Special Project Ships
 

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I have always liked the idea of fast battleships and battlecruisers as the top predators of the worlds oceans. The British Queen Elizabeth class showed the way of the fast battleship, while the German Derfflinger and Mackensen Classes of battlecruiser had a better balance of speed, armour and gunpower than the rest. The Washington Treaty split the divide between battleship and cruisers even further. The three battleship types completed 1918-27 were the American Colorado class, with good armour and armament but low speed. The Japanese Nagato class had reasonable armour, good armament and reasonable speed. The final British Nelson class were a hybrid of the designs for the 16" and 18" capital ships of 48,000 tons. The Nelson class looked formidable on paper compared to the other two classes but were not really liked in service. It was a pity the Italians did not complete any of the Caraciolo class ships as they were to be improved Queen Elizabeth, fast battleships. From all the designs that can be seen for them, the Caraciolo's would have been a good investment.

In real life the designs followed one another as 'rights of reply' during the 1930's as the German Navy produced the Deutschland type armoured ships, which brought on the French Dunkerque class, which the Germans then produced the Scharnhorst class in reply. It was at this stage that the Japanese failure to sign the second London Naval Treaty set the last battleship race into production. The limits for the first designs were still limited to the 35,000 ton and 16" gun designs to which only the British paid more than lip service to. The other major powers were 3,000 to 7,000 tons overweight from the start while if all these countries knew by just how much the Japanese giants were circumventing the limits by, those ships designs would have been even bigger. The escalation clause came into force during the late 1930's where the displacement figure increased to 45,000 tons. Only the US and UK built the Iowa class and Vanguard to this limit.

But that was real life. In my Alternate Universe world I have explored what the United States might have done with a battlecruiser prior to the real Lexington class, what the British might have done with following the fast battleship line rather than further battlecruisers in the Fisherless RN. I had a look at the German processes with the Superimposed High Seas Fleet. I have had a lot of fun with these and the made up countries and fleets. I do have other series in mind, French ships with triple turrets rather than quads. Italian ships with either speed or gunpower, even a try at both. I still have to do more with the Japanese fleet.

(The drawing links will be on this page)

First in this series is my take on the Francesco Caraciolo Class ships.

About the third or fourth drawing in I decided to use a single hull, funnels (sometimes), with various armaments and superstructure.
 

Country	Class Name	Ship Type	Guns	Link
Italy	RIN Caraciolo	BB	8x15"
France	FRN Aquitaine	BC	9x13"
Netherlands	HNLMS Utrecht	BC	8/9x13"
Britain	HMS Warrior	BC	8x14"
Germany	KM Admiral von Roon	BC	8x13.8"
Japan	IJN Kanto	BC	8x14"
USA	USS Guam	BB	9x14"
Russia	SNS Rurik III	BB	12x12.6"
Brazil	BNS Riachuelo HMS St George	BB	8x15"
Germany	KM Yorck	BB	8x13.8"
USA	USS Louisiana	BB	8x16"
Britain	HMS Devastation	BB	9x15"
Portugal	NRP Braganza	BC	10x12"
Argentina	ARA Buenos Ares	BB	8x13.8"
Turkey	TRG Torgud Reis	BB	9x13.8"
Greece	RHNS Salamis	BC	8x14"
Spain	SPS Ebro	BC	8x14/"13.8"
France	FAN Champagne	BB	16x13.4"
Chile	CNS Atacama	BB	10x13.5"
Venezuela	BAV Maracaibo	BB	9x14"
Norway	RNoN Eidsvold	BB	8x15"
Japan	IJN Amagi	BB	6x18"
Zeelandia	HMZS Oceania	BB/CV	9x15"
Uruguay	ANU Durazno	BCV	6x14"/40
Peru	MGP Almirante Grau	BC	8x16"
Britain	HMS Nelson	BB	12x15"
Scandinavia	HSMS Kung Gustaf	BB	9x15.8"
Germany	KM Seydlitz	BB	6x16.5"
Britain	HMS Howe	BB	9x16"
Britain	HMS Anson	BB	10x16"
France	FAN Loire	BB	12x13"
Italy	RM Dante Alighieri	BB	8x15"
China	ICNS Dingyuan	BB	12x14"
Polithstovia	PCS Gdansk	BB	8x15.8"
Galicia	GNS Herzgovia	BB	9x16.5"
Atlantis	ANS Hyperion	BC	8x15"
Britain	HMS Lion	BC	9x14"
Atlantis	ANS Atlas	BB	12x16"

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