Post-1914 Pre-Dreadnought and Armoured Cruiser Modernizations

[Tzoli]

Posted March 31… you scare me. Super cool, I didn’t intend for the thread to be focused on aviation ships but I had no idea this existed. That’s as big of a fish as I thought I could possibly catch with this

But the magazine came out much sooner so no it's not April's fool ship.

 

[Tzoli]

The only comparable thing I can think of that entered service was the Dristigheten in her converted state, and the only comparable paper plans I’ve heard of were the Admiral Lazarev or Roon conversions. But a plan for converting a full fledged pre-dreadnought battleship… thank you Greece

There was the Piemonte Protected Cruiser conversion proposal as well:

https://www.deviantart.com/tzoli/art/Aviation-Protected-Cruiser-Piemonte-781133681

 

[PMN1]

There was the Piemonte Protected Cruiser conversion proposal as well:

https://www.deviantart.com/tzoli/art/Aviation-Protected-Cruiser-Piemonte-781133681

Mhhh, a roller coaster for seaplanes.....

 

[pathology_doc]

I did this one a while back for some discussion or another. HMAS Australia modernized.

You have an advantage starting with a British battlecruiser because you already have a relatively long, relatively large, relatively fast hull that's built around turbines from the start. These ships were early enough, however, that a reconstructive modernization 20 years after completion might justify a newer, better set of turbines in addition to new boilers and oil firing, even if the current ones were in good repair.

The main problem with a reconstruction in ~1930 is that it's just before the radar era, and you might be up for another refit in 1940 or thereabouts (if the ship can be spared/is still afloat) to install more generator capacity.

 

[T. A. Gardner]

You have an advantage starting with a British battlecruiser because you already have a relatively long, relatively large, relatively fast hull that's built around turbines from the start. These ships were early enough, however, that a reconstructive modernization 20 years after completion might justify a newer, better set of turbines in addition to new boilers and oil firing, even if the current ones were in good repair.

The main problem with a reconstruction in ~1930 is that it's just before the radar era, and you might be up for another refit in 1940 or thereabouts (if the ship can be spared/is still afloat) to install more generator capacity.

That requires a different solution. There, the issue is electrical generation. For RN and Commonwealth ships the issue is they are fitted with DC electrical systems. The RN being hidebound and conservative felt that DC was good enough and safer than going to an AC system. The problem with that is that most electronics--eg., radar etc.--needs AC to work. This results in having to add motor-generator sets for DC to AC conversion (heavy and bulky). In the 40's static inverters didn't exist yet.

The other issue is total load. This rises almost exponentially during WW 2. The other issue that would arise with wartime service is fitting emergency diesel generators to the ship. Now, I could see the Australians simply saying in say 1942, "Hey Yanks, can we send our battleship over to the states for an upgrade?" If the US agreed, a West Coast refit of say 6 months has the Australia back in service in time for Guadalcanal.

 

[Dilandu]

But a plan for converting a full fledged pre-dreadnought battleship… thank you Greece

Well, it was completely obsolete by 1926 anyway. And it's not like Greece needed it much. Before the Goeben/Yavuz reconstruction started in 1927, Turkish Navy wasn't considered a significan threat anymore; Yugoslavia have no naval forces to speak about, and Italy was just too powerful to even consider deploying a pair of obsolete semi-dreadnoughts againt Regia Marina. So the idea of turning obsolete hull into something modern & useful was attractive.

The situation changed after Turkey proceeded with Yavuz repair & refit. The Hellenic Navy suddently found itself at significant disadvantage, and two elderly battleships (plus Averof) were essentially the only force that could hope to counter the battlecruiser.

 

[pathology_doc]

That requires a different solution. There, the issue is electrical generation.

I covered that in my second paragraph. I didn't explicitly address the AC/DC issue, but I am well aware of it. The ultimate solution you propose (refit in US yards, assuming they have the room) is probably the best one. They can work out what they want to put on her in terms of new AA and major fire-control capability (including radar sets) and back-fill the AC generator capacity from there as part of the rebuild.