The Challenge

The NATO ASW Challenge was a Shipbucket challenge held in 2018. It was set up by Deskjetser. It can be found (as of July 2018) here: [1]

It was an ambitious challenge with an extensive rueleset which dared Shipbucket artists to design and draw a post first world war gun-armed capital ship. In order to create fair conditions for ships of various sizes and covering an extensive timeline, numerous categories existed, based on real life restrictions imposed by the Washington, London and Second London Naval Treaties.

The full ruleset can be seen below:

   Design a ship that meets the following requirements;

   Must reasonably meet the definition of a battleship or battlecruiser (i.e. BB caliber weaponry)
   Must be capable of no less than 28 knots (Trials speed counts)
   Date of design must be no later than the end of 1945 (Tech whether from an AU or not must reflect your design date)
   Date of design must be no sooner than the start of 1920 (Tech whether from an AU or not must reflect your design date)

   Ships of the appropriate nation must follow the treaties of the era;

   Ships of American origin
   Ships of British origin
   Ships of French origin
   Ships of Italian origin
   Ships of Japanese origin
   Ships of German origin
   Of the previous the following restrictions apply to the following ships;
   http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-089.php
   All treaties end effectively 1st September 1939

   The following exceptions apply to the following;
       Ships of German origin:
           Design date no earlier than 1928
       Ships of Japanese origin:
           Exempt from all restrictions from 29th December 1934 onwards
       Ships of Italian origin:
           Exempt from displacement restrictions from 26th March 1937 onwards
       Ships of all other national origin:
           Exempt from all restrictions

   Displacement is counted at standard displacement!

   Your submission must be a brand new drawing and will judged on the following categories; (Still subject to change)
       Combat capability:
           Surface defence
           Surface offence
           Air defence
           Manueverability
           Equipment
       Feasibility:
           Technologically feasible (Time period correct tech)
           Economically feasible (Cost and time to produce)
           Infrastructure feasibility (Docks and slipways)
           Structurally feasible (Weight for hull ect.)
       Drawing quality:
           SB Style guidelines
           Artistic flare
           General feel
           Originality

   One entry per person!

   A SpringSharp report is not required! However, the following stats are required, please lay them out in a block separate from any text paragraphs for easy reading; (Still subject to change)
       Displacement
       Dimensions
       Armour
       Armament
       Speed
       Equipment (Radars, planes, ect.)

The Judges Verdict

The challenge was judged by Rodondo and Charguizard.

The designs were graded on a scale of 0-3 (Zero being the lowest) on the following categories:

  Combat capability:
           Surface defence
           Surface offence
           Air defence
           Manueverability
           Equipment
  Drawing quality:
           SB Style guidelines
           Artistic flare
           General feel
           Originality

Additionally, they were graded on a scale of -1-3 (meaning points could be substracted) on the following categories:

   Feasibility:
           Technologically feasible (Time period correct tech)
           Economically feasible (Cost and time to produce)
           Infrastructure feasibility (Docks and slipways)
           Structurally feasible (Weight for hull ect.)

These scores were then tallied up meaning there was a maximum of 78 points up for grabs.

The winner was BB1987 with his Kamiyama-class, earning 75.5 points.

The following are the final rankings: