Shipbucket

Thank you very much!

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Great work!

I really like your cruisers and destroyers!

Thank you very much!

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Nucadia class battlecruiser



The first capital ship developed after battleship construction was allowed to resume in 1930, Nucadia was specifically designed to test new construction methods for future battleships - however Nucadia herself was not a battleship, but a battlecruiser. While the navy was struggling to find a design they thought was suitable to compete with the other battleships emerging around the early 1930s, spare guns stripped from older WW1 era battlecruisers were given a new lease of life as they were polished and placed onto this two ship class. Nucadia and Vescadia were equipped with three triple turrets, carrying 305mm/50s, and a small 127mm/45 battery, as well as two quad 610mm torpedo launchers. Her armor was relatively thin at only 203mm.

Both vessels passed their design speed of 33 knots, both achieving almost 34 knots, matching the navy's other cruisers. One of the vessel's features is an experimental fire control layout, where her 12" directors were separated from her range finders - which was abandoned not long after commissioning, as the rangefinder and director were combined into one system. She also gained two additional directors for her 5" battery which could also control the 12" guns if needed. Another feature was her secondary set of rudders, which meant that in the scenario that her primary rudders are destroyed, she'll still be able to steer. These secondary rudders would be passed onto future battleship classes.

Both vessels were very active in the opening months of the Second World War, and both most famously engaged the German battleship Bismarck in September 1940. The engagement was practically point blank range due to fog covering their approach, this also meant the shooting lasted less than 20 minutes, unfortunately resulting in the loss of Nucadia, whereas Vescadia lost only her #2 gun turret. As there were not many capital ships assigned to the Atlantic fleet at the outbreak of the war, Vescadia could not wait for her replacement guns to be railed in, and instead she received only minor repairs before continuing to patrol the Atlantic.

In June 1941, Vescadia engaged and sank the cruiser Blücher, but only after suffering heavy damage from screening destroyers. Vescadia's second gun turret was replaced by 1942, her refit also included the addition of radar and an updated camouflage scheme, as well as extensive repairs and crew replacements. Vescadia continued her career in the Mediterranean, escorting British convoys and covering the invasions of Sicily and mainland Italy in mid 1944. The vessel remained a part of the Atlantic Fleet until the end of the war, where she was in the process of being decommissioned, until she was sailed to the Pacific for atomic bomb tests - sinking three hours after the first explosion.

Displacement - 19700 tonnes standard
Main battery - 3x3 305mm/50
Secondary battery - 8x1 127mm/45
Torpedoes - 4x2 610mm
Speed - 33.8 knots
Range - 8000nm at 17 knots
Main belt - 203mm



Nucadia as she appeared before her battle with Bismarck, resulting in the former's sinking. Her disruptive Standard 18 scheme did nothing to help her when the engagement range was under 5km.



Vescadia was the chosen representative of the Antarans during the Spithead review of 1937, which brought Grand Admiral F. Bradford to attend the ceremonies.



Vescadia in 1941, with torpedo tubes removed and her #2 turret tempererilly removed, and ontop of it are 40mm AA mounts.



In 1942 and 1943, Vescadia fought against the French, Germans and Italians, covering land invasions and shooting down a single Ju-87 North of Malta.



Vescadia was painted in Standard 40 in early 1944, which was removed in early 1945, replacing it with regular grey after Axis navies had basically dwindled to non-existance.



Vescadia in 1948, after essentially being dragged into the Pacific for nuclear testing, was in the process of being decommissioned. Her main battery cannons have been stripped, as was her radar and AA suite. One of her 127mm mounts are also missing a gun.

Nucadia gained three battle stars following her sinking, whilst Vescadia had seven.

Ships in class

Nucadia - Sunk in surface action, 1941
Vescadia - Sunk during atomic bomb testing, 1948

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Quite a beauty.

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Very attractive and well-executed drawings. From a design standpoint, I'd hesitate to locate the secondary rudders as you've done. Being so close to both screws would tempt the vibration demons, which are non-trivial to fend off even today.

Impressive, as always.

Thank you very much!


How does this look?

It's similiar to Maomatic's H-class proposals.

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I think that's more reasonable. It's hard to know for sure unless you build the dang thing

Hi Shigure!

Of course I'm no engineer.

That said - although the H is probably a lot wider than your large cruiser, the rudder arrangement should work if it's a triple screw ship (as most H proposals were); distance between rudder and screw should not be significantly less than in Kronshtadt, which had a similar rudder arrangement. If your ship has quadruple screws however (most of your ships more or less follow US practice, after all), you'll probably run into trouble with that rudder.

Greetings
GD