Nuclear Battlecruiser Robert F Kennedy

I have mentioned this before and still have not tracked down my copy for the description but in a 60s novel called "North Cape" by Joe Poyer about a US spyplane mission over the Soviet Union (ripped off a bit by the later Fireflash novels) the US recovery ship is a Nuclear Battlecruiser (BCGN) called the Robert Kennedy. The ship is described as looking similar to the current US Zumwalt destroyers but with rounded rather than angular stealth decks.

I am surprised that noone in the Shipbucket Community has had a go at this ship, it would be interesting to see an impression.

Somewhere I have the original short story version that appeared in Analog, which I think has additional details on the ships armament fit out, however in that story it's named the USS John F Kennedy....

Graham

Thanks for this. It would make sense as by the time the novel appeared in 1968 the USN were deploying nuclear frigates rather than cruisers. I was fascinated by the ship when I first got the book out of our local library in the late 60s.

uk 75 said:

by the time the novel appeared in 1968 the USN were deploying nuclear frigates rather than cruisers.

Click to expand...

Weren't they cruisers in all but name, and later reclassified as such once it became politically acceptable to do so?

uk 75 said:

Graham

Thanks for this. It would make sense as by the time the novel appeared in 1968 the USN were deploying nuclear frigates rather than cruisers. I was fascinated by the ship when I first got the book out of our local library in the late 60s.

Click to expand...

I've found the Analog issue I mentioned earlier. Title is "Mission: Red Clash" which appeared in the December 1965 issue. One small correction the ships name was NS John F Kennedy (President Class).

I'll follow up with the details of the armament etc later.

Here goes a best attempt to summarize the warship as it appears in Analog (NS - John F Kennedy), if an illustrator can make something of it, feel free.

Powerplant: CONAG (45 knots nuclear + 40(+) knots gas turbine) No mention of how many propellers, simply that there are more than one.

Hullform: (Length/width/depth not specified.)

...the designers of the NS JFK gave her a very different hull. The hull was stepped aft of midpoint for cruising between fifty and sixty knots. High pressure ram pumps forced air into the steps, creating air bubbles that merged at high speeds, reducing the friction coefficient by some forty percent. Above sixty-five knots, a large bow hydroplane and two modified hydrofoils aft were extended and the ship roared out of and above the waves at nearly ninty knots.

Click to expand...

Mission: Red Clash, Joe Poyer, Analog, December 1965, pg. 115)

Height of ship: Unclear, but reference is made at one point to the ship heading into a wave that was 20 feet (6.1 meters) higher than the superstructure, the waves are then described as being between 50 to 70 feet (15 - 21 meters) high.

Armament: Not much different from what was originally planned for the Long Beach, pure missile armament, only specific names are Polaris and SUBROC.

Graham


Thank you for coming back with this. My 1969 copy is buried under a pile of paperbacks and I cannot reach it. I will try and get a nice covered version on Amatheft but there isnt one at the moment.
I post some cover variants and an imagining of the spyplane.

The Analog short story version has a picture of the plane at the start. I'm not willing to destroy my copy for scanning purposes so I'll try and photograph it.

There used to be a website with coverscans of most of Joe Poyers books, but it disappeared around 2014.

All these years later I still have not found my copy but am still fascinated by the description of the Kennedy.

uk 75 said:

I have mentioned this before and still have not tracked down my copy for the description but in a 60s novel called "North Cape" by Joe Poyer about a US spyplane mission over the Soviet Union (ripped off a bit by the later Fireflash novels) the US recovery ship is a Nuclear Battlecruiser (BCGN) called the Robert Kennedy. The ship is described as looking similar to the current US Zumwalt destroyers but with rounded rather than angular stealth decks.

I am surprised that noone in the Shipbucket Community has had a go at this ship, it would be interesting to see an impression.

Click to expand...

Google "whaleback" or "pignose" ships.

Does the description sound like it might have been inspired by this?

Streamlined CGN by Ryan Crierie, on Flickr

I found it from @RyanC 's Flickr but it's also on our forum, here: