Shipbucket

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Arabella Class Destroyer



The Arabella Class was an improvement of the Carrywood class, another destroyer that had only finished construction two months before. With the release of several new AA weapons designed as a response to Japan's growing use of aircraft in their war with China. The Arabella class traded an aft turret for a torpedo launcher as well as two flak cannons.

Like her older cousin, she was a light and very fast ship and was effective at shooting down Japanese planes post 1940. During Antara's initial counter attack in 1940, smaller destroyers such as the Carrywood and Arabella classes were primarily used as offshore support for ground units.

Ships in Class - Launched - Fate

Arabella - 1938 - Scrapped 1948
Karin - 1938 - Sunk by aircraft 1940
Christina - 1938 - Scrapped 1948
Erica - 1938 - Scrapped 1948
Karla - 1938 - Scrapped 1948
Katarina - 1938 - Sunk by surface fire 1942

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Antaran AA Guns



These AA weapons were designed in 1937 in response to Japan's growing use of aircraft in their war against China. Antara, being located close to the Japanese homeland, saw her aircraft as a great danger. If war arose, Japan would surely used carrier based aircraft to attack the Antaran homeland.

Designs for ship based and land based AA weaponry went into production and the image above shows the final designs for the weapons. An advanced predictor helped these guns find and shoot down their target accurately. Antara was by known for their accurate weaponry, and it's anti-aircraft weapons were no exception.

The 70mm gun was a semi-automatic magazine loaded flak cannon that required a crew of 8 to operate, reload and fire. The double (or sometimes quadruple) barrel 40mm gun was was fully automatic and required 5 to operate. Both were made use the same gun predictor.

All vessels from 1937 upwards were edited with these new weapons. Some drawings still have US AA guns and the explanation is simple. When the Antaran navy and army were forced to withdraw from Antara in 1942 to Australia and America, they were outfitted with American guns to replaced the guns already damaged.

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Well, the 40mm guns isn't without precedence in the war, but the 37mm gun used by the Kriegsmarine was pretty much the worst AA gun of the war. In that weight class you really need something automatic to be worthwhile.

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

Worklist

Source Materiel is always welcome.

So the only thing that made the 40mm bofors better than the 37mm was that it was fully automatic?

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Imagine non-automatic Bofors gun...

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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.

Good point

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Those exist(ed)... You know Bofors being a manufacturer and all... Of interest though might be the M/29 and M/30 80mm and 75mm guns Bofors made during the inter-war period, the 25mm guns were also quite interesting.

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AU Projects: | Banbha et al. | New England: The Divided States
Blood and Fire

Oh I know.
I meant: "Imagine non-automatic ship-mounted anti-aircraft 40 mm Bofors L/60 gun".

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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 do see potential in these drawings, but please don't use the same underwater hull for ships in 1913, 1919 and 1937. Hull design changed just as much as the topside design as hydrodynamics advanced during the years.
I really think if you looked at more sources and put more effort in (I mean spend at least a week on each drawing before posting anything) I think you will improve much further and be ready to tackle some real ships to hone your drawing skills. Rearranging the same guns and torpedoes on the same hull isn't going to take you very far.

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Interwar RN Capital Ships
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