Well, the small portion that I've sketched, at any rate.
Top row: 500t submarine, 20t MTB
Second row: Borys the Boatmover, monitor Szczyt
Third row: MTB carrier Orzel, light cruiser Magdala
Fourth row: battleship Anders Angstrom
Fifth row: Battlecruiser Szermierz
Select armored cruisers and cruisers of the line:
Dragon ("Dragoon")
Grenadjar ("Grenadier")
Lucznik ("Archer")
Szermierz ("Swordsman")
Czarownik ("Warlock")
Nice work Rocky :)
I tried my hand at such things long ago and found it wasn't my talent.
Thanks. I know it's not for everybody but I do enjoy it at times and I like seeing what Foxy's produced.
I'm poking away on a sketch of the Wrogi-class battleships and realizing what a mess they've got to be for deck space.
Quote from: Kaiser Kirk on November 06, 2021, 09:33:12 AM
Nice work Rocky :)
I tried my hand at such things long ago and found it wasn't my talent.
Is there a particular Parthian unit you'd like to see drawn, and a mental picture of what it would look like?
I shall think on that, thanks :)
The Wrogi class battleships are, in retrospect, probably pretty problematic. Those triple 30cm turrets suck up a lot of deckspace, and having two of them en-echelon admiships, with cross-firing capability, really limits what else can be on deck. The superstructure, for instance, is likely tall but oddly skinny.
And I have no idea where I was going to put the tertiary battery other than on the main guns (you can see two perched on the superstructure as well). I have never liked that look or arrangement.
But regardless, there's a common look with the Lucznik armored cruisers, which are from the same period, but have a much less ambitious armament taking up much less deckspace and thus probably work better.
Decided to go back and sketch the Grenadjar class armored cruisers.
The type is obviously based on the historical Scharnhorst/Gneisenau pair, the main differences being that the single 20cm guns are in turrets rather than casemates, and there are more, though smaller, secondaries.
The World Tour Fleet, other than the depot ships, which I haven't sketched.
Interesting to envision the force :)
The Union Navy's aircraft carrier component - past, current and building as of January 1923. Six ships sounds pretty impressive, and probably would be if they could carry more than twenty-three aircraft between them.
It's an interesting reminder of how chunky the old armored cruisers were, compared to the much longer, yet much lighter, torpedo-boat carrier hull that Labedz is being built on.
Yahtzee!
Nice little diagrams, as usual :)
Belated sketch of the Goscinny class depot ship.
Nicely done as usual.
I wasn't aware she had no foredeck weapons, now I do :)
She bravely runs away.
Decided to sketch out the Hans Liedtke class sloop, since it's an interesting little hybrid of salvage/rescue vessel and patrol vessel.
Those two gun-like things forward of the after-100mm gun are water monitors for fire-fighting. Extra boats and the towing stuff for other rescue work, and a high freeboard and superfiring forward gun to keep things dry in bad weather. Considering they were originally designed for the Strait of Magellan and now ply the mid-Atlantic, these are probably useful features.
Adjusted the starboard profile of CV Wrona to reflect the fact that her hanger deck floor - not the flight deck - is what's represented at 9 meters freeboard.
She looks rather thicc, as the young people say.
She is looking like a CVE.
I was a bit surprised at it, but she's actually not a very large vessel, so with a minimum freeboard there is a striking resemblance.
The next one, Centaury, doesn't have quite as chunky an appearance.
The Wspanially class pre-dreadnought (or semi-dreadnought, whatever) as built (top) and as refurbished (below).
Ooh, new funnels and two new pieces of superstructure.
I wish I had that talent. I probably need to get you to do up the Aztec Fleet now that it's drastically new and changed.
Give me a sense of how your favorite ship would look and maybe I can try it out some time.
Probably the Lake Class.
4 Triple Turrets divided evenly fore and aft. 4 Shafts, figure 2 large funnels aft of the blocky (cube-ish Queen Anne's Mansion type) forward superstructure. Torpedo tubes abaft the rear superfiring turret. 3 Twin 100mm deck mounts (with shields) each side amidships, 2 70mm AA guns pyramided above and between the 100s on the superstructure on each side. 6 x 30mm pintle mounts spread along the sides. And a port and starboard catapult aft with a floatplane on each.
Color scheme is white with Aztec Green (my flag color) trim and hull bottom.
Initial draft.
1) I'm working from British inter-war cruisers here.
2) I always find the Queen Anne just a bit too blocky but this is my take on it.
3) The guns and superstructure could be compressed a bit more to provide additional deckspace at the bow and stern.
Quote from: The Rock Doctor on October 09, 2023, 06:18:47 PM
Initial draft.
1) I'm working from British inter-war cruisers here.
2) I always find the Queen Anne just a bit too blocky but this is my take on it.
3) The guns and superstructure could be compressed a bit more to provide additional deckspace at the bow and stern.
Probably compress it s little. Especially for the stern for the aircraft to have more room. From the side the superstructure would be blocky, but it is somewhat wedge shaped at the Fore. I might add a low bit of superstructure aft of the tower, like a step down. I see Aztec ships with a bit more superstructure to allow for more ventilation given the tropical clime. Also why white is the color instead of grey.
You said "Color scheme is white with Aztec Green" but that's easily fixed.
No, white is the correct color. Better in the tropics.
Second draft.
Perfect
Excellent. If anybody else has a specific request, explain what you envision and maybe I'll give it a crack.
Ship bits.
Some of the gun mountings probably need their sizes tweaked.
Just comparing with some diagrams on Navweaps and my big mountings are fine, but it looks like I've under-estimated the size of the smaller mountings.
Also kind of surprised at how low the battleship gun turrets are. Nine or ten feet high, floor to roof. Guess it helps that the mountings don't elevate up to AA angles.
I sketched out a plan view of Labedz to validate her ability to operate training aircraft. The sketch includes the profile of a PT-17 Steadman equivalent, which should do the trick for basic qualification. Qualifying in frontline aircraft will likely happen aboard one of the big carriers; not a great use of its time, but not a full-time use, either.
I assume the flight deck overhang is about 6-7 feet beyond the maximum beam of the ship; this appears to be consistent with Hosho's overhang and much, much less than Wolverine or Sable. This provides a mean width of 60', on par with HMS Audacity.
One thing that is apparent now, and which I had not considered earlier, is the implication that the gun sponsons are really far off the centerline. Good thing they're not heavy guns, then. Given that Labedz is destined to be a training platform from here on out, I might just yank the sponsons off in a refit, leaving her with the sternchaser and the two AA guns book-ending the island. If she never leaves the Baltic again, this should be fine.
The ship is probably not embarking any full-time airgroup in this configuration; the elevator can move a trainer, and the hanger can probably fit three, maybe four aircraft of those dimensions, if weather is crappy or something breaks and it needs to be moved out of the way for repairs.
A typical Vilnius Union Navy patrol group, as might be observed in just about any of the Union's overseas ports:
- A korweta provides short-ranged oceanic patrol capabilities or works with its subsidiary vessels to prosecute hostile submarine contacts, escort coastal convoys, or box in smugglers. Its commanding officer also leads the group
- Three submarine chasers and/or coastal escorts operate along the coastlines around the port and into the littorial zones, undertaking ASW patrols, search and rescue, and protecting coastal traffic as required.
- Three to six harbour patrol boats undertake port security, customs inspections, and other functions in and around the port itself
For many Union officers, this modest cluster of vessels - collectively displacing less than one modern torpedo-boat - is their first experience in commanding a group of warships.