Shipbucket

the castle class look very nice would have make an interesting basis for a Protectorate Patrol vessel

Excellent. Great to see this thread going again!

Now it is time for the AU Broadswords.
At first glance you might think these are just warmed-over real ships but I have drawn these from scratch, they do have a lot of the Broadsword DNA in them but are designed for this AU and also owe something to my Type 19 design.
The main change is the VLS Sea Wolf (Confessor in the AU), with a 32-cell VLS fitted forward. While still lower than the 60 Sea Wolfs the real Type 22s could carry all of these are ready-use rounds (real T22 just 12).
In this AU the Type 22s are following on from the Type 19 Ikara frigates but have more focus on air-defence but still have boxed Ikara and Woomba to offer longer-range punch. The venerable twin 3in L/70 remains too. At least three of these ships will acquit themselves well in the Falklands. The 30mm atop the hangar are stand-ins, the Hawker Siddeley Shield having been cancelled they lack their intended close-in SAMs but Confessor does that job anyway. Post-Falklands the class gets beefed up AA defences with newer cannon, a 76mm Super Rapid (lightening the bows too), two Starstreak CIWS and the more compact Harpoon. Having splashed out on GWS-27 in my AU, the Type 22s get it alongside the Type 43 destroyers.

Which brings me to the Type 44 class. I had two brainwaves while drawing the Type 22; having a 32-cell VLS for Sea Wolf allowed enough room to put in a 24-cell GWS-30 Sea Dart 2, then I was reminded of the Jacob van Heemskerck class and by converting the hangar into a Sea Wolf VLS could have a powerful double-ender air defence ship to back up the Type 43s at lower cost. Therefore the real-world Type 44 conversion made much more sense in this AU given the VLS arrangements. The radar fit is perhaps not optimal but best that can be done I think with the available sets. In my AU, post-Falklands the planned Batch II Broadswords are replaced by Type 44s.

Type 22 Broadsword


HMS Broadsword 1982


HMS Boxer 1998

8 ships commissioned:
HMS Broadsword F101 May 1979
HMS Battleaxe F102 March 1980
HMS Brilliant F103 May 1981
HMS Brazen F104 July 1982
HMS Boxer F105 May 1982
HMS Beaver F106 September 1983
HMS Brave F107 July 1983
HMS Boreas F108 September 1984

Dimensions:455ft (oa), 411ft (wl) length; 48ft 5in beam; 18ft 6in draught (over sonar domes), 11ft (hull).
Machinery: Two 18,750shp Spey SM1A plus two 4,850shp Tyne RM1C for cruising.
Speed: 28kts (deep and clean)
Range: 5,200 miles at 18kts on Tynes
Displacement: 4,000 tons standard
Armament:
1x2 3in L/70 Mk.8, fire-control by Ikara tracking radar
2x1 30mm LS-30
2x1 20mm Orkileon GAM-BO1
8x container-launchers for Ikara A/S missile or Woomba SSMs, fire-control by Ikara tracking radar
32-cell VLS for GWS-25 Confessor SAMs, fire-control by two Type 910 directors.
2x2 12.75in lightweight A/S torpedo tubes for US Mk 46 (later Stingray) A/S torpedoes
2x Westland Lynx HAS.Mk.2
Radars:
Type 1006 surface search, Type 967/Type 968 air/surface search & TIR, one Type 699 ‘Bexley’ and two Type 675 jammers, UAA-1 ‘Abbey Hill’ ESM, UA-8/UA-9/UA-10 ESM, Type 182 torpedo-decoy, two Corvus chaff/flare launchers, Type 2016 active/passive search and attack sonar, Type 2031Z passive search towed array sonar

