Another item that was partly posted to the old Warships 3.0 thread. I gave up in annoyance the last time I tried to do this one.
John Watson, The Iron Man, 1998
Russia
Stalin
Super-dreadnought Battleship
Launched: July or August 1945
Armament: 9 x 22 inch guns (Triple turrets A, B & X) (Three types of shell, Armour-Piercing, High-Explosive, Anti-Aircraft (Described as being "...a 'shotgun' projectile that would fragment at a pre-set height and burst into a shower of incendiary splinters.) Magazine has room for 900 rounds (300 rounds per turret).
12 x guns larger than 6 inch but smaller than main armament
16 x 6 inch guns
32 "...twin barrelled anti-aircraft gun..."
8 x 533mm(?) Torpedo Tubes (4 a side) mounted towards the bow
Crew: 2000 (Intended), 400 (Minimum)
8 Parsons Steam Turbines (4 for forward propulsion, four for reverse) 240,000 horsepower.
Four shafts
Weight: 75,000 tons
Length and Beam not given in the book. Though it is stated that the ship is longer than a Kiev Class Aircraft Carrier.
Draft: 32ft
Top of superstructure from waterline: Approximately 170ft (52m)
34,000 tons of armour, maximum depth 2ft (61 cm)
Propellers and rudders protected by "...a unique arrangement of underwater cages as well as hiding the propellers in armoured tunnels under the hull."
Maximum speed (Trials): 35.3 knots
Notes: Intended to be the Soviet response to the Yamato Class Battleships. Anti-aircraft armament is a mix of 40mm & 110mm guns (Neither is a caliber the Soviets actually used...).
United States
USS Jackson (CG-???)
President Class Cruiser (Fictional Class)
Launched 1997(?)
28 (+) knots
Unspecified AAW (Most likely The RIM-66/67 Standard)
Harpoon Missiles
Mark 48 Torpedoes
Mk 8 Nuclear Depth Charges (5kt, 20 warheads). A fictional ASW system. The weapon is fired from the stern and has a 5 mile range.
'402' Armed Drone System. A fictional 'smart weapon'. The 402 Armed Drone is a two-section small missile, the first containing camera, computer and position-sensing device and the second the warhead, target acquired by radar, only first part launched (little bigger than a large seagull) powered by a compressed gas engine, 20 mile range, camera in the nose relays digital colour picture to the operator allowing him to guide the first section to the selected target, the rest of the system is automatic and the second section containing the warhead launches a moment before the first section impacts, following the position information relayed.
Gun armament is not mentioned, but assuming standard US practice probably includes a 5 inch gun and a Phalanx at minimum.
OTH Radar
At least one helicopter, type unspecified.
Note: Described as "A sleek, slim-hulled warship with a huge afterdeck, presumably to take a large helicopter.", "...her main role was as an an anti-submarine ship." and finally as "...the supreme example of the late twentieth-century warship."
Plot summary: The year is 1997. As to the plot, well, shorn of the authors baroque additions, it's "Sink the Bismark" in the Pacific with the USS Missouri playing the role of HMS Hood.
Notes: The author drops a number of 'clangers' in this book starting with this "...on the 20th August, a B-57 called 'Enola Gay' dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima." Aside from the 'Enola Gay' being a B-29, the bombing of Hiroshima took place on the 6th of August.
Later in the novel he has this to say about the naming of tropical storms "In the Caribbean, hurricanes are traditionally given feminine names. In the Pacific, the tradition is for men's names running in strict alphabetical order. The last one ... was Typhoon Charlie. This new storm was ... Typhoon Donald, as a wit in the Hong Kong typhoon centre had already christened it." I sure most readers can spot the mistakes...
As a final example of what I can only class as very poor research on the authors part there is this description of an American warships crew in battle "He grinned widely as the crew of the ship, leaning over the rails, cheered." I sure most readers can spot the mistake here as well...
If anyone wishes to read the rest, this book is available on Kindle, though how someone thought that was a good idea is beyond me. The attached cover image is artists David Scutt's attempt to depict the Stalin
