Shipbucket

This thread will pertain to everything related to my AU, The Randomville Island Chain; be it ships, stories, maps, etc.For now, I'll just add a bit of history and introduce the ships of this AU. (I would also like to have the other ShipBucket AU's around for a better storyline. )

Short bit of History

The Randomville Island Chain, consisting of many artificial islands nations based on real world places, mostly Pacific Island and West Indies nations but scaled down and modified; were being built in the early 1870's, and by the 1900's; the islands were all inhabited. The nation saw very little action during WW1 having decided to stay neutral, but was dragged into WW2 when Japan started invading all over. Having joined the Allied Powers, they kept a presence in all the Allied Nations, whether they were conquered by the Japs or not. After the war, they joined the United Nations and NATO after tensions grew between the Eastern and Western Blocs. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the nation returned to it's peaceful and rather uneventful lifestyle.

Maps and other info coming soon.

Onto the ships....



This is the Midget Submarine Sardine, the world's first operational submarine (dozens of experiments, this was the final result. This tiny two man crew, diesel fuel-powered submarine was fitted with two external torpedoes, and was launched from a modified freighter. Despite being commissioned in 1915, it never saw service during World War 1, as the nation was strictly neutral. Nevertheless, the Sardine was a successful design, and helped the submarine become a practical naval vessel that would be adopted by every other navy. After the war, she remained in service with the Free People's Navy until larger submarines began to enter service. She was finally decommissioned in 1924 having been replaced with a larger 4 man submarine, the Leatherjacket. After decommissioning, she was scheduled to be scrapped, but the Randomville Free People's Navy saw her as a pioneer in Submarine design, and requested that the vessel be put on display instead. She was donated to the Marineland Oceanarium Complex at St George in October 1924 after the owners of the complex offered to buy her, where she remains on display as of 2016.




The Sandbore Cay Class Battleships were the first modern battleships in the Randomville Free People's Navy. Completed in 1916, these ships never saw action in WW1 due to Randomville's neutrality in that war. All the ships in the class were decommissioned without firing a single shot, and were replaced in 1936 by the Great Salt Cay Class Battleships (WIP)

Ships in Class and Disposition....

Sandbore Cay - Museum Ship in St George, Grenada Province, Great Salt Cay Metro.

Goulding Cay - Sunk as a breakwater at Great Salt Cay on April 2 1936. Wreck can still be accessed.

Coco Cay - Sold for scrap in July 1936. One turret and one funnel are on display at the Great Salt Cay Maritime Museum. The main superstructure is located at Coco Cay Resort where is serves as a tourist attraction.

Big Sand Cay - Converted into an aircraft carrier in 1937 and renamed Cape Pembroke. Now a Museum Ship at Great Salt Cay.




Based on the HMS King George V and HMS Hood, the Great Salt Cay Class Battleship is one of the most powerful battleships in existence. They are named for Great Salt Cay, the largest island in the Randomville Island Chain, and home of the Parliament. They were built to replace the ageing Sandbore Cay Class Battleships that were scheduled for decommissioning in 1936. The Great Salt Cay remains in service with the Free People's Navy, and continues to serve as Randomville's flagship today, and is one of the last few battleships anywhere in the world that remains in active service.

Ships in Class and Disposition....

Great Salt Cay - In active service as of 2016.

Great Isaac Cay - Museum Ship in Nassau, Bahamas Province.

English Cay - Sold for scrap in 1952.




The Province Class (Basically what appears to be an enlarged Illustrious Class Aircraft Carrier) Aircraft Carriers were Randomville's first large modern aircraft carriers. These were the first generation Province Class Aircraft Carriers, they were succeeded by a larger second generation Province Class Aircraft Carrier fleet after WW2.

Ships in Class and Disposition.

Aruba - Sold for scrap in 1949.

Bahamas - Sunk by Japanese Submarine I-162 off the Isle of California, March 11 1943.

