The Daily Reviewer | Dreadnought Cruisers

Today was the annivesary of the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915

Jan 24, 2010 4:07pm

I noticed two good photographs from the Battle of Dogger Bank (24 January 1915). I hope that these will work for us: the Seydlitz on fire and low in the water (from www.cityofart.net/bship/gun_ops.html) the Derfflinger, Seydlitz, and Von der Tann on the way to the battle (from www.sms-navy.com) ...

Cruising formations for Dutch warships?

Sep 20, 2009 5:15am

One question that I have is if the Dutch sailed in some cruising formation with their fleet when not engaged in actual fighting. I have speculated that the ships in the same squadron sailed as a clump and that the fleet consisted of clumps, grouped by squadron. Is there a...

Another run at the GB/CB/1905 fast battlecruiser design

Aug 16, 2009 5:44pm

I have tended to be obsessed with Cliff's design for a fast British battlecruiser, what we called the GB/CB/1905 design. I just got a good result by using light weight machinery. I am mystified why the protection is so good, considering the armour basis of 4in: GB/CB/1905, Great Britain Battlecruiser laid...

Sadly, Alt_Naval seems to be gone

Aug 15, 2009 5:14pm

One of my inspiration for making imaginary ship photographs, Alt_Naval, seems to be gone. I tried to go there and found that the page was not there. I did a Google search and could not find a new URL for the site. It is gone. Thankfully, the "Wolf's Den" still...

A super American battlecruiser: the US/CB/1943

Jul 17, 2009 6:05pm

I have been toying with very large battleship and battlecruiser designs since I was young. This is a fast battlecruiser armed with 12-21in/55 guns. I don't like the deep draft, but I don't see an alternative. US-CB-1943, United States Battlecruiser laid down 1943 Displacement: 192,480 t light; 201,981 t standard; 217,137 t...

The picture posted "May 31, 1916"

Jul 7, 2009 6:18am

Rob pointed out to me that the picture I posted five weeks ago was actually from the Battle of the Dogger Bank. The Tiger is steaming at high speed towards the left of the picture while in the background, on the right, is the burning, sinking Blücher....

May 31, 1916

May 31, 2009 4:05am

In my younger years, I was focused on the Battle of Jutland and the events leading up to the war at sea (1905-1918). Today is the anniversary of the start of the Battle of Jutland. This seemed like a good Jutland picture....

A fast version of the Ger/CB/1905

May 29, 2009 6:15pm

The Ger/CB/1905 design is the classic light battlecruiser type. The design in anachronistic and looks British, but it works well. I wanted to see how much speed I could achieve with it, and the answer is that I could get 35 knots without a lot of trouble. Of course, it...

Naval Airship Command comments on my MySpace page

May 17, 2009 8:17am

Naval Airship Command has posted some great pictures in the comments on my MySpace page. They include U.S. Navy blimps and dirigibles....

My latest attempt at a very fast 1921-style battlecruiser

May 2, 2009 3:58pm

One of my long term obsessions is with very fast 1921-style battlecruisers. This latest one relies upon the lightest weight machinery to achieve 38 knots. The battlecruiser carries 6-16in/45 guns and has a 9in belt and 3in deck armour. This is the Springsharp design: GB/CB/1921, Great Britain Fast Battlecruiser laid down...

Gas turbine propulsion

Apr 17, 2009 7:08am

I am curious to know about naval gas turbine propulsion. I have heard from a knowledgeable source that the power output of turbines might be able to be increased considerably beyond the nominal figures. We now have some quite large naval ships, such as the new American helicopter carriers, that...

Lou Coatney has more drawings of the same sort

Apr 9, 2009 8:22am

If you have a need, these are really useful. Lou Coatney points out on the NavWarGames Yahoo Group that he has even more of the ONI ship drawings....

Lou Coatney has ONI WWII ship drawings

Apr 9, 2009 6:09am

Thanks to Paolo Disalvo, on the NavWarGames Yahoo Group, I found out about Lou Coatney's page of links to the U.S.Navy ONI WWII ship drawings....

