Shipbucket

Thanks for the comments.

Thanatos Class Destroyers.

A departure from the split level ships of the past. A new flush deck design was produced that could be applied to destroyers, destroyer leaders and other escort vessels. Tough and dependable ships the original 25 Thanatos class with the 5 Shark Class made up the five leading flotillas for escorting the fleet units. The last of the class were completing in 1939 on the outbreak of war. Rather than design a new class of destroyer several repeat orders were placed for these destroyers and the escort offshoot. Added to the original 25, orders were placed for another 35 units.



Displacement: 1750 tons standard, 2400 tons full load.
Dimensions: 349 x 36 x 13 feet
Machinery: 2 shaft, geared turbines, 40,000shp
Speed: 35 knots
Endurance: 4500 miles at 15 knots
Armament:
4 x 5" (2x2)
8 x 40mm (1x4 2x2)
6 x 25.4mm (3x2)
Torpedoes: 8 x 21" (2x4)
Crew: 185

Fates and Losses:

-------------------------------------------------------


Shark Class Destroyer Leaders.

Designed and built as Leaders to the Thanatos class destroyers, the Shark class were essentially enlarged versions of the Thanatos to take the extra turret forward, which also had the effect of producing extra superstructure where the Captain 'D's staff could be located. On the outbreak of war, further orders for a further eleven of the class were placed.



Displacement: 2150 tons standard, 2700 tons full load.
Dimensions: 372 x 37 x 13 feet
Machinery: 2 shaft, geared turbines, 44,000shp
Speed: 35 knots
Endurance: 5000 miles at 15 knots
Armament:
6 x 5" (3x2)
8 x 40mm (1x4 2x2)
4 x 25.4mm (2x2)
Torpedoes: 10 x 21" (2x5)
Crew: 215

Fates and Losses:

Nice DD and DDL!

Like the destroyers but are they not more 45 than 40 ? (they just look to good to me )

-big for a completed in 39 DD/DDL
-the AA fit is massive for any pre war DD/DDL
-low LA fire power 4x5"

Thanks for the comments guys.

JSB: It is a problem when you change from stepped deck to flush deck that the ships then look 'modern'. There was no reason why the flush deck units can't be built earlier, just nobody had done it yet. The 4x5" is pretty close to what the other ships of the same time period had, US Benham 4x5" in singles, UK 'I' class 4x4.7", then the DDL is equivalent to the UK JKN, the 5x5" US ships and the Jap 6x5". I am trying to keep the numbers reasonable for a navy which has 8 BB's & 4 CV's at wars start, so about 30-32 DD's for escorts would be about right, and since I'm quite ruthless, I sink half of the BB's in the first couple of years.

The original AA was 12x25.4mm (1") in six twin mounts. The twin/quad 40mm comes online 1938+

I was just thinking that,

1) your size 2100t SD v Benham 1,491 tons or Sims 1,570 t sd or RN J K N class at 1,690 t SD (or even Tribal class at 1,850 t sd)
(looking more closely you might just need to be willing to ditch the treaty's early like the IJN as they got to Kagerō-class at 2000t sd ?)

2) re guns I was just thinking that comparing it to the small ship is wrong you should not compare it to the Tribal class with 8 guns even through its significantly smaller ?

3) re AA I would think even 2x2 1.1" would be 'good' for 1940 ? only Rn had that others are going with .5" and such ?

It could also be that I have estimated the tonnage wrong. Generally I find a ship with the same dimensions and hull type and use the tonnage figures from that. I think I did those two late at night with a bit more 'guess' than actual figures. The DD is about same size as R-Z/Ca war built DD's while the DDL is about the same size as the LM DD's. I will have a look at the displacement figures for those classes and amend accordingly. With the Tribals they only have the one bank of torpedoes to compensate for the extra gun power.

Looks good, reminds of Italian designs.

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

Altered Displacements: Thanatos 1750/2400. Shark 2150/2700

AWS Hercules Class Battleships.


Atlantis had 70,000 tons of Battleship allocation left. This could be split into 4 x 17500, 3 x 23,300, 2 x 35,000 ton ships. All sorts of designs were produced for each of the categories, but the Admiralty was adamant it wanted better ships than the previous Dionysus class. In storage Atlantis still had the four triple 16" left from the Athena class conversions. It was impossible to get a balanced design with nine 16" on the 35,000 ton limit. What could be done however, was to use the same main armament fitted to the Dionysus class i.e. 2 x 3 - 16". Using the extra 5,000 tons of displacement to provide better armour and still keep a reasonable speed.



Displacement: 35,000 tons standard, 44,400 full load
Dimensions: 700 x 104 x 28
Machinery: 4 shaft, geared turbines, 130,000shp
Speed: 28 knots
Endurance: 12,000 miles at 15 knots
Armour: 15" belt, 8" deck, 14" turrets
Armament:
6 x 16" (2x3)
20 x 5" (10x2)
40 x 40mm (8x4 4x2)
20 x 25.4mm (10x2)
Aircraft: 3
Crew: 1450

AWS Hercules (1938) Record and Fate:

AWS Hephaestus (1939) Record and Fate:

The hercules actually brings to mind an early iowa with the end chopped off behind the last turret and replaced with the end of the richelieu. Which looks pretty rad, and probably packs a punch, and can probably have lots of AA fitted later in the war