Shipbucket

Finalised my two contenders for Chile... Two hugely different takes on the brief

O'Higgins Class



Specifications:

Dates:

• In Construction: 1935-39
• In Service: 1937-55

Particulars:

• Length: 184.5m (Waterline)
• Beam: 23m
• Draught: 5.5m
• Displacement (Standard):<10,000t claimed - 11,500ish in actuality.

Propulsion:
Four-shaft single-barrelled Rateau-Bretagne geared turbines with 6× Indret boilers for ~100,000SHP
Max. Speed: 33-34kts
Cruising Speed and Ranges

• 5,000 NMI @ 10kts
• 1,300 NMI @ 32kts

Manning:

• Standard: 690
• Flagship: 725
• Wartime: 810

Armament:

• 12x 152mm/55 Mle.1930 (4*3)
• 6× 100mm/45 Mle.1930/33 (4*1 + 1*2)
• 8× 37mm/55 Mle.1933 (4*2)
• 16x 13.2mm Hotchkiss MGs (3*4 + 2*2)
• 6x 550mm torpedo tubes in two triple-tube side-rotating mounts

Aircraft:

• 2x Light spotter-aircraft, nominally Nimrod or Osprey.

Armouring Scheme:

• Main Belt: 140mm tapering to 70mm over barbettes and magazines
• Ends: 70mm
• Deck over vitals and magazines: 70mm
• Turrets: 70 - 140mm depending on face
• Barbettes: 140mm
• Other Bulkheads: 40mm
• Bridge + Tower: Splinter-proofing with limited 40mm plating over critical areas

Specifications:

Dates:

• In Construction: 1935-39
• In Service: 1937-55

Particulars:

• Length: 570ft (Waterline)
• Beam: 71ft
• Draught: 23ft
• Displacement (Standard): <10,000t

Propulsion:
Two-shaft double-barreled geared turbines with 8× Admiralty three-drum boilers for ~80,000SHP
Max. Speed: 32kts
Cruising Speed and Ranges

• 8000 NMI @ 10kts
• 2300 NMI @ 30kts

Manning:

• Standard: 650
• Flagship: 680
• Wartime: 720

Armament:

• 9x BL 8-inch L/50 Mk.VIII guns in triple mounts
• 8× QF 4-inch L/45 Mk.XVI guns in twin mounts (HA/LA Mk.XIX)
• 12× QF 2-pounder L/39 Mk.VIII guns in quad mounts (HA Mk.VII)
• 12x .5-inch L/50 Mk.III machine guns in quad mounts (Mk.I)
• 6x 21-inch torpedo tubes in triple side-rotating mounts

Aircraft:

• 2x Light spotter-aircraft, nominally Nimrod or Osprey.

Armouring Scheme:

• Main Belt: 6-inches tapering to 3 inches
• Ends: 3-inches
• Deck over vitals and magazines: 3-inches
• Turrets: Splinter-proofing
• Barbettes: 3-inches
• Other Bulkheads: 1.5-inches
• Bridge + Tower: Splinter-proofing with limited 1.5 inch plating

~Mark

I modified a concept by Tzoli for an 'Improved' Exeter class some time ago as part of my Falkland Islands AU. I figured it fits the bill for this thread fairly well. Being a descendant of the York class she could theoretically have been built at Palmers of Jarrow, or any RN Dockyard (Exeter was built at Davenport)



The idea is that this is in the 11-13,000 tonne range, with 10 x 8" guns in 5 turrets as primary armament.

PS, don't chastise me over the radar fitout, i know its wrong for the time period i just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

Cheers

That's a good looking cruiser Oberon_706. As you say the radar may need some work. Also the afterbridge where the searchlight, aft director and HACS are very close together and may interfere with each other, you may need to spread them out a bit more. You could lengthen the aft superstructure toward the X turret and give that area a bit more space.

I like this thread and both the drawings and the AU backstories are very interesting.

However, if you allow me a small criticism, it seems for the posters that in South America there are only 4 countries that could host a cruiser in their navies: Brasil, Argentina, Chile and sometimes Peru. I honestly think that other South American countries like Colombia or Venezuela could host more than one cruisers in the navies.

Fantastic work Blackbuck, both of those look very different and offer something unusual.

Nice work Oberon, looks a plausible layout and seems about right if they want to spend some extra cash and get something really powerful.

Peru had a couple of old light cruisers that could have been replaced, Colombia I think in the period had very little of a navy other than some gunboats on the Amazon and two ex-Spanish destroyers brought cheap. Venezuela had an even smaller navy, not until the 1950s did she seek large destroyers etc. I think the war in general pushed a little extra dollars and bauxite and oil profits began to grow then. In the absence of hard cash it was hard for them to fund cruiser, remember with few battleships being built, these are the most expensive export warships of the time.

This too may be slightly outside the parameters of the challenge, but it goes with some of the other big cruisers. It also satisfies the nine gun cravings of some of the South American countries.

Interesting. I do wonder if something more in line with the original idea for Lützow might be a alternative choice. 12*150mm/60 is still going to cause a lot of hurt among the navies of the Americas.

I thought about it B.B., but there is already one of those in the archives (real never-were). This way I get to keep my cut and paste skills up to date. Beside I enjoyed making the triples. I will use them on an uprated Prinz Eugen with 12x8".

Hood wrote:Peru had a couple of old light cruisers that could have been replaced, Colombia I think in the period had very little of a navy other than some gunboats on the Amazon and two ex-Spanish destroyers brought cheap. Venezuela had an even smaller navy, not until the 1950s did she seek large destroyers etc. I think the war in general pushed a little extra dollars and bauxite and oil profits began to grow then. In the absence of hard cash it was hard for them to fund cruiser, remember with few battleships being built, these are the most expensive export warships of the time.

But i think that both Colombian and Venezuelan navies could host a light cruiser... After all, the Italian designs were the cheaps if i'm not mistaken...

Naixoterk, I have already done a small cruiser for Peru on Page 2. I also have in mind to do some other small cruisers - destroyer leader sized vessels for the smaller nations.