Aourora Class
SKN Aourora (K50) in 1937
Aourora sported the standard light gray and nationality stripes scheme for her first year of service
Class overview (as completed)
- Lenght (over all) - 219 m
- Beam & draft - 22 m & 5,70 m
- Standard displacement - 12.500 tons
- Installed power - 12 × Silvarehim boilers, 150 shp
- Propulsion - 4 × steam turbines, 4 × screw propellers
- Speed - 35 knots
- Range - 5.000 nautical miles @18 knots
- Main armament - 9 × 200mm Mk VII L/64 in 3 × triple Mk IV turrets
- Secondary armament / Heavy anti-aircraft armament - 14 × 130mm Mk VIb L/50 in 7 × twin Mk III turrets
- Medium anti-aircraft armament - 18 × 30mm/72 Mk III in 7 × triple mounts
- Light anti-aircraft armament - 12 × 20mm/70 Mk II in 4 × twin mounts & 4 × twin mounts
- Torpedoes - 8x Mk XIII 540mm torpedoes in 2 × quadruple launchers
- Belt & citadel bulkheads armor thikness - n/a & 120 mm
- Main & weather deck armor thikness - 70 mm & 25 mm
- Conning tower & barbette armor thikness - n/a
- Main caliber turrets face armor thickness - 150 mm
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SKN Ouranía (K57) in 1941
Ouranía received her up-armouring in May 1941; during the same refit the light and medium anti-aircraft armament was augmented by newer 20mm mounts and 40mm guns, air search and IFF equipment were installed and the ship was painted in a "Symvatikós II" (Conventional II) distorting scheme (carried with minor modifications until 1943)
Ouranía 1941 overview
- Lenght (over all) - 219 m
- Beam & draft - 22 m & 6,65 m
- Standard displacement - 15.000 tons
- Installed power - 12 × Silvarehim boilers, 150 shp
- Propulsion - 4 × steam turbines, 4 × screw propellers
- Speed - 34 knots
- Range - 5.000 nautical miles @18 knots
- Main armament - 9 × 200mm Mk VII L/64 in 3 × triple Mk IV turrets
- Secondary armament / Heavy anti-aircraft armament - 14 × 130mm Mk VIb L/50 in 7 × twin Mk III turrets
- Medium anti-aircraft armament - 24 × 40mm/56 in 4 × quadruple mounts & 4 × twin mounts
- Light anti-aircraft armament - 54 × 20mm/70 Mk II in 8 × quadruple mounts, 10 × twin powered mounts & 1 × twin mount
- Air & surface search radars - S. Damazo Mk I & V. B. Louvin Mk I (only IFF transponder)
- Range finding & director radars - L. Sivara Mk I
- Torpedoes - 8x Mk XIII 540mm torpedoes in 2 × quadruple launchers
- Belt & citadel bulkheads armor thikness - 150 mm & 120 mm
- Main & weather deck armor thikness - 70 mm & 25 mm
- Conning tower & barbette armor thikness - 150 mm & 150 mm
- Main caliber turrets face armor thickness - 150 mm
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SKN Pallás (K52) in 1948
The last major refit for Pallás occured in 1947; twin and sextuple powered mounts replaced the older 40mm installations, while new 30mm in single mounts and quadruple turrets replaced the 20mm battery. The electronics and sensors were also upgraded, with new navigation and communication equipment, improved AA guns directors, new air and surface search and IFF sets, fire control radar was added to the 130mm battery rangefinders. in 1948 Pallás adopted the new Fultian Fleet two-tone scheme; which she carried until her decommisioning
Pallás 1948 overview
- Lenght (over all) - 219 m
- Beam & draft - 22 m & 6,65 m
- Standard displacement - 15.000 tons
- Installed power - 12 × Silvarehim boilers, 150 shp
- Propulsion - 4 × steam turbines, 4 × screw propellers
- Speed - 34 knots
- Range - 5.000 nautical miles @18 knots
- Main armament - 9 × 200mm Mk VII L/64 in 3 × triple Mk IV turrets
- Secondary armament / Heavy anti-aircraft armament - 14 × 130mm Mk VIb L/50 in 7 × twin Mk III turrets
- Medium anti-aircraft armament - 24 × 40mm/56 in 4 × quadruple mounts & 4 × twin mounts
- Light anti-aircraft armament - 32 × 30mm/68 Mk IV in 4 × quadruple turrets & 16 × single mounts
- Air & surface search radars - Iz 54.1 & V. B. Louvin Mk II
- Height finders - Iz53.1
- Range finding & director radars - L. Sivara Mk I, Iz51.1 & Iz50.1 (on the Mk VI Directors)
- Torpedoes - 8x Mk XIII 540mm torpedoes in 2 × quadruple launchers
- Belt & citadel bulkheads armor thikness - 150 mm & 120 mm
- Main & weather deck armor thikness - 70 mm & 25 mm
- Conning tower & barbette armor thikness - 150 mm & 150 mm
- Main caliber turrets face armor thickness - 150 mm
.
The
Aourora Class was the third class of heavy cruisers laid down in the inter war period by the Sofíae Commonwealth. In 1933, with details on the two Veszenian
Myrsky Class cruisers being laid down that year becoming clearer, the planners at
Superklasse quickly realized that the current Sofíae heavy cruisers of the
Lígeia and
Ekáti classes would be either too slow or insufficiently protected to stand up against this new ships. the optimal ship to counter the large Veszenian cruisers was quickly determined to be a small capital ship of around 28 thousand tons, however having signed the Østerhus Naval Treaty only a year before the Navy was unwilling to jeopardize its capital ship displacement allowance for this kind of ships. After a series of design studies however, the
GSK determined that an heavy cruiser could posses a sufficient speed to out-run the prospected
Myrskys on 14.5 thousand tons, while possessing and enough armor to offer a degree of protection against other 8 inch guns; this ship was however still five thousand tons over the treaty limit for cruisers, but it was calculated that by omitting most of the vertical protection it could be brought down to 12.5 thousand tons. Construction of a new class of heavy cruisers was eventually authorized in 1935, with every official document citing the weight at exactly 10 thousand tons, and the first ship was laid down later that same year. The final design of the ship also included a lengthened 200mm in completely redesigned turrets, an heavy secondary battery marking the debut of the twin Mk III 130mm turret, along with the peculiar armor scheme which only included the turret's barbettes as vertical protection.
Auorora was commissioned in 1937, with 20mm auto-cannons having substituted the planned machine-guns during construction;
Pallás and
Galáteia followed the year later, and
Ouranía in 1939. The hull of the first three ships, more than two thousand tons under its designed weight, proved to be a very unstable platform, especially in the heavy seas which the
Sofiaés Strátioklasse usually operates in. With the Great War already raging,
Galéne and
Îris were completed in 1940 with the complete armor layout already installed among other smaller improvements, that same the first two ships completed were also taken in to receive the originally intended armoring, with
Galáteia and
Ouranía following in 1941.
Ships in class
- SKN Aourora (K50), 1937 - Sunk, november 1941
- SKN Pallás (K52), 1938 - Scrapped, 1959
- SKN Galáteia (K55), 1938 - Scrapped, 1964
- SKN Ouranía (K57), 1939 - Scrapped, 1961
- SKN Galéne (K59), 1940 - Sunk, september 1944
- SKN Îris (K60), 1940 - Scrapped, 1967