The original Andranolava class cruiser was to be a big cruiser but built as cheap as possible. In the warehouses of the Lemurian Navy sat four twin 10" turrets stockpiled when they were removed from the Karikala class when those two ships were converted to Lemuria's first aircraft carriers. An armament of eight 10" would be a very potent main gun set for a heavy cruiser. The guns fired a 500lb shell that could penetrate 8-9 inches of armour at 18,0000 yards. The original range of the guns was increased by raising the elevation to give the guns a 28,000 yard range The ship was to be big to carry not only the 10" but a heavy 4.5" dual purpose armament as well. Just a few years ago the ship would have been classed as a battlecruiser, now it was just listed as a large cruiser (CB).
Have you ever wondered why I use the Swordfish floatplane as the primary aircraft aboard ship for catapult launch? The Swordfish was introduced in 1934 (in my world, 1936 in the rest) and started being replaced by the Fairey Sea Battle in 1938-39. All of the displaced Swordfish, off the carriers, either had to be found a new home or scrapped. The way to a new home was to fit floats on. It ended up that the Sea Battle could not be used on the smaller CVL's and CVE's which retained the Swordfish as its primary strike aircraft.
The Andranolava was laid down in 1934 and completed in 1938. This was the time of the building of the three large battleships for the Lemurian Navy and funds for new vessels were tight. Only the light forces, destroyers and below were built during this time, and not many of those. Virtually on the completion of the Andranolava funds for two more ships of the type were made available. No more twin 10" were available so an updated triple 8" turret was produced for the two new ships. Otherwise they were to be identical to the Andranolava.
The uprated 8" guns fired a 300lb shell compared to the earlier guns firing a 250lb shell. The rate of fire was the same at 4-5 rounds a minute. It was in the armour penetration table that the new guns were far superior to the older weapons. The old guns could penetrate 3-4 inches of side armour at 20-24,000 yards. The new guns were capable of penetrating 5-6 inches of side armour at 23-26,000 yards. No cruiser was safe from these two ships.
So what do I do with my three cruiser killers. Obviously one has to go to the Mediterranean to shoot up Italian light and heavy cruisers. The other two might go to help fight the Japanese as their completion dates in 1943 would take them right into the war with Japan. The two ships would get their 40mm upgrade late in 1943, the battleships and carriers would get theirs first. Only two of the three survive the war. The Andranolava was serving in the Med in September 1943, supporting the Salerno landings, when the ship was struck by two Fritz-x guided bombs. One hit the aircraft hangar, setting fire to the fuel for the aircraft, causing a major fire. The other penetrated the armour deck aft to detonate the 10" magazine. The ship became two. The fore end of the ship ran aground and beached. Allowing survivors to land on the beach. The damage control units on the ship fought the fire and got it under control then out. Allowing the crew to rejoin the ship. They had been under fire by German guns. The German guns were marked and suddenly found themselves under counter-battery fire by 10" high explosive shells. Retreat was the order of the day for the Germans. The Andranolava kept fighting while there were German forces within range. The ship was then abandoned and stayed where it was till after the war when it was refloated and towed to Genoa and scrapped.
The two Kings made it through without damage. They had been tied to the Fleet providing AA support through the Japanese attacks. Post war the two ships stayed with the fleet and once the two King Andriamanelo class battleships were retired, took over the role of Squadron flagships to each pair of CV and CVL group. When their two carriers went into dock for refits the King would get its own refit. In the late 50's both ships went through a missile refit to put Sea Slug aboard. Further refits added Supercat to the missile inventory. Lets see what I can come up with. Of course all of this is so I can do the Jatavarman Class of Light Carriers that will go on to fame and fortune with the Rajaraja class carriers.
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The two King Andrianjaka class ships went through to 1957 when one went for conversion to Sea Slug AA medium range missile launcher, the other went in 1960. At the same time its two Squadron carriers were being fitted with angled decks. With their mixture of an old style gun armament and then a modern missile armament the two ships were ideal as training ships. A full Cadet deck was fitted inside of the Supercat mountings. The old hangar was split up into more accommodation and offices. All the new radar, seek and search equipment required a lot more people to run and also more space for its screens and equipment to be monitored.
The King Andrianjaka won the golden ticket in 1982 as it was that ships Squadron that were sent to the Falkland Islands. It spent a lot of time watching aircraft taking off and landing and was even hit once by an Exocet, on the armoured belt. Where the cheap aluminum frigates just burnt out when hit. The old style ships with armoured areas could take an Exocet hit, shrug it off and keep going. It turned out that the 40mm and 20mm guns were good as last chance weaponry. There were two Exocets in the salvo that produced the hit, the other was shot down by the GAM-B01 20mm, with its very high speed rate of fire.
At age 45 the two King Andrianjaka were finally put into reserve. They did not last long in reserve as they were too expensive to maintain. 1989 and both ships were sent to the breakers yards.
