Shipbucket

denodon.... B64 was a real concept..

Raised the superfiring main guns of the Suwa-class slightly, as per denodon's suggestion.

ALVAMA wrote:denodon.... B64 was a real concept..

Yeah I'm aware of both the B64 and B65 projects. Not terribly much information on them is available however and Japanese ships aren't really my area of interest (I prefer the European navies of the time).

While the B64 was indeed a real concept, it was still only that, a concept. As such a lot of things would have changed once the design had been finalized and even more would have changed by the time the building plans were drawn up.

In December 1942, with the first of the Oyodo-class light cruisers about to enter service, the IJN decided to modify the design so as to have a vessel of a similar design function as an actual light cruiser, not the submarine squadron flagships the Oyodos were supposed to be. The result was that the large hangar and catapult astern were removed and replaced with a more conventional aft superstructure and a third triple 6.1-inch turret. Two more twin 3.9-inch guns were added to the secondary armament; one forward and one aft. The first of the new class, Isoshima, was laid down at the end of January 1943, with sister ships Yasoshima, Aoshima, and Yakushima following in April, June, and August 1943, respectively. The four ships were all launched between June and December 1944, and entered service from June 1945 - January 1946.

Six-inchers should be three pixels thick.
I do like the thought of a nine-gun Agano though. Nice-looking ship.

Love the Ibuki class. Very sleek, good balance in the armament. What sort of speed and range would you get? They look like ideal carrier escorts and would be a load in a Solomons-type surface engagement. Bad news for the Taffys!

The Nantai would have been a considerable shock to the rest of the world at Spithead! Nothing in the Pacific could match them. They look good for surface action, and while I know the Japanese weren't into surface raiders if they had the range it wouldn't do to think what would happen if they got between the mainland and Hawaii, let alone between the US and Australia.

Beautiful!

FYI Oyodo had 3.94-inch AA guns, not 5-inch (the Agano's used 3-inch for some odd reason).

Thanks, eltf177...changed the original post to reflect this.