Shipbucket

Sounds like an idea that should work yeah. For military other than the guns she wouldn't have any other changes as far as I know other than a coat of grey paint? She wouldn't be fitted with fire control directors as many merchant vessels mounted with guns typically solely relied upon the guns own sights and the crews ability.

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

I think you'll want at least a handful as permanent military vessels during peace time in order to cover the navy's basic needs without disrupting civilian shipping.
I'd set it up like this:
During the winter the navy operates its own icebreaker force for routine duties such as keeping the naval harbours open, ferrying supplies to small outposts, some patrol work etc. The civilian IB fleet will be busy keeping the waterways open for merchant shipping, so every time you commandeer one of them yu risk upsetting a lot of shipping schedules, which is expensive and makes you highly unpopular.
Once the ice melts your need for patrol boats will rise drastically so you charter the now unneeded IBs, fit them with guns and off you go.
The treasury will be happy because the navy is saving money and the shipowners are paying tax, the shipowners are happy because their ships can work year-round and the tax rate is low since the navy doesn't have to maintain several dozen patrol boats that are only active for three or four months per year, the shipping companies are happy because their schedules aren't being upset all the time and the fishermen are happy because the navy has enough patrol boats to keep foreign fishing vessels off their turf.
All in all a happy solution.

Btw, will you show them at various stages during their life? Two 3in guns are plenty until the end of WWI, but after that I'd expect to see two or three 8mm MGs and by the mid thirties 12,7 or 20mm MGs.
You should also consider mines and possibly depth charges.

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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

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Source Materiel is always welcome.

Now that you describe it like that it does present a perfect case of how to utilise the vessels effectively during the average 3-4 months when the ports and rivers are not frozen over. A combined fleet then would make fairly decent sense as you pointed out. The shipping companies in particular have to be happy as they are the ones bringing in most of the nations foodstuffs.

As for the fleet size, minimizing costs is exactly what I am trying to achieve by combining vessels that can serve other roles where possible (minesweepers that double as patrol boats, Destroyers than can serve as minelayers, etc).

I'm planning on showing how they look after WW1 and then maybe do one for WW2 as well. The only difficulty I have is working out the location to mount a second 3in as the one on the bow is the only one I can locate currently.
By WW2 they would probably be fitted with either 20mm autocannons or MGs for AA defense. These would probably go on the upper deck and on either bridge wing.

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

You could move the aft winch further forward. That would also give the crane more useful deckspace.
By the 1920ies i'd expect their military fit to include a basic 1-2m rangefinder. The guns are still in local control, but now the gunners at least knows the range.
Also, remember that the entire number of IBs won't be available for patrol duties. Some will be in the yard and others will be doing tug or survey work (The historical summer occupation for many IBs)

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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.

I'll give that a shot and see how things look.
As for the number of serviceable units, I agree with you there. I usually use the ratio of 1 ship serviceable and 2 undergoing maintenance, refit or occupied performing other duties.

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

Well here is a Guryev class as they would have appeared during the Great War. Standard 3in QF guns were fitted fore and aft and the colourful civil paint schemes were painted over with standard warship grey with all individual vessel identification marks painted out.

In this guise the vessels featured local control only for their guns which when combined with their tendency to roll and toss in open seas tended to make them uncomfortable and crude patrol vessels ill-suited to the task but were nevertheless called into action to defend the approaches from any possible German raiders.

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

Well I've been absent from here for a while due to real life but finally able to catch up with things.
Lately with this AU I've been trying to develop its history somewhat deeper so whilst little drawing has been done, things haven't remained stationary.

My latest thought (which I'm putting out there for feedback) is that would it have been feasible for the Royal Navy to exchange two obsolete Pre-Dreadnoughts of the Centurion Class (HMS Centurion and HMS Barfleur, both of which were until 1905 serving on the China Station and in reality after that saw time in the reserve fleet before scrapping in 1910) in return for exclusive access to Sierans ports and coal for its vessels serving in the Pacific?

After all, by the year of this these ships would have been well and truly obsolete in the Royal Navy being too lightly armed and armored but for a new nation such as Sieran such vessels would complement the ex Russian Admiral Ushakov perfectly being small yet seemingly powerful with four 10in guns and also provide in return much needed trade to stabilize the new economy.

Any thoughts on this?



Just for interest there's a nice photo of HMS Barfleur.

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

Still trying to decide what kind of vessels the first nation built capital ships should be but something such as those above might work.

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

this au is of very high quality
considering the time of your independance a pre-dreadnought is probably your best bet like u say and if u cant create well enough relations with the UK i guess it could be possible but idk enough about diplomatic relations to be very sure
u may also consider building or buying armored cruisers such as designs similar to or including the Rurik or Gergios Averof or DUke of Edinburgh class or the Pensylvania class (I'm not saying u could acquire these vessels necessarily)

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Projects:
Zealandia AU
John Company AU
References and feedback is always welcome!

Well amongst the ships inherited from the ruins of the Imperial Russian Navy that survived Tsushima are the protected cruisers Oleg and Zhemchug, the unprotected cruiser Almaz as well as the coastal defense ship Admiral Ushakov and the destroyers Bodry, Grosny and Bravywhere. These ships are what everything that comes after them is essentially based upon unless they are built overseas.

Of these, Zhemchug is the newest vessel and probably a good basis to build future cruisers from (perhaps).

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