Shipbucket

hi. not much to say, other than its done. dont like it, but might as well submit it cause i wasted time on getting it done.

When the requirements for this challenge were set, there were some complaints that all the ships would get the same arrangement due to 'too restrictive' rules, and there would be no room for creativity in this challenge. I have now forgotten who were the people discussing this, and it does not matter, but since I am known for doing unconventional stuff.......
I decided to take a Dutch real life ship that was already barely a pre-dread, and decided I wanted a different arrangement. Below is the result of my madness..... This might hurt my chances in the challenge, but it was fun to think out and draw.


The RNLN had an issue. They had vast colonies in the east indies, protected by light armoured cruisers, but their possible opponents had battleships. Their facilities and funding did not allow a much larger ship to be operated though, so there was little chance of actually opposing enemy battleships. This meant a problem, because the Dutch wished to remain neutral in any conflict in the area, which was impossible if you could not at least deny other nations the use of your waters and ports. So, it was proposed to build a ship that was not much bigger then the armoured cruisers already in service, but had the guns and armour to deny more powerful ships the use of the waters of the Dutch East Indies.

Thanks to the tactical advantage the Dutch ship would have in those (home) waters, it was decided to give the ship an focussed forward firepower arc for the main weapons. This meant that the engine room was wedged between 2 boiler rooms and the 2 single 28cm turrets were placed forward, with the battle conning tower wedged in between. In addition to that, the ship was armed with 4 150mm guns and 10 75mm gun mountings.

The ship could reach 18 knots on 2 engines (2 shafts) and 6 coal fired boilers. (4 forward, 2 aft). The displacement was 6600 tons.

_________________
Drawings are credited with J.Scholtens
I ask of you to prove me wrong. Not say I am wrong, but prove it, because then I will have learned something new.
Shipbucket Wiki admin

Laid in 1905 but commissioned in 1908, Meurthe was the third Aveyron class vessel. Her life started as plans for an ACR to counter the growing threat of large converted liners capable of going 20-22 knots for days on end. Under naval law, the Congress would not fund any vessel larger than an ACR, as such the navy had consisted mostly of monitors and armored cruisers, and being that battleships up to this point generally were slow and short ranged there was little threat of European battleships appearing off the Straits of Florida and Yucatan Channel. This left enemy ACRs and large merchant conversions as the early threat and only threats that could keep up with the Louisianian main fleet. However, growing concern over protection of shipping from the Congo Colony and its proximity to European thoroughfares presented a risk of feasible European battleship confrontation given the large number of neighboring colonies and its short hopping route from Europe. The outright requirements for the newest ACR being to out shoot and out endure any confrontation with enemy cruisers while being able to out run down large liners, but still being able to serve as a battleship should the need arise. Range requirements of going directly to the Congo and back alongside the high speeds meant unlike the previous class which only used high-speed steam engines, the Aveyron class would have to be oil fired like the torpedo boats to be able to have the legs to reach the Congo, but this also meant additional belt armor would be require to make up for the loss of coal bunkers, yet further compounding the ever increasing growing pains placed upon the designers. When finally approved by congress the class size was reduced from 4, but even so, they were the most expensive class of ships to date passed through congress. {More story coming}

Specs:
Displacement:
Light: 14000ton
Normal: 18500ton
Max: 21500ton
Length: 162.54m
Beam: 21.94m
Draft: 8.45m/9.55m Normal/Max
Boilers: 37000hp oil fired
Machinery: 8xHighspeed non-reversible reciprocating engines on generators
Trials speed:24knots
Range: 16500Nm @13knots

Armor:
Main Belt: 278mm
Ends/Upper: 163mm
Deck: 27.09mm
Main TurretFace: 305mm
Main Barbette: 257mm

Armament:
Guns: 4x298mm
12x183mm
20x115mm
12x61mm
Torpedo: 4x488mm

It is now 00:04 UTC, several minutes after the deadline set by Gollevainen. The last pre-dreadnought challenge is now closed. Late entries will not be included in the poll, but feel free to post them here. 19 entries were posted before the deadline, and they now await judgement. The poll for this challenge can be found at the link below:

https://forms.gle/kQgw99ZqSCxmb1d96

The poll will run until the 29th of February, ending at 23:59:59 UTC.

The poll has been extended until the 3rd of March, ending at 23:59:59 UTC.

The poll for the last pre-dreadnought challenge has closed. 19 members of the community participated in the challenge, and 22 voted in the poll. Personally, I think everyone did quite well in this challenge. While drawing a pre-dreadnought battleship may not be as complex as drawing an aircraft carrier or a later battleship, it is certainly a step up from the gunboats of the last challenge. Variety is to be expected in this era, but it was extremely interesting to see real pre-dreadnought design philosophies emerge throughout the challenge. Many entries would not look out of place alongside contemporary battleships of a nation in the real world. Thanks to everyone who participated, and everyone who voted.



Congratulations to BB1987 for their drawing of the pre-dreadnought battleship Ketsui, which achieved first place. Only six points behind was Garlicdesign with Bunreacht. In third place, three points behind Garlicdesign, is TigerHunter1945 and the excellent Jiyuan. Competition was quite stiff at all levels, and this is clearly shown in the stacked bar graph below. I think it reflects positively on the evolving skill of our community. For those interested in another competition, the Cold War attack aircraft challenge can be found here.