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Welcome to the FRAM Can challenge! The United States Navy of the 1950s faced a serious problem. A Soviet submarine menace loomed. Many believed the Soviet Navy would have 300 modern high-speed attack submarines by 1957. Construction of destroyer escorts capable of meeting this threat was insufficient. In this context, the USN turned to the destroyers of the last war and initiated the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization programme. Fletcher, Allen M. Sumner, and Gearing class destroyers were given new weapons, sensors, and a lease on life. This challenge is an homage to those ships, which were often nicknamed 'FRAM Cans'. This topic was chosen following the Infantry Fighting Vehicle challenge. If you have a suggestion for a future challenge topic, consider posting in the Future Challenge Ideas/Suggestions thread. Before posting an entry for this challenge, please read the design requirements and challenge rules.

Design Requirements

1. Your entry should depict a fictional anti-submarine escort converted from a surface combatant.
2. The surface combatant must have been commissioned or under construction before 2 September 1945.
3. Conversion of the surface combatant to an anti-submarine escort must commence after 2 September 1945.

Challenge Rules

1. Each participant may submit two drawings, one showing their ship before its FRAM-style conversion and another after. Only the 'after' drawing is required.
2. Each image should be a Shipbucket template modified to include the participant’s art. Templates which include a data sheet are allowed.
3. One side-view of the participant's ship must be included in each image. One top-view is also permitted, but not required. All other views are prohibited.
4. If two views are included in a single image, they must depict the same ship, in the same configuration, at the same point in time.
5. All art must be in Shipbucket scale and conform to the Shipbucket style guidelines.
6. A textual description accompanying each submission is permitted, but not necessary.
7. Non-serious entries, or entries substantially deviate from the challenge requirements, are not allowed.
8. Off-topic posts will be reported to the relevant authorities.

This challenge will run until Sunday the 5th of June 2022, ending at 23:59 UTC-12 (International Date Line West).
A countdown timer can be found at this link.

A poll will be held after this date. Members of the Shipbucket community will have an opportunity to rate each submission. Please provide honest and meaningful scores for each entry. Responses which grant maximum scores to a select group of entries, and minimum scores to all other entries, will be deleted. Members of the community who manipulate the results in such a fashion may also be subject to a permanent ban. Scores will be allocated in two categories, each with a scale of 1 to 10:

• Drawing Quality - The overall quality of the drawing. One might consider detailing, shading, and accuracy.
• Design Quality -The quality of the design presented, irrespective of drawing quality. One could consider feasibility, practicality, and realism.

Challenge submission:




This isn't part of my submission, but I also drew her in a different configuration as well:

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"Oh, absolutely not. Trinitite may be an eldritch being that breaks the laws of physics, but even she can't replicate the insanity that is German Engineering!" - PyrrhicSteel on whether Trinities' machine shops can make a new gasket for a crane
“Yes, strategy,” she replied to Evelyn’s withering look. “Because I am merely an amateur. I cannot talk logistics.” - Seven Shades of Sunlight, in a latter chapter of Katalepsis

Rules Update
After receiving feedback, I have updated challenge rules so that participants may include a second drawing showing their ship before its FRAM-style conversion. Only the 'after' drawing is required.

Erwin Smith-Class: Destroyer Escort
Name: DD-125 Erwin Smith
Operators: Kingdom of Eldia Navy
Laid down: 24 June 1937
Launched: 11 October 1937
Commissioned: 18 July 1938

Specifications:
Displacement: 1,670 tons (full)
Length: 93.61 m
Beam: 11.24 m
Draft: 3.65 m
Propulsion: 2×Reciprocating Steam Engines
Maximum Speed: 20.5 knots
Range: 6,800 miles at maximum speed and 12,400 miles at the cruise speed (12 knots)

Sensors and processing systems (1960):
1xType 268 radar
1xType 121 Range-finder

Armaments (1960):
4xQF 4in Mark IX single naval guns
6xOerlikon 20mm single machine guns
2xTriple 21 inch torpedo tubes for Mark 15 torpedo
2xDepth Charge Rails
2xParavanes
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DD-125 Erwin Smith Mid-Life Upgrade (Anti-Submarine Destroyer Escort)



Sensors and processing systems (1961):
1xAN/SPS-6 air search radar
1xAN/SPS-21 surface search radar
1xAN/SPG-34 gun director radar
1xAN/WLR-1H (V)3 shipborne radar warning receiver
1xAN/SQS-24 Hull-Mounted Sonar
1xAN/SQS-25 Weapon Beta Attack Sonar
2XAN/SLQ-21 Foxbat Acoustic Torpedo Decoys

