Shipbucket

This is my first AU here, so yay! It is going to be in an unconventional style (compared to most other AU's) so yes, don't complain if it is weird.
Anyways this will be set up not to show off my drawings, but to grow the sense of community on here as well as helping those who draw for here, and to challenge you!
Here is how this AU is going to be set up. Instead of it telling the story of a nation through its ships, it shall be set up so that the thread itself is a story.
I will be representing the naval procurement office of the nation of Grandia- a large, industrial nation, however not with a massive wealth or population, or international power. It is a large island nation, including many small northern territories it must patrol. Anyways, I will hold various 'challenges'. These are similar to the normal challenges on shipbucket, but are not official, and nobody wins or looses. Its sole purpose is to promote creativity and skills amongst the community. Anybody can post a picture, as long as it meets the requirement of one of the challenges. There is going to be both FD and SB scale drawings, so if you prefer planes thats good. Anyways I'm not sure how this will go, a lot of the idea's for ships are not conventional by our standards, but yes.
A note, all of these challenges are meant for the equivalent of our modern day or the near future!
The first two challenges will be posted shortly.

hywat

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shib goes bork

The first challenge
The Grandian navy is interested in procuring a patrol boat to protect its harbours and ports, patrol local waterways, and support the local law enforcement. This boat must be cheap, easy to produce, have a crew of no more then 6, a draft of a foot or less, a minimum speed of 25 knots, and be no longer then 12 metres.
Also, this ship must be suited for many different needs. As such, a drawing of the patrol boat is required, and preferred are versions of:

A missile boat, capable of carrying at least 2 anti-ship missiles. The boat may be extended in length and draft for this model only.
A torpedo boat, capable of launching modern torpedos for shore defence from submarines.
A sub-chaser, which is armed with guns and depth charges
And a hydro-graphic support ship designed to support scientific research (for those not inclined to make military boats)

So yes, one or all of these drawings, based on the same hull is the challenge. Remember there will be no winner and their is no contest, it is simply up to your creativity and style, and for fun.

Welcome to the board. It's nice to see a new person who is enthusiastic and wants to help drive new activity.

That said -- our community is mainly focused around individual contributors creating and posting their own drawings, or people modifying existing art. You are of course free to run this thread and ask people to contribute, but want to set expectations that those who request art here are often disappointed by the responses... :/

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USN components, camouflage colors, & reference links (World War II only)

Very true!

It's weird, yes, and totally unrealistic in some points (torpedo launching, etc.) but... some tasks such a fast patrolling vessel either near the sea coast, or in a river or even on a lake, it can indeed come up with. I draw a catamaran 12m of length, as required, .30 m of draft, as required also. It has a cabin in the middle part joining the two hulls, on which rear part are fixed three Honda four stroke 160 hp outboard engines. The vessel has a searchlight and a navigational radar with the capability of identifying other vessels (provided they have the necessary hard- and software installed).

In the front part of the middle hull there is a 7.62mm machine gun installed on a tripod as well as on the rear of the two main hulls, this makes three MG in total. The vessel has also four portable MBT LAW shoulder missile launchers and eight small anti-ship missiles for each one, all produced by Saab Bofors Dynamics in Sweden. This is primarily an anti-tank system but I see no reason why it could not be used against naval targets at close range (not more than some 800 meter). "Guidance is obtained using predicted line of sight (PLOS); for a moving target, the gunner maintains tracking for three seconds, training the missile's guidance electronics to compute the target's angular speed. After launch the missile flies autonomously to the target making the necessary corrections according to the data acquired by the tracking. It is unnecessary for the gunner to consider the range to the target. After launch the missile's position in its trajectory always coincides with the target irrespective of range." (Wikipedia)

Its quite an interesting idea and I have to say it looks good! Thank you!
Perhaps its sea-worthiness is questionable but its a very good design.

My friend, with 12 meter hull length you cannot expect too big seaworthiness on a combat ship!... Or, if you make the hulls strong enough, their weight surpass the draft you established as limit...