Isabella-class Battleship
Isabella-Class Battleship
It is perhaps an irony that what was still officially a Republican regime, even if it had long since ceased to be such in anything but name, would lay down battleships named after the most famous Spanish monarchs in the history of the nation - leaving asides perhaps, Philip V. But in the year of our lord, 1935, the Spanish government, pressing ahead with an ambitious program to remake the Spanish navy to fulfill a dream of regaining Spanish prestige and glory, decided to assign the name of the “Isabella-class”, to its new battleship design, named after the bringers of the “national-totalitarian monarchy” to quote the “prime minister” José María Gil-Robles y Quiñones, himself increasingly turning into a dictator.
Before discussion of any aspects of the actual design of the ship class, firstly one must discuss what exactly the Spanish government hoped to achieve with a new battleship class. The Spanish had after all, made the decision to disarm their previous Espana-battleships, utilizing their guns for coastal defense applications, under the belief that the ships were strictly speaking, obsolete. This could be interpreted as a belief that the battleship class as a whole was obsolete, but conversely, the Spanish government and its principal naval theorists had never expressed such a belief, despite the influence of important factions who had called for a principally jeune-ecole based strategy of torpedo boats, destroyers, submarines, mines and minelayers and land-based aircraft to challenge enemy ships off of Spain’s coast, backed up by formidable coastal artillery to control the critical straits of Gibraltar and thus to ensure that against any enemy, Spain would be able to make its presence broadly felt in international affairs. While not rejecting this strategy, the Spanish government’s belief was that it required battleships, to be able to engage in fleet engagements against enemy forces, but they would have to be based upon specifically Spanish contexts and needs - serving principally in the Mediterranean or in quick forays into the Atlantic, where they would be mostly operating under the cover of land-based airpower, used for raiding and to strike enemy fleets in the context of a combined arms strategy. The Spanish navy wished for them to be part of a balanced, combined arms, fleet, the centerpiece but as part of a logical strategy which would enable them to appropriately defend the Spanish metropolis.
The principal problem encountered with building such ships, was the backwards nature of the Spanish shipbuilding industry, which despite the important efforts being made to improve it, was as of yet incapable of building warships on the scale of a battleship - the best that could be hoped for was heavy cruiser style projects. Thus, when planning the two battleships, a complicated agreement was signed with the French concerning the construction of the two vessels in France, but with the maximum amount of Spanish equipment onboard as possible. The principal other problem which might have reared its head was that of infrastructure and docking requirements for ships which were much larger than previous vessels, but cooperation from Franco-Spanish engineers on the topic had been steadily improving naval bases in metropolitan Spain over the previous several years, principally in anticipation of French battleships being based there, which enabled this difficulty to be obviated.
Thus began the story of the two Spanish navy battleships of [i]Isabella[/i] and [i]Ferdinand[/i], intended to replace the [i]Espana[/i] and [i]Jaime[/i] ships of the Espana-class with modern, updated, vessels. These ships would be the same size as foreign battleships, slightly larger in fact as Spain was not part of the Washington naval treaty, and incorporated a variety of French design elements, in light of the cooperation between French and Spanish designers. With a tonnage of 40,000 tons, the ships are 236 meters long, with a beam of 33 meters, and a draft of 9.6 meters. This long and slender vessel shape is designed to allow high speed, vital for its raiding mission.
[b]Armament[/b]
There were extensive questions concerning the appropriate armament to give such a ship, with a wide variety of different proposals put forth concerning it. This included guns ranging up to 406mm, or even larger (the lack of the ability to construct such guns and the limited number which could be put aboard the vessel quickly killed such ideas), or larger numbers of smaller guns in quadruple turrets. However, it was ultimately settled on that the navy would use a 381mm gun, the same as that on the newest French battleships - a 381mm/45 weapon, viewed as an excellent gun and well suited to Spanish navy needs. The principal question left was the turret arrangement - 2 double turrets, 3 triple turrets, or 2 quadruple turrets, or some more exotic arrangement?
Ultimately, the Spanish navy settled upon the middle solution, with a ship armed with 3 triple turrets, mounting 9 381mm/45 guns, with two superfiring turrets forwards and one turret mounted aft. These guns are capable of firing both HE and AP ammunition, and a load-out of 75 rounds per gun was provided. The advantage of being able to share French navy stocks was viewed as desirable, although production runs for the ammunition was to be set up in Spain itself. Muzzle velocity is around 800 meters per second, although it can be reduced through the application of reduced charges (to around 630 meters per second). Reloading time stands at 30 seconds per round (although at longer ranges this does not work as the spotting time is longer than the reloading time, and each gun can elevate to 35 degrees, giving 42.000 meters range. Armor penetration at 39.000 meters is some 250 millimeters of side armor, and deck armor is 270mm, so engaging cruiser targets there is no range at which these ships can withstand the armor piercing shells: as they come closer deck armor penetration increases, and there has never been a cruiser built in the world with 250 mm of belt armor, much less the far superior numbers at closer ranges. Against battleship targets there are greater zones of immunity, but even against them, it makes for a formidable and highly capable gun. Elevation ranges from -5 to +35 degrees, with traverse angles between - 150 degrees and + 150 degrees. Each main turret is equipped with remote power control for horizontal turning and elevation. Each gun is equipped with 90 rounds, rendering 720 total rounds available: most will be AP for its anti-shipping role, while when HE in service its principal target is bombarding coastal installations and providing naval gunfire support.
Secondary armament was another area of concern, with extensive discussion about whether the ship should principally be intended to meet enemy light ships or aircraft with its secondary guns. Aircraft were anticipated to become much more powerful and capable, but at the same time, their threat to the Isabella was supposed to be minimized by the belief that it would operate under land-based air cover: it wasn’t supposed to be survivable on its own, but rather as part of a combined fleet. With the pressing need to also be able to deal with enemies at close range, as part of its mission for what was essentially coastal defense, it was decided that the guns onboard would be focused on the anti-surface, rather than anti-air role, with a battery of 152mm guns and 120mm weapons in a split battery. The 152mm gun chosen was the 6”/50 gun, used on Spanish cruisers, equipped with both HE and AP ammunition and with a muzzle velocity of 900 meters per second. Three triple turrets for this gun were mounted, for a total of 9 152mm guns, with 2 mounted in the rear on superfiring positions, and 1 mounted forward. On the broadside, 120mm guns were mounted, in dual turrets, with a total of 12 guns - 3 dual turrets on each side. These are derived from previous British 4.7 inch guns, but mounted in dual purpose mounts, capable of engaging both land and sea targets. Technically, the 152mm guns, encouraged by French engineers, are also capable of engaging both air and sea targets. However, despite the guns being able to elevate to 80 degrees, loadable under all angles, and equipped with anti-air fire control, the Spanish navy was profoundly pessimistic about their actual value in the anti-aircraft role… However, the combination of the 120mm and 152mm guns was viewed as being entirely sufficient against enemy lighter ships, as well as presenting a reasonable formidable heavy anti-air armament.
The anti-aircraft battery consists of a mixture of 13.2mm anti-aircraft guns and 37mm automatic anti-aircraft cannons, both French designs but built under license in Spain. The 13.2mm guns would be mounted in quadruple mounts, with x8 quadruple 13.2mm mountings, each gun with a cyclic rate of fire of 400rpm. The 37mm automatic guns would be 16 guns, in x8 dual mountings, with firing rates of 120rpm per gun.
Protection
Protection relied principally on French models, and was designed to provide resistance to enemy battleship fire under normal combat conditions, as well as for protection against torpedo, and bomb attack. Building off of French ideas, it would be fitted with an all or nothing armor scheme, essentially the same as that on contemporary French battleships. This armor scheme’s principal element was a 330mm belt, sloped at 15.24° inwards, which makes the ship very well protected against enemy fire, especially at longer ranges. It extends from 3.4 meters above the waterline to 2.5 meters below. This is complemented by a similar armored bulkhead, at 240-350mm of thickness. The upper armored deck meanwhile is 150-170mm thick, with a 40mm deck beneath to catch splinters from the above one. Very thick coning armor was applied, under the belief that it would be necessary in the confused and chaotic fighting which might persist in the ship’s intended close range raiding role. This would consist of a 320mm thick front and sides, 280mm thick rear, and a 150mm roof. The main gun turrets would have 410mm thick barbettes, 430mm thick turret fronts, inclined at 30 degrees, 200mm thick sides and roofs, and a 250mm rear (this being a counter-balance). The triple 152mm turrets meanwhile have 300mm thick fronts, 130mm sides, and 80mm rear, and a 130mm thick roof, along with 150mm barbettes. 120mm turrets meanwhile, have 75mm of protection.
One of the most important aspects of the armor scheme was protection to torpedoes, viewed as a critically dangerous enemy given the tight and constrained waters that the ship would fight in. Thankfully, the French had quite efficient ideas about how to protect against this, with the French protection scheme consisting of ébonite-mousse, a water-exuding rubber-based compound, used as part of a scheme of void spaces, ébonite-mousse, and light bulkheads, as well as a heavy internal bulkhead to absorb the blast effects. With a total width of 7 meters, it makes for an extremely effective anti-torpedo system. Combined with the powerful secondary artillery, and the ship is hopefully very capable of resisting torpedo attacks.
Propulsion
The Isabella-class is designed to be very fast [spoiler]sanic[/spoiler] [spoiler]fuck that was autistic I hate myself and I hate memes[/spoiler], in the interest of being able to fulfill its raiding role. Although unable to go quite was fast as enemy cruisers, it is nearly so, with 175,000 of horsepower being achieved from 6 boilers, the same as those mounted on new French battleships, driving 4 turbines for the 4 shafts on the ship. These boilers are installed in 2 rooms, side by side, and enable speeds of 30 knots to be reached. Two rudders are provided for appropriate maneuverability. However, the deficit with the Spanish design is limited range - only 8,000 kilometers at 16 knots, viewed as acceptable in regards to its intended mission role.
Miscellaneous
There are two catapults equipped, with launching facilities for 4 aircraft, float-plane spotter-planes intended for reconnaissance and spotting artillery shells. There is a small hanger for storing them. They can be equipped with navalized fighters for air defense, but this is not really seriously intended, again, under the belief that land-based airpower will be used for self-defense. The ships are designed with full flagship capabilities, to command naval fleets.
The complement for the vessels is some 1,600 men, plus an additional 100 when serving as a flagship. Crew quarters are generally designed with short stays abord in mind, under the belief that the ships will sortie and return to their bases quickly.
[code]Type: Fast Battleship
Ships to be built:
Isabella
Ferdinand
Displacement: 40.000 tons, 45.500 tons full
Length: 236 meters
Beam: 33 meters
Draft: 9.6 meters
Installed power: 175.000 hp steam using fuel oil
Propulsion: x6 boilers
x4 screws
x2 rudders
geared steam turbines
Speed: 30 knots (up to 31 knots light)
Range: 8.000 kilometers at 16 knots
Complement: 1.600+100
Armament:
x9 381mm /45 modèle 1935 guns in three triple turrets, x2 forward
x12 120mm dual purpose guns, x3 dual turrets per broadside.
