Shipbucket

Since these ships appear to be popular, I'll try one more.

I've taken aboard peoples comments on the various types of armament that I have used on my ships. On this one the 12" guns are in a 'slab' turret cannibalised from the 14" twin on the RN parts sheet. The 4.5" is in the same turret but I have renovated the turret interior and handling systems to cure the faults pointed out (see inset). I have used the 2pd off the parts sheet but have shortened it by 4 pixels, offset the ammunition feed boxes and changed the barrels to 1 pixel gun metal. The 20mm are still my old mounting.

To the ship. The Sud Afrika was built to be the South African flagship and control the very well used Cape route. It is a cruiser killer. During time of war it would be the centre of a task force for the hunting down and sinking of the enemies raiders. The 12" fire 37,000 yards, which while these are outranged by the German 11", the sea conditions in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans very rarely allow combat at those sort of ranges. Further details of the ship are on the drawing.

Hi Krakatoa,

Looks nice!

I do have a couple of questions, if that's OK?

Firstly, do you have the springsharp / equivalent data? Just being a bit of a tech weenie, would like to see the full spec...
Second, are you sure you need a 10,000nm range if you're operating out of (and presumably in reasonable proximity to) a fixed base?
Third, and I don't know if you've already accounted for this, would you be able to improve elevation on the 12" compared to the 14", given that the 12" is probably shorter so won't hit the floor of the turret until it's at higher elevation?
Fourth, and last, do you have any plans to show this ship with various radar / AA / ECM fits as her career progresses?

Regards,
Adam

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I agree, a very nice design.
Well, if we assume those 12" guns are the 12"/50 Mk. XIV(which the British 14"/45 Mk. VII was based on), we have the calculated range of 37 000 yards/34 000 metres at max elevation. I really doubt you'd need longer range than that, especially since most artillery battles of WW2 still took place on "this side of the horizon". Sure, margins are good, but you don't really need a longer range.

Sorry Adam I do not use Springsharp as I am very wary of the results it gives. The 10,000 is average for the time and size of ship, Strasbourg 8,000, Alaska 12,000, Renown 7,500. That will probably be the only drawing that I do for this one, unless I get the urge to do an overhead for it. If somebody wants to take the base ship and give it a 1943-44 update I am more than happy for them to do so.

The question on gun range I flubbed, range of gun should be 37,000 not 32,000, I have edited my 1st post, this is the gun details I based the weapons on.
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNBR_12-50_mk14.htm

LOL, good catch Hugo!

Another really interesting concept. I like the looks, much closer to a cruiser design but still with an element of the KGV about it (probably handy since an enemy captain might think its a KGV). Certainly a Panzerschiff would be far outclassed by this vessel.
You might want to give more the 'B' 4.5in turret more room, since its pretty hemmed in by the hangar aft of it.

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Thank you Hood, I looked at that turret placement and was not happy with it, I will alter it through dropbox which will update the drawing for me.

Just an aside for people. Full Load displacement is the ship with absolutely everything aboard and maxed out, fuel, water, ammunition, provisions (and even men). Depending on how long you are at sea, and what happens on your cruise, the displacement of the ship will have changed markedly by the time you get to your next port of call. Later in the war the Admiralty cut down the maximum bunkerage levels (and thus maximum range) of a lot of ships to offset some of the extra tonnage that had been piled on with extra weapons and electronics, and funnily enough the weight of the extra crew required to man the new equipment.

NM

Hi Krakatoa,

No problem re SpringSharp. I'd thought it to be generally OK with this sort of thing (utility dropping off rapidly as you get towards the more "unique" end of the spectrum) but it's got enough quirks that I can't really blame you for not using it!

That's kind of what I meant for the range - From your description, I'd figured this was going to be patrolling a fixed point rather than ranging all over the Pacific exterminating wayward Japanese heavy cruisers, so the range could be at Renown-or-less levels. It's not a truly significant point though, and certainly doesn't detract from a nice design!

Fair enough on the weapons range, looks like you've certainly addressed that!

Ad

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NSWE: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5695

Another nice ship Krakatoa,

1) I like the look of your new AA guns (may I steal them please).

2) If you are going for a KVG profile would 6 guns be better ? It would make it smaller and save cost and still defeat a CA and R&R both worked with 3 x 2 main guns ?

JSB

I have SS'd a few of Krakatoa's ships and they tend to work out quite well...

Thanks for your comments Adam.

JSB - help yourself - anything I use I have probably redrawn someone elses original.

The PD's I do are true kitbashes, the parts come from other peoples ships. The very good PD's done by Rowdy36, KHT, Blackbuck and some others are not. If you want to use their equipment you need to ask. Any of mine are open for use by anybody.