Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)

Hello everyone

Great AU concept BB1987, looking forward to more. Have to add Koko to the destination list for the Thiarian navy 1912 world cruise...

@Krakatoa: In my opinion, these ships don't need to be improvements of the Ibukis. Not everything that was built necessarily followed the optimum approach... just look at France's Dantons. I think if you want a really realistic AU, you have to have some ships with sub-optimal design decisions, which usually have the big advantage of being cheaper than going high-end all the way. I for one like these ships, they feel extremely realistic.

Greetings
GD

Krakatoa, thanks for your input, I also agree with you on it. Still the Goryos do not need to be an improvement over the Ibukis, Garlic here basically answered for me on the matter. More ships in this AU that will not be state-of-the-art units, surely, a vast majority of them will be inspired or modified design started from an IJN basis, but not all of them will be truly succesful ones. Trial and error is part of the game sometimes, even if this AU is just an excuse for me to play with drawings from time to time when my brain asks me some mercy (like now, after three monts of work on the Nagato class has nearly driven me insane

).

@Garlic: Thiaria's ships will be welcome, there are plenty of piers available here in Toumachi bay.. at least in 1912

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Very nice work. The Goryo Class is a nice looking vessel.

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Kuchikukan 27 Class Destroyer:

The year 1914 for koko did not just meant the start of WWI, it was also the year that two new shipyards envisioned in the 1905 Navy plans were opened: Kousaten Navy Yard, located in the city of Kousaten, just 16km north of Toumachi. And Hoshiguma Navy Yard, located in the namesake city on the wester shore of Koko island. Initially exploited just for maintenance works the two new shpyards came in handy in the following years.
As the war necessitated the mobilization of pretty much the entire fleet even for just patrol duties and the first of the two Yagumo Class Battleships was under construction the Naval Staff started to plan another class of destroyers. A class of nine units was envisioned and the Japanese Isokaze Class was immediately chosen as a starting point, as the two Yagumos would have needed bigger, faster and more powerful units to escort them. Koko naval designers choose to focus mostly on speed this time: Mantaining the same armament of the Isokaze the hull was lenghtened by 7,8meters by fitting a finer stern and by enlarging the machinery spaces. A sixth boiler and more powerful turbines were fitted, for an extimated maximum output of 32.000shp, for an envisioned and astonishing maximum speed of 37knots. Construction of the first unit, Kuchikukan 27, started at Kousaten Navy Yard in 1917, three more units, 30,32 and 35 were built there. Another four Destroyers, 29,31,33 and 36 were ordered and built a Hoshiguma, wile the ninth unit, Kuchikukan 34, was built at Toumachi.
Despite split production was remarkably fast, none of the units was completed (and some even laid down) before the war ended. All nine were laid down between 1917 and 1920, and commissioned between 1919 and 1921.
Each unit was 104,7m long, 8,5m abeam and had a draft of 2,8m. They displaced 1.327tons standard, 100 more than the original Isokazes, and were armed with four 120mm guns and three twin 533mm sets of torpedo tubes. Two 6,5mm machine guns were also fitted. When the lead ship, Kuchikukan 14, started her trails on January 22, 1919, there were high expectations for her planned high speed runs. Still, while they were indeed remarkable, they just made clear thet Koko dsigners had tried to fly a bit too high: Kuchikukan 14 topped her run at 35,7knots almost overloading her engines, revelaing that a safe, attainable top speed in service would have been around 34,9knots, well below the envisioned 37. Range also vastly decreased from 3.360 to 2.593nm at 14knots, because of the higher displacement and higher fuel consumption, while bunkerage had remained the same. Overall, and hard price to pay for a gain of 0.9knots in speed.
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Unaffected by the WNT the Kuchikukan 27 units were, despite their flaws, the most advanced destroyers in service with Koko no Kaigun, so, until the Okaze class started to superseed them, they always operated with the two Yagumo Class battleship or with the Goryo class battlecruisers. During the late 20's they all recieved shields for their guns, and had the light AA armament upgraded with four 7,7mm brownings replacing the two 6,5mm ones. The bridge was also slighly enlarged and fitted with canvas and removable windows.
The life of most units of the class was cut short by the signing of the London Naval Treaty in October 1930. Limiting Destroyer tonnage for Koko at 78.805t it prompted immediate decommissioning for the first four units, which left the fleet in February 1931. In order to not have to scrap them outright, it was desiced to convert all ships into Patrol boats as soon as they were decommissioned. Another two units followed in 1932 and another one in 1933. Kuchikukans 35 and 36 lived a bit too long as the first had to wait for her replacement to be commissioned, the latter because meanwhile Japan and Koko had denounced the Washington Naval Treaty.
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By 1937, all units of the Kuchikukan 27 class had left service and had been converted into Patrol Boats. They were the last Destroyers in Koko's Navy to be named after their pennant.

Ships in class: (laid down-launched-commissioned - fate)

Kikuchikan 27 1917-1918-1919 - Decommissioned 1931 (converted to Patrol Boat)
Kikuchikan 29 1917-1918-1919 - Decommissioned 1931 (converted to Patrol Boat)
Kikuchikan 30 1918-1919-1920 - Decommissioned 1931 (converted to Patrol Boat)
Kikuchikan 31 1918-1919-1919 - Decommissioned 1931 (converted to Patrol Boat)
Kikuchikan 32 1919-1920-1920 - Decommissioned 1932 (converted to Patrol Boat)
Kikuchikan 33 1919-1920-1920 - Decommissioned 1932 (converted to Patrol Boat)
Kikuchikan 34 1919-1920-1921 - Decommissioned 1933 (converted to Patrol Boat)
Kikuchikan 35 1920-1921-1921 - Decommissioned 1935 (converted to Patrol Boat)
Kikuchikan 36 1920-1921-1921 - Decommissioned 1937 (converted to Patrol Boat)

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Good work. Can't wait to see more.

WOW I like this thread a lot. Great job. Thanks for your work. . .truly inspiring.

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A little jump the past (at least if compared to the latest WWI timeframe drawings) to fill a void I had left.

Heian Class Protected Cruiser:

The Heian was the first warship class to be designed and ordered under Koko's Navy expansion plan in the late 1890s. Initial plans were based upon the Japanese Suma and Takasago classes, so that two different designs were started. Ultimately, the choice fell on a modified suma design: Despite beign older had the advantage of beign cheaper and apparently simpler to be turned into reality, as the ships would have been built in the brand new (and thus inexperienced) Toumachi Naval Arsenal. The ships would have been several meters longer than the Sumas, with an overal lenght of 104,5m, two meters beamier at 14,1m and drafted 0,8meters more at 5,4m. Displacement at standard load was to be 3.978t, and twelve boilers with a total output of 13.000hp would have propelled them to 21 knots. Armament would have been composed of four 152mm guns in two twin turrets, argumented by six 120mm ones in casemate mounts. Eight 57mm and four 47mm guns were also fitted, the former in casemate and deck mounts, the latter on the fighting tops. Two 450mm torpedo tubes would have been fitted towards the stern, one on each broadside.
Under the assumptions made during the design phase the lead ship, Heian, was officiallly laid down on May 1st, 1897. launch was scheduled for 1900, and commissioning for 1902, around the time the first Kikuchikan 1 Class ships intended to escort them would have joined the fleet. A second unit, Fujiwara, was laid down in 1899, commissioning expected for 1904.
Yet, construction issues immediately started to pile-up delaying the launch of both Cruisers, a situation that got worse when in 1900 and 1901 the two Nintoku class Armoured Cruisers were laid down at the same yards. Heian was launched in 1902, two years behind schedule, when she was supposed to be already in service, Fujiwara left the yards in 1904, even after the first Nintoku Class ship. Ultimately, Heian was commissioned only in January 1905, after a lenghty and and troubled sea-trial: Range, at 7.300nm, was 25% less than expected, maximum speed topped at 20,6knots, less than the expected 21, But worse, she proved to be top-heavy and lacked stability and seaworthiness in rough seas. Despite that, she enjoyed her stint as the Koko's Flagship until June 1906, when she was replaced by Jimmu.
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Fujiwara, which was still in the yards at the time Heian made her lackuster trials, started a series of modifications that further lenghtened her building time. The launch of HMS Dreadnought only making her ten-year-old design even worse. The eight 57mm guns were replaced with six 76mm ones, masts and funnels straightened and shortened. The fighting tops were removed altogheter, and the 47mm guns moved to deck mounts, the aft ventilation cowls were also lowered.
Fujiwara was commissioned in December 1907 later than the two Nintokus, the battleship Ketsui, and even after the entire Kuchikukan 1 Class. Her trials showed that some of the stablity issues had been resolved, still, she would have not been remember by her crew as a good seaboat either.
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The two Heian class ships spent their lives experiencing some of the most uneventful careers ever: already ill recieved by cadets and sailors, the lenghty and troubled building time doomed them to be rated as second-class units because the more advanced Nintokus were already avaliable, with the succeding Hyoto class already nearing completion as well. Then they were basically relegated to training duties once the Shinjima class cruisers and Goryo class Battlecruisers entered service, they did not left home waters even during WWI, and were promptly decommissioned and scrapped in 1922 after the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty, even if it did not explicitly requests their disposal.

Ships in class: (laid down-launched-commissioned - fate)

Heian 1897-1902-1905 - Decommissioned 1922
Fujiwara 1899-1904-1907 - Decommissioned 1922

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