Shipbucket

Aphrodite Class Cruisers.

The Aphrodite class kept on with the 5.5" main armament of the previous Weapon class cruisers. The new ships were much bigger, more armament, more speed. An all round improvement. At 5,250 tons and 495x51 feet they were of a size with the British and German ships of the time. Ten 5.5" and six 47mm comprised the gun armament, while the torpedoes were the new 21", an improvement over the Weapon Classes 18". The propulsion plant went out to 58,000shp which produced 32 knots.



When these ships arrived at Rosyth in early 1915, they were the fastest cruisers available, and were made Flotilla Leaders with the Captain 'D' aboard. The ships were involved in all the Battlecruiser actions of 1915-16. Because of this all four ships had a hard war. Gunfire damage was received by all ships. After the end of WW1 the ships did not remain in service past 1925. For a short period they replaced the Ocean class as training ships, but all had been retired and scrapped by 1930.

Ooooo, Sexy and sleek... That's one nice looking Cruiser you've got there Krakatoa

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https://discord.gg/5PHq8Dk
My artwork is posted here: https://www.deviantart.com/adenandy/gallery/all

Hermes Class Cruisers.

With the completion of the Aphrodite in early 1912 and its acceptance trials, The Atlantean Admiralty ordered a further eight of the class to a new layout. While the Aphrodite's were armed with 10 guns only 7 could fire to either broadside. The Aphrodite introduced the twin open 5.5" mounting, with one being fitted in A position. The only way to get a better broadside with the 10 gun armament was to mount them in 5 twin mounts on the centreline. On completion of the first two units in 1915 they also sported 4 x 75mm AA guns, another first for Atlantean ships. The torpedo armament was reduced from 8 to 6, with the four twins being replaced with two triples. What most distinguished these ships from the earlier Aphrodite's was the change from coal to oil firing propulsion systems. On a slightly increased 5,300 ton displacement, the ships were much improved.



By the time the first pair of Hermes class cruisers reached Scapa Flow in mid 1916, the fun was over. While some smaller battles took place between light forces of each side, the Hermes war was peaceful compared to the earlier Aphrodite's class. By wars end the ships were still as good as new. These ships and the later Apollo class formed the back bone of the Atlantean cruiser force for the next ten years till the first of the 'Treaty' cruisers started completing. By 1935 the ships were starting to show their age. With the rumblings in Europe, and the wars in the East, Atlantis had no ships to spare, so the Hermes class was to be rebuilt to act as an Anti-Aircraft Escort to the bigger fleet units. The remaining seven ships of the class were refitted to the new equipment from 1936-1939. The only loss was the Hermes itself which was lost to a U-boats torpedo in 1918.

The new armament featured four twin 5" DP guns, one by quad 40mm cannon, 6 x 25.4mm cannons.

Nice work so far with this AU Krakatoa, these are nicely believable ships, with a good backstory for it all.

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Would you please not eat my gun...

So we have now reached the point where the ships being built are more than likely to last through both WW1 and into WW2. Battleships, Cruisers, Destroyers and the first fumblings with ships to support wheeled aircraft. I have cast an engineering genius into the Atlantis mix with Alexander Vermuyden and his ideas. I have let Vermuyden build better equipment 2-3 years in advance of the Real time line for some things, while with others I follow the time line but with improvements that give the Atlanteans a slight edge. Example, Turbines at same stage, but with slightly better boiler technology to make better use of the power that the turbines can produce. I'm trying to walk a fine line between believable events and ships, and too much too soon.

I am still debating the battlecruiser problem, having given the Atlanteans a speed advantage for their battleships, do they need battlecruisers? I am more willing to go the German way with less gun power, decent armour and speed (or even better speed). A bit more thought required. I might just build the ships and see what I end up with.

Some interesting designs here and nice looking ships.

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

I like the Hermes AA rebuild, sleek-looking and a very good use of the hulls...

While the series of cruisers were being built, destroyer production had been put on hold. Atlantis was not close enough to any potential enemy for Torpedo Boats to be a menace to home shores. The cruisers would be able to fulfil escort duties to the capital ships while the numbers of those ships remained small. So a gap of 7 years between the designing and laying down of the Lion class and the completion of the next Anax class ships took place.


Anax Class Destroyers.

The new Anax Class was designed to have exceptional seakeeping qualities. All around Atlantis (except to the North) was very deep water where heavy weather could be encountered on a regular basis. A new 5" gun had been designed and built, lighter and easier to handle than the 5.5" on the cruisers but with more punch than the earlier 75mm/90mm guns fitted to the earlier ships. This gun would continue to be the destroyers main armament for the foreseeable future. The new triple torpedo mounting was to be used with two mountings being fitted. The armament was rounded out with 4x47mm guns. The first ship was completed in late 1913, with the first three sisterships completing in early 1914. This was to be a large class. First thoughts were to change the design after the first eight but the Atlantean Admiralty decided that on the outbreak of war that the design would be fixed for ease of production and that instead of four per year, production would be increased to twelve per year. Eventually fifty of the handy craft were built between 1913 and 1918 of which 41 survived the war.



Of the nine WW1 losses, six were to mines, of which four were mined and lost on the same day when operating off the Dutch coast and encountering a newly laid minefield. The other three, one was lost to stranding, one to a U-boat torpedo and the last was sunk at Jutland when in action with German destroyers while screening Beattys battlecruisers.

Of the remaining 41 only 22 made it to the second world war. These destroyers were worked hard during WW1 and it was only the ones completed from 1916-1918 that were in a good enough state to make it past 1935. The others were sold or scrapped. Very few changes had been made to the ships till 1935, when an upgrade package was worked out for the class to bring them up to date with the newer built destroyers. Dual purpose 102mm guns replaced the low angle 5" while an AA armament of 40mm and 25.4mm cannons was fitted. The ships retained their torpedo tubes till the start of WW2 when the need for long range convoy escorts became a high priority and some of the class were converted for that work. (Yet to be drawn.)

The remaining ships of the Anax class fought hard in WW2. Ten were converted to long range escorts (Geryon DDE's) and used in the North Atlantic, four were converted as AA escorts and were used in the Mediterranean, while the last 8 were kept close to the original late 30's upgrade and were used on the Atlantis to Gibraltar and Atlantis to Britain shipping routes.



Of the 22 that started the war only 8 saw wars end.

10 LR Conversions, 2 were sunk in Liverpool harbour by bombs, 4 were sunk by U-boats defending convoys, 1 was sunk by long range Condor, 2 were sunk by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau defending HX-84 with the Jervis Bay. On the credit side, the ships helped to sink four submarines.

4 AA Conversions, All were sunk in the Mediterranean, 3 by bombs, 1 by U-boat.

Of the last eight only one was lost to a U-boats torpedoes in 1942 on the Gibraltar to Britain convoy route.

Ares Class Battleships.

Completion of the four Poseidon class by the end of 1909 gave Atlantis a good core of dreadnoughts. However the British already had 13.5" battleships under construction and would complete twelve of those ships while the Atlanteans complete their two Ares class. The Atlantean Admiralty was well aware that they just did not have the facilities or money to try to keep up with the major European powers in a building competition. What Atlantis could do was to build the best ships that their designers could think of. The two Ares class were laid down in 1910 and completed in 1914. With a standard displacement of 32,000 tons and a full load displacement of 35,500 tons, they were big ships and were the equal of any of their peers. First oil fired battleships for Atlantis, the ships had four shaft turbine propulsion of 90,000shp that produced a speed of 26.5 knots. The main armament was a handy 10x14"/45cal in two twin (B & X) and two triple (A & Y) mountings. Secondary armament was the 5.5" gun with 14 casemate mountings installed. On completion the ships had 8x75mm guns and these weapons were exchanged for 8x75mm AA guns during 1916-17. The armour had not been stinted with a 13" belt and 3" deck, 12-8" turrets and a 12" conning tower. With a length of 642 feet and 94 foot of breadth they were as big as Atlantis could build at the time. The Atlantean Admiralty shipbuilding docks only had four docks that could build large ships. Only two of the Ares class were laid down to allow the other two docks to be enlarged for the next generation of Atlantean battleships. Once the Ares were complete the docks they had been built in were also enlarged.



The ships had only just finished their trials and workup when the trumpets of war heralded the outbreak of World War One. With von Spees squadron still at sea the Admiralty kept their two brand new battleships at home. The two new ships were as fast as the two Invincibles that the British Admiralty had ordered to the South Atlantic to deal with Von Spee. When the British ships called in to the Port of Artemis to coal ship for the long run south, the two Ares class battleships and two Aphrodite class cruisers were there to join the force under Admiral Sturdee. The now Fleet headed South at best economical speed. The Invincible and Inflexible being coal fired went on to the Falkands where they wrote themselves into history. The four Atlantean ships being oil fired had to go to a port in Argentina to fuel. The Atlantean ships returned to the main base at Demeter having missed the chance of a lifetime. The two Ares class went to the UK where they joined the 5th Battle Squadron. The Hera and Queen Elizabeth missed Jutland being under refit at the time. The Ares was tail end Charlie at Windy corner and turned slightly earlier than ordered to avoid the firestorm that hit Warspite that was next in line. Ares covered Warspites moments of loss of control, putting regular broadsides into the 3rd ship of the German line (a German Konig class ship). Only 3 shells hit the Ares none of which pierced the armour. A week in port fixed the damage and the Ares was ready to go again. As history tells us, all the Grand Fleet did after Jutland was drills and patrols.

Back in Atlantis after WW1 the two Atlantean battleships formed Battle Squadron 1 with the two Zeus class battleships. These four ships would form the core of the Atlantean Fleet till the start of the new builds in the 1930's. The Ares class ships were slated for a major rebuild from 1936-38. Hera took slightly longer and returned to the fleet in 1939. The changes included the fitting of complete new fore and aft superstructures, aircraft handling equipment, eight twin 5" DP turrets, six of the latest quad 40mm, and 18 twin 1" (25.4mm) AA cannons. New armoured deck of 5.5" was fitted, which allowed the propulsion system to also be renewed while the armoured deck was up. 25 years of improvements allowed for a smaller power plant to produce slightly more horsepower, both ships now making 27 knots on 95,000shp. Only a half knot increase but the age of the old equipment meant that the ships had been speed limited to 24-25 knots for some years.

Both ships spent most of the interwar years doing economic zone patrols and long periods at the main base at Demeter. With the outbreak of war in 1939 the Ares and Hera joined the two Zeus class ships in interdiction patrols between Atlantis and the Pillars of Hercules. Joining the four battleships was the AWS Aphrodite a large CV whose aircraft were invaluable in checking and processing shipping passing through. During this period, 4 blockade runners were intercepted, one being captured the other three scuttling themselves. The two Ares class ships then joined the carrier Athena and were sent south to help the search for the Graf Spee. The Graf Spee was found and sunk by British forces and the ships returned north to Atlantis. 1940 found the two ships again with the Athena, patrolling the line Atlantis to Florida, hoping to catch the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau which had broken through into the Atlantic, sinking the Rawalipindi on the way. The S&G broke the line without contact. With the fall of France the three ships joined Admiral Sommerville's Force H based on Gibraltar. The first task was to put the French Fleet in North Africa out of action one way or another, or the best outcome would be for the French Fleet to join the Free French and fight on. The ships at Alexandria agreed to be demilitarised and eventually joined the Allies later. At Mers El-Kebir the French Admiral was intractable and it was his fault that the events spiralled out of control and ended with the French Fleet receiving its worst drubbing since Trafalgar. Thousands of French sailors died needlessly as French battleships and cruisers exploded and sank under the 14" and 15" guns of the Allied fleet. Only the Strasbourg escaped relatively unscathed being able to get to sea and run with the help of a smokescreen provided by two destroyers.

The next job for Force H was to neutralise the Italian Fleet and make the Western Mediterannean safe. Various sorties were made to see if the Italian Fleet wanted to come out and play. Finally the two fleets met off Calabria, ending in the Italians losing two battleships, one to gunfire of the fleet, the other by the Fleet Air Arm and Atlantean Naval Service aircraft as it tried to run for home. The rest of the Italian Fleet was left to Admiral Cunningham to damage and sink what was left in his daring attack of Taranto harbour.

