Shipbucket

You are absolutely right. In reality. In my AU the 8-8 is introduced 1919.

And yes, the structures are air vents.

The drawing is based on an older drawing by me, I just changed the directors, aa and did some detail work. A wartime refit will follow.

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With the 1919 armistice the big naval programs were obsolete. The Osman Empire had fought out the big victory at Gallipoli, the allied forces had retreated. But at other frontiers the Turks were thrown back. The Hellenic Empire, the big rival through the centuries, had its own benefits from the armistice. Big ships were cheap and many on the market.
The preferred address for the Osmans, the German Empire, had no further ships, the Turks were interested in. An US-agent showed plans of a battleship fitting perfectly into turkish ideas.
The ship was unnamed, had never served with the US Navy and was somehow unusual for the USN. Fitted with six state-of-the-art triple 14" turrets, but four of them as wing turrets the design seemed obsolete. The Osman Navy liked the many turrets as it fulfilled their idea of an all sides firing fortress. The US let never know for whom or what the ship was designed originally, they were glad to sell the ship.
The ship was a frightening counterpart for the hellenic cruisers through the years. When the Turks asked for refitting in 1940 the US denied due to their good relations with the Hellenic Empire. The german engineers were glad to do the job then.

This was once a USS Arizona. Shorter, wider, wierder, it is reborn as Osman Gazi. Thanks to ALVAMA for the great source.

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Battlecruiser Roon of the Ersatz Yorck class in 1940 refit. The casemats are gone, 5,9" Bismarck-style turrets and 10,5cm aa with the needed gun directors and early radárs installed. The style is now very much like Bismarck- and Scharnhorst-classes.

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I like them both, especially Roon!

Very nice work...hopefully when the timeline is done we'll see what happens from 1914 or 1919 and onward, so as to get the full effect of this AU. Love it!

-Matt

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

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Evidently the Turkish part is going in tandem with my AU. So I suppose I'll have post my alternate history. Frightening vessels indeed, but no impossible odds, nevertheless!

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My Avatar:Петр Алексеевич Безобразов (Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov), Вице-адмирал , царская ВМФ России(1845-1906) - I sign my drawings as Ari Saarinen

The Roon made some sorties with the battleship Tirpitz. Here in north sea camo 1943. And some light aa added.

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I think the camouflage would look better with a lighter shade. something like #333333

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The Roon was refitted with new radars and aa in late 1945. She got the new blue waterline camo but kept her upper dark grey due to a lack of light grey paint. Also there were not enough new light aa barrels sent to Bergen, so she had to keep some of the older 2cm and 3,7cm aa between tthe new 3cm and 5,5cm guns.
The unusual camo brought her the nickname 'brindled cow'. But only until the day when she and Tirpitz went on the british battleship HMS King George V. and the older admirality-class battlecruiser HMS Howe. The two german ships destroyed the KGV within 20 minutes, but saw Tirpitz taking serious damage. The Roon wasn't able to follow Howe due to its lower speed. So Roon took Tirpitz back to Bergen. HMS Howe was some days later found by Luftwaffe torpedobombers and sent to the ground.
Roon was attacked by british x-craft some weeks later at Bergen harbor and was grounded there but still operational as aa battery until 1948. She was refloated and scrapped then.

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Very nice work!

-Matt

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB