Shipbucket

Auxiliaries are just as important to a fleet as combatants, but good source drawings are often hard to come by. I finally found a suitable one for the AO-1 Spindletop class oilers:



Thanks to Novice and the Merchant Ship thread in this forum.

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Redhorse

Current Projects:
Republic of Texas Navy
FD Scale F-14s

Uhm, I'd rather not have to open up paint.net to get to view the ship.

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𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐍𝐄𝐓- 𝑻𝒐 𝑪𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆

That's what went wrong....I'll fix it.

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Redhorse

Current Projects:
Republic of Texas Navy
FD Scale F-14s

I don't see even any link that I could potentially open in paint or whatever.

Only non-clickable "image" word.

When I clicked on the quote button I could see the file url for the image he was trying to show, and it had a .pdn (layered Paint.NET file) extension.

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𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐍𝐄𝐓- 𝑻𝒐 𝑪𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆

Nice ship Redhorse! Looking forward to see more!

TimothyC
Thank You for the information. Now it seems done anayway.

Nice looking ship! Looking forward to seeing the History of the Republic in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s!

-Matt

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

In the legislative session following the Treaty of Versailles, the Congress spent much time debating the future purpose, strength, and structure of the armed forces. By the close of session in 1920, the following limits and considerations were imposed:

Total end strength of 142,000 men on regular service.

For the Army: an end strength of 23,000 regulars. The Texas Militia would not be regulated, with an estimated end strength of over 46,000. The Army will organize into a corps with understrength divisions (augmented by militia brigades in time of war).

The Navy will have an end strength of 12,000, and the Marines set at 1400. The current fleet of 38 ships will expand, despite international pressure against such expansion, with growth centered around auxiliaries, destroyers, submarines, and cruisers. The limitations of its contribution during WWI are the driving force behind the Navy's changes for the next 20 years.

The Air Force is formally established with an end strength of 9300. It's small strategic mission is the defense of Texas airspace, but will contribute sizeably to the tactical missions required by the Army and the Navy. It will supply all aircraft required for both.

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Redhorse

Current Projects:
Republic of Texas Navy
FD Scale F-14s

The complete lack of armament seems rather odd to me, especially in a time when a gun was considered a perfectly capable ASW weapon.

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

Worklist

Source Materiel is always welcome.

In 1920 the Texas Navy proposed an ambitious construction program to coincide with the increase in her manpower. The strategists conferred for several weeks and examined their existing structure, their war experiences, and reports on enemy material and equipment. Several shortcomings were determined: first, and most glaring, was the unpreparedness for the requirements of anti-submarine warfare; second, the absence of auxiliaries to provision and maintain ships of lesser endurance; third, that Texas was not likely to enter into a stand-alone conflict in the future, but would more likely be drawn into the wars of her allies; and fourth, the complete underestimation of the potential of submarines as a weapon.

All Texas submarines designed before WWI were designed for coastal defense. The S-3 class, the oldest in active service had a combat radius of less than 400 miles. Their successors, the S-7 class, had a combat radius of just over 500 miles. Their endurance was extremely limited and their role was primarily engaging a hostile fleet if the capital ships failed to halt them.

Reports made after the war, when German U-boats were made available for examination, turned the Submarine force on its collective ear. The enormous potential of submarines beyond the submersible torpedo boat was abundantly clear - in the eyes of the Naval Staff it had been the u-boats that had tied down the bulk of the allied fleets, not the battleships or battlecruisers. Whereas the big guns had ventured out only once for what was an inconclusive exchange at Jutland, the submarines had been a near-constant threat.

Therefore after 1920 Texas subs, taking lessons from both victor and vanquished, are designed for those re-assessed operational requirements. They will have longer range, enabling them to venture into the Atlantic Ocean, carry more tubes and more torpedos, and have better seakeeping characteristics. The first venture on those requirements is the S-9 Class, with two laid down in 1921 and commissioned the next year.



Dimensionally similar to the American S-Class, and built by Electric Boat in the US, they were cosmetically similar to the German UB-III and U-111, which had been examined by Texan submariners after the war. They were single hulled, armed with 4 21-inch bow torpedo tubes and a 3-inch deck gun. They were also fitted with long range radios to enable communications between subs or surface ships. They were expected to have a patrol endurance of 21 to 30 days.

But their similarities to the American S-boats also brought similar shortcomings. The S-9s were hard on their crews, and were not very maneuverable in spite of their large rudders. With a full load of torpedoes their bows did not ride waves as gracefully as hoped, swamping the deck gun and making it unusable in anything but a calm sea.

But they were the first step to changing undersea warfare for the Texas Navy. Classes designed to similar characteristics were constructed and within a few years, the older coastal boats were replaced or relegated to training duties at the Submariners School.

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Redhorse

Current Projects:
Republic of Texas Navy
FD Scale F-14s