Shipbucket

Interesting and fitting, considering the RNs post war rebuild bug.
Will the RN make the conversion to the 40mm/L70 in this AU? I never could understand why they didn't.

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

Worklist

Source Materiel is always welcome.

Wow that looks just 100% awesome!! I've one little note: You used the AU launcher from Hood whit Seawolf, and got got used Seacats

As the RN came out of the war (WW2) something was needed to augement the anti-aircraft capability of the surface fleet. At the time the early Battle class were still under construction, but the navy had a lot of destroyer hulls with somewhat obselete weapons. The idea thaen came to modify some of these as AA escorts, and the way was paved by the wartime conversion of 'V&W' class destroyer as "Weir", using the hull but giving these old destroyers 2 twin 4" guns and fire control. A similar approach was by taking HMS Savage which already had one twin Mk.4 4.5" gun mounting foreward, and giving her the same mounting aft (instead of the two single Mk.5 guns), and also giving the ship some updated armamnet.



This conversion was also applied to the rest of the 'S' and 'T' classes of the war emergency program, till a somewhat better idea popped and that was to convert the remaining 'L' and 'M' class destroyers. These destroyers were slightly bigger, already had twin turrets (incidently the weighed in about the same), and so 5 'M' class and one 'L' class were converted.



These conversions were done immidiatly after the war, and so by the time of Korea the navy had some 20 AA escorts.

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Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"

Alvama wrote:
I don't grok this, could you please give me more information?

Illistrious interesting I do wonder if Victorious had been mothballed post fire and converted late 70's to a Harrier Carrier. Or Malta class completed. Along with the remainder of the Albion class

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"There was nothing wrong with Titanic when she left the Shipyard" Tim McGarry Belfast Comedian

The Fleet Direction Escort


The Fleet Direction Escort (FADE) was another post-war specialised design looked at in depth from January 1946. The first idea was to convert either Daring or Battle Class destroyers to the new role. Work dragged on owing to lack of funds and indecsion over what equipment to fit on the ships. In 1948 it was decided to rebuild thr fast minealyer Abdiel but instead the sole surviving 4.5in armed Dido class cruiser Syclla was chosen for conversion. She emerged in late 1949 rearmed with two twin 3in/70 mounts and two twin Bofors 40mm/70. The radars included the standard fit of the type along with the Type 982 TIR and Type 983 height-finding radars. There was not enough space for a second Type 982 for a full double-end facility. Syclla served as a carrier escort until 1968.


The plans for a new-build FADE ships continued using the Daring as a basis as the FADE IIIF, the hull was flush decked and the armament was two 4.5in Mk VI and four STAAG. Single Squid was carried aft recessed into the hull.The electronic fit was as Syclla. Two ships were built during 1949-51.


In 1960-61 the Type 960P aerial search radars was replaced by a Type 965 AKE-2 array and two STAAG were replaced by the more modern semi-automatic 40mm twin. The other two were removed. Both FADE Darings were decommissioned in 1976.


The RN wanted more Darings and the FADE IIIF showed what could be acheived on a Daring hull. The four 'Super-Darings' were basically the FADE hull with armament weight taking up electronic weight. An extra 4.5in twin mount was carried forward, Limbo was added aft and two STAAG were replaced by standard twin 40mm mounts. Four fixed tubes were carried on either side for 'Fancy' anti-ship homing torpedoes. All four completed between 1951 and 1953. They decommissioned in 1970.


Eight Battles were converted as radar picket ships as 'Mini-FADEs' from the late 1950s with Type 965 radar and a new AIO. Some of them received newer 4.5in Mk VI mounts during thier refits. They served until the 1970-72 with the carrier fleet extending the radar-range of the fleet and they were data-linked to the FADE ships and the carriers by CDS.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

very nice

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"There was nothing wrong with Titanic when she left the Shipyard" Tim McGarry Belfast Comedian

This AU has allready reclaimed the expectations... Is the Scylla conversion something newer-where based?
The idea of the fleet direction ships is excelent.

There are few finishing errors in the daring drawings, few blank pixels showing behind and that odd grey line there in the template. But even with them, these certainly tops the charts in propably best AU ships I've seen.

We remain to expect more amazements and this does indeed put the bar high for my own forthcoming ships (and for anyone else in that matter)

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Shipbucket mainsite, aka "The Archive"
New AU project "Aravala"

Every fleet needs a flagship.Nothing much changed as she was only completed in 1946.It is rumoured she will get a refit by 1962.

After Thornycroft built the late Hunt Type IV with extended forecastle the design of a new warship gradually evolved to fit the role of 'colonial sloop'; really a modern frigate to replace the large numbers of WWII warships still being employed usefully around the globe. The basic hull was also developed into an export variant - also built for the RN to replace the Hunts, but first came this design: all diesel, with good endurance and able to carry a detachment of Royal Marines. These ships were employed in a 'low end' capacity, and though compatible with fleet deployment they were more generally used singly where previously a gunboat would have served: