Thiaria: Other People's ships

Garlicdesign

Post subject: Re: Thiaria: Other People's ships

Posted: December 19th, 2014, 10:00 pm

Posts: 1071
Joined: December 26th, 2012, 9:36 am
Location: Germany

Hello again!

USS Enterprise and USS Independence - My first attempt at US ships. To our US fraction: Please don't send the marines to kill me for poaching in your garden, it's only AU...

Although the US Navy had some capable large armoured cruisers, by 1906 they became aware that they would be outmatched by Japan's Tsukuba and Ibuki-classes. These ships were felt to give Japan the opportunity to hit US possessions in the far east with overwhelming force without having to commit their battlefleet. The Navy argued for an armoured cruiser version of the upcoming Michigan-class battleships in 1907 to counter these threats, but initially was not listened to by President Roosevelt although a fully developed design was presented to him in late 1907. Then Thiaria emerged as a major force to be reckoned with by defeating Brazil early in 1908, and now the President recognized the need for some large all big gun cruisers to look after US interests in that area. The 1907 design was chosen with only minor modifications and two units were ordered for begin of construction in December 1907; the Delaware-class battleships were postponed till mid-1908. The 165m long cruisers displaced slightly less than Great Britain's Invincible and were unique in being the world's only all-big gun battlecruisers with VTE engines; at 24 knots, they were also the slowest battlecruisers of all time. On the plus side, they were better armoured (203mm vertical over magazines and 178mm over machinery spaces) and carried their main artillery in superimposed twin turrets arranged as on USS Michigan. After an average building time of 41 months, both ships were commissioned in 1911 and received the names USS Enterprise (CB-1) and USS Independence (CB-2); at that time, they looked like this:
[ img ]

As US-Thiarian relations quickly returned to their (at that time) usual cordial nature, both ships were deployed to the Pacific and made several far-ranging cruises to show the American flag. With Japan's Kongo-class behemoths not yet ready, Independence and Enterprise were the mightiest ships in the Pacific prior to 1913, despite their antiquated appearance. When the first world war broke out, both remained with the US Pacific fleet; by 1915 they were the sole US dreadnoughts in the pacific. When the USA went to war against the Mexican Empire in the summer of 1916, these battlecruisers were among the few US ships with fully worked-up crews and played a prominent part in the naval campaign against the Imperial Mexican Navy. Although the USN fared rather disastrously during most of the conflict, Enterprise and Independence made a good impression; they destroyed the small Mexican pacific squadron at Acapulco, then transferred via the Panama Channel to the Caribbean and were instrumental in bullying the Cuban government to close Guantanamo Bay to the Mexican fleet. Unlike many other US capital ships, Enterprise and Independence came through the Mexican war unscathed. After the US entered the First World War, they deployed to the North Atlantic for convoy escort duty; an offer to attach them to the Grand Fleet was rejected by Admiral Beatty in his usual tactful manner as 'these slugs would only slow me down'. Their wartime service was relatively uneventful. By late 1917, both had received AA guns, a new searchlight arrangement, additional protected platforms around the mast and rangefinders; USS Independence also received a rather fanciful camouflage paintjob.
[ img ]

Both fell victim to the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty and were scrapped fortwith.

Next: US battlecruisers, second generation - USS America, USS United States, USS President and USS Congress

Greetings
GD

Last edited by Garlicdesign on February 14th, 2017, 7:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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