1941 Saw the Ares, Hera, and Aphrodite working out of Scapa Flow to help close the gaps into the Atlantic. In company with the British battleships Majestic and King George V, the four battleships were providing distant cover over the Greenland Strait and the Iceland-Faeroes gap. The cruiser Norfolk reported contacts to the north, which resolved into four ships. The four Allied battleships headed northwest to intercept. Aircraft from the Aphrodite went in for a strike against the four ships (identified as Ludendorf, Bismarck, Moltke and Prinz Eugen), but only two bomb hits were achieved which did little damage in the face of withering AA gunfire. Inclement weather forced the grounding of aircraft on the Aphrodite, so the command went out "Form Battle Line" and the four Allied battleships headed off to intercept at 25 knots. The Norfolk was still in radar contact so the Allied forces new to the inch where the Germans were. Speed was reduced to allow interception after dawn, the four ships ploughed on getting closer to their meeting with History.

Dawn broke with low ominous skies and misty rain sweeping across the ships. Admiral Holland sat in his command chair, and waited, he knew the Germans were there 20 miles away and coming closer, they were just not visible yet. Fire orders had been given and the Allied ships were in position to cross the Germans 'T'. The latest squall blew past and an indistinct shape came out of the mist 12 miles away, 15 seconds later a second ship appeared, "Here they come" was the Flag Captains comment. The German ships opened fire and changed course to the west to bring all their guns to bear. Admiral Holland ordered "Open fire", and the four Allied ships fired on their targets. Ares and Hera had been given the battlecruiser Moltke and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen as their targets. At 23,000 yards the shooting was good from both sides. An early strike by the 12 gun Majestic roared down on the Ludendorf putting out of action the C & D turrets. Bismarck was firing well and hit the Ares several times, starting fires in the hangar area. Hera's third broadside hit the forepart of the Moltke knocking out the A & B 12" turrets and while the fatal damage was not visible two minutes later the fore part of the Moltke blew away leaving a hulk to be finished off by the Norfolks torpedoes. It was at this point that the Bismarcks fifth salvo came in on the Ares, passed through the deck armour and destroyed the turbine room. Ares speed bled away and the battle moved swiftly away. Hera switched targets to the Prinz Eugen which then being hit twice from Hera's 14" guns, was ordered by Admiral Lutjens to break away and make its own way to a port in France. This left the two German battleships facing the three Allied ships. The Majestic now proved why its 12 gun armament was so good, with six of 12, 15" shells hitting the Ludendorf. The shells put the undamaged A & B turrets out of action leaving the Ludendorf with no main armament to defend itself with. Admiral Lutjens had been killed and the Flag Captain ordered Bismarck to break away and act independently, the Ludendorf also turned to give Bismarck cover, sacrificing the Ludendorf to allow the Bismarck to escape. Admiral Holland ordered the Hera to go back and cover the damaged Ares, just in case Bismarck or Prinz Eugen came across the crippled ship. Majestic and KGV finished off the Ludendorf and set sail after the Bismarck through the heavy weather. The faster German ships escaped into the heavy weather, Radar was unable to pick them up either. Thus ended Atlantis' involvement in the Battle of Denmark Strait. The Hera took the crippled Ares in tow and escorted by cruisers and destroyers made it back to Scotland where repairs to the turbines could be undertaken.

Hera returned to Demeter for a six month long refit, to update the systems and give some needed furlough time to the crew after nearly two years of war. Two months later a jury rigged Ares joined the Hera at Demeter, Ares went straight into a repair dock where it would stay for the next six months. Hera was released first and was sent to join Force H in Gibraltar. Ares joined Hera in March 1942, and they were joined by Aphrodite in June 1942. Aphrodite replaced Furious that had been with Force H since the loss of Ark Royal in 1941. Various strikes were carried out by Force H on the Axis bases that could be reached by the Aphrodites aircraft. August 1942 saw the build up in Gibraltar of the forces that would carry out Operation Pedestal. Ares and Hera were to be part of the Battleship cover force, along with Majestic and Barfleur. As history tells us, Pedestal received lots of damage and losses, the Ares and Hera did nothing more than firing their AA guns, through to where the large ships withdrew back toward Gibraltar. 1943 saw the ships supporting the Allied landings in the Mediterranean. Ares again took major damage from a guided bomb. This time the Ares was laid up at Demeter as an accommodation ship - its war was over, most of the crew being transferred to the new ship Olympia then being fitted out. Hera finished out its Mediterranean service, then went to Britain to become part of the D-Day preparations. Hera supported Gold Beach and provided fire support to the Allied forces as they moved along the coast of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Hera was withdrawn to Demeter in December of 1944, where the Hera joined the Ares in reserve. Both ships were officially removed from the active service list in 1946 and scrapped.