Shipbucket

Here comes the next installement in the Roman saga: The Vindicatio class battleship.

In 1937, the Roman senate in their infinite wisdom continued their ever lasting mission to cut spending wherever possible. As a consequence, the Romulus class battleship, which was undergoing construction went under strict scrutiny. The report was not exactly favourably. The design was found to be deficent in both armor and arnament. The ship, however advanced lacked the same gunnery range as her rivals, and her armor would not withstand enemy 16 inch guns. Construction went ahead as planned, and a new class was reluctantly planned and laid down. The result was the Vindivatio class. The ship was larger, having the same number of guns, but recieving new, larger 16 inch guns with a range of 42 km, as opposed to 36 i the previous guns. The biggest change was the armor, not only was it thicker, but is also benefited from better steel quality and spaced pockets of liquids and air. The ship was only half a know slower, but had almost twice the range. Overall, the design was considered to be the most fearsome battleship ever built. The Vindicatio was commisioned in 1941, three sister ships would join her by early 1943.



Vindicatio Class, Republic of Rome, Battleship laid down 1938

Displacement:
60 231 t light; 62 995 t standard; 64 785 t normal; 66 218 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
918,50 ft / 870,50 ft x 128,00 ft x 37,00 ft (normal load)
279,96 m / 265,33 m x 39,01 m x 11,28 m

Armament:
12 - 16,00" / 406 mm guns (4x3 guns), 2 048,00lbs / 928,96kg shells, 1938 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
20 - 5,00" / 127 mm guns (10x2 guns), 62,50lbs / 28,35kg shells, 1938 Model
Dual purpose guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on side, all amidships, 4 raised mounts - superfiring
96 - 1,57" / 40,0 mm guns (24x4 guns), 1,95lbs / 0,89kg shells, 1938 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
76 - 0,79" / 20,0 mm guns (38x2 guns), 0,24lbs / 0,11kg shells, 1938 Model
Machine guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 26 032 lbs / 11 808 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 100

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 13,5" / 343 mm 591,00 ft / 180,14 m 25,50 ft / 7,77 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 104 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
6,00" / 152 mm 591,00 ft / 180,14 m 10,00 ft / 3,05 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 18,0" / 457 mm 8,00" / 203 mm 16,0" / 406 mm
2nd: 2,00" / 51 mm 1,00" / 25 mm 1,00" / 25 mm

- Armour deck: 7,50" / 191 mm, Conning tower: 18,00" / 457 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 146 818 shp / 109 526 Kw = 28,00 kts
Range 10 000nm at 10,00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 3 223 tons

Complement:
2 029 - 2 639

Cost:
£30,460 million / $121,842 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 3 254 tons, 5,0 %
Armour: 27 408 tons, 42,3 %
- Belts: 8 731 tons, 13,5 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 1 312 tons, 2,0 %
- Armament: 5 950 tons, 9,2 %
- Armour Deck: 10 789 tons, 16,7 %
- Conning Tower: 626 tons, 1,0 %
Machinery: 4 020 tons, 6,2 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 25 449 tons, 39,3 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 4 554 tons, 7,0 %
Miscellaneous weights: 100 tons, 0,2 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
107 278 lbs / 48 660 Kg = 52,4 x 16,0 " / 406 mm shells or 18,6 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1,06
Metacentric height 8,2 ft / 2,5 m
Roll period: 18,8 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 75 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0,65
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1,50

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
Block coefficient: 0,550
Length to Beam Ratio: 6,80 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 29,50 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 47 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 28,76 degrees
Stern overhang: 25,50 ft / 7,77 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 41,00 ft / 12,50 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 27,50 ft / 8,38 m
- Mid (50 %): 25,50 ft / 7,77 m
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 25,50 ft / 7,77 m
- Stern: 27,00 ft / 8,23 m
- Average freeboard: 27,39 ft / 8,35 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 69,6 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 189,5 %
Waterplane Area: 77 762 Square feet or 7 224 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 105 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 236 lbs/sq ft or 1 153 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0,96
- Longitudinal: 1,45
- Overall: 1,00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
Excellent seaboat, comfortable, can fire her guns in the heaviest weather

Looks alright Karle94,

I have been trying to identify the dual purpose directors for the 5". At least 4, possibly 6 somewhere?

There are 4 primary and 5 secondary directors.

The 5 secondary directors are the simple rangefinders (4 on the bridge and 1 between aft funnel and aft main director) ?

I do not think they would be able to function as dual purpose directors for your 5".

An interesting design, nice sleek lines. Perhaps it hasn't got Latin flair, but it looks good.

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

The secondary directors are more for AA tracking, but they can also be used against ships at medium range (10-15 km.) Most of the tracking of ships are done with the gunnery assistance radars on the three main directors, in addition to that, the large air search radar, though a little unreliable when used on surface ships, can spot ships and be used for targeting. The poins is, even without the primary directors for the secondaries, there is rendundancy built into the ship, so it can work, even with a few of her systems destroyed. Can you guys guess which ships I used for influence when I made this ship?

Nice design. Well done!

Looks like a combo of Bismarck and Montana in '42. Very nice work.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich." -Napoleon Bonaparte
"Dulce bellum inexpertis." (War is sweet to those who have never fought.)

There is also some Richelieu, Jean Bart and North Carolina/South Dakota/Iowa/Montana plus some unique stuff I added.

Here is the Vindicatio as she appeared in early 1942. She recieves one pair of 20mm guns at the side of the bridge, and another pair on the upper fire control station. She is painted in all gray, as per Atlantic fleet standards. To increase her efficiency in the quite often stormy and foggy Atlantic, she recieves two surface search radars on top of her two masts.