x16 37mm anti-aircraft guns in x8 dual turrets
x32 13.2mm anti-aircraft guns in x8 quadruple turrets
Armor:
Belt: 330 mm
Upper armored deck: 150-170 mm
Lower armored deck: 40 mm
Main turrets: 200-430mm
Conning tower: 150-320 mm
152mm turrets: 80-300mm
120mm turrets: 75mm
Aircraft :x4 floatplanes
[/code]
It is perhaps an irony that what was still officially a Republican regime, even if it had long since ceased to be such in anything but name, would lay down battleships named after the most famous Spanish monarchs in the history of the nation - leaving asides perhaps, Philip V. But in the year of our lord, 1935, the Spanish government, pressing ahead with an ambitious program to remake the Spanish navy to fulfill a dream of regaining Spanish prestige and glory, decided to assign the name of the “Isabella-class”, to its new battleship design, named after the bringers of the “national-totalitarian monarchy” to quote the “prime minister” José María Gil-Robles y Quiñones, himself increasingly turning into a dictator.
Before discussion of any aspects of the actual design of the ship class, firstly one must discuss what exactly the Spanish government hoped to achieve with a new battleship class. The Spanish had after all, made the decision to disarm their previous Espana-battleships, utilizing their guns for coastal defense applications, under the belief that the ships were strictly speaking, obsolete. This could be interpreted as a belief that the battleship class as a whole was obsolete, but conversely, the Spanish government and its principal naval theorists had never expressed such a belief, despite the influence of important factions who had called for a principally jeune-ecole based strategy of torpedo boats, destroyers, submarines, mines and minelayers and land-based aircraft to challenge enemy ships off of Spain’s coast, backed up by formidable coastal artillery to control the critical straits of Gibraltar and thus to ensure that against any enemy, Spain would be able to make its presence broadly felt in international affairs. While not rejecting this strategy, the Spanish government’s belief was that it required battleships, to be able to engage in fleet engagements against enemy forces, but they would have to be based upon specifically Spanish contexts and needs - serving principally in the Mediterranean or in quick forays into the Atlantic, where they would be mostly operating under the cover of land-based airpower, used for raiding and to strike enemy fleets in the context of a combined arms strategy. The Spanish navy wished for them to be part of a balanced, combined arms, fleet, the centerpiece but as part of a logical strategy which would enable them to appropriately defend the Spanish metropolis.
The principal problem encountered with building such ships, was the backwards nature of the Spanish shipbuilding industry, which despite the important efforts being made to improve it, was as of yet incapable of building warships on the scale of a battleship - the best that could be hoped for was heavy cruiser style projects. Thus, when planning the two battleships, a complicated agreement was signed with the French concerning the construction of the two vessels in France, but with the maximum amount of Spanish equipment onboard as possible. The principal other problem which might have reared its head was that of infrastructure and docking requirements for ships which were much larger than previous vessels, but cooperation from Franco-Spanish engineers on the topic had been steadily improving naval bases in metropolitan Spain over the previous several years, principally in anticipation of French battleships being based there, which enabled this difficulty to be obviated.
Thus began the story of the two Spanish navy battleships of [i]Isabella[/i] and [i]Ferdinand[/i], intended to replace the [i]Espana[/i] and [i]Jaime[/i] ships of the Espana-class with modern, updated, vessels. These ships would be the same size as foreign battleships, slightly larger in fact as Spain was not part of the Washington naval treaty, and incorporated a variety of French design elements, in light of the cooperation between French and Spanish designers. With a tonnage of 40,000 tons, the ships are 236 meters long, with a beam of 33 meters, and a draft of 9.6 meters. This long and slender vessel shape is designed to allow high speed, vital for its raiding mission.
[b]Armament[/b]
There were extensive questions concerning the appropriate armament to give such a ship, with a wide variety of different proposals put forth concerning it. This included guns ranging up to 406mm, or even larger (the lack of the ability to construct such guns and the limited number which could be put aboard the vessel quickly killed such ideas), or larger numbers of smaller guns in quadruple turrets. However, it was ultimately settled on that the navy would use a 381mm gun, the same as that on the newest French battleships - a 381mm/45 weapon, viewed as an excellent gun and well suited to Spanish navy needs. The principal question left was the turret arrangement - 2 double turrets, 3 triple turrets, or 2 quadruple turrets, or some more exotic arrangement?
