Athena Class Battleships.
The Athena class were originally designed to be the best battleships around.
Laid down in 1918 their construction was slowed on the end of WW1. Their
construction was halted, by the Washington Treaty talks. The battleship design
showed a 48,000 ton ship, 790x108 feet, strong armour of 15" belt and 7.5" deck,
a heavy 12x16" main armament. They would have been the equal of any of the
battleships under construction or planned. There was only two options available,
scrap them both, or convert them to carriers. With both ships at 75-80% complete
there had been too much work put into them to just scrap them. The triple 16"
were put into storage, and a new design was put in place to turn the ships into
aircraft carriers.
As designed:
Displacement: 48,000 tons standard, 54,500 tons full load
Dimensions: 790 x 110 x 33 feet
Machinery: 4 shaft, steam turbines, 150,000shp,
Speed: 30 knots
Endurance: 9,000 miles at 15 knots
Armour: 15" belt, 7.5" deck, 15-10" turrets, 15" CT
Armament:
12 x 16" (4x3)
12 x 5.5" (12x1)
6 x 90mm AA (6x1)
Crew: 1650 (1730 as Flagship)
AWS Athena - Fate: Converted to Aircraft Carrier
AWS Aphrodite - Fate: Converted to Aircraft Carrier