South American Cruiser Challenge.
I did a few drawings for this challenge. The challenge was to provide South American countries with a cruiser designed/built in the mid-1930's to be able to take on the Argentinian Almirante Brown class cruisers that were armed with 6x7.5" guns.
Almirante Cochrane:
The Cochrane was a cruiser armed with 6x8" sourced from the French. Based on the La Gallissonierre Class which were one of the best light cruiser designs ever, armed with 8" they could have made a large impression. This design I decided would have been for Chile.
General Belgrano:
The General Belgrano was designed for Argentina as an answer to all the other cruisers being designed and possibly built for Chile and Brazil. Based on the Hipper class they were big cruisers and would have taken quite a bit of stopping.
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BNS Niteroi:
This was Brazils answer to the original Argentinian ship with 6x7.5". A nicely balanced cruiser with 6x8".
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BNS Riachuello:
Another cruiser designed for Brazil. With the various cruisers being designed and built for South America, the size and gun power kept increasing and this design with 9x8" would have been a useful addition to any Major Navy.
HNLMS Nijmegen:
Taken over by the Dutch in 1939, this heavy cruiser was to be sent to the Dutch East Indies on completion.
Capitan Pratt:
8" gunned version of the German 6000 ton restricted light cruiser. Being designed for a South American country, the design was not restricted to the 6000 ton limit, which allowed a much more powerful cruiser to be created.
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IJN Tsushima:
The Japanese designed a cruiser to beat all others with an armament of 8x10".
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MGP Almirante Grau:
The last two cruisers for the challenge, I drew for the minor nations with lighter armaments and higher speeds.
BNV Almirante Miranda:
Small cruiser design that was to be capable of fulfilling multiple roles for a small Navy. Minelayer, Destroyer Leader, Anti-Aircraft Cruiser, Fleet Flagship. You name it, this ship probably did it. Based on the UK Dido class and the US Atlanta class I tried to keep the main armament as low as possible to get away from the topweight issues both of those classes suffered from.