Ultimately, the Spanish navy settled upon the middle solution, with a ship armed with 3 triple turrets, mounting 9 381mm/45 guns, with two superfiring turrets forwards and one turret mounted aft. These guns are capable of firing both HE and AP ammunition, and a load-out of 75 rounds per gun was provided. The advantage of being able to share French navy stocks was viewed as desirable, although production runs for the ammunition was to be set up in Spain itself. Muzzle velocity is around 800 meters per second, although it can be reduced through the application of reduced charges (to around 630 meters per second). Reloading time stands at 30 seconds per round (although at longer ranges this does not work as the spotting time is longer than the reloading time, and each gun can elevate to 35 degrees, giving 42.000 meters range. Armor penetration at 39.000 meters is some 250 millimeters of side armor, and deck armor is 270mm, so engaging cruiser targets there is no range at which these ships can withstand the armor piercing shells: as they come closer deck armor penetration increases, and there has never been a cruiser built in the world with 250 mm of belt armor, much less the far superior numbers at closer ranges. Against battleship targets there are greater zones of immunity, but even against them, it makes for a formidable and highly capable gun. Elevation ranges from -5 to +35 degrees, with traverse angles between - 150 degrees and + 150 degrees. Each main turret is equipped with remote power control for horizontal turning and elevation. Each gun is equipped with 90 rounds, rendering 720 total rounds available: most will be AP for its anti-shipping role, while when HE in service its principal target is bombarding coastal installations and providing naval gunfire support.
Secondary armament was another area of concern, with extensive discussion about whether the ship should principally be intended to meet enemy light ships or aircraft with its secondary guns. Aircraft were anticipated to become much more powerful and capable, but at the same time, their threat to the Isabella was supposed to be minimized by the belief that it would operate under land-based air cover: it wasn’t supposed to be survivable on its own, but rather as part of a combined fleet. With the pressing need to also be able to deal with enemies at close range, as part of its mission for what was essentially coastal defense, it was decided that the guns onboard would be focused on the anti-surface, rather than anti-air role, with a battery of 152mm guns and 120mm weapons in a split battery. The 152mm gun chosen was the 6”/50 gun, used on Spanish cruisers, equipped with both HE and AP ammunition and with a muzzle velocity of 900 meters per second. Three triple turrets for this gun were mounted, for a total of 9 152mm guns, with 2 mounted in the rear on superfiring positions, and 1 mounted forward. On the broadside, 120mm guns were mounted, in dual turrets, with a total of 12 guns - 3 dual turrets on each side. These are derived from previous British 4.7 inch guns, but mounted in dual purpose mounts, capable of engaging both land and sea targets. Technically, the 152mm guns, encouraged by French engineers, are also capable of engaging both air and sea targets. However, despite the guns being able to elevate to 80 degrees, loadable under all angles, and equipped with anti-air fire control, the Spanish navy was profoundly pessimistic about their actual value in the anti-aircraft role… However, the combination of the 120mm and 152mm guns was viewed as being entirely sufficient against enemy lighter ships, as well as presenting a reasonable formidable heavy anti-air armament.
The anti-aircraft battery consists of a mixture of 13.2mm anti-aircraft guns and 37mm automatic anti-aircraft cannons, both French designs but built under license in Spain. The 13.2mm guns would be mounted in quadruple mounts, with x8 quadruple 13.2mm mountings, each gun with a cyclic rate of fire of 400rpm. The 37mm automatic guns would be 16 guns, in x8 dual mountings, with firing rates of 120rpm per gun.
