The Senshi class of heavy cruisers were, by all accounts, excellent ships for their time. Designed in the mid 1930s and first commissioned in 1938, they boasted an impressive main battery of fifteen 6"/47 duel-purpose guns in five triple turrets, sixteen 5"/38 duel-purpose secondary guns in eight twin turrets, 6" of main belt armor, and a top speed of 30 knots, as was standard for all battle-line ships of the time. However, despite their downright impressive anti-aircraft firepower by 1930s standards, the outbreak of war between Akitsukuni, the Empire of Huaxia, and the Saxalonion Empire rapidly demonstrated that there was still much to be desired when it came their, and indeed the entire fleet's ability to reliably shoot down the latest naval attack aircraft.
Experience during the Third Akitsukuni-Saxalo war and the fleet problems during the interwar period had shown that stopping a massed air attack was effectively impossible, and that aircraft carriers with their thin deck armor would only survive by operating relatively alone, and trying to find and strike the enemy carrier before they themselves could be found and sunk. However, it had always been the case that the main battle line, with the thick deck armor of the battleships and high maneuverability of the cruisers and destroyers, were not subject to the same degree of vulnerability. Now with the advent of more advanced aircraft, bombs, and torpedos, it appeared that this was no longer the case. The employment of RADAR and improvements to aerial command and control did somewhat alleviate this, by for the first time offering carriers the possibility of truly stopping a massed air attack with their combat air patrols before it reached them. However, this alone could not always be relied on, and at the same time as better carrier and aviation doctrines were being perfected, work also began on improving the anti-aircraft capabilities of the Navy's surface ships.
Full development began on an improved version of the Senshi class in early 1942, only months after the US's introduction into the war. The basic hull configuration was kept, but the triple Type 16 6"/47 gun turrets were swapped out for duel Type 19 6"/50 guns. Although at first the decrease from three to two guns per turret may seem counter-intuative, it was made worth it because it allowed for the installation of the advanced autoloaders used by the Type 19s, that could fire up to 17 rounds per minute. The size of the machinery these autoloaders required however was considerable, leading to the rather unusual turret shape used to accommodate them, and also resulted in a large increase in the weight and complexity of the turrets despite the decrease in the number of guns used. This was compensated for by increasing the length of the ships by about 70 feet, which combined with better machinery also allowed for a higher maximum speed of around 32 knots to be reached.
In addition multiple smaller improvements were also made, such as redesigning the superstructure, adding more 40mm anti-aircraft cannons, and improving the ship's fire control and electronic equipment, among dozens of other changes. Design work on the new ships would ultimately take a little under a year, with the lead ship USS
Taikyū (CB 181) being laid down in late 1942, though her Type 19 guns would not be ready to be installed until she was almost finished over a year and a half later. By mid 1944 she and several of her sisters had been commissioned, and they quickly began showing their worth as effective anti-aircraft ships, capable of downing even the most modern enemy aircraft. Subsequent refits in 1945 added more advanced radar gunlayers, and allowed them to even effectively intercept Huaxian suicide attacks.
With the end of the first part of the World War in early 1947 came a small degree of respite. However, despite the official cease-fire, no actual terms for the end of the war with Saxalon had been signed, and as such the concern that at any point the conflict might flare up again persisted. As a result, in the late 1940s the Surface Combatant Modernization Program began, which among other things involved several refits for the Taikyū class ships. These comprised of upgrading their electronics and fire-control systems, replacing the duel 5"/36 turrets with faster-firing duel 3"/50 turrets which promised to be more effective against the newest jet-powered attack aircraft, adding Type 5A1 launchers for the new Type 3A1 anti-aircraft heat-seeking missiles, redesigning some of their superstructure to accommodate new command and control systems, completely revamping her aviation facilities by removing her catapults, redesigning her hangar with a new elevator, and adding a helicopter landing pad, and a multitude of smaller changes as well.
With all said and done, the ships now had considerably more punch than before. Their Type 20 guns had been slightly modified to allow for the firing of the atomic anti-aircraft shells that now filled up the majority of their magazines, as well as the new experimental Type 8A3 guided anti-aircraft rounds, which allowed them to remain an effective weapon system even in the face of ever-faster and more capable enemy aircraft. They also received four fixed 21" torpedo tubes, capable of firing guided anti-submarine torpedoes. However, since the ships lacked a sonar system of their own, they would be forced to rely on datalinking to the systems mounted aboard other ships. Speaking of which, part of the upgrade process included the instillation of the computers and antennas needed for the Ījisu combat system, which allowed the ship to network her sensor and fire control systems with other vessels also equipped with the system, as a result massively simplifying the command and control process and allowing for a fleet of such networked ships to much more quickly and effectively mount a coordinated defense against enemy attacks.
