USA - Montana Class Battleship

[apdsmith]

Hi Paul_541,

A very minor nit-pick - you've updated the drawing to remove the turret rangefinders from the 1980s turret 1 as per BB1987 ... but the front view of this turret still seems to have rangefinders on it?

Regards,
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[paul_541]

Hi Paul_541,

A very minor nit-pick - you've updated the drawing to remove the turret rangefinders from the 1980s turret 1 as per BB1987 ... but the front view of this turret still seems to have rangefinders on it?

Regards,
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LOL. I am confused today... Corrected now.

[erik_t]

One can scarcely imagine the number of 3/50 you could fit on such a beast.

[apdsmith]

Oh, and I've realised I've not said yet, but this is yet another amazing thread. Thanks BB1987!

It's one mother of a ship, that's for sure ... you would not want to be anywhere near whichever beach the Marines are after when that thing shows up!

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[Hood]

This series just gets better, but a 1000ft battleship!! Phew, no wonder these beasts died off. How many docks in the US could accommodate a ship this big in the mid/late 1940s?

[heuhen]

This series just gets better, but a 1000ft battleship!! Phew, no wonder these beasts died off. How many docks in the US could accommodate a ship this big in the mid/late 1940s?

not many!, I believe. but I think if US did build them, then they would "Upgrade" there docks to. so the cost for the battleship and the cost of "upgrade" of the docks, should be under same.... money-table! that would make Montana more expensive...




compare it to Norway in around 1900-1940. They had just one military dock that could take the coastal defense ships. in a country that have one of the longest coastlines!

[BB1987]

I'm still refining the older drawings through an enless doublechecking and cross-examination of various sources. Colombamike sent me son interesting and useful "guiding sheets" although I'm slightly skepitcal about some thins, so the work drags on... (not counting Colo's constantly upgrading USN parts, I risk my drawings becoming obsolete the very same moments I post them )

Still, in the meantime I've manged to Brought the Scheme 3 and 4 to some sort of advanced WIPs (and the label BB-65 is not an error, there were no Illinois and Kentucky when the Montanas appeared on the drawing boards.)

[... edited, see posts below. for drawings...]

Scheme 4 shows a tentatively boat complement based on the one featured by the official 1941 USS Montana model.
Scheme 3 it's less advanced instead, as I'm finding some difficulties to fit a boat crane on her given the avsolute lack of space (I would end up impairing the auxiliary conning station, moreover there is no space for the same boat complement of Scheme 4).

If someone wants to land some suggestions, they will be welcomed.

[emperor_andreas]

Very nice work!

[Colombamike]

Colombamike sent me son interesting and useful "guiding sheets" although I'm slightly skepitcal about some thins, so the work drags on... (not counting Colo's constantly upgrading USN parts, I risk my drawings becoming obsolete the very same moments I post them If someone wants to land some suggestions, they will be welcomed.

I prefer that your work is progressing much more
Before launching a new "round"

I heavily advise you to draw the following versions:
- The Scheme 3 (6 February 1940) with 5"/38 & north-carolina/iowa 127mm config, quads 28mm & single 0,5" MG's
- The Scheme 4 (14 February 1940) with 5"/54 & north-carolina/iowa 127mm config, quads 28mm & single 0,5" MG's
- The Scheme 8 (15 March 1940) with 5"/54 and the final twin 127mm config, quads 28mm & single 0,5" MG's
- maybe a mid/late 1940 config ?, with quads 28mm & single 0,5" MG's
- Mid 1941-mid 1942 (my favorite one, the final true/real studied design), with quads bofor, single 20mm oerlikons & few single 0,5" MG's
- Mid 1942-mid 1943 (simply with more AA guns, only 40mm & 20mm)
- 1945 (completed by june-december (even early 1946), if effectively "laid-down" by late 1942/early 1943 after the early May 1942 order)
- 1948 (if effectively "laid-down" by late 1943 if re-ordered by late 1942/early 1943 before the july 1943 cancelation)
Waiting your next full round (V4 ?) of drawings

[Colosseum]

One thing to note is that the sky lookout chair and target designators are "mid-war" inventions that generally seem to come about in 1943 (though I could be (and usually am) very wrong about this).

Re: constantly changing parts sheets, I haven't "changed" any of the parts on it for a while - I've only been adding new stuff.

Re: colombamike's suggestions - they are just suggestions. You obviously aren't required to draw everything he wants. He is not the final judge on what's right either. His opinion carries just as much weight as any of ours does, but I am a bit tired of seeing the "I heavily advise you", "I want to see perfect", "I want to see most realistic design" comments from him... What's even better is that he waits until you have done a LOT of work to add his suggestions!

From Colombamike's large sheets, it's clear that he at least understands how to use Paint - now let's see some drawings from him!