Shipbucket

Inspired by Nigel's discussion of 1915+ battleships, I've bumped up the Design U4 on my drawing list as an Easter egg for you all!


Design U4


Design U5

The U series began as the 'Canadian Fast Battleships', the extra Queen Elizabeth class ships that the British government tried to convince the Canadians to finance. There were several other fast battleship designs within this series not intended for funding by Canada, sources on most of these seem very sketchy and few details are known.
U1 and 2 were very similar to QE with a nominal speed of 25kts. U3 was also similar with one large single funnel. U4 had all four turrets on the same level to overcome problems with early directing of turrets at different levels. U5 was similar but with the forward turrets en echelon to give bow fire. The main belt was reduced a 12in with increased deck armour.
It seems that the 1914 improved QE, Agincourt, may never have been settled and D.K. Brown suggests eventually she was substituted for a repeat QE. The Us seem to be influenced by the W1 and W2 designs based on the Royal Sovereign (as I've drawn before) with the same double-deck battery, larger conning tower and stem spotting position.

Now for the caveats: the only drawing I've ever seen of U4 is a plan drawn by John Roberts, presumably from the original sketch. His sketch lacks an underwater hull. There is no data on length but this ship seems to scale up correctly to 620 feet oa (the same as the W1 and W2) and I've taken the liberty of adding a R-style underwater hull. There are no belt armour details so I've based this off QE and R. There is no image of U5, but I've assumed the only change would be B turret would face forwards.
Maybe one day when I redo the QEs, I'll have a bash at the other Us, but they too would be artists interpretations.

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

Wonderful work Hood,
We have certainly been pushing the boundaries of British Battleships lately.

Great work!

very intresting looking vessels. I've been not aware of these before

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Shipbucket mainsite, aka "The Archive"
New AU project "Aravala"

Strange battleships I must say, they're lovely drawings Hood.

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My Worklist
MD Scale, 4 Pixels : 1 Foot
Official German Parts Sheet
German Capital Ship Projects of The First World War

Possibly the strangest Battleship design I've seen so far. Still, a great drawing of it.

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My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

I read that the Naval Aid Bill of 1913 was to fund 3 battleships of the most modern pattern (read, Queen Elizabeth class), but I had assumed they would just be 3 additional vessels! Fantastic drawings Hood.

Excellent! I've been not aware of these before, eighter.

I know about ...interesting looking BB, but these one...

Certainly a unique and interesting work! Otherwise, had they been built, I imagine one would have ended up with British Fuso, as the only way to really go is up for modernizations. I do have to wonder about the conning tower being lodged between the turrets. Seems like a way of ensuring it would never be occupied, as no command officer is going to abandon the bridge for such a spot.

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We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."