Armaments (1961):
2xMark 27 3"/50 caliber twin guns
4xOerlikon 20mm single machine guns
2xMark 32 triple torpedo tubes for Mark 44 torpedo
1xRUR-3 Weapon Beta Anti-Submarine Mortar, Effective firing range 1200 m, including 30 projectiles (10 salvos)
2xMarks 22 Mousetrap Anti-submarine rockets (8 Rails), ASW Close-in weapon system and Hard Kill Torpedo Defence, Effective firing range 280 m, including 64 rockets (8-16 salvos)


Aircraft carried:
1xBell H-13M Sea Sioux helicopter, Armament 2xMark 44 torpedoes
+++++++++++++++++++

Cheer...

Was going to do a top-down, but realised that was a bit out of my league still! Nevertheless, I am happy to be the first cruiser submission

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Here is my submission, the USS Lincoln G. Read DD-891 class FRAM II upgrade, circa 1962.

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"It is better to type nothing and be assumed an ass, than to type something and remove all doubt." - Me

FNS Bale (DD-499) - Busy Boat

DD-499, christined FNS Bale, would be the fifth ship in the long line of Mitchell-class destroyers and the first to receive the soon-to-be standard platforms on her side for an additional pair of 1.5" (38mm) twin guns. She was named for Chief Petty Officer Marcus Bale, Freedom Heart recipient, who singlehandedly saved a total of 31 sailors during the Copium War when the ship his destroyer was escorting became the victim of a Fushan submarine attack. She was laid down at March Island Naval Shipyard on on March 2nd, 1941, launched five months later on the second of November, and commissioned almost immediately into the fleet on the 27th even while the ship and her crew were still working up, reflecting the dire need for destroyers on the front lines of the two-front conflict. Her motto, "virtus et tenacitate" ("valor and tenacity"), was emblazoned on her name plate.


Pictured: FNS Bale (DD-499) during the 1st Battle off the Costa Nera, February 27th, 1941.

Her first deployment would see the brand-new vessel sail the long way to Ebiria, which was one of the most important oil producing colonies of Sicilia, where Bale joined TF11 under the command of Admiral McCain, 3rd BatRon. His understrength squadron was made up of the two large but worn battleships New Armham and Daroka, as well as the questionable Helian armoured cruiser Navarcho Mikalos, and the destroyers Gunning, Balston, Whissacker and BAB Murciélago. Their mission would be to maintain a strict blockade on the town of San'Angela, where the local Sicilian squadron was homeported.

On February 26th, the Columbian squadron received news that suspicious activity was underway in the town, indicating the possibility of an immediate breakout attempt. Admiral McCain ordered his forces to consolidate and closed the cordon on the port city tighter at night in an effort to ensure that the enemy would be met in force rather than by a lonely picket. Any Sicilian vessel present would be more than capable of leaving McCain's heavy assets in the dust, so a decisive and joint action was crucial.

Indeed, in the early morning hours of the 27th of February 1941, the radars aboard the Columbian vessels began displaying fast moving targets off the formation's starboard side. However, there was considerable debate on all present vessels as to the composition and range of the enemy force. McCain came into his flagship's radar shack to investigate personally. Upon seeing the returns on the console, he asked: "Contacts this size, that would usually be a battleship, right?", indicating a pair of shady contacts on the scope.
"Indeed, sir.", replied the radio operator.
"Then it is a pair of battleships.", reasoned the Admiral and set about preparing his rag-tag fleet for a night action. One of the first orders given was, per Columbian doctrine, to send the destroyers charging headlong towards the enemy in an effort to get as close as possible before letting their fish loose.

"CONTACTS BEARING 090 RANGE 11000 | PRESUMED HOSTILE BATTLE FORCE | DESTROYERS LEAD THE CHARGE" was sent via short range radio at 0411 hours.

Even as considerable debate reined on the bridges of the destroyers, veteran destroyer Gunning broke to starboard and accelerated to top speed. Murciélago followed, unable to see anything but her lead ship in the dark without a radar. This settled the debate amongst the remaining DDs as they fell in with their comrades.

At 0416, the flagship New Armham corrected her range estimate: "CONTACTS 13000 YARDS | HEAVY UNITS STEER 010".

Two minutes later, a confused radar operator aboard Bale reported to his captain a distance to the closest enemy contact of below 4000 yards.

At 0421, searchlights blinded the charging destroyers and illuminated them brightly, and a torrent of twelve inch, six inch and four inch fire poured their way.
What had been presumed to be a pair of battleships and a pair of cruisers sailing in a line astern formation, had in actuality been two squadron cruisers, two light cruisers and four destroyers sailing in two line-astern columns. The early radar set aboard the flagship had not given accurate enough returns to distinguish the close and distant columns.

The ensuing melee action was devastating for Allied forces; Gunning, leading the charge, became the prime target for all Sicilian vessels and was rocked by multiple heavy gun hits in quick succession. She would sink with all hands, burning furiously and cast adrift by twelve-inch waterline shell holes that permitted heavy flooding to enter her machinery spaces.

Murciélago turned hard to port as soon as battle was joined and volley'd off her fish wildly into the darkness. In spite of the close range, none would land on target, as there had been no time to determine a firing solution, and the spotters were blinded by enemy searchlights. Her sudden evasion and the burning wreck of Gunning caused Balston to first veer to port, then correct hard to starboard, losing much of her speed in the desperate turn and presenting a prime target for Sicilian gunners. She, too, would receive heavy damage to her propulsion, and would fight a vicious but futile duel with two Sicilian destroyers that attempted to board the stricken vessel, before foundering just before the break of dawn.

Whissacker and Bale had enough time to not panic, and their maneuvers were more planned. One of Whissacker's torpedoes accounted for the sinking of Sicilian destroyer NIS Grassetto, while Bale's return gunfire damaged NIS Chiassosa. Meanwhile, the stricken Balston was furiously signalling the flagship for aid - Who helpfully reported back: "ENGAGING CONTACTS 12000 | OBSERVING EFFECT ON TARGET", believing the distant gunfire to be the result of their first, purely radar-guided salvo.

An understandably hot-headed reply came from Whissacker's and Balston's captains respectively, but McCain, not yet aware that his own range finder officers were frowning at their mounts themselves, dismissed their reports and ordered a ceasefire, fearing his destroyers had somehow managed to shoot each other up. This prompred Lt. Cmdr. Evan Collins of the Bale to ignore the ceasefire order and radio in the clear: "ADM MCCAIN CAPTAIN COLLINS OF BALE WILL HOLD YOU PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FATE OF MY MEN", while his ship made a run west towards his friendly heavy units.

Two minutes later, once the rangefinder crews aboard New Armham reported that the initial range estimates were completely off, Admiral McCain ordered firing resumed for all units, and indeed, the heavy guns of his battle line fired to devastating effect. The Sicilians turned eastwards and disengaged at flank speed, though only one of the cruisers would manage to make it to port, along with two of the four destroyers; The damage aboard Chiassosa from Bale and Balston's guns had proven fatal.

However, of the five destroyers that charged the Sicilian line, only Bale was relatively intact. Whissacker had received a twelve-inch shell right up her stern that had disabled her steering and pierced the full length of the ship before detonating, leaving her practically disabled and flooding heavily. Murciélago had lost the majority of her upperworks and much of her crew, and the remaining sailors were not able to control the fires raging aboard. Bale attempted to come alongside to assist, but the language barrier amongst many things complicated the effort and by 0800, it was clear that the ship was done for. Bale took the survivors off the vessel and sent her to the bottom with her five-inch guns before towing Whissacker to safety.

Bale completed rudimentary repairs at Basquerane and then sailed to the Columbian east coast for repair and refit, which increased her AA suite and added gunnery radar, as well as slightly lowering her rearmost funnel to combat topweight issues. She then transited to the West Coast, where she acted as escort for FNS Red Valley (CV-6) for much of 1942 and 1943, receiving strafing and splinter damage on three occasions while defending her charge from Ming dive bombers.

Bale would also be present during the landings on Nahunak Atoll, where she would come to the aid of FNS Ferguston (the cruiser named for the city, not the carrier named for the battle), when shore-based artillery emplacements set her ablaze.

Bale spent much of 1944 alternating between carrier escort, shore bombardment and Army convoy escort, until October 21st, 1944, when she struck a mine off the coast of Bungala that caused significant damage and required her to be towed to a safe anchorage for temporary repairs. She would see the end of the war in the East out in a drydock, repairing and refitting, recommissioning in January of 1945 for the Sicilian theater. Completing her shakedown properly this time, she set out for the Nativian theater, only for Sicilia to surrender during her transit, leaving her to transport many a war-weary soldier home during Operation Hercules.

She would be placed in reduced readiness in 1949 with a total of nine battle stars to her name.

