Redbeard
Banned
I once made a "design" of a battlecruiser (Jagtkreutzer) for an ATL (I'm still working on) with all main armament forward. By accepting that not all main guns can fire at zero elevation straight ahead and that some paint will be peeled off the armoured roof (17cm) on turret A and B, I got three turets superfiring and with C barbette only being 10,5 meters abover waterline. That is in line with a lot of B barbettes on OTL designs.
The muzzles of B and C turrets are just clear of the roof of A and B turret respectively at zero elevation. The blast pressure would indeed be extreme, but I'm positive that a 17cm armour plate capable of withstanding 16" shells can take the blast too (and the inside of A and B turrets are not intended for listening to Mozart anyway).
The hull is relatively wide to take the load of three turrets amidships, but by using a transom stern I get a reasonable length/width ratio, which is important for speed, but fuel consumption at medium speed will be relatively high. The relatively wide hull forward will make a dry ship, but might be unconfortable in heavy seas. It will crush the waves rather than cut through them.
Armour is distributed to optimise the ship to approach an enemy at a straight ahead course (chase). At this course the ship will present 40cm vertical and 17cm horizontal armour, which gives a comfortable immune zone even against 16" shells. If an enemy decide to try to escape you have a serious firepower advantage and a good chance to slow him down and perform a kill. If he stays and try to fight it out, you are at least on par firepower wise, but with an advantage in protection. All in all you will have good chance of having seriously hurt the enemy before reaching the point where you have to change course.
This makes the ship ideal for a nation that need to keep control of the seas - this ship is not to be found in a lengthy line of battle patrolling the shores of your nation, but seeking up enemies and destroying them. Would ideally work in pairs with an escort of a couple of CLs and a squadron of destroyers.
I have spreadsheets somewhere calculating the weight of armour, and it is comfortably inside the usual marginsv of WWII designs, the relatively thin belt and short citadel pay for the thich deck and forward protection (but I can't recall the figures). Speed is guesstimated from comparing various OTL hulls.
Regards
Steffen Redbeard
The muzzles of B and C turrets are just clear of the roof of A and B turret respectively at zero elevation. The blast pressure would indeed be extreme, but I'm positive that a 17cm armour plate capable of withstanding 16" shells can take the blast too (and the inside of A and B turrets are not intended for listening to Mozart anyway).
The hull is relatively wide to take the load of three turrets amidships, but by using a transom stern I get a reasonable length/width ratio, which is important for speed, but fuel consumption at medium speed will be relatively high. The relatively wide hull forward will make a dry ship, but might be unconfortable in heavy seas. It will crush the waves rather than cut through them.
Armour is distributed to optimise the ship to approach an enemy at a straight ahead course (chase). At this course the ship will present 40cm vertical and 17cm horizontal armour, which gives a comfortable immune zone even against 16" shells. If an enemy decide to try to escape you have a serious firepower advantage and a good chance to slow him down and perform a kill. If he stays and try to fight it out, you are at least on par firepower wise, but with an advantage in protection. All in all you will have good chance of having seriously hurt the enemy before reaching the point where you have to change course.
This makes the ship ideal for a nation that need to keep control of the seas - this ship is not to be found in a lengthy line of battle patrolling the shores of your nation, but seeking up enemies and destroying them. Would ideally work in pairs with an escort of a couple of CLs and a squadron of destroyers.
I have spreadsheets somewhere calculating the weight of armour, and it is comfortably inside the usual marginsv of WWII designs, the relatively thin belt and short citadel pay for the thich deck and forward protection (but I can't recall the figures). Speed is guesstimated from comparing various OTL hulls.
Regards
Steffen Redbeard