Just a thought exercise of what the repercussions of some modern Soviet battleships would be for the second world war. I assume the twins perform operation Berlin, Bismarck is still lost. But after that Tirpitz is never sent to Norway due to the German need for ships to blockade the Soviet battleships, this leads to interesting possibilities for the British fleet if they dont need as many ships to deal with the possibility of Tirpitz breaking out into the Atlantic convoys.
In order for soviet BBs to operate in the Atlantic, out of Murmansk, they'd need escorts and air cover, otherwise they would be paper tigers vs Tirpitz. So... potentially they could tie up a few U-boats and/or bomber groups, waiting for them to come out...
Minor nitpick/idea; would it be possible to use DP 130mms such as these: http://navweaps.com/Weapons/WNRussian_51-50_m1936.php
The ships are in the Baltic when the war breaks out, and while aircraft and U-boats are a good main defense having a BB of their own to match them should they break out would be useful given the amount of German shipping in the area.
Ah right. Then I guess the germans would divert a couple dozen U boats... but yes, it would be a boon for the RN; all the ships stuck in Scapa Flow "because Tirpitz" were sorely needed elsewhere: Med, Far east, convoy escort...
It would probably take some work, but you could make a DP gun in the late 30s using this weapon as a basis. You would probably want to shorten the barrel a bit to lighten the gun to allow for faster tracking, increase elevation, up rate of fire if possible, develop a single shell rather than a split projectile and bursting charge which these had iirc, and with a few other tweaks it would probably work well enough as a dual purpose gun for the Soviets.
But can we upgun the minesweepers to make them more well rounded ships ?
Bigger guns
Torpedo tubes
And some SAMs / AA guns
If you have a big navy you don't need that, your larger ships will have cleaned out the area of any enemies, If you have a small navy, you can try for a corvete built with the ability to carry, if needed, minesweeping gear. Or something like the Dane Flyvefisken-class patrol vessel. But these are not pure minesweepers, but jack-of-all trades.
Edit: whatever you do, just avoid the horror that was the LCS...
What's the point? They're not supposed to be fighting enemy ships/subs/aircraft and all of those weapons and the control systems, personnel, radar etc needed for them just take up room that's needed for the minesweeping gear so you either end up with a minesweeper that can't find mines or one that's the size of a destroyer to accomodate the added weapons.
In theory, yes, but you've got to spend a lot of money on non-magnetic guns, torpedo tubes, and missiles, and then be willing to sail what's now a very complex and expensive ship into a minefield.
There's all sorts of things that you might not think of which go into a true minesweeper. Non-magnetic engines are just part of it. The wiring and electronics need to be specifically designed to avoid unwanted magnetic signatures. They need to be acoustically quiet. And so forth. On top of which, you've always got to have it in mind that whilst everyone else wants to be as far away from mines as possible, they need to get close. Which means you need to be willing for them to strike them occasionally.
To give an idea of how significant the signatures issue is: the Royal Navy fitted two HUNT class mine countermeasures vessels as patrol ships for the Northern Ireland squadron. The additional machine guns and armour for the role impacted their magnetic signature so badly that they couldn't be used as mine countermeasures vessels.
RamscoopRaider
Donor
You can, but then your cost either balloons to insane levels, or you end up being much more vulnerable to mines. Minesweepers are usually very strongly built so that if they do set off a mine nearby they can survive, but it becomes exponentially harder to provide sufficient strength for that as hull size increases. They also tend to have reduced magnetic signature, either from nonmagnetic steel or wood, which added weapons and sensors will ruin so you would need to design special versions or accept a much bigger signature and more vulnerability. Building a heavily armed minesweeper as survivable in a minefield would basically cost as much as a high end DDG or even a CG for the combat capability of a corvette or light frigate, and it would still be vulnerable to loss from more modern mines getting lucky, and would cost much more
These days it is possible, if you abandon traditional sweeps and rely on drones and helicopters for the task. The LCS may be a failure, but that's not inherent to the concept, I've seen at least a couple other countries considering using drones for their future minesweepers based on larger, faster more conventional ships that can double as patrol vessels
It’s easier to incorporate minelaying than minesweeping in such “maid of all work “ vessels
Can these danish vessels sweep mines ?
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Highly survivable minesweeper like a modern reincarnation of sperrecher ?
RamscoopRaider
Donor
No, more like simply a normal minesweeper built tough enough so that a proximity mine won't sink the ship if it detonates nearby, which incidentally is only really viable for small vessels that can't carry much besides minesweeping gear, rather than a large vessel like a Sperrbrecher, most of which were lost to mines. And even then it's only useful against mines that kill via proximity to their explosions, those that launch a standoff munition or explode in contact won't care
HMS Gorgon was transferred to the New Zealand division of the Royal Navy as a gunnery training ship in 1925. Mothballed in Auckland during the depression she is sent to Australia for modernisation in 1938 recommissioning in June 1939. Generally considered unfit for frontline service she serves as a coastal defence ship in New Zealand throughout the war with the exception of a brief stint providing support to the US Marines on Guadalcanal in August and September 1942.
Driftless
Donor
While many have claimed credit for being the author of the pungent quip, there's no doubt that it's sentiment has endured across the USMC and the RNZN: " Say hello to my little friend...." Japanese forces on Guadalcanal did not see the quip as amusing...
"Mine countermeasures/minehunter" is part of the job description; for the role (and others) the use a system of containers with equipment. And I'm assuming modern drones and/or minisubs are used. As for the hull construction, "a layer of fiberglass either side of a core of PVC cell foam".
What kind of material do you think can be used in the 50s and 60s to reinforce hulls for such a role?
Other than something wood-based, have no idea... I know that some tough plastics were around in the early 60s, and there was some testing with fiber glass for ships, but don't know how big they were or even if it would be suitable for even a small warship.
Aluminium, though building something that large would be a challenge in the 50's.