Shipbucket

Hmmm ... there is always option that you will buy planes from outside. Maybe soviets would sell you some I-15 or I-16, I know they are not ideal but small and rugged. They show they can be as good ans any other fighter in proper hands in early 40's. Lets buy some fighters from US, they give you inside look of planes design and help Sieran engineers learn. You can also drawn some homemade prototypes, bad and good ... show up's and down's of Sieran air force.

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

That's actually quite an interesting idea. Sieran is in a location of interest to both this AUs version of the Soviet Union (which is all the separate countries and some provinces united under a common ambition of which Sieran is as yet not a part of) and the United States. After all in the later cold war it's land is an opportune place to base bombers or missiles so perhaps the two powers were trying to influence Sieran into choosing a side...

That could explain a mixture of foreign types. An I-15 and Buffalo being side by side in a squadron for example could be interesting...complex for planners but good for Sierans engineers!

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"The first rule is not to lose; The second rule is not to forget the first rule"

Yeah, both Soviets and USA would want to support Sieran to be some kind of counterweight of Japan. Also maybe some ANT-40 thats Sierran engineers equip with yanks biuld engines, there is a lots of options for both country designs. Everybody want to be Sierran friend.

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Nobody expects the Imperial Inquisition!

That and at 400nm between Sierans southern coast and Tokyo, it's a great position to base bombers and as all three here are not on good terms with Japan, it seems only natural that there would be some kind of alliance at least, even if the US does not trust Stalin and the rest of the USSRs leaders.

The ANT 40 is actually one design I've considered (the others being the Bristol Blenheim and Junkers Ju-86) as all three were fairly well exported in the late 30s and all fit most of the roles that Sieran would have. Another key factor for bomber selection is that the airframe has to also be able to be used as a transport or airliner as resources are limited and air travel is the only way to access much of Sierans interior beyond the rivers and railways.

As you also mention, there are plenty of interesting combinations that could be trailed to see how they work (or not as the case may be).

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"The first rule is not to lose; The second rule is not to forget the first rule"

Here's something I've been meaning to finish for a while, the second batch of the R 00 series of destroyers, rechristened the R 21 class;



After the initial 20 destroyers of the R 00 were constructed, it was decided to improve the design for hull numbers 21-29 with changes deemed necessary or seen as incremental improvements. The basic hull remained unchanged other than the slight flaring and raising of the bow to improve seakeeping and the removal of the aft sponson gun emplacements. The rear set of torpedo tubes was removed and replaced by imported 2 pounder AA guns from the United Kingdom to improve air defense capabilities. The searchlight was repositioned and depth charge racks fitted to the stern with a total capacity of 12 charges.
The restricted hull space meant that coal bunkerage space had to be reduced to stay within stability limits and to offset the increased weight. Speed was also reduced from 22 knots to 20 as a result of the changes.

These vessels would only remain in active naval service until 1921 when they were made obsolete by newer designs. As their commissioning was only between 1914-15, this made them one of the shortest lived naval types in history.

This image depicts R 29 at her time of commissioning in June 1915. She would be laid up in 1921 and scrapped by 1928.

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"The first rule is not to lose; The second rule is not to forget the first rule"

Hm... I like it!
It's rather interesting to compare this destroyer with the other one. You can really see that the differances are quite small, but quite enough to make it a new ship.
Btw, no naming for smaller ships? While perhaps a small and comparatively unimportant matter, giving the ships, even destroyers, names is something that works very good for the morale for the crew. Several IJN DDs only had numbers until it was noted that the crews would fight better for a name than a number.
Also, I really enjoy reading these backstories. They make Seiran feel much more alive than AU's that only show you a drawing(I know, this IS a drawing forum, and I intend no offence to people who don't bother with backstories, but it makes the ships and the AU more interesting, IMO).

Nice ship. I like it too. And I will also ask about naming of smaller ships? (of course if You don't want to do it, then it's no problem)

Thanks for the feedback. I deliberately only wanted the changes to be small as it was more an incremental improvement of the original design than a new vessel (similar to the County, Kent and York cruisers of the RN).

In its early days most of the vessels in the SRN were not given names but only numbers. It was only after the second naval expansion in 1928 that saw the naming of all vessels in the fleet. By that time most of the original fleet was scrapped or decommissioned anyway.

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"The first rule is not to lose; The second rule is not to forget the first rule"

And now for something completely different;



The Oca (Wasp) class of motor torpedo boats were built in large numbers during the 1930s. With their powerful petrol engines driving twin shafts, the wooden craft were capable of a top speed of 45 knots in a calm sea state. Armed with two torpedoes of the same type used by the E series submarines, a single aft machine gun and a single rack of depth charges, they were lightly armed. Tactics were developed where flotillas of up to nine Ocas would carry out surprise night attacks upon enemy shipping by using their small size and speed to their advantage. In fact the majority of 'kills' scored against Japanese shipping during the Chinese support campaign were carried out by Ocas (the boats being disguised as ones sold to China).

The class were not without their problems. Their planning hulls and shallow draught which gave them their impressive performance made them lively craft in any kind of swell and some crews named their vessels the drunk wasps after the pitching and rolling actions. Their petrol engines also proved to be prone to vapor leaks which in the classes early days resulted in countless explosions. Later versions had improved below deck ventilation but nevertheless the odor of petrol fumes lingered in the below deck compartments for the entirety of the boats careers.

Despite these issues, the Ocas were to be Sierans most produced and successful MTB design until newer versions came along to replace them.

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"The first rule is not to lose; The second rule is not to forget the first rule"

I really enjoy these smaller crafts that you design! Despite that you make a capital ship-grade power, you still take time making the smaller boats. It lends a lot of credability.