Shipbucket

An amazing set of drawings, all so real like, as if it was a real world country.
Very well done Garlicdesign

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Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"

Wow, really, really nice, GD. Great work already, looking forward to WWII!

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Public Service Announcement: This is the preferred SB / FD font.

NSWE: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5695

Oh yes! Well done indeed!

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Salide - Denton - The Interrealms

I am not very active on the forums anymore, but work is still being done on my AUs. Visit the Salidan Altiverse Page on the SB Wiki for more information. All current work is being done on Google Docs.
If anyone wishes for their nations to interact with the countries of the Salidan Altiverse, please send me a PM, after which we can further discuss through email.

You're doing an awesome work with this AU and I'm looking forward to see more of it!

Hello again!

First of all, thanks for the laurels. Before I start with the Thiarian carriers, a little text:

Thiaria and the London Naval Treaty of 1930

The peace treaty of Norfolk left Thiaria with a much curtailed fleet of two dreadnoughts (both heavily damaged and in need of repair), two pre-dreadnoughts, and a ragtag collection of overaged cruisers and destroyers. Two unfinished modern light cruisers and ten destroyers were however allowed to be completed, which the Thiarians did till 1927; they also were allowed to replace the pre-dreadnoughts as soon as they were 25 years old, provided the replacements did not exceed a size of 20.000 tons. As the pre-dreadnoughts had been laid down in 1899, replacements were ordered in 1926 and 1927, respectively, and in the same programme, four modern light cruisers of 6.000 tons each were ordered. Sixteen small coastal destroyers of 750 tons - they were later partly disarmed to get them to 600 tons displacement - were built in the 1920s as well. By 1930, the fleet was relatively balanced with four battleships, eight cruisers and 36 destroyers and torpedo-boats. Profiting from a veritable oil boom nearing its peak, Thiarian economy was less affected by the Great Depression than anyone else's, and it was obvious that right-wing groups found the time ideal for shedding the chains their nation had been struck into. With the Great Depression ravaging US and British economy, any forceful response to Thiaria renouncing the terms of the Norfolk treaty was impossible, even if the political will for such action was there, which was doubtful at best. Both Britain and the USA feared that the Thiarians might go on an unchecked building spree if her naval policy was not regulated by a mutually binding treaty that treated them like any other naval power. With much of South America in turmoil, particularly with the Brazilian revolution in full swing, the US considered Thiaria a stabilizing factor in the region; the Hoover administration was a little naive on that matter. Based upon these considerations, Thiaria was unanimously admitted to the first London fleet conference and re-entered the club of naval powers. The conference was a hard-fought affair; in the end, Thiaria was awarded one quarter of US or British tonnage, equalling 131.250 tons of battleships, 43.750 tons of aircraft carriers and 45.000 tons of heavy cruisers, plus 39.000 tons of light cruisers and 38.100 tons of destroyers. Koko still received no carriers, but a larger allowance in cruisers and destroyers. Brazil, which had been invited at Britain's insistence (although there was no chance that Brazil's economy could come anywhere near funding this huge amount of ships), was placed at one fifth of US strength; they ordered two modest 28.000 ton battleships armed with six second-hand 381mm guns from British stocks each in 1932 and 1933, which were built in Great Britain and subsidied by the British government, plus a carrier - a near-clone of USS Ranger - in the USA and four 8.500 ton heavy cruisers (Almirante Abreu-class, looking like an enlargened three-turret Amphion-type) in Great Britain. To further balance Thiaria's and Koko's growing might, Great Britain attained the exclusion of the dominion navies from her tonnage total and immediately started transferring older, but still usable ships to them. The Royal Indian Navy - consisting of a dozen rusty gunboats in 1930 - benefited most from this move, receiving the battleships Iron Duke, Marlborough and Benbow, the heavy cruisers Frobisher, Hawkins and Effingham plus the old light cruisers Dehli, Calcutta and Colombo and eight V- and eight S-class destroyers. As it had virtually no trained personnel, this move made it effectively a branch of the RN, which supplied 80% of its manpower and all officers in 1939. Australia got the battlecruiser Tiger, the small carriers Hermes and Eagle, the new heavy cruisers Canberra and Melbourne, the new light cruisers Sydney, Perth, Hobart and Brisbane, and eight old V-class and eight new Tribal-class destroyers, plus eight submarines (two O-class, two R-class, two River-class and two S-class). Canada was the only dominion showing no interest in maintaining a stronger navy; they did however accept the old carrier Argus and later built two heavy cruisers (Quebec and Ontario) to the same Vickers design that was offered to (and eventually accepted by) Brazil. They also received eight modern C-class destroyers plus four R-class and two River-class submarines. The small cruisers Durban and Capetown were transferred to the South African Navy and New Zealand received the small cruiser Dunedin. The British, which had called for the London Naval Conference in order to outlaw the heavy cruiser once and for all, not only failed to restrict foreign construction of this ships, but were also awarded the entirely unwanted right to construct seven additional heavy cruisers for their own fleet, which comprised four Surrey-type ships (Northumberland and Essex built to the original design, Surrey and Hampshire with their funnels trunked together like the Leanders) and three smaller ones (Lancaster, Somerset and Fife) identical to the Brazilian Almirante Abreu and the Canadian Quebec. They also had to reluctantly agree to exclude Thiaria from the battleship building moratorium, like Brazil, France and Italy. Rather than an unchecked building spree, the Thiarians thus went on a controlled one. They authorized five heavy cruisers in 1931 and 1932, two 35.000-ton battlecruisers and four big destroyer leaders in 1933 and 1934 and two fleet aircraft carriers and four light cruisers in 1935 and 1936. In addition, four fleet destroyers were ordered in every year between 1931 and 1936. Finally, the reconstruction of Thiaria's submarine force was started in 1931 with orders of the latest foreign developments in France, the USA and the Netherlands, from which several types of domestic Thiarian submarines were developed by 1936. In that year, the arms race which was to be contained by the LNT, was in full swing. While the battlecruisers and heavy cruisers adhered to the size limits (mostly), Thiarian light cruisers and destroyers exceeded them by 15 to 20 per cent apiece. By the time these excesses became public in 1936, all naval arms reduction efforts had failed anyway.

