Shipbucket

The Furious really trialled the 18" gun for the RN, so it is entirely possible that the early interwar designs Hood has done with 8x18" were to be the next step after the QE's. This would overmatch the current US and Japanese 16" designs and set off a new round of building warships of great size. Could be another challenge. 18" battleship to be completed before 1922-23, 40-45,000 tons.

I did have a few no Fisher, no WW1 in 1914 thoughts while I was doing the never-built R Class ships.

The 1914 programme had the two modified Rs and Agincourt, the modified QE. Then there is Design U (which I might draw sometime), which as we know from my interwar thread, re-emerged in 1920 as the 18in armed Design L I.
R & R would have been R Class battleships too.

Agincourt may have had an experimental triple fitted as might one of the modified Rs. I think this points to the possibility of a triple 15in turreted design for the 1915 or 1916 programmes. That may have been a fast battleship along the lines of Agincourt or Design U. Probably we would be looking at a Hood-esque design with three triple turrets and QE scale armour and probably 6in casemates.

The 18in monsters I've drawn are purely the result of Great War experience, if there was no war then I'm not sure we would see them evolve that way. I've a feeling the Admiralty might have stuck to the 15in unless the IJN and USN had gone beyond 16in. Of course had the German battleships gone to 16.7in then I guess the Admiralty might have gone sooner, but really no 18in gun was practical given the blast problems. Interestingly after 1914 most German capital ships were battlecruisers rather than battleships (the Sachsens being the only ones). So I think the RN would have ditched the slow super-dreadnought design like the Rs and concentrated on fast battleships.

_________________
Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

But would the Germans go for fast stuff without WW1 or did that just make them wake up to the value of a risk fleet when there is no 2nd opponent ?

Good point JSB. I don't know enough about German policy at this time to say, but it seems the bulk of the wartime capital ship programme went on the Hindenburgs and related designs.

_________________
Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

Had to redo the SS report - lack of a TDS on a ship this large, problems with freeboard, the fact the main belt didn't fully protect magazines and engineering spaces (plus belts were quite high IMHO), lack of miscellaneous weight and problems with end-on fire all disturbed me. This works a lot better but recoil is hideous even with trim adjustments...

*****

Courageous, RN Battlecruiser laid down 1917

Displacement:
33,124 t light; 34,917 t standard; 37,090 t normal; 38,829 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
820.00 ft / 817.00 ft x 92.00 ft x 28.50 ft (normal load)
249.94 m / 249.02 m x 28.04 m x 8.69 m

Armament:
12 - 13.50" / 343 mm guns (4x3 guns), 1,230.19lbs / 558.00kg shells, 1917 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
3 - 4.00" / 102 mm guns (1x3 guns), 32.00lbs / 14.51kg shells, 1917 Model
Quick firing guns in a deck mount with hoist
on centreline aft, all raised guns - superfiring
18 - 4.00" / 102 mm guns (6x3 guns), 32.00lbs / 14.51kg shells, 1917 Model
Quick firing guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, evenly spread, all raised mounts
4 - 4.00" / 102 mm guns in single mounts, 32.00lbs / 14.51kg shells, 1917 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, all raised mounts
Weight of broadside 15,562 lbs / 7,059 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 120

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 9.00" / 229 mm 600.00 ft / 182.88 m 15.00 ft / 4.57 m
Ends: 3.50" / 89 mm 80.00 ft / 24.38 m 15.00 ft / 4.57 m
137.00 ft / 41.76 m Unarmoured ends
Main Belt covers 113 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
2.00" / 51 mm 600.00 ft / 182.88 m 30.00 ft / 9.14 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 10.0" / 254 mm 8.00" / 203 mm 8.00" / 203 mm
2nd: 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 2.00" / 51 mm
3rd: 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 2.00" / 51 mm

- Armour deck: 2.00" / 51 mm, Conning tower: 10.00" / 254 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Hydraulic drive, 4 shafts, 138,065 shp / 102,996 Kw = 30.00 kts
Range 6,900nm at 14.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 3,912 tons

Complement:
1,336 - 1,737

Cost:
£6.367 million / $25.469 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 1,945 tons, 5.2 %
Armour: 9,871 tons, 26.6 %
- Belts: 3,512 tons, 9.5 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 1,332 tons, 3.6 %
- Armament: 2,742 tons, 7.4 %
- Armour Deck: 2,045 tons, 5.5 %
- Conning Tower: 240 tons, 0.6 %
Machinery: 5,061 tons, 13.6 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 15,897 tons, 42.9 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 3,966 tons, 10.7 %
Miscellaneous weights: 350 tons, 0.9 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
50,324 lbs / 22,827 Kg = 40.9 x 13.5 " / 343 mm shells or 6.3 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.19
Metacentric height 6.1 ft / 1.9 m
Roll period: 15.7 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 39 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.91
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.01

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise aft of midbreak
Block coefficient: 0.606
Length to Beam Ratio: 8.88 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 28.58 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 49 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 30
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 0.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 3.00 ft / 0.91 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 29.00 ft / 8.84 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 27.50 ft / 8.38 m
- Mid (50 %): 27.50 ft / 8.38 m (27.60 ft / 8.41 m aft of break)
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 24.00 ft / 7.32 m
- Stern: 24.00 ft / 7.32 m
- Average freeboard: 26.50 ft / 8.08 m
Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 109.1 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 209.5 %
Waterplane Area: 55,282 Square feet or 5,136 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 103 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 194 lbs/sq ft or 946 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.98
- Longitudinal: 1.20
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is adequate
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent