HMS Princess Royal (CA-1945)

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With the first few battles including the big German cruisers, the Royal Navy issued a building spec for its own 15,000 ton cruisers. The RAN would also chip in with two more of the same design. Obviously the ships design was to outpoint the German Hipper class cruisers. The best way to do that was in the armament and armour. The Hipper's either had the real life 8x8" or in AU land 12x8.2". To outgun the Hipper's would require a 9.2"/10" gun with a similar 8/9 to 12 gun battery. Armour would have to be 6" thick as the armour types used by the RN were not as good as the German wh/wz types, inch for inch. The original specification grew a bit, out to 16,000 tons standard with the hull growing 30 odd feet as well.

The eventual main armament was centered on a triple 9.2" turret with the 9.2" being an updated clone of the long range 9.2" guns fitted to the Glatton and Gorgon of WW1 vintage. Major updates to the design kept coming with more and better electronics and more AA guns being fitted before the ships came into service. Princess Royal entered service in November 1944 with the other three being completed in 1945. The two Australis ships were completed in October 1945 and March 1946.

As designed 1940:


As completed 1945:



With refits to 1955:


Missile and Helicopter conversions to 1965:

Original Drawing by Hood for his Wesworld AU.

The Springsharp report Hood did on the original drawing'

Princess Class, Great Britain Heavy Cruiser laid down 1937

Displacement:
15,723 t light; 16,648 t standard; 18,562 t normal; 20,094 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
675.29 ft / 670.00 ft x 80.00 ft x 23.00 ft (normal load)
205.83 m / 204.22 m x 24.38 m x 7.01 m

Armament:
12 - 9.20" / 234 mm guns (4x3 guns), 510.00lbs / 231.33kg shells, 1936 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts - superfiring
8 - 4.50" / 114 mm guns (4x2 guns), 45.00lbs / 20.41kg shells, 1935 Model
Dual purpose guns in deck mounts with hoists
on side, all aft, all raised mounts - superfiring
8 - 2.24" / 57.0 mm guns (4x2 guns), 6.00lbs / 2.72kg shells, 1935 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts 
on side ends, evenly spread, all raised mounts - superfiring
36 - 0.66" / 16.8 mm guns (6x6 guns), 0.14lbs / 0.06kg shells, 1935 Model
Machine guns in deck mounts 
on side ends, evenly spread, all raised mounts - superfiring
Weight of broadside 6,533 lbs / 2,963 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 150
8 - 24.5" / 622.3 mm above water torpedoes

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 6.00" / 152 mm 410.00 ft / 124.97 m 10.00 ft / 3.05 m
Ends: Unarmoured
Main Belt covers 94 % of normal length

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 5.00" / 127 mm 2.00" / 51 mm 6.00" / 152 mm
2nd: 2.00" / 51 mm 1.00" / 25 mm 1.00" / 25 mm
3rd: 0.50" / 13 mm - -
4th: 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, 85,000 shp / 63,410 Kw = 30.27 kts
Range 10,000nm at 16.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 3,447 tons

Complement:
794 - 1,033

Cost:
£7.714 million / $30.857 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 636 tons, 3.4 %
Armour: 4,152 tons, 22.4 %
- Belts: 1,054 tons, 5.7 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Armament: 939 tons, 5.1 %
- Armour Deck: 2,114 tons, 11.4 %
- Conning Tower: 45 tons, 0.2 %
Machinery: 2,356 tons, 12.7 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 8,404 tons, 45.3 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 2,839 tons, 15.3 %
Miscellaneous weights: 175 tons, 0.9 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
33,880 lbs / 15,368 Kg = 87.0 x 9.2 " / 234 mm shells or 3.4 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.10
Metacentric height 4.3 ft / 1.3 m
Roll period: 16.3 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 71 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.92
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.31

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has rise forward of midbreak
and transom stern
Block coefficient: 0.527
Length to Beam Ratio: 8.38 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 29.87 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 53 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 54
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 10.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 0.00 ft / 0.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 30.00 ft / 9.14 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 26.00 ft / 7.92 m
- Mid (70 %): 26.00 ft / 7.92 m (19.00 ft / 5.79 m aft of break)
- Quarterdeck (20 %): 19.00 ft / 5.79 m
- Stern: 19.00 ft / 5.79 m
- Average freeboard: 24.22 ft / 7.38 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 70.1 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 195.2 %
Waterplane Area: 38,097 Square feet or 3,539 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 131 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 151 lbs/sq ft or 735 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.94
- Longitudinal: 1.65
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform
Good seaboat, rides out heavy weather easily

Class Names: Princess Royal, Queen Mary, Iron Duke, Edgar

Radar Equipment

Gunnery Director Radar Type 281 fitted to both main directors
Air Search Radar Type 271
HF/DF Type 291
Passive Radio Intercept Type 293

These were another lot of drawings I did with another main armament turret. I actually prefer the original set I did. The guns were twin 10"

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