather frantically too with copious British financial assistance, Thiaria's naval budget between 1908 and 1918 bordered on the obscene. In addition to the four super dreadnoughts laid down 1911 and 1912, Thiaria ordered two armoured cruisers with turbine machinery in 1907 and 1908, two light turbine cruisers each in 1909 and 1910, one very large battlecruiser each in 1913 and 1914 and two large light cruisers each in 1915 and 1916. In addition, two fast turbine scouts ordered by Turkey in 1914 were requisitioned in 1916. Of these ships, one battlecruiser and two light cruisers remained uncomplete in November 1918; the two 1915 light cruisers were finished when the war ended, but not yet operational. During the war, both armoured cruisers and three light cruisers were lost; the other battlecruiser and four of the five surviving light cruisers were surrendered to the Entente powers. Two unfinished light cruiser hulls and an unfinished battlecruiser hull remained in Thiaria's possession; the cruisers were completed during the 1920s to much altered designs, and the battlecruiser, after twelve most inglorious years as a floating oil depot, was completed between 1930 and 1934 as a large fleet aircraft carrier.
1. Scouts and light cruisers
1.1. Teanntas-class
These two handsome 4.000-ton cruisers were thoroughly modern when designed in 1909. They were fitted with turbine engines (imported three-shaft Curtis-turbines from the USA for Fuaimint, which worked satisfactorily, and license-produced two-shaft swiss Zoelly units for Teanntas, which did not) for a top speed of 27 knots and a main battery of uniform caliber (six 140mm guns). They were built in little over two years and handsomely countered the contemporary Brazilian Bahia-class. In service, they proved fast and fair sea-boats, although their motions were a little too lively to be really good gunnery platforms; like all Thiarian ships, they had good range and excellent accomodation.
1.1.1. LT Teanntas
LT Teanntas (Gaelic: Audacity) was built by the CTS yard and commissioned in July 1912. She was hampered throughout her service life by her unreliable engines, which kept breaking down for no good reason; she missed the battle of Tristan da Cunha due to a major turbine failure and the battle of Craigmiadh due to leaky boilers and spent 14 of the 30 war months under refit or repair. Her greatest hour came with the battle of Caitriona, where she was involved in the sinking of the Brazilian scout Rio Grande do Sul together with the newer LT Ardcheim (in fact, she only delivered the coup de grace, but claimed the kill nonetheless). She was herself heavily damaged by a 305mm shell from the Minas Gerais and comprehensively rebuilt afterwards with a high tripod forward which carried a director FCS, but quite ruined her lines. After the rebuild, she saw little service, as her engines put her into dock three more times. She was nonoperational at the armistice and remained in Thiarian possession. She was completely re-engined from 1923 to 1925 and served as a first-line cruiser till 1933 and as a TS afterwards. She was sunk by HM submarine Otus in November 1943 while on convoy escort duty.
1.1.2. LT Fuaimint
LT Fuaimint (Gaelic:Vigour) was by far the more satisfactory vessel of her class; she also was built faster by the Riordan Yard and commissioned in late 1911. She accompanied the armoured cruisers Dibheirg and Cuiteamh on their round-the-world voyage in 1912. In 1916, she took part in the battle of Tristan da Cunha and scored hits on both HMS Liverpool and HMS Newcastle without suffering any substantial damage herself. A few weeks later she was torpedoed twice by HM Submarine G2 and capsized and went down with all hands.
1.2. Ardcheim-class
A much improved and enlarged 4.800-ton-development of the Teanntas-class, the Ardcheim-class was Thiaria's direct answer to the Royal Navy's Falmouth-class. They repeated all favourable features of the Teanntas-class, including high speed (27 knots), good seakeeping, long range, fine accomodation and a powerful battery of unified calibre, eight 140mm guns in her case. Ardcheim had imported Curtis-Turbines and Cinseal license-produced ones; both worked reliably. Despite the lack of vertical armour, both ships proved very resilient to battle damage; Cinseal once survived a direct hit from a 381mm shell. These ships were the mainstay of Thiaria's scouting force throughout the war and were held in very high regard.