... and now, the first carrier:

Thiarian aircraft carriers

1. Fleet carriers

1.1. Aigean-Class

The Armistice 1918 and the Norfolk peace treaty of 1919 left Thiaria in possession of an unfinished battlecruiser hull which was not allowed to be completed as such, but which neither was subject of any regulations concerning its disposal. LT Antartach (Gaelic: Antarctic) was launched, christened and fitted with engines; her heavy guns were just under delivery. The hull was towed to Abernenui Naval Base and moored there awaiting disposal; in the meantime, she was used as a floating oil depot, barracks ship and stationary tender for destroyers, and also provided electricity for the base with her turbines. Apart from four cranes fitted two abreast amidships, she remained as launched, without any superstructure. Her operation in this function was unnecessarily expensive, and by 1928, she was moored in a remote bay and no longer used. She was struck and scheduled to be scrapped in 1929, but then saved when Thiaria was admitted to the London fleet conference and granted 43.750 tons worth of aircraft carriers. The Thiarian Navy launched a competition to design a 14.500-ton carrier, of which three could be built from the allotted tonnage, which eventually yielded the Realtbhuion-class; as an interim solution, they also proposed finishing Antartach as a carrier and use her as an aviation training vessel until the 'real' carriers were operational. Conversion started in March 1931 and was scheduled to be complete by June 1933; the preparation of plans was somewhat rushed, resulting in a very awkward placement of the eight 140mm anti-surface guns and sub-optimal vertical protection (the single heavy armoured deck deep in the hull was retained and not augmented, making the hangars very vulnerable). Various re-design efforts and problems with the state of the hull, which had deteriorated more than anticipated, pushed the completion till late 1935. As completed, Thiaria's first carrier LT Antartach displaced 27.500 tons and was good for 28 knots (her original turbines were refurbished, her boilers had to be replaced). Her original 293mm belt was replaced with a lighter 165mm one, her 120mm armoured deck was retained. Hangar deck and flight deck were unprotected, as were the hangar sides. Armament consisted of 8 140mm guns, 8 100mm AA guns and 12 old-fashioned semi-automatic 37mm AA guns, plus 32 13mm AAMGs in eight heavy quad mounts. Her two hangars had a clearance of 5,00 meters each, enough for her time, but insufficient to operate larger airplanes introduced late in the war (no practical problem however because Antartach was lost in 1942). As completed, she carried an air wing of three squadrons, totaling 32 CSCA T1S Condar two-seat scout fighters and 16 MCE F2M Sleibhin torpedo bombers. There was hangar space to spare; a fourth squadron of Aigeanta T1T Clamhan single-seat fighters was authorized, but never embarked, because the operation of these very short-ranged machines was deemed unsafe due to their insufficient range. Even without the Clamhans, the air group was decidedly fighter-heavy; Thiarian carrier doctrine emphasized reconnaissance and protection from air attacks for the battleflet as a carrier's primary role, with strike missions assigned only secondary importance.