More about the Makin Island

Apr 5, 2009 7:15am

I wondered if by lightening the ship if the Makin Island could make a higher speed than 25 knots. I was not very successful, but I thought that I would make the Springsharp report available to those who are interested. I did not attempt to do anything except get a...

The Makin Island (LHD-8)

Apr 4, 2009 3:52pm

I was interested in seeing some photographs of the new amphib, Makin Island (LHD-8). From some angles, the ship seems pretty warlike and impressive. Wikipedia is saying that the ship can only make 20 knots, but gives the dimensions and the power. The ship is about 780ft LWL x 106ft...

The Ger/CB/1905 design

Mar 13, 2009 5:39pm

This version of the Ger/CB/1905 design is very faithful to the original concept. Everything about it is accurate, based on my early 1971 drawings that show the size and thickness of the armour and freeboard. The ship is a 31 knot light battlecruiser with 4-12in/45 and 12-4in QF guns. The...

My latest try at a Ger/CB/1906 design

Feb 21, 2009 10:45am

In 1973, I had fantasized that there was a way to achieve 36 knots with this basic design, but seems extremely unrealistic. If you can handle inclined 4in side armour, this version works pretty well. The maximum speed is 33 knots, which is still extreme for a ship laid in...

Another try at a Ger/BB/1905 design

Feb 8, 2009 3:31pm

This is my latest attempt at my 1971 design for a German battleship laid down in 1905: the Ger/BB/1905 design. This was a ship with 8-12in/45 BLR and 12-4in QF guns with a speed of 23 knots. I had figured that I could sacrifice gunpower to reach a higher speed....

My friend Cliff's GB/DL/1906 design

Jan 25, 2009 1:32pm

I thought that I would make another attempt to create Cliff's GB/DL/1906 design in Springsharp. This was a 35 knot ship with 4-88mm QF guns and 2-21in TT. As usual, it was anachronistic, but that is what he wanted. By playing games with Springsharp, I got a viable design, but...

USS Wampanoag fast cruiser

Jan 9, 2009 9:40am

I recently became interested in the fast American cruiser USS Wampanoag, laid down in 1863. The purpose of the Wampanoag class was to catch the 16 and 17 knot blockade runners built in Britain that were trying to enter Southern ports. David Dixon Porter was in an internal political struggle...

A Super Lion (GB/CB/1912) design

Dec 23, 2008 5:01pm

This is my latest attempt at a Super Lion design (the GB/CB/1912) with 10-15in guns and a 30-knot speed. One lesson I learned is that this ship has to be large to have the necessary characteristics: GB/CB/1912 Super Lion, Great Britain Battlecruiser laid down 1912 (Engine 1917) Displacement: 37,318 t light; 39,860...

A biography of William Hovgaard from MIT

Dec 18, 2008 7:20am

MIT has a biography of the Danish naval architect William Hovgaard, who taught at MIT for an extended period....

My "classic" design for the Ger/CB/1906

Dec 12, 2008 5:39pm

This Springsharp design is faithful to my original concept and specification for the Ger/CB/1906 battlecruisers. The design is centered around a short, thin belt that is inclined outwards and topped by a 3in deck. The turrets and barbettes are 6in thick. The speed is the original 33 knots. By agreement,...

The GB/CB/1916 (Hood style)

Nov 26, 2008 7:00pm

I had this concept for a variant of the GB/CB/1916 design that would rather Hood-like with 9-16.5in/45 and 16-6in QF guns with a 32.5 knot speed. The thickest part of the belt is 12in and the ship uses "all or nothing" protection. The "look" is similar to the 36-knot ship,...

A new version of the GB/CB/1916 fast battlecruiser photograph

Nov 25, 2008 5:17pm

I wanted to change some parts of this photograph. I just finished the job, although I keep making changes to it, if anyone has noticed. This is another attempt at a Springsharp design: GB/CB/1916, Great Britain Battlecruiser laid down 1916 (Engine 1923) Displacement: 41,938 t light; 43,640 t standard; 46,358 t...