1.2.1. LT Ardcheim
LT Ardcheim (Gaelic: Uprightness) was built by the Nuatearman Naval Yard. She commissioned early in 1914 and spent her first two years on patrol duty. She collected valuable intelligence about British shipping routes and escort movements, frequently shadowing British forces for days. She took part in all major engagements of the war; unlike her sister, which was frequently damaged, Ardcheim mostly escaped serious damage. At Caitriona, she reduced the Brazilian scout Rio Grande do Sul to a wreck and dealt crippling damage to the larger light cruiser 9 de Julio, which was later finished off by Thiarian destroyers. Immediately afterwards, she received a major refit, which included a tripod foremast with director fire control, a flak outfit and a rather extravagant camouflage scheme. During a brief cruiser engagement in the middle of the southern Atlantic in February 1918, she set HMS Gloucester ablaze. She remained undamaged at Craigmiadh and scored eight hits on HMAS Melbourne before escaping. After the armistice, she became a Brazilian prize. Although she would have been a valuable addition to brazil's fleet, she was expended as a target in live-fire trials during 1924.
1.2.2. LT Cinseal
LT Cinseal (Gaelic: Pride) was built by the Abernenui Naval Yard and spent the war mostly together with her sister, except when she was under repair. She was hit by a 381mm shell from HMS Valiant at Tristan da Cunha, suffered 80 casualties and barely made it home. She was then repaired and received the same refit that would be given to Ardcheim a few months later. She was back in time for the Battle of Caitriona and damaged the Brazilian cruiser 25 de Mayo, which however managed to escape. Shortly before her sister destroyed HMS Gloucester, she was damaged by a Brazilian mine and had to undergo five months of repairs; she was ready just in time for the battle of Craigmiadh, where she valiantly placed herself between the crippled armoured cruiser LT Dibheirg and a British force of two battlecruisers (HMAS Australia and HMNZS New Zealand) and one light cruiser (HMAS Melbourne), who blew her to kingdom come with 5 305mm hits, 7 152mm hits and about 50 102mm hits. Despite Cinseal's sacrifice, the British eventually finished off the Dibheirg as well, but thanks to the stubborn Thiarian resistance this took them unreasonably long, giving the rest of the Thiarian formation (battlecruiser Aigean and light cruisers Ardcheim and Fuaimint) enough time not only to dash past two US battlecruisers, but also to sink one of them. Of Cinseal's complement, only 55 survived, which were treated very well by the Australians.
1.3. Tiopraid (ex-Turkish Malazgirt) -class
These 3.600ton-vessels were ordered by the Ottoman Empire in 1914 from Thiarian private yards when it had become clear that the two scouts they had ordered in Great Britain earlier that year would not be built. Due to Turkey's entrance in the first world war, it was equally unlikely they could lay their hands on these ships as well during the hostilities; Thiaria however granted them benign conditions, with the afterthought of acquiring both themselves, which they eventually did in the spring of 1917. They were Thiaria's first light cruisers with vertical armour protection, and at 30 knots were briefly the world's fastest operational cruisers. Originally, they were designed for two 140mm and eight 100mm guns, but both were completed with four 140mm guns. They differed in their torpedo battery; Sean an Dearg still had 450mm torpedoes, but Tiopraid the new 559mm ones. Despite deficiencies in sea-keeping, range and accomodation compared to the earlier larger Thiarian light cruisers, both ships were reliable and popular.
1.3.1. LT Tiopraid
LT Tiporaid (named after the early 19th century Thiarian corsair Liam O Tiporaid, who was one of Conaire's best captains with an impressive prize list; he later joined the French Pirate Jean Lafitte in his fight against the British) was built by the Riordan yard and commissioned in August 1917, just before the battle of Caitriona. She took part in that battle, but achieved nothing due to her still green crew. She later teamed up with the battlecruiser Aigean and assisted the Thiarian fleet's breakthrough at Craigmiadh, where she was lightly damaged. After the war, she was surrendered to the USA and used for experiments; she was scrapped in 1925.
1.3.2. LT Sean an Dearg
LT Sean an Dearg (named after the 18th entury Thiarian corsair Sean Roinan, called Sean an Dearg (Red John) by his crew; he fought for France during the seven years war, was ennobled after the war and enjoyed a life of luxury till he fell victim of the Reign of Terror and was guillotined at age 80 in 1793) commissioned in November 1917 after being built by the Boldisaire yard, a small company without experience in building large ships. For all that, the ship turned out very well, only to become Thiaria's most infamous cruiser. During her first combat sortie in February 1918, she was the site of the only significant war crime committed by Thiarian forces during the first world war after she rescued 110 survivors from HMS Gloucester (previously sunk by LT Ardcheim). Due to reports that HMS Gloucester had shelled Galway during the Easter uprising with several dozen casualties (in fact, only a sloop had fired a few rounds and not hit anything), Sean an Dearg's CO held a brief court-martial over the four surviving British officers and had them hanged from his cruiser's yardarms. He was hailed by Thiarian media as a hero and thus kept his command although having overstepped his authority rather badly. A few months later, the cruiser was severely damaged by British cruisers at the battle of Craigmiadh while accompanying the main battle fleet; crippled and burning, she was scuttled to avoid capture. Her officers chose to go down with their ship, thus avoiding certain death by hanging if captured by the British. 291 of her crew were rescued by the British and handled very roughly, in stark contrast to the good treatment of Cinseal's survivors by the Australians aboard HMAS Melbourne.