Barbados - Museum Ship in Speightstown, Barbados Province.

Curaçao - Museum Ship at Curaçao Sea Aquarium in Willemstad, Curaçao Province.

Grenada - Sunk by Japanese dive bombers from the aircraft carrier Soryu off the coast of the Isle of California, April 12 1943.

Haiti - Sunk by Japanese torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier Kaga during the Battle of Jasmine Bay, Democratic Republic of Antara, September 15 1942.

Jamaica- Museum Ship in Port Royal, Jamaica Province.

Belize - Sunk as a target off the coast of Port Stanley, Falklands Province.

Honduras - Sunk as a target off the coast of Cay Sal, Bahamas Province.

Guyana - Museum Ship in Georgetown, Guyana Province. This ship was repeatedly bombed by the Japs throughout the course of WW2, but remained afloat and despite countless trips to Port Royal to conduct repairs, she served in almost all the WW2 campaigns. The closest the ship came to sinking was on July 8 1944, when she was hit 80 times by both Japanese land-based and carrier-based bombers during the Battle of Longfort, Thiaria, April 18 1944. She somehow managed to steam under her own power to the Thiarian Capital of Carriolar, where repairs were conducted. All the damage she took during the war earned her the title of most decorated ship of WW2. Unlike the Enterprise, she was preserved as a Museum Ship in Georgetown.

Put all your AU stuff into one thread

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This is the thread I chose. It's not quite complete yet.

Looks like that your King George V has 2 differet main calibers: 14" and 15". Water splashes from those guns look alike each other very much so your BB won't be able to coordinate its fire normally. It will be highly uneffective and your sailors will hate (I wanted to write "have", but mistake looks kinda funny so I will leave it) or to shoot two different targets at once or use only one caliber. Such things are big no-no on BBs. Even Kawachi that had 305 mm and 152 mm suffered from ineffective fire control, what to say about 14" and 15".
Anyways, King George V + Hood is awesome idea. Replace the front turrets with Hoods ones and make hull 10-15 meters longer and your ship will transform into candy.

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«A sea is not a barrier, a sea is a road, and those who try to use the sea as an instrument of isolation soon realize their foe has already put the sea into his own service.». - Alfred Thayer Mahan.

Thanks for the suggestions, mate. I can't have a ship that can't defend itself or take on foes.

How does this look? Swapped foreward turrets for the Hood's and lengthened the front of the hull.

This "shield" on a bow should be as it was - right before the turret.
Than, "centrate" your superstructures. Move it forward a some for ship to look pleasant. But you may leave the last turret on it's place (so your ship will kinda remind Kongö, but this is a minor design issue that is not necessary to be foolowed).
Also correct your credits. Use Arial 10pt for the ship name, country, class and date and Arial 8pt for the names. Also don't forget to switch off the anti-aliasing for text to look pixellate.
Here is the templates folder. There you will see how to place texts, meters strip, ship and badge correctly. Be precise.
Good luck! I am looking forward to see this crosshatch beetween Hood and KGV!

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«A sea is not a barrier, a sea is a road, and those who try to use the sea as an instrument of isolation soon realize their foe has already put the sea into his own service.». - Alfred Thayer Mahan.

I appreciate all the advice given. I'm glad to see someone likes my designs. BTW, I do use Arial 10 for top text, but I used Arial 7 for bottom text, so I'll need to change that, although as you said, I need to turn off anti-aliasing, although I'm unsure as to how to do this.

2nd attempt. https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1360x ... ppuOFx.png

Oops, looks like this one has 2 differen calibers again)
Check your drawings and never hurry. Also image is downscaled again.
If you use Paint.NET, AA can be turned off in such way: choose "Flood" tool and press on a smooth line right to the "Tolerance" bar.

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«A sea is not a barrier, a sea is a road, and those who try to use the sea as an instrument of isolation soon realize their foe has already put the sea into his own service.». - Alfred Thayer Mahan.