The Greenland Navy had a problem. All of the light cruisers currently in commission were no longer fit for purpose: Screening the Battle Fleet. Putting it nicely they were too slow and under armed compared to the ships they might face. A new type of light cruiser was required. The Navy liked the 5.5" gun, and wanted to develop that weapon for the new ships. To get the maximum number of guns on a reasonable sized hull, a triple turret with a 70 degree elevation was also part of the development program. This would mean that the ships would not need an intermediate sized AA gun (3", 4") and could go to cannon sized guns at 40mm and 20mm. The space provided would be used to mount four quadruple 21" sets of torpedo tubes. The most on any Greenlandian ship. They would also be fast. It was felt the hull could get to 35 knots and be able to be used as leaders to the destroyer squadrons. A lot to ask for.
By the completion of the Zabib in 1941, many changes had been made due to wartime additions. Electronics were now a major part of the defensive and offensive armaments of the ships. The next major refit would remove the aircraft handling facilities and one bank of torpedoes. This would add much needed accommodation and offices for all the new equipment and remove some weight to offset the topweight added.
While the idea of the dual purpose 5.5" sounds good, in practice it came to the same realisation as the other intermediate sized guns used for AA purposes. Too slow a rate of fire, and the guns crews grew fatigued too quickly to keep up a reasonable rate of fire. The Royal Navy tried several times to get this sort of gun and shell size over the line. The 6" for the Nelson had an AA capability, but an AA shell was never made for them. Next was the fixed ammunition for the early 4.7" AA on the Nelson. Fixed ammunition did have the advantage that only one 'shell' needed to be loaded, where with 'bag and shell' the operation took longer to load. But the downside was again the heaviness of the shell slowed down loading and crew fatigue slowed the rate even more. I don't know why the RN made the same mistake again with some of the twin 4.5" BD mountings on the carriers and rebuilt battleships and battlecruisers, but some people are slow to learn. The dual purpose mountings on the King George V class battleships and Dido class cruisers of twin 5.25", while bag and shell ammunition, the size of the shell at 84 pounds was just too heavy for sustained AA fire and crew fatigue set in too fast. My Greenland 5.5" guns will find the same problem. But I do like to give a try for something like the 5.5" dual purpose as it gives a decent looking ship. I must admit I was not sure if I liked the ship when I finished the drawing. But it has grown on me.