1.4. Calloid-class
The final Thiarian light cruiser design was prepared in 1915 in response to the latest Town-class variants with 9 152mm guns and vertical armour; since the Thiarians could not hope to match British numbers, their new cruisers were designed not only to outgun, but also to outrun them. Specifications asked for 12 140mm guns and 30 knots speed on a 6.000-ton hull with at least 60mm vertical armour. This was of course unrealistic; the final design was 6.450 tons, had two 140mm guns less and was only good for 28 knots. Side armour however was increased to 80mm and a powerful battery of four 559mm twin torpedo sets and 5 75mm HA guns were added. Four units were ordered in 1915; two were laid down immediately and two more in 1916. One each year was ordered from a navy yard and the other from a private yard. Names and yards were: LT Calloid (Tumult), laid down 1915 at the CTS yard; LT Diograis (Ardour), laid down 1915 at Nuatearman Naval Yard; LT Cathgangaid (Warspite), laid down 1916 at the CSCA yard; and LT Mioscais (Defiance), laid down 1916 at Abernenui Naval Yard. The navy yard ships received unlicensed copies of Parsons turbines, the private yard units the standard license-produced Curtis turbines; all had three shafts. Due to their narrow-tube boilers, they got along with three rather small funnels, with the distinctive gap between the second and the third that had become a trademark of Thiarian ships. They were handsome vessels with a rather extensive superstructure, foreshadowing the upcoming 1920s cruiser design (and looking a lot like the contemporary British E-class as well, whose design was a direct result of intelligence reports about the original specification of the Calloids).Despite the size and complexity of the ships, construction proceeded quickly, and by November 1918, the first two were completed, with Calloid commissioned in September and Diograis still undergoing acceptance trials. The other two were launched during 1918, but fitting-out was still in its first beginnings at the time of the armistice. Calloid became a British prize and Diograis a French one. The British scrapped Calloid rather unceremoniously in 1923, but the French commissioned her as the Nancy and kept her in service till 1937. Nancy was still afloat in 1940 and recommissioned for the French Navy; she made it to Britain and became a part of the FNFL in 1942, although she was not in any shape to be actively employed against her erstwhile builders. After serving as a TS, she was scuttled as part of a mulberry port in Normandy in 1944. The two unfinished ships remained in Thiaria and were completed to a totally revised design with 8 155mm guns in twin turrets, a lengthened stern and new engines for 31 knots of speed.
2. Armoured cruisers and battlecruisers
2.1. Siocair-class
Thiaria's final armoured cruisers belong to the transitional era between the last pre-dreadnoughts and the first dreadnoughts. They were powerful and fast ships with 8 240mm and 8 140mm guns, which comfortably outgunned every British armoured cruiser design and - at 25 knots - were also faster than practically all their contemporaries, with the sole exception of the German Blücher. Both were designed for competitive machinery; Siocair with her four funnels received the second most powerful VTE plant ever installed in a major warship, fed by no less than 48 French style Belleville boilers, whilst the three-funnelled Dibheirg had imported Curtis turbines and fewer, but more advanced US style Babcock boilers. Whilst Siocair was a fast, reliable and economical steamer, Dibheirg was a fuel hog which frequently broke down. With a vertical protection of 195mm and matching deck armour, they were very heavily protected (more so than many early battlecruisers), leading Thiarian admirals to the conclusion that they could hold their own against battlecruisers, an idea that was proven false by the guns of HMAS Australia at Craigmiadh rather cruelly. For all their excellence, the Siocair-class were luckless ships who did not achieve much and both were lost during the war.
