Pregame Design Phase of Turn 4:“Zeerover” Speciale Kruiser: Weighing in at 4,000 tons of displacement the “Zeerover” exists to cause havoc among the merchant lanes of our foe. Armed with 8x6” cannons mounted in two twin turrets fore and aft with 4 in superfiring casemates alongside 8 x 4” cannons split evenly on both sides of the ship on shielded deck mounts. The main battery shields are meant to protect the gunnery crew from large shrapnel while the secondary is mainly to prevent more intermediary shrapnel from light guns. The ship follows the armoured cruiser armor scheme with 3” of protected cruiser style deck armor(sloped), a 2" main belt and relies on the substantial coal bunkers to catch or slow any light gunfire the belt doesn’t cover. The main propulsion of the “Zeerover” is our upgraded triple expansion engines which lets have a flank speed of 22 knots and it comfortably cruise at 14 knots with a range of 6,000NM. The specifics of the "Zeerover's" armor protection is 3 inches of sloped deck armour over the main components 2 inches on the ends, 2 inches of belt armour over main components 1 inch on the ends, 4 inch of armour for the bridge the main guns have 3 inch gun shields and the 4 inch guns have 2 inch shields. The "Zeerover" also comes with 4 deck mounted torpedo tubes, two a side.
Effectiveness: 5 | Cost: 1 | Bugs: 3 |
Time: 4TheZeerover Speciale Kruiser is a mixed bag when it comes to the success of the design. The original idea of using torpedo launchers fell through due to an issue with the deck space that was eventually fixed, but came to nothing due to the ship's hull being too far above the water line. And lowering the freeboard was not considered an option. Other than this, the design went more or less as planned with the one issue that is painfully apparent being that the ship costs quite a bit for what it is. This isn't even mainly due to the size being extended due to weight concerns, but rather has to do with the cost of the fairly expensive equipment going into it. Still, it's not that bad. Quality will always beat quantity, especially when it comes to a naval war. After all, only so many crews and ships can be sent down to the depths before morale takes a nose dive. Regardless, the ship is very well armed for it's type, and is sure to cause havoc to the enemy's supply lines with its speed of twenty two knots at flank, and the guns on it. Likewise, it will undoubtedly be a good escort at destroying torpedo boats and ships of an equal size.
Costs 6/2, 4 season construction time.
The Compromise Class of "Special Defense Ship" is designed as a 7000 ton, 22 knot behemoth and is intended to repel any attack on our home islands. Armed with two twin-gun turrets mounting 10" guns(one forward and one aft), a secondary armament of two twin-gun turrets mounting 6" guns superfiring over the mains, five casemated 6" guns(of the casemated turret-type) per broadside that are biased towards firing forward, eight 4" guns in gunshields per broadside and two submerged launchers for the Zeeslang torpedo per broadside, the vessel is capable of destroying any target that may pose a challenge, particularly when combined with the two sets of Mikken Fire Control System rigged either for independent control of turrets or(more likely) one set for the main battery and one set for the secondary battery. Data for these systems are provided from no less than four sets of range finders. Two of these share space with the 6" turrets, but the other two are independently mounted as high in the superstructure as possible. A full flag bridge is provided, as are quarters for a flag crew. There also exist four 2" gun mounts intended for signaling or assisting the 4" mounts in defense against torpedo boats.
Armor is of the Möser-Fokker type, and measures 10" on the belt, turret faces, barbettes, conning tower, and, frankly, the entirety of the citadel. 2" of deck armor protects against plunging fire, while the coal bunkerage is likewise positioned to give some extra defenses to the engine spaces and a double bottom containing balast tanks and fuel oil bunkerage helps protect against submarine explosions, running aground, or suchlike. There is extensive subdivision to limit battle damage. As a note, the fire control centers are located below the waterline and are within the citadel. Each can, of course, operate independently of the other.
With a design top-speed of 22 knots(although 20-21 is perfectly acceptable), a large quality of space is reserved for the ships powerplant, which is of course of combined coal-oil burning. The ship is designed to use primarily coal, with oil being reserved for combat or other emergencies. The ship is driven via four shafts, and exhausts via three elliptical funnels. The ship has a projected range of 2000 nautical miles. Also of note is the vessels Straight-stem bow and Transom stern.
Effectiveness: 6 | Cost: 3 | Bugs: 4 |
Time: 2+1The Compromise class, despite it's name, made practically no compromises to get to the exact letter of what we wanted, excluding the speed anyway, but one could argue due to it still reaching our target that it is still to the letter. The only real issue is that the ship is slightly overweight, but otherwise it has everything we wanted. It's just as fast as our much smaller ship, it's just small enough to fit in our construction yards, and it's armored enough that it can probably take more than it's fair share of shells before needing any major repair. And with such large guns and good fire control, it's quite likely nothing short of a proper battleship will stand a chance against the thing...Well, that and torpedo boats, but that's what the Zeerover's for. Still, it should do well in protecting our shores, even if the range is a mere 2000 nautical miles. Not that we could fit much more coal bunkers or fuel in if we tried at this stage. But 2000 nautical miles is more than enough for our needs. The only other issue, unrelated to the quality of the design itself is the cost, but for such a large ship it was expected to cost a fair bit. But for what it is and can do, that's not much of an issue.
Costs 6/3, 5 season construction time.
It is now the Revision Phase of Pre game Turn 4. You have 1 die remaining to spend on Designs, ships, or simply Save for the next turn.
Naval
Early 7/9/10/12 inch guns
QF 2/3/4/5/6 M1895 guns (Somewhat expensive. Rifling wears out faster than ideal. 20k max range estimate for 6 inch version.)
Basic Surface Single Torpedo Launchers
Advanced Triple-expansion engines.
Decent Boilers
Early coal/oil hybrid firing.
Steel hull construction.
Single Casemates.
Single and Double gun turrets.
Early Rangefinder
Early Central Fire Control
Möser-Fokker Cemented Armor
Basic Damage control techniques.
Cordite Draadkruit Smokeless Powder
Zeeslang Torpedo (Somewhat Unreliable Torpedo with 28 knot speed and 1000 yard range)
Marines & Installations
Defensive guns (Uses same calibers as naval guns)
UVW T92G (Basic Bolt Action Rifle)
UVW T88R (Basic Revolver)
Zeerover Speciale Kruiser: A modest high speed cruiser with a fairly sizable compliment of guns for dealing with any ships of equal size and armor along with anything smaller than it, and a few things above it. The submerged torpedo compliment also gives it a chance to punch well above it's weight, if it gets lucky. Fairly expensive though. Costs 6/2, 4 season construction time.
Compromise Class: An effective, slightly overweight shore defense ship with powerful guns and substantial, high quality armor. Quite fast for a ship of it's armor and armament, not far off from our cruisers. Costs 6/3, 5 season construction time.
Veenland National School of the Navy (Costs 20 PP to maintain)
7,000 Displacement Dry docks.