LT Antartach 1937


Antartach entered service in March 1936 and immediately went about her task of training pilots for the envisioned larger carrier force under construction. The other signatory powers of the LNT were informed that Antartach was not supposed to be used operationally and was considered a training ship only, which was a blatant lie and not believed by anybody. Thiaria's stance in this matter was one of the reasons for the failure of the second London fleet conference in 1936 and the re-start of the international naval arms race in 1937. Antartach was the only Thiarian carrier to embark on a peacetime journey showing the flag; she visited the US east coast in March 1937, crossed the Pacific for stops in Japan, Koko and the US west coast in August/September 1938 and made an European tour in June 1939, visiting Lissabon, Brest, Rotterdam, Kiel and Leningrad. In early 1938, one of the Condar squadrons was replaced with Caproni Atlantach F6C Anfa dive bombers, and in August 1939, the second Condar squadron was replaced with CSCA T3S Foiche monoplane long-range fighters, giving her a much more balanced Air Group. When Thiaria entered the war in the wake of the Graf Spee incident, the second Thiarian carrier LT Stoidiaca was already in service, and Antartach was assigned to the 2nd Fleet, consisting of three older battleships and their escorts. On January 16th, 1940, this force met Force L, a powerful British fleet of approximate equal numerical strength, but a significant edge in individual quality of the battleships involved. The British had a single carrier attached, the rebuilt former battlecruiser HMS Renown, whose Air Group was inferior to Antartach's both in numbers and airplane quality, and held their planes back to fend off a Thiarian air attack; true to their doctrine, the Thiarians did the same, with the absurd result that no airstrikes were flown before the British battlecruisers HMS Howe and HMS Rodney managed to outrun the hopelessly outgunned Thiarian battleships and sink one of them, along with two heavy cruisers. Another battleship was severely damaged. Only then did the Thiarians launch an air strike, forcing the British battlecruisers to evade and saving the remnants of their battlefleet. In the weeks after this defeat, Antartach was in action continuously, being assailed by an ever-increasing number of British warships as Churchill utilized the slack in naval operations during the northern-hemispheric winter to feed every available asset to the South Atlantic theatre. On February 11th, 1940, the first genuine naval air battle of the war occurred, where Antartach had to face the combined might of three British carriers (the converted battlecruisers Repulse and Renown plus HMS Unicorn, a sister-ship of HMS Ark Royal). Despite putting up a gallant fight, her Air Group was overwhelmed. The accompanying Thiarian battleship LT Crionna was torpedoed five times and sunk, and Antartach herself caught two torpedoes from Swordfish bombers and two bombs from Skuas. Only the sturdiness of her battlecruiser hull saved her, and she only barely made port, with 5.000 tons of water in her and the upper hangar deck all burned out. Repairs took the better part of a year. All four 140mm turrets were removed, and the 100mm single anti-air mounts were replaced with twin ones. The F2M torpedo bombers were replaced with more modern Nairn F3N Gaineads. LT Antartach rejoined Thiaria's main strike fleet just in time for the invasion of New Portugal. During the battle of Cairnmallacht on March 4th, 1941, Antartach's Gaineads torpedoed and sank the Brazilian heavy cruiser Almirante Vidal, and in the weeks after, her planes pounded Brazilian positions on New Portugal, till the Brazilians surrendered on May 6th. When Thiaria's communist party Argaidh Dearg left the Murchada government after the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22nd, 1941, and called for a general strike, Antartach was one of the Thiarian naval vessels whose crew mutinied and threatened to scuttle her. A group of officers managed to beach her near Abernenui, and she was re-taken by Marines in a bloody fight that caused over a hundred casualties. Refloating and repairing the ship, replacing the mutinous elements, restoring discipline and refreshing training took most of the remainder of 1941. On November 8th, 1941, Antartach covered the landing of the first wave of Thiarian Marines in the vicinity of Montevideo and flew several ground strikes against Brazilian forces advancing southward through Uruguay. She returned to Abernenui in January 1942 after enough land-based aircraft had been brought to Uruguay and spent two months under refit, receiving radar and replacing her 13mm AAMGs with 20mm Hispano-Suiza cannon (the number of guns per mount was halved from four to two, but the number of guns was doubled). She was the first Thiarian carrier to introduce the new Aeraon T6A-6 high-performance fighter in late March 1942; the smaller size of these planes made it possible to increase the fighter squadron to 24 machines, bringing the Air Group total to 56.

