Nihon Kaigun 1946

[BB1987]

Hope Emperor does not mind if i post this:

[erik_t]

Attractive, but it's hard to imagine it not being reasonable/sensible to shift over to a larger caliber at this point. That's a big, big cruiser.

[emperor_andreas]

I actually did one similar earlier in the thread, but removed it accidentally...don't mind yours at all, though!

[emperor_andreas]

By 1935, despite having been given extensive refits, it was obvious to all that the Amagi-class battlecruisers, let alone the preceding Kongo-class, weren't going to be around forever. So it was decided to develop a new battlecruiser design. The hull selection was no problem, for the hull that had worked so well for the three classes of large cruiser was fairly easy to produce now that the shipyards that normally built major combatants had already built fourteen of them. The guns took some time to design, however, with the Naval General Staff wanting a ship that had bigger guns than the large cruisers, but not as large as the Amagis. Therefore a new 12.2-inch gun was designed, and the ships were designed to mount three triple turrets. The new four-ship Tsushima-class had commenced construction by mid-September 1941, with the four vessels all entering service between early September 1943 and late July 1944.



In early 1941, the Naval General Staff ordered four more Tsushima-class ships, but the Naval Construction Corps managed to get the additional vessels upgunned to three triple 14-inch turrets, and therefore they became an entirely different class of vessel: the Iwaki-class. Laid down between late February 1942 and mid-March 1943, the four ships were commissioned between early January 1945 and early February 1946.



(A special thanks to ALVAMA for allowing me to use these drawings in my AU. Heuhen was credited for drawing the 14-inch barrel I used, and BB1987 was credited for updating it.)

[eswube]

Great work.

[denodon]

Very interesting looking designs I must say. The choice of 12.2in for the guns seems a little unusual but other than that she looks fine. By that time though wouldn't the scout aircraft have been removed? It seems it would make more sense to remove them as a result of war experience and use that space for either stores or additional AA weaponry (it looks a tad weak currently).

[Thiel]

Very interesting looking designs I must say. The choice of 12.2in for the guns seems a little unusual but other than that she looks fine. By that time though wouldn't the scout aircraft have been removed? It seems it would make more sense to remove them as a result of war experience and use that space for either stores or additional AA weaponry (it looks a tad weak currently).

Japan did in fact design a 310mm gun in 1940. Link

[denodon]

Ah interesting. I'd always thought those battle cruisers were to use the 12in gun developed earlier. Learn something new each day.

[emperor_andreas]

The next class of battle cruiser for the IJN warranted a redesign of the hull, but with pretty much the same superstructure. Aircraft handling facilities were moved aft, so as to enable the ships to eventually carry helicopters (as catapult-based aircraft were gradually being phased out). This enabled the superstructure to be brought closer together for much cleaner lines, and when combined with the new hull style made for a very nice-looking vessel. The guns were further upgraded, this time to twelve 16-inch guns in four triple turrets. Four ships were ordered, and the first two laid down within four days of each other in late July 1943, with the other two vessels following in late July and early August 1944, respectively. However, due to the extensive construction time for a capital ship, only Suwa and Aki were commissioned by the time the war ended in August 1946, with Suo and Omi still in the process of fitting-out. All four ships would go on to serve for many years in the post-war IJN, but they were the last of their kind; no more battle cruisers would be built by the IJN.

[denodon]

Very nice drawing. The main super firing guns look dangerously close to the lower turrets however. They've barely got clearance to turn, yet alone the shock wave and blast from firing the guns. I'm talking about the barrel height in relation to the roof of the turret below.