An American AU

This is an American AU where there was no Washington, and consequently, no London I and II. I will start in 1920. What will be different from real life? The ships that were cancelled and scrapped will be built and commisioned. All pre-dreads plus the South Carolina class are decommisioned plus some others nearing their usefulness. The first AU ship to be commisioned is the Washington, then the South Dakota and Lexington classes. Before I post any drawings I want to see if you have any comments about possible ship designs, events and future refits.

Here is the ship roster I`ve made of ships either under construction or planned from 1920 onward + ships awaiting to be decommisioned:

Approaching decommisioning:
- Delaware BB-28
- North Dakota BB-29
- Florida BB-30
- Utah BB-31

Ships being built:

Tennessee Class
- Tennessee BB-43
- California BB-44

Colorado Class:
- Colorado BB-45
- Maryland BB-46
- Washington BB-47
- West Virginia BB-48

Lexington Class
- Lexington CC-1
- Constellation CC-2
- Saratoga CC-3
- Ranger CC-4
- Constitution CC-5
- United States CC-6

South Dakota Class
- Sout Dakota BB-49
- Indiana BB-50
- Montana BB-51
- North Carolina BB-52
- Iowa BB-53
- Massachusetts BB-54

Ships under planning:

Connecticut Class
- Connecticut BB-55
- Louisiana BB-56
- Vermont BB-57
- Kansas BB-58

New Hampshire Class
- New Hampshire BB-59
- Minnesota BB-60

Virginia Class
- Virginia BB-61
- Nebraska BB-62
- Georgia BB-63
- New Jersey BB-64

Rhode Island Class
- Rhode Island BB-65

Unused Names:
- Maine
- Missouri
- Ohio
- Illinois
- Alabama
- Wisconsin
- Kentucky
- Indiana
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- Michigan

The Lexington class battlecruiser was ordered as a response to the Japanese Kongo class and the British Admiral class battlecruisers. They would have been bigger, faster and more powerful than both, but significantly less armored. They were designed for scouting in mind, and as such was only armored to withstand 6 inch shells. Fast, powerful they would have made good scouts, but also powerful ships for ship-on-ship enagement. Six are built.

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The South Dakota is a bigger, and slightly faster ship than the Colorado class. It returns to the 4x3 setup that the three previous ship classes had, only with 16 inch guns instead of 14. They are a departure from the 21 knot standard battleships, albeit only two knots faster. Built as a repsonse to bigger, faster and more powerful ships from Japan and Britain, the South Dakota class would be a most fearsome opponent.

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The Connecticut class is a larger and faster South Dakota, but having the same arnament and armor protection. The ship is a further departure from the standard battleline, being two knots faster than the South Dakota class for a total top speed of 25 knots. The ship also featured an additional pair of 3 inch AA guns to combat growing concerns of an increasingly formidable airpower, later demonstrated by Billy Mitchell on a German battleship. The Connecticut will be the last "slow" fast battleships designed, and built by the US Navy.

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Sounds good to me. Nice to see an American based AU. Can't wait to see your excellent work.
Will their also be cruisers done as well???

Yes, of course there will be cruisers, carriers too. The first class of cruiser is predecessor to the light cruiser Pensacola, an enlargened Omaha looking thing with 8 inch guns. And yes, the Pensacola is a light cruiser in this AU.

Ooh, can't wait for this one!

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I got one question for you guys. When should the new designs start loosing influence from the SoDak? Seems like the mid-late 20s should be a good starting point.

Well, if you want any assistance with the cruisers you can solicit me. In fact, if you look at the first AU-cruiser (chronologically speaking) in my AU-thread "Royal Hellenic Cruiser Force", the Makedonia, it's based almost verbatim on a rejected 1916 design by C&R, which, instead of my 14 guns would've featured 11 6" singles, but very much in the same arrangement as I've drawn.

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My Avatar:Петр Алексеевич Безобразов (Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov), Вице-адмирал , царская ВМФ России(1845-1906) - I sign my drawings as Ari Saarinen

What I am thinking of is a fully turreted ship, not a casemated one, or a hybrid. I have several designs from Spring Styles book to work from.

Well, that's up to you then...

I'm also excited to see this. I'd say American ships will start changing from the South Dakota pattern in response to foreign built ships, probably in the late 20's when European ships like the G3 that break the mold are completed and observed. so maybe one more class of "standard battleships", then something a little different.

Just one small correction so far, you accidentally numbered two ships BB60 in your list.

Can't wait to see your designs and bounce ideas back and forth. This is a period I am also extremely interested in.

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"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did." Thomas Edward Lawrence, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom

The Rhode Island is the first ship to have no influences from the South Dakota. The design is from the late 20s, and will be influenced by the rejected retro North Carolina scheme VII. Syzmo, good find, I have corrected it now. The Connecticut is finished, so now I`m working on the New Hampshire, it is going to be an updated version of the battleship cruiser, with more armor. It is very long to get a 30+ knot top speed. I thought it fitting that it was a two ship class as it was a radical departure from the standard ships, and even the 23 kt SoDak and 25 kt Connecticut.

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