Another Light Battlecuiser

[BCRenown]

The concept of the light battlecruiser as always intrigued me. A ship with all the tools and attributes necessary to run down and destroy cruisers while being too small to tempt any admiral to place her in the battleline may or may not have worked but what the heck. An earlier drawing by Navarchos proved to be quite an inspiration and I thank him for his work. The modifications I've made were more to suit my personal tastes than to improve his original design. It provided a welcomed departure from my more customary RN influences.

RHNS Diomedes (click image for full size)

[Colosseum]

Cool but you are using Shipbucket parts/scale/style, so it needs to be in a template.

That's the price we pay for having easily available interchangeable parts. I know it's a pain... but just add the scale bar and I think it will be close enough to be acceptable.

[eltf177]

Simply Beautiful! What are her specs?

[BCRenown]

Thanks guys.

Here is a simpler version of the drawing that includes the ships' data. Perhaps it's a little over optimistic and the data may reflect more of what I want than what I'll actually get.

It's a completely ficticious design, hence the unusal calibers of the close-range armament (no Bofors, no Oerlikons). As far as I know the only Shipbucket parts are the air-warning radar atop the foremast and, possibly, the spotter plane.

(click image for full size)

[eltf177]

If you don't mind I'll try to SS her tonight and see how close I can come...

[BCRenown]

By all means, eltf177. Others have 'Springsharped' previous designs of mine and usually they turn out quite well. However, I am no so sure about this one. If it helps, I have the 6 inch armour belt at 418 feet long by 12 feet deep.

[eswube]

Nice work.

[Hood]

A very distinctive ship and one that looks good.

[Rowdy36]

Gorgeous looking cruiser! A great credit to both artists

[eltf177]

Sorry this took so long, took some fiddling to get seakeeping above 1.00. Design works quite well, in fact you have standard displacement listed @ 17,000 tons while this SS is 20 tons less than that full load. But I had to increase draft from 18-22' to 24.5' to get that seakeeping. Main belt had to be 550' to fully protect magazines and machinery (a must for me). Also no end belts but I did add a TDS (I feel a ship this size should have one). CT and main battery armor a bit thin but something has to give. Had to guess at laydown date plus range/cruising speed but again your design works quite well...

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Diomedes, Greek Light Battlecruiser laid down 1938

Displacement:
14,634 t light; 15,202 t standard; 16,190 t normal; 16,980 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
671.74 ft / 660.00 ft x 72.00 ft x 24.50 ft (normal load)
204.74 m / 201.17 m x 21.95 m x 7.47 m

Armament:
6 - 10.00" / 254 mm guns (3x2 guns), 500.00lbs / 226.80kg shells, 1938 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, majority forward, 1 raised mount - superfiring
4 - 4.53" / 115 mm guns (2x2 guns), 46.48lbs / 21.08kg shells, 1938 Model
Dual purpose guns in deck mounts with hoists
on centreline, all aft, all raised mounts - superfiring
4 - 4.53" / 115 mm guns (2x2 guns), 46.48lbs / 21.08kg shells, 1938 Model
Dual purpose guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, all aft, all raised mounts - superfiring
24 - 1.50" / 38.1 mm guns (12x2 guns), 1.69lbs / 0.77kg shells, 1938 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, 6 raised mounts
12 - 0.79" / 20.0 mm guns in single mounts, 0.24lbs / 0.11kg shells, 1938 Model
Breech loading guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, 10 raised mounts
Weight of broadside 3,415 lbs / 1,549 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 125

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 6.00" / 152 mm 550.00 ft / 167.64 m 12.00 ft / 3.66 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 128 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
1.00" / 25 mm 550.00 ft / 167.64 m 25.00 ft / 7.62 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 6.00" / 152 mm 3.00" / 76 mm 3.00" / 76 mm
2nd: 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm
3rd: 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm
4th: 0.75" / 19 mm - -
5th: 0.50" / 13 mm - -

- Armour deck: 3.00" / 76 mm, Conning tower: 3.00" / 76 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 123,745 shp / 92,314 Kw = 33.00 kts
Range 6,000nm at 15.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 1,778 tons

Complement:
716 - 932

Cost:
£7.582 million / $30.327 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 427 tons, 2.6 %
Armour: 4,307 tons, 26.6 %
- Belts: 1,594 tons, 9.8 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 509 tons, 3.1 %
- Armament: 427 tons, 2.6 %
- Armour Deck: 1,736 tons, 10.7 %
- Conning Tower: 41 tons, 0.3 %
Machinery: 3,388 tons, 20.9 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 6,162 tons, 38.1 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 1,556 tons, 9.6 %
Miscellaneous weights: 350 tons, 2.2 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
19,694 lbs / 8,933 Kg = 39.4 x 10.0 " / 254 mm shells or 2.9 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.13
Metacentric height 3.8 ft / 1.2 m
Roll period: 15.4 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 60 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.47
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.01

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise forward of midbreak
Block coefficient: 0.487
Length to Beam Ratio: 9.17 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 25.69 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 56 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 60
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 20.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 3.00 ft / 0.91 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 24.00 ft / 7.32 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 24.00 ft / 7.32 m
- Mid (50 %): 24.00 ft / 7.32 m (16.00 ft / 4.88 m aft of break)
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 16.00 ft / 4.88 m
- Stern: 16.00 ft / 4.88 m
- Average freeboard: 20.00 ft / 6.10 m
Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 125.7 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 163.9 %
Waterplane Area: 31,284 Square feet or 2,906 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 109 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 127 lbs/sq ft or 622 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.97
- Longitudinal: 1.27
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is cramped
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent

Miscellaneous weight includes 2 beam-mounted catapults amidships plus a centerline crane for 2 floatplanes (no hanger).