Aseskara-Class Aeroredoubt AD03 ssh.I (Aerial Fortress - First Shushunefu)
Following the success of the Toth, and the obvious advantage of having invulnerable machines of war soaring the skies, the Seskara truly represents a revolutionary vessel. It's role is as of yet unseen in the world. Meant to fly high above enemy defenses, carrying a potent armament and defended by a metal underside, while moving fast, powered by several internal combustion engines, the Aseskara represents the first of it's kind - the Aeroredoubt - dominating the skies as armored ships dominate the seas.
The vessel is larger than it's predecessor. It is suspended by a larger 511 ft by 44 ft 3.5" by 44 ft 3.5" (156 x 13.5 x 13.5 m) aerodynamic balloon, allowing for relatively responsive altitude control as well as redundancy in addition to it's tail, inspired by the Toth. The craft possesses a capacity of 55,135 m³ of helium, or around 9845 kilograms of it, within it's thick inflatable gas bags, of which there are eighty, each around 1.95 meters long and with a maximum capacity of around 1115 m³ for most of it's length. On the very top of the balloon sits a metal platform, with a thin bullwark to prevent crew from falling over and indented emplacements for spotters, eventual weapons, supplies and similar uses, while the underside up to half of the aeroredoubt and most of it's nose is armored by around .16" of steel plates so as to protect it from potential enemy machine gun fire, artillery or small arms. Furthermore, on the underside rest five gondolas, one main bridge-holding one, one underneath it and three side gondolas, reinforced with metal struts or bolted on in case of the main gondola, housing it's crew, armament and supplies, armored with .50" of armor. The gondolas are arranged in an Y shape around the bridge-hold, with an additional gondola underneath it. The Aseskara is propelled by 8 210 hp
Mark II W1GPM-0XV8 engines divided between 4 gondolas (four on the back gondola, two on the bridge-hold, and one each on the forward gondolas) with 8 wooden propellers, giving it a total of 1680 hp and allowing it to attain speeds of around 81 mph, though a speed of around 70 mph is more reasonable given a higher altitude. The main bridge-holding gondola features a cargo bay capable of holding a total of 44,100 lb of cargo or 40,000 lb of bombs, or around 80
Mark I 500 lb Hexogen HE Bombs - giving it tremendous strategic utility on the battlefield under a proper commander.
For defensive and offensive purposes, the Aeroredoubt has 5 1.6-inch Sekhmet Revolver Cannons, with three on the bridge-holding gondola and two on the back gondola, and 12 Carrera S3M2VA machine guns, with one in each frontal side gondola, two in the back of the main gondola, six on the bow platform and two atop the vessel. This armament is meant to allow the Aeroredoubt to provide ground support should it's bomb load be exhausted, or should it's mission parameters specify so. As a further safety precaution, inflatable boats and fire extinguishers are located inside the vessel, with rolled up inflatable boats also located to the sides of an exit from a gondola, on a ridge, so as to allow the 23 crew members to quickly escape the Aseskara-Class in case of a catastrophe.
Weight's slightly under 18 tons, closer to 17.5 IIRC.
Amenei-Class NushunefuThe Amenei represents a further evolution of the Sobek class that has served the Nafuni royal navy for all these years and aims to utilize a geared steam turbine as it's powerplant - effectively going faster, being more armored and possessing a larger armament than the current Sobek. The ship is propelled with a powerful, large geared steam turbine driving two shafts, each one connected to one three-bladed and one four-bladed propeller (to the center). The four-bladed propellers provide good handling at lower speeds or rough seas, fuel economy and durability, while the three-bladed propellers provide the ship with adequate acceleration to reach speeds surpassing those of any ship at sea to date (up to an astounding 21 knots). The ship continues the trend of using an armored coal bunker and geared steam turbine compartment (both to stop shells and to be used to lock it down in case of a fire), which are protected with another two and a half inches of armor. It features a total of 8x Tauret cannons in double turrets, 4x Djer-Khenthap cannons in single mounts, and two double turrets, which are manually operated, hydraulically assisted and rest on a circular rail for traverse, on the fore and aft mounting 8" Ramses cannons, featuring all the nice aiming devices our artillery crews enjoy, as well as sixteen Sekhmet 1.6-inch Revolver Cannon mounts on the main deck, in the fore, aft, starboard and port position to help against enemy ships that get within firearm firing range, or against the older Karikhitan ships. The ship is entirely clad in steel, dispersing with the ironclad layout of the Sobek, with a 5.5" thick belt, 2" of deck armor, as well as 5" on the turret's front, sides and rear and 8" on the conning tower, while secondaries have 3" of frontal, back and side armor. All this armor renders the ship virtually impervious to enemy fire, since the Sobek could only be mission killed with enemy ships shooting at the back of it's turrets, where their armor was thinnest, at short range. All turrets share the same top armor of 2.5". Keeping with tradition, the ship's cannons can also be taken out to provide a second role - as a resource transport, in which it should be much more effective as it's larger than the Sobek measuring 504 by 72 feet. For those interested, the ship weights 9,932 tons and has a complement of 610 sailors, with a targeted traverse speed for it's turrets of between 10 and 12°/s, enabling it to aim it's guns at potential targets much quicker than what they're capable of matching.
This design also installs a similar turbine engine in the Sobek Class Nushunefu, enabling it to reach speeds of around 23 - 24 knots, and allowing it to act as a light cruiser to harass enemy forces, while still being decently armed and armored. This combination would allow both ships to outrun anything the Karikhitan navy currently houses and would thus allow our ships to much more effectively evade their torpedoes, therefore buying us an advantage at sea.
Ear of Horus 'Eoch' Electric TelegraphThe Ear of Horus, or the Eoch for short, represents a single-circuit telegraph that works by pushing the operator key down to complete the electric circuit of the battery. This action sends an electrical signal across a wire to a receiver at the other end. All the system needs to function is a key, a battery, and a wire between stations for the receiver, with poles being used for land systems. To communicate, the Nafuni Telegraph System will utilize Morse code as per standard international convention. This should increase the rate at which information is transfered inside Nafuna and on the battlefield up to a point where it's effectively instantaneous, increasing artillery range and planning speed, and disabling the enemy from intercepting written commands as the telegraph lines are a physical connection between two operators.
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Topic: The Ameliorate War, An Arms Race game, Nafuna, 1904 Battle Phase (Read 53394 times)