2.1.1. LT Siocair
LT Siocair (Gaelic: Just Cause) was ordered from the CSCA private yard - during the entire WWI period Thiaria's finest shipbuilders - in 1907 shortly after the Brazilian war had commenced and laid down within weeks of placing the order. She was finished within less than three years and commissioned in late 1910 as flagship of the scouting squadron. After six years of peacetime service, she joined the main battlefleet in 1916 and took part in the battle of Tristan da Cunha where she escaped unharmed, but also achieved nothing at all. A few months later in December 1916, she was torpedoed and sunk by three torpedoes of HMS J4, becoming the largest Thiarian ship to fall prey to an enemy submarine during the war.
2.1.2. LT Dibheirg
LT Dibheirg (Gaelic: Revenge) was ordered from the Abernenui Naval yard at the same time as her sister, but - being Thiaria's first large warship with turbine propulsion - took a year and a half longer to complete. She travelled round the world together with the older Cuiteamh in 1912 and replaced her sister as flagship of the scouting squadron after her engines had been repaired in 1913. She was badly damaged at Tristan da Cunha and only barely made it back; during the repairs that followed, she received a heavy tripod mast and a powerful flak battery. At Caitriona, she fired at the Brazilian flagship Amazonas together with two super-dreadnoughts, hitting her target 10 times and yet making no difference. Although she was clearly of limited value among a fleet of super-dreadnoughts, she remained with the main battle fleet and took part in the battle of Craigmiadh as well, where she was shot up by HMAS Australia (13 hits) and HMNZS New Zealand (4 hits). 170 of her crew survived.
2.2. Aigean-class: LT Aigean
After construction of the Conaire-class super-dreadnoughts was well under way, the Thiarian admiralty requested the construction of two battlecruisers under the 1913 programme. The navy's design department looked at the most advanced foreign types - HMS Tiger, SMS Derfflinger, USS America and the Japanese Kongo-class - and created a 33.000-ton behemoth with 9 340mm Schneider-pattern guns in three triple turrets. They incorporated anything that was good - and bad - in Thiarian ship design. Typically, superfiring turrets forward were ruled out because of concerns over topweight and stability and the battery was concentrated aft, which was quite anachronistic since it had already been proven that superfiring turrets were no risk to the stability of a 30.000 ton hull. On the other hand, armour protection was formidable (second only to the German Derfflinger), seakeeping was excellent, accomodation was fine and range was outstanding. Cost and complexity of these ships had reached such extremes that even the Thiarian Oireachtas, which had little scruples concerning naval spending, only one ship each was voted in 1913 and 1914. The class ship was laid down early in 1914 at CSCA's, the second ship late that year at the Abernenui Naval yard. The first ship received license-built Curtis turbines, who were of much improved reliability than the early ones used for the Conaire-class, the second one unlicensed domestic copies of Parsons turbines; otherwise, there were few differences. During the war, massive repair requirements curtailed the availability of resources for these big ships, and building went along slower than usual; this was especially true in case of the second ship because the navy yards drew all the repair jobs for the frequently damaged capital ships of the fleet. The first ship was launched shortly before Thiaria entered the war and named LT Aigean (Ocean); fitting out took another 20 months, and she was commissioned in April 1918 after the crack crew of the old armoured cruiser Urgharda had been transferred to the new battlecruiser to speed up full readiness; for a few precious months in 1918, Thiaria possessed the largest and most powerful battlecruiser worldwide. The other ship was launched as late as January 1918 and named LT Antartach (Antarctic), but fitting-out never really got underway. Aigean played a prominent part in the battle of Craigmiadh, where she entered herself into the very short list of capital ships who claimed the destruction of two others of their kind. Leading the Thiarian fleet into the slightly too elaborate trap set for them by the British, Aigean blanketed HMS Colossus with several incredibly precise salvoes of 340mm shells from 16.000 meters out and reduced her to a sinking condition before using her superior speed to escape. When a squadron of two US and two British battlecruisers tried to close the trap, Aigean and her cruiser escorts outran them with a 30-knot dash, firing her aft turrets at USS United States all the time and hitting her no less than 19 times, resulting in her loss after two days of frantic attempts to bring her in. Aigean herself was heavily damaged by 14 356mm shells, but escaped and was repaired with maximum priority till October 1918. After the war, Aigean became a Biritish prize and was thoroughly picked apart in a comprehensive series of experiments, revealing that the Thiarians had done many things right the first time which the British had not quite mastered even with their final battlecruiser HMS Hood.
For those who care: Here are her SpringSharp stats:
Displacement:
29.742 t light; 31.250 t standard; 33.070 t normal; 34.525 t full load
Dimensions: Length (overall / waterline) x beam x draught (normal/deep)
(725,10 ft / 715,22 ft) x 96,78 ft x (30,51 / 31,57 ft)
(221,01 m / 218,00 m) x 29,50 m x (9,30 / 9,62 m)
Armament:
9 - 13,50" / 343 mm 45,0 cal guns - 1.322,77lbs / 600,00kg shells, 100 per gun
Breech loading guns in turret on barbette mounts, 1915 Model
3 x Triple mounts on centreline ends, majority aft
1 raised mount aft - superfiring
12 - 5,51" / 140 mm 55,0 cal guns - 90,37lbs / 40,99kg shells, 250 per gun
Breech loading guns in casemate mounts, 1915 Model
12 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
12 hull mounts in casemates- Limited use in heavy seas
8 - 3,94" / 100 mm 45,0 cal guns - 30,78lbs / 13,96kg shells, 250 per gun
Anti-air guns in deck mounts, 1915 Model
8 x Single mounts on sides, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 13.236 lbs / 6.004 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: 11,6" / 295 mm 451,51 ft / 137,62 m 11,71 ft / 3,57 m
Ends: 5,51" / 140 mm 263,68 ft / 80,37 m 11,71 ft / 3,57 m
Upper: 5,51" / 140 mm 451,51 ft / 137,62 m 8,01 ft / 2,44 m
Main Belt covers 97% of normal length
- Torpedo Bulkhead - Strengthened structural bulkheads:
1,97" / 50 mm 451,51 ft / 137,62 m 27,99 ft / 8,53 m
Beam between torpedo bulkheads 72,18 ft / 22,00 m
- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 13,6" / 345 mm 8,27" / 210 mm 12,4" / 315 mm
2nd: 5,51" / 140 mm 2,76" / 70 mm 2,76" / 70 mm
3rd: 1,57" / 40 mm - -
- Armoured deck - multiple decks:
For and Aft decks: 5,71" / 145 mm
Forecastle: 1,97" / 50 mm Quarter deck: 3,94" / 100 mm
- Conning towers: Forward 13,58" / 345 mm, Aft 12,40" / 315 mm
Machinery:
Coal and oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Direct drive, 4 shafts, 102.325 shp / 76.334 Kw = 28,00 kts
Range 7.000nm at 12,00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 3.275 tons (50% coal)
Complement:
1.225 - 1.593
Cost:
£3,966 million / $15,864 million
Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 2.172 tons, 6,6%
- Guns: 2.164 tons, 6,5%
- Weapons: 7 tons, 0,0%
Armour: 12.407 tons, 37,5%
- Belts: 4.106 tons, 12,4%
- Torpedo bulkhead: 920 tons, 2,8%
- Armament: 2.238 tons, 6,8%
- Armour Deck: 4.566 tons, 13,8%
- Conning Towers: 577 tons, 1,7%
Machinery: 4.061 tons, 12,3%
Hull, fittings & equipment: 11.103 tons, 33,6%
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 3.327 tons, 10,1%
Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0,0%
Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
46.746 lbs / 21.204 Kg = 38,0 x 13,5 " / 343 mm shells or 5,2 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1,10
Metacentric height 5,7 ft / 1,7 m
Roll period: 17,0 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 71 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0,72
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1,22
Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise forward of midbreak,
a normal bow and a cruiser stern
Block coefficient (normal/deep): 0,548 / 0,553
Length to Beam Ratio: 7,39 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 26,74 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 50 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 58
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 20,00 degrees
Stern overhang: 0,33 ft / 0,10 m
Freeboard (% = length of deck as a percentage of waterline length):
Fore end, Aft end
- Forecastle: 23,00%, 26,25 ft / 8,00 m, 24,28 ft / 7,40 m
- Forward deck: 45,00%, 24,28 ft / 7,40 m, 24,28 ft / 7,40 m
- Aft deck: 14,00%, 16,40 ft / 5,00 m, 16,40 ft / 5,00 m
- Quarter deck: 18,00%, 16,40 ft / 5,00 m, 17,06 ft / 5,20 m
- Average freeboard: 22,00 ft / 6,71 m
Ship tends to be wet forward
Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 96,0%
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 168,0%
Waterplane Area: 48.219 Square feet or 4.480 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 106%
Structure weight / hull surface area: 186 lbs/sq ft or 909 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0,96
- Longitudinal: 1,38
- 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