1990s Upgrade
1x 76mm OTO-Melara Super Rapid replacing 3in L/70 Mk.8
2x4 RGM-84 Harpoon SSMs replacing Ikara and Woomba
Confessor SAM system upgraded to GWS-27 Active Confessor with two Type 912 trackers
2x24 Starstreak SAM CIWS replacing 30mm LS-30
2x 30mm DSI-30 replacing 20mm Orkileon GAM-BO1
Type 1007 surface search radar replacing Type 1006
Type 996 3-D radar replacing Type 967/968
Two Millpost jammers replacing Type 699 ‘Bexley’ and Type 675
Four Sea Gnat chaff/flare launchers added
Westland Lynx HMA.8 carried

Type 44 Cornwall


HMS Cumberland, 1991

4 ships commissioned:
HMS Cornwall F109 April 1988
HMS Cumberland F110 June 1989
HMS Campbeltown F111 May 1989
HMS Chatham F1112 Feb 1990

Dimensions:455ft (oa), 411ft (wl) length; 48ft 5in beam; 18ft 6in draught (over sonar domes), 11ft (hull).
Machinery: Two 18,750shp Spey SM1A plus two 4,850shp Tyne RM3C for cruising.
Speed: 28kts (deep and clean)
Range: 5,200 miles at 18kts on Tynes
Displacement: 4,100 tons standard
Armament:
1x 76mm OTO-Melara Super Rapid
2x1 30mm DSI-30
24-cell VLS for GWS-30 Sea Dart 2 SAMs, fire-control by two Type 909M directors.
24-cell VLS for GWS-27 Active Confessor SAMs, fire-control by one Type 912 directors.
2x4 RGM-84 Harpoon SSMs
2x24 Starstreak SAM CIWS
2x2 12.75in lightweight A/S torpedo tubes for Stingray A/S torpedoes
Landing pad for 1x Westland Lynx HAS.Mk.2 or Westland WG.34 Merlin HAS.Mk.1
Radars:
Type 1007 surface search, Type 967/Type 968 air/surface search & TIR, Type 1030 STIR, two Millpost jammers, UAA-1 ‘Abbey Hill’ ESM, UA-8/UA-9/UA-10 ESM, Type 182 torpedo-decoy, two Corvus and four sea Gnat chaff/flare launchers, Type 2016 active/passive search and attack sonar, Type 2031Z passive search towed array sonar

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

EXCELLENT work Hood and fantastic drawings my friend.

Jolly well done old chap

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https://discord.gg/5PHq8Dk
My artwork is posted here: https://www.deviantart.com/adenandy/gallery/all

Gorgeous work! Your Type 44 in particular is very interesting. Glad to see this AU still continuing.

Whilst I do like the other scheme that I based mine off of, these are equally interesting.

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

Fantastic. It's great to see this thread going.

These ships are much better than those real RN had. Well done Hood!

However, I remember seen in Type 82 and Type 43 a 3D rectangular radar similar with US SPS-39/52. The Type 22/Sea Dart would need that radar.

County Class NIGS Conversion


HMS Hampshire, 1964

I thought I would share this design which I drew following discussions around the NIGS SAM missile programme of circa 1959-61.
Some plan drawings of the NIGS missile system and magazine survive in the archives (the cross-section magazines are on the RN parts sheet already) and it was noticed that the ship's structure was that of a County-class destroyer. Indeed there seems to be some evidence that HMS Hampshire was considered for conversion with the system. The forward and aft launcher areas of the hull are based on the real plans and the centre section was blank so needed filling in. Here is a very likely layout for the proposed conversion, it looks extensive and crazy but the size of the system would have required such rebuilding. In reality the radars would have likely needed nuclear power for their energy needs but extra generators would have been fitted to the Hampshire if converted.

The NIGS system as depicted here:
1x2 launcher forward with 34x NIGS missiles plus 8x with nuclear warheads = 42
1x2 launcher aft with 38x NIGS missiles plus 8x with nuclear warheads = 46
4x New Surveillance Radar (NSR) radars with SCANFAR technology to search and track targets and the missiles
4x 5kw illuminator radars for the missiles

The rest of the radar fit is the usual Type 978 for surface search plus a Type 10 IFF bar atop the foremast. Two Sea Cat remain aft and a Wessex in the hangar.

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

indeed a crazy conversion