LT Antartach 1942


Antartach was back in action for the tactical invasion of Cricriuma on April 2nd, 1942, which resulted in the collapse of the Brazilian front and a sweeping Thiarian ground offensive that nearly kicked Brazil out of the war. She then was employed to escort troop convoys to Montevideo, but returned to strike Brazilian ground targets during another tactical invasion at Florianopolis on July 15th, 1942. After one month of R&R at Naomh Seoirse, she joined the main strike fleet for a sweep towards the equator, searching for a major US troop convoy which had been sent to stiffen the faltering Brazilians with fresh forces. On September 6th, they were intercepted by the British-Brazilian distant cover group, and the carrier planes of both sides pounded each other at extreme range. The Thiarian strike was detected early by a picket ship and suffered heavy losses against determined fighter resistance. The battleship HMS King George V was torpedoed twice, but survived, and the carrier HMS Illustrious shrugged off three bombs on her armoured flight deck. The Thiarians fared worse. The brand-new battleship LT Tirghra was heavily damaged, the heavy Cruiser LT Rinnfiain was sunk, and Antartach herself caught a lethal dose of three torpedoes and one bomb. She capsized during the night after the battle on September 7th, 1942.

Greetings
GD

Marvelous

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My Worklist
Sources and documentations are the most welcome.

-Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)
-Koko's carrier-based aircrafts of WWII
-Koko Kaiun Yuso Kaisha - KoKaYu Line (Koko AU spinoff)
-Koko - Civil Aviation

You really set up the standard for the rest of us!

Great drawing

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Shipbucket mainsite, aka "The Archive"
New AU project "Aravala"

A sad end to a good looking early carrier.

Excellent, beautifully drawn carrier! I like the detail on the wooden deck.

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>"Emotions are prohibited." —YoRHa No. 2, Type B ("2B"), NieR: Automata
>"Wow, if I wasn't a hardened killing machine, that mightta hurt..." —SSgt. John Lugo (1st SFOD-D), Spec Ops: The Line