Shipbucket

I like this design very much, the lines of the E Class good expanded in size and triple turrets certainly provide a more compact layout overall.
Twelve 21in torpedoes on a heavy cruiser might be slight overkill but that's a minor quibble.

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

Thanks for the comment Hood.

Re Torpedoes. The E's had 16 (4x4) which I thought was too many. The French Tourville had 12 and the Italian Trento had 8. I figured that I would lose a set to the aircraft handling equipment and would be left with six which would be enough.

Mediterranean Cruisers.

The RN had taken notice of the French, Italian and Japanese speed trials with their heavy cruisers. 34 to 36 knots. The British cruisers would never be able to catch them.

What was needed was a new design with the maximum sized propulsion system that could be fitted, and unlike the standard heavy cruiser about half the range and provisions to save weight. The same nine gun battery would be fitted as the earlier County class, once the ship caught an enemy it needed the firepower to kill it. No hangar for the aircraft, but as heavy an AA battery as could be fitted was put aboard.

On trials in 1934 with 110,000shp both ships maintained 34 knots at standard displacement and still made 32 knots at full load displacement. With full overload power applied at 128,000shp the ships made an average 35.5 knots. The RN had their greyhounds.



Displacement: 10,075 tons standard, 12,800 tons full load
Dimensions: 627 x 64 x 22 feet.
Machinery: 4 shaft, geared turbines, 110,000shp
Speed: 34 knots
Endurance: 5,000 nmi at 12 knots
Armour: 2" belt, 2" deck, 3,5" turrets. (machinery and magazines had extra armour fitted 1939-40)
Armament:
9 x 8" (3x3)
10 x 4" (5x2)
8 x 2pd (2x4)
16 x 0.5"mg (4x4)
Torpedoes: 8 x 21" (2x4)
Aircraft: 1
Crew: 755.

HMS Leopard (1934)

HMS Lynx (1934)

Has a very Italian look with those funnels. I assume a unit layout for the machinery?

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

Yes Hood, definitely unit divisions. From bow to stern BR/BR/ER/BR/ER.

The funnels are reworked off the Leander to keep the UK vibe (which is why PB gets a credit).

Next instalment:
The two ships spent all their service lives in the Mediterranean either operating together or at either end at Gibraltar or Alexandria. One of their main uses during 1941-42 was as fast transports, taking essential provisions to Malta (in conjunction with the Abdiel class minelayers). In aid of this the aircraft handling facilities were taken out and the ships boats transferred into the space provided. This opened up space for more AA weapons. The torpedo tubes had been an early casualty in removing weight to allow for RADAR and other modern fittings to be placed aboard. All the gunnery directors received electronic assistance. The biggest change was due to the Lynx being chosen as the escort to the Illustrious on its trip to America for repairs to the bomb damage sustained trying to relieve Malta in 1941. The Lynx received an upgrade to the minor AA weaponry with the current outfit being replaced with 40mm quad mountings and 20mm in twin and single mountings.



Something not often done was the replacement of the aft twin 4" with a quad 40mm mounting. Experience in the Mediterranean had shown that the Stuka's preferred to attack from astern where a 40mm mounting would make their life much more difficult.

Refits etc to 1942 (Lynx)

9 x 8" (3x3)
8 x 4" (4x2)
20 x 40mm (5x4)
32x 20mm (7x2, 18x1)

It's a shame that you didn't made the badges in sb-style when you made so much effort in your lovely vessels

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Work in progress:
DD County Class PNS Babur (1982)(PAK)
FF Type 21 Class D182 PNS Babur (2000)(PAK)
All relevant Coat of Arms

Sorry Kim, I did look at the real badge for the Leopard in the Commonwealth archive and decided I just do not seem to have the eye for doing the badges. I leave them to the stars who are good at them.

For an AU the clipart work I do is good enough for me, unless there is a real badge in the archive.

Last cruiser class in this series.

So far I have done a standard group of County class cruisers with the Cornwall type. That type would produce the 12-14 units of the original Counties. Next I went to a high speed variant because of the speeds being attained by the RN's competitors. The gloves come off the WNT/GNT limits in 1934-35 and the RN can design and build a heavy cruiser worthy of the name. The next thing to decide was how far would the RN want to push the concept. I already have a 'Brazilian' cruiser that is commandeered in 1939 for the RN which has the 12x8" in this thread, so I figured on doing an RN equivalent to the US 9 gun heavy cruisers.

The Lancaster Class

The 10,000 ton limit had provided 'nearly' ships. Nobody was really happy with the results, nearly enough 8" guns, nearly enough armour, nearly enough range, nearly enough speed. Only those countries that just ignored the Treaty limits produced a decent ship. Germans, Italians, Japanese, all ignored the limits and the heavy cruisers they produced were good examples of the type.

The RN to match those ships would need to improve (over basic County) the armour, not nearly enough. Speed at 32 knots was considered adequate and the 9 gun layout was good enough to take on any of their competitors. Range could probably increase a bit with a larger hull. Aircraft handling facilities could be improved, and the biggest additions would be made to the AA batteries.

During the period of their building 1937-40, the electronic revolution went into full swing and by the time the first two were accepted for service in 1940, a full suite of Radar and electronic aids had been fitted. Originally eight were ordered, two laid down in 1937, two in 1938, the last four in 1939. Only the first four were completed as cruisers in 1940-41, while the last four were delayed on the outbreak of war then the design was recast to light carriers.



Displacement: 13,500 tons standard, 18,200 tons full load.
Dimensions: 652 x 68 x 22 feet
Machinery: 4 shaft, geared turbines, 90,000shp
Speed: 32 knots
Endurance: 12,500 nmi at 14 knots
Armour: 5" belt, 3" deck, 5" turrets.
Armament:
9 x 8" (3x3)
12 x 4" (6x2)
24 x 2pd (6x4)
18 x 20mm (9x2)
Torpedoes: 6x 21" (2x3)
Aircraft: 2
Crew: 900 (945 as Flagship)

HMS Lancaster (1940)

HMS Buckingham (1940)

HMS Essex (1941)

HMS Somerset (1941)

Well, it has to be done in a time, so maybe I have to do these badges unless some others take the challenge

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Work in progress:
DD County Class PNS Babur (1982)(PAK)
FF Type 21 Class D182 PNS Babur (2000)(PAK)
All relevant Coat of Arms

... Of course, the Badge's may well have been drawn already and just not posted yet...

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