Protection
Protection relied principally on French models, and was designed to provide resistance to enemy battleship fire under normal combat conditions, as well as for protection against torpedo, and bomb attack. Building off of French ideas, it would be fitted with an all or nothing armor scheme, essentially the same as that on contemporary French battleships. This armor scheme’s principal element was a 330mm belt, sloped at 15.24° inwards, which makes the ship very well protected against enemy fire, especially at longer ranges. It extends from 3.4 meters above the waterline to 2.5 meters below. This is complemented by a similar armored bulkhead, at 240-350mm of thickness. The upper armored deck meanwhile is 150-170mm thick, with a 40mm deck beneath to catch splinters from the above one. Very thick coning armor was applied, under the belief that it would be necessary in the confused and chaotic fighting which might persist in the ship’s intended close range raiding role. This would consist of a 320mm thick front and sides, 280mm thick rear, and a 150mm roof. The main gun turrets would have 410mm thick barbettes, 430mm thick turret fronts, inclined at 30 degrees, 200mm thick sides and roofs, and a 250mm rear (this being a counter-balance). The triple 152mm turrets meanwhile have 300mm thick fronts, 130mm sides, and 80mm rear, and a 130mm thick roof, along with 150mm barbettes. 120mm turrets meanwhile, have 75mm of protection.
One of the most important aspects of the armor scheme was protection to torpedoes, viewed as a critically dangerous enemy given the tight and constrained waters that the ship would fight in. Thankfully, the French had quite efficient ideas about how to protect against this, with the French protection scheme consisting of ébonite-mousse, a water-exuding rubber-based compound, used as part of a scheme of void spaces, ébonite-mousse, and light bulkheads, as well as a heavy internal bulkhead to absorb the blast effects. With a total width of 7 meters, it makes for an extremely effective anti-torpedo system. Combined with the powerful secondary artillery, and the ship is hopefully very capable of resisting torpedo attacks.
Propulsion
The Isabella-class is designed to be very fast [spoiler]sanic[/spoiler] [spoiler]fuck that was autistic I hate myself and I hate memes[/spoiler], in the interest of being able to fulfill its raiding role. Although unable to go quite was fast as enemy cruisers, it is nearly so, with 175,000 of horsepower being achieved from 6 boilers, the same as those mounted on new French battleships, driving 4 turbines for the 4 shafts on the ship. These boilers are installed in 2 rooms, side by side, and enable speeds of 30 knots to be reached. Two rudders are provided for appropriate maneuverability. However, the deficit with the Spanish design is limited range - only 8,000 kilometers at 16 knots, viewed as acceptable in regards to its intended mission role.
Miscellaneous
There are two catapults equipped, with launching facilities for 4 aircraft, float-plane spotter-planes intended for reconnaissance and spotting artillery shells. There is a small hanger for storing them. They can be equipped with navalized fighters for air defense, but this is not really seriously intended, again, under the belief that land-based airpower will be used for self-defense. The ships are designed with full flagship capabilities, to command naval fleets.
The complement for the vessels is some 1,600 men, plus an additional 100 when serving as a flagship. Crew quarters are generally designed with short stays abord in mind, under the belief that the ships will sortie and return to their bases quickly.
[code]Type: Fast Battleship
Ships to be built:
Isabella
Ferdinand
Displacement: 40.000 tons, 45.500 tons full
Length: 236 meters
Beam: 33 meters
Draft: 9.6 meters
Installed power: 175.000 hp steam using fuel oil
Propulsion: x6 boilers
x4 screws
x2 rudders
geared steam turbines
Speed: 30 knots (up to 31 knots light)
Range: 8.000 kilometers at 16 knots
Complement: 1.600+100
Armament:
x9 381mm /45 modèle 1935 guns in three triple turrets, x2 forward
x12 120mm dual purpose guns, x3 dual turrets per broadside.
x16 37mm anti-aircraft guns in x8 dual turrets
x32 13.2mm anti-aircraft guns in x8 quadruple turrets
Armor:
Belt: 330 mm
Upper armored deck: 150-170 mm
Lower armored deck: 40 mm
Main turrets: 200-430mm
Conning tower: 150-320 mm
152mm turrets: 80-300mm
120mm turrets: 75mm
Aircraft :x4 floatplanes
[/code]
Commentaires
Publier un commentaire