General Specifications (Taikyū class, 1954 SCMP-II refit)
Length: 684.5 ft overall, 669 ft waterline
Beam: 75.5 ft overall, 70 ft waterline
Drought: 23 ft light, 27.5 ft maximum
Displacement: 13,500 tonnes light, 17,000 tonnes maximum
Propulsion
4x Kobayashi Drive Yards Type 95 steam boilers (25,000 shp ea.)
4x Kobayashi Drive Yards Type 232 geared steam turbines
4x Kobayashi Drive Yards Type 586 screws
Speed: 32 kts
Range: 10,000 nmi at 16 kts
Accommodation and Endurance
Crew complement: 1,200 crewmembers
Supplies: 30 days for 1,200 crewmembers
Underway replenishment: performed via cable-based unrep equipment in bays on both sides of the ship
Sensors, Electronic Warfare Systems, and Decoys
1x Baker Radio Systems Type 15A3 two-dimensional air-search RADAR
1x Baker Radio Systems Type 18A2 two-dimensional air-search height-finding RADAR
1x Evelyn's Electronics Emporium Type 12A5 two-dimensional surface-search RADAR
2x Baker Radio Systems Type 13A4 target tracking RADARs (on Type 34 directors)
6x Evelyn's Electronics Emporium Type 35A2 target tracking RADARs (2 on Type 36 directors, 4 on Type 45 directors)
6x Baker Radio Systems Type 27A1 target tracking RADARs (2 each on 3 Type 19 turrets)
2x Evelyn's Electronics Emporium Type 7A3 RADAR direction finders
Electronic Warfare and Decoys
2x Evelyn's Electronics Emporium Type 9A1 EWAR sets
Armament
5x2 6" / 50 caliber Type 19A1 automatic duel-purpose guns (2,200 rounds tot.)
8x2 3" / 50 caliber Type 35A8 automatic anti-aircraft guns (24,000 rounds tot.)
4x2 40 mm / 70 caliber Type 77A1 automatic general purpose machine guns (12,000 rounds. tot.)
2x Type 5A1 anti aircraft missile launchers (8 rounds. tot)
4x Type 29A3 530 mm side-mounted fixed-facing torpedo tubes (32 rounds tot.)
Small Craft Facilities
1x 4,000 sq ft flight deck aft
1x internal hangar aft (5 mediumweight rotorcraft tot.)
2x extendable boat handling cranes amidships
1x On-deck boat storage area amidships (2 large motor launches, 2 small motor launches, and single rigid-hulled dingy tot.)
Of course, the modernisation process didn't just stop in 1954. The recommencement of hostilities with Saxalo in late 1955 and subsequent island-hopping champaign eastwards towards the Ionian continent resulted in a return to the wartime economy of 1941-46, and as the need to screen ever-increasing numbers of carrier, battleship, battlecruiser, and amphibious assault groups from enemy air attack grew, a considerable number of 1940s era ships started being refitted with the latest anti-aircraft missiles, and the Taikyū class was no exception. The forward three 6"/50 turrets were removed, and in their place a new Type 9A1 twin-arm anti-aircraft missile launcher was fitted, along with the associated fire control equipment. In addition, the two Type 5A1 AAM launchers amidships were replaced with the new Type 12A1 AAM launchers for close-in defense, which fired Type 14A1 semi-active radar homing missiles that would prove much more effective than their heat-seeking predecessors. And finally, a Type 10 ASuM launcher for Type 3A1 anti-submarine missiles was fitted atop the barbet for the now-absent C turret, giving the ship some much-needed ranged ASW capability besides just relying on her rotorcraft. Unfortunately only one image can be submitted to the challenge, so this won't be in the final poll, but here she is in that configuration:
Thanks to everyone on the Discord server for their help in the design process, I couldn't have done this without you! And as always, any further feedback you have would be well appreciated.
PS. Because I know someone's going to ask, yes, that's a shipgirl on the first image. I listed her as a 'ship's mascot', though as with most things, that's not perfectly accurate. Despite officially allowing complete freedom of religion, and in practice never being particularly opposed to other faiths or the lack thereof, the Akitsukunian people are by and large subscribers of a Shinto-like religion that, among other things, describes a lot of inanimate objects as having souls, including warships. Now, by and large most people if asked wouldn't say they
genuinely believe that every ship has an invisible spirit in the form of a young woman roaming her decks, but nonetheless such things are very heavily inscribed in the naval tradition of the country. As a result, a lot of what we would consider unusual practices abound, and one of them is having a priestess paint a portrait of the spirt of any new ship that's launched, which will typically be used in the way of a sort of mascot for that ship, hence my decision to label her as such.