In 1955, the threat of anti-democratic influence caused the Columbian Congress to investigate options for expanding the Federal Navy. One of the ideas proposed during this investigation was upgrading older destroyers to carry modern guided weapons. Termed FUMP (Fleet Upgrade and Modernization Plan), this would see destroyers of the Mitchell, Atherton and Borne classes recommissioned and substantially rebuilt with enlarged superstructures, anti-submarine mortars, lightweight guided torpedoes and, as the centerpiece, a six cell ASTRO launcher replacing one of the torpedo sets. Conversion of the slightly older Coleburn-class ships was considered, but these had enough deck space that they were instead turned into fast troop transports, with deployment rigs for landing craft on each side.


Pictured: FNS Bale as she appeared immediately after her 1958 reconstruction.

Bale was the oldest ship in the program to receive such a rebuild, finishing in spring 1958 and recommissioning later that same year just in time for the Columbian intervention in the Five Empires War. She spent three years on carrier escort in the waters off the Ming shore, where she would on occasion stalk and shadow Basque submarines probing the Columbian defences in support of the communist forces ashore, though no Basque shot would ever ring out in anger against a Columbian asset directly.

On her third year and her third deployment to the embattled nation, however, her luck would run out, and while operating near the shore to provide gunfire support to inland troops, she would once again hit a mine. Even though down by the bow and listing, her rear pair of guns continued to render support to the Army batallion on the ground while her damage control teams worked tirelessly to save their vessel. Her continued fire support would eventually see the Yin troops driven off and the Army batallion saved, but the progressive flooding began to overcome the vessel. Her crew was taken off by FNS Dillan before the ship slipped beneath the waves in the evening sunlight on September 19th, 1961

Bale's sinking would be one of the reasons cited for the retreat of Columbian troops from the conflict, as the cost in lives and manpower was becoming untenable. The democratic Yun would collapse soon after, and in 1971, a short but bloody war would see the communist faction defeated, leading the imperial faction to once again maintain full control over all traditional Ming territory.

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ARS BRUNA, Shannon class destroyer


ASW escort, as of 1364 (1962)


Class member a few months after launch, 1342 (1940)

Full article

Specifications (as launched)

Main battery - 4x2 130mm/45
Torpedoes - 5x2 610mm with four reloads
Speed - 40.1 knots average
Range - 8000nm at 14 knots
Armor - 13mm plating around boilers
Displacement - 2750 tons

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Following the start of the war, Lasafenia realized they did not have nearly enough modern destroyers. The previous class was used as a base and would be enlarged into a new class of destroyers designed to take full advantage of the twin 12.8cm mount that was seen as too large previously, resulting in the Falke class. They would be armed with six 12.8cm/41 dual purpose guns, ten 53.3cm torpedo tubes, two racks of depth charges, and four depth charge mortars in addition to a smattering of twin 20mm and quad 37mm guns that would steadily increase in number as the war progressed. Of particular note was the mounting of the quad 37mm AA guns on top of the torpedo tubes, a distinctly Lasafenian characteristic that would appear on a number of their destroyers. These would prove to be exemplary in service with them seeing active service from mid 1943 through the end of the war with the only notable mark against them being somewhat lackluster accommodations. As such, they would remain in production for the rest of the war and would see nearly a hundred members of the class produced, making them Lasafenia's most numerous destroyer class.



While these remained the backbone of Lasafenia's destroyer fleet through the end of the 50s, their age began to show. The LRM suffered from serious budget cuts postwar like every other nation and by this period, the majority of their fleet consisted of old and obsolete wartime designs leaving very few modern warships. This combined with the advent of the missile and the large steps made in submarine technology left Lasafenia scrambling to remain relevant. Additionally, they sought to test out the new technology in preparation for a host of new designs currently on the drawing board. However, these would not enter service for many more years and due to all of these factors, they decided to take a large swathe of their old destroyers into refit. The Falke class was the centerpoint of this and would be refitted into one of two patterns: the first of which replace the aft turret with an arm launcher and missiles to give Lasafenia their first DDGs and the second of which saw the introduction of the new UBAR M58 standoff ASW launcher combined with a vastly improved sonar suite. Both would see rebuilds to the masts and associated radar suites and the removal of the old torpedo tubes in favor of newer homing tubes for ASW. The ASW pattern was notable for only having a half reload for the M58 due to space and weight restrictions and both patterns would show stability issues in service reflecting the attempt to add modern capability to a dated design. The first of the refits would complete in 1961 and would provide critical data for later purpose-built designs.

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"I don't need you to tell me how cringe my post is, I'm the one who posted it. I know how cringe it is."

SMS Z-48 "Zacharias Dietz", Z-46 subclass Zerstorer

As in service (1945)


Post-refit (1960)

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List of Aircraft with Acquired Data (Updated)
http://www.shipbucket.com/forums/viewto ... 80#p123956