Alternate warships of nations

[mlp]

Alternate warships of countries
Modelled after "Political Parties of Alternate Countries" thread.
What this should be (and maybe it should also be in another forum) is an existing/alternate country and its warship, just as it says on the tin. This can be as little as names and home port, or it can incorporate history, prominent wars it fought in, etc.

As sort of a template, and further explanation:

Country
Warship -- info (name, from, displacement, design, commission/decommission year, etc.)

Naming multiple warships is allowed. Ships before 1900 are also possible.

What could be done is, one person names a country and maybe gives some background, then the next person gives the warships, and names the next country. You get the idea. I think the best way for the thread to work is to do this, but at the same time people can post their own countries and warships.

First: The Chiang Kai-shek. Commissioned 1937. Flagship of the Nationalist Revolutionary Navy. The ship saw action against the Allied forces during WWII. Its last battle was on August 26, 1946 at the Battle of Tianjin(Tien-tsin). The warship was often seen as a symbol of the Nationalists, a regime led by fascist dictator Chiang Kai-shek from 1933.

(I'd prefer people be more detailed, but that's your decision.)

 

[EnglishCanuck]

IAN Pedro II, Imperial Brazilian Navy Dreadnought

Commissioned: 1906 (Delivered 1909)

Built In British yards shortly after the beginning of the Dreadnought Race between the Imperial Entente and the Triple Coalition in 1905 she was one of the first ships completed by Britain for a foreign customer of the Dreadnought class. Upon her delivery Brazil Emperor Afonso I christened the ship in memory of his father and the former emperor. She would serve as flagship of the Brazilian fleet alongside her sister battleship, the indigenous built Paraguay Class battleship, Pedro I.

Ironically the ship saw action in the Great War against her own builders, engaging the British South Atlantic Squadron at the Battle of the Falklands. Firstly however she was used to great effect against the Argentinian fleet in late 1913, sinking the Argentinian battleship Rivadavia and chasing the Dreadnought William Brown back to port where it sat out the rest of the war in dry dock for fear of its loss.

Though it would participate in the blockade of Argentina she saw no action after 1914 when Brazil bowed to international pressure and requested an armistice.

After the war she remained in service, showing the flag in Liberia in 1919 but was laid down for scrap in 1921.

Currently the name still exists and was most recently rewarded to Brazil's first indigenously build aircraft carrier in 1959.

 

[EnglishCanuck]

IJN Zuiho Class Carrier,

Tonnage: 38,000 tons

Laid down in 1949 and commissioned in October 1952 the Zuiho was the first of Japan's new carrier class replacing the aging Shokaku class and in order to incorporate the new designs that foreign nations had adopted such as the split deck and armored hangar bay. Where her predecessors had carried a maximum of 70 planes the new class could carry 95 aircraft.

The Zuiho was the first IJN carrier to plan around launching jet aircraft, despite the fact the IJN had gone into the design process assuming they would need simply more space for fixed wing aircraft, but with the advent of jet aircraft in the aftermath of the Eurasian War they quickly began modifying the new class to accommodate a large number of jet planes.

Sea trials went well and the ship was deemed combat worthy in late 1953.

Her first and only major action would come with the Japanese intervention in the Indonesian War of Independence (known as the Indonesian Intervention in most Western circles) where her major action would be sinking the Dutch Dreadnought HNLMS De Ruyter alongside numerous other Dutch ships at the Battle of the Celebes Sea breaking the Dutch Naval blockade around the rebel held islands. This would allow the Japanese to sweep in and establish a protectorate over Indonesia in 1964.

This would be her only major action as shortly after she would be replaced by the new Izumo class carriers under the New Build Program of 1966.

As a combat tested ship still in excellent condition she was seen as an excellent product for foreign market and Japan immediately looked for buyers. She would be sold with one of her sister ships (the other two ships of her class being scrapped) to a potential buyer. The Republic of India was considered, but she proved to be to poor to afford them. Finally negotiations were entered into with the Union of South Africa.

Negotiations were completed and the two ships made their sale voyage to South Africa in 1967 with a partial Japanese and South African crew. Upon arrival they were re-christened UNS Krueger and UNS Botha after the two Second Boer War leaders. They remained in South African service until 1978 when both ships were scrapped.

 

[mlp]

The Zoskales Corvette. Commissioned 1999, built by Doosan Heavy Industries.

Representative of the modernisation process that the ancient kingdom was going through, the 1,400-tonne warship was named in honour of the first known king of the Aksum Kingdom, Zoskales.

When the 2,000 years-old kingdom was overthrown by popular revolution in the height of the Arab Spring, the Corvette was used by the Great Soverign Tsehai to escape to Saudi Arabia in 2013.

Once stationed in the Aksumite port of Massawa, the Corvette now represents the government-in-exile of the Aksum kingdom in a Jizan port.

 

[Cryhavoc101]

HMS Bellorophen Fast Battleship - laid down Dec 1906 Commissioned 1909 - Decommissioned 1921.

Displacement 22,500

Using the proposed X4 design as a baseline the Admiralty were convinced to build an experimental class of Battleship that would retain the armament and armour of HMS Dreadnought but also the speed of the new Invincible battle Cruiser design with a speed of 25.5 knots and better armour and weapons than any ship then afloat this class of Battleships ushered in a new era of RN supremacy and effectively still birthed the development of the Battle Cruiser in the Royal Navy (although other nations were slow to catch on).

The classes speed advantage (and those of the follow on classes) where kept secret with an official top speed of 21.5 knots - this deception was not fully realised until the early North Sea Battles of 1914/15 and this superiority would be stunningly exploited by the RN during the fateful clash that would later be named the Battle of the Skagerak Straights (1st - 4th June 1916).

While Fast Battleships were more expensive than both Dreadnought Battleships and Battle cruisers - the Admiralty found that they could build 5 Fast battleships for the same cost as 3 Dreadnought type Battleships and 3 Battle cruisers.

It was reasoned that it was better to have 5 ships that could do the job of both classes of ships rather than 3 of each that could only do one or the other.

And so it proved with the follow on classes culminating with the 10 ship Queen Elizabeth class - which asides from the 2 slower Bayern class Battleships where superior to anything else afloat and dominated the North sea clashes of WW1.

 

[Saphroneth]

HMS Cyclops

The third Royal Navy aircraft carrier, and the last of the experimental carriers built before 1930. It was this ship that was employed in the 1931 "Exercise Barents" off Ceylon, during which the mis-loading of a war shot torpedo resulted in the crippling of the battlecruiser HMS Renown during torpedo combing practice.
The captain of Cyclops said in his courts-martial that he regretted most sincerely the incident, and the loss of life of dozens on board Renown, but that he felt it possible that "Barents" had revealed some major potential in the concept of the torpedo-plane and that it was better to discover it then rather than in the middle of a war a decade hence. He was stripped of his command rank and demoted for "failure to ensure a proper and safe environment in exercise conditions", and assigned a staff position at the Admiralty.
In the end, however, his words proved prescient. The subsequent carrier builds - Macedon, Sparta, Athens and the famous Epirus and Corinth - would serve with distinction in the Second Great War, though Cyclops herself was broken up in 1935 and the name has never since been used for a Royal Naval vessel.

 

[Cryhavoc101]

HMS Leander (Name ship of class) 1800 - 1833

A class of 12 vessels built in response to the 6 US Navy's 'Super frigates' - these ships followed the same basic design as the Leda class except in armament.

Carrying a single reinforced gun deck of 20 x Long 32 pounders instead of the 2 guns decks of the Leda Class as well as 2 Cannonades

None of these ships ever faced off against an American Super Frigate but 3 of the follow on Improved Leander did (HMS Hermoine and HMS Jupiter) defeating the USS America (sunk) and USS Constitution (Forced to beach in Maine - later recovered, repaired and retuned to US service before the end of the war) in separate battles during the war of 1812 While HMS Arethusa was dis masted and forced to strike her colours by the USS Chesapeake despite inflicting heavy damage and casualties on the US Ship.

The success of the design led to following classes of Royal navy frigates mounting fewer but larger guns and by 1818 no RN (5th or 6th rate) frigate in service carried smaller cannon.

 

[Some Bloke]

HMS Benbow
The first in the first class of Royal Navy vessels using the high pressure steam plants pioneered by HMS Acheron in 1930, the Benbow Class represented a second wind to heavy cruisers for Royal Navy planners, she and her sisters replacing the antiquated Hawkins Class cruisers (three of these ships were converted into light aircraft carriers and sold to the RAN, Australia's ratification of the Statute of Westminster meant that the Dominion navies no longer counted toward the RN's tonnage quota). The extra endurance afforded by the high pressure plants allowed for a shorter hull than the County Class, the tonnage freed up on the treaty limits being dedicated to armour protection and three triple gun 8 inch turrets. Benbow herself acquitted herself honourably at the battle if Java Sea, critically damaging the Japanese Heavy Cruiser Haguro with an 8 inch shell to the boiler room, and sinking the light cruiser Jintso.

 

[Some Bloke]

HMS Pallas

The Pallas class were designed to be the minimum required for fleet screening and trade route protection. Their principal armament being the Mark I 5.1" quick firing High Angle/Low Angle gun in four dual turrets. The gun itself was a failed experiment to create a new destroyer gun, the round itself being deemed too heavy, resulting in continued research into a high angle mount for the existing 4.7" guns. The Pallas class served in every naval theatre of the war, but found themselves in the most demand in convoy escorts transitting the Mediterranean for war in the Far East, and no ships of the class were ever lost to enemy gunnery.

 

[Some Bloke]

HMS Warrior

The Warrior Class represented the pinnacle of Heavy Cruiser design and remained in service until the turn of the Millenium. Armed with (admittedly refurbirshed) 9.2" guns and armoured against the same, some naval historians argue that this class of ships represented a continuation of the Battle Cruiser concept in that they were almost impervious to the guns of any other heavy cruiser and designed specifically to warrant the deployment of a Capital Ship in response to their presence.

The Warrior herself now serves as a museum ship moored in the river Thames, and the original Iron Clad was renamed Old Warrior the day before her modern counterpart's formal commissioning. The Warrior's first and arguably most well known battle honour is the Battle of the Barents Sea on new year's eve 1942, where Warrior herself sank the German Heavy Cruiser Hipper and the pocket Battleship Lutzow was sunk in a torpedo attack from the destroyers involved in the battle.

 

[Some Bloke]

HMS Bulwark.

The Bulwark was the second ship in the Ark Royal class, which represented the Royal Navy's defence in depth doctrine against air attack, the three "layers" of defence being her own air group of 54 fighters, the AA suite consisting of 8 5.1 inch guns and autocannons and finally her innovative armour scheme, consisting of an armoured flight deck designed to trigger bombs upon impact and a heavily armoured hangar bay door which ensured that only half the air wing would be lost in this eventuality.

Bulwark (or rather her onboard compliment of Albacores) herself proved instrumental in the sinking of the Bismarck She was heavily damaged at the Battle of Palmatak in December 1941 when she took a bomb to her flight deck. She was sunk four months later at the Battle of Colombo by Kate Torpedo Bombers.

 

[CalBear]

USS Montana class CBGN

31,000 tons (standard), 36,500 tons (full load)

Length: 750 ft
Beam: 74 ft
Draft: 34.5 ft

Armament

CBGN 1-4

Four Mk-26 missile launcher (SM-x, ASROC) total 96 missiles
Three Mk-141 Harpoon missile launchers (four missiles per launcher)
Two Armored Box ASM/T-LAM BGM-109 launchers (four missiles per launcher)
6x1 203mm/55 Mk 71 auto-loading guns (700 rounds per gun)

CGBN 5-11

Mark 41 VLS (mix of SM-x, RIM-67, RIM-162a, BGM-109) Total 196 cells
Three Mk-141 Harpoon missile launchers (four missiles per launcher)
6x1 203mm/55 Mk 71 auto-loading guns (700 rounds per gun)
Four CWIS
Four .50 Cal/mg
2 Mr-32 triple 324mm lightweight ASW torpedo launchers

Class notes:

Built as long term solution in direct response to the Soviet Kirov class CGBN when analysis of continued modernization/modification of Iowa class battleships indicated ships were approaching their ceiling for operations in the modern combat environment. Secondary role as gunfire support ships. USS Montana and USS Alaska took part in bombardment of southern Iraq during 1991 Gulf War.

AGEIS battle management system fitted from CGBN-6 onward.

CGBN 12-20 cancelled after demise of Soviet Union.

CGBN 1-4 have no on-board helicopter storage, VLS ship have hanger for two SH-60 size aircraft.

 

[Devolved]

CVA-01

HMS Queen Elizabeth

Aircraft carrier.

64,000 tons

Completed 1972

No armament (not enough money left)

Aircraft carried: 18 x Phantom, 18 x Buccaneer, 6 Wessex/Sea King helicopters.

Fate

Up for disposal after the 1981 defence review as the Thatcher government was committed to the Trident nuclear weapons program and saw no need for large expensive ships.

1982 Argentina invades the Falklands and the Admiralty attempts to bring the ship back into service but too much vital equipment had been removed and it was unavailable.

Thatcher resigns in May 1982.

 

[RCAF Brat]

HMCS Triton

Modified Trafalgar-class SSN

First of six Trafalgar-class nuclear attack submarines ordered by the Canadian government in 1988 to replace their aging Oberon-class SSKs. Construction on HMCS Triton began in mid-1989 and was completed in 1991. Triton entered service in 1992. The last of her sisters, HMCS Triumphant, entered service in 1996, shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

RCN Trafalgar-class SSN:

HMCS Triton: 1992-present
HMCS Terror: 1993-present
HMCS Trident: 1993-present
HMCS Titan: 1994-2002 (Lost with all hands following an onboard explosion)
HMCS Thunder: 1995-present
HMCS Triumphant: 1996-present

 

[CalBear]

Buckner class CVA

40,000 tons (Standard), 46,500 tons (full load)

Length: 850 ft
Beam: 106 ft (200 ft at flight deck)
Draft: 34 ft

Air Wing: up to 45 aircraft mix of fixed wing and helicopters depending specific mission. Catapults limit aircraft carried to 62,000 pounds full launch weight


Built as lower cost alternative to USN request for 18 CVN fleet to replace capacity as WW II era Essex class ships reached end of useful operational life. The class is specifically designed to provide support for USMC operations ashore, and five of the twelve ships in the case have all Marine Corps air wings, (down from eight ships as the Essex Class LHA/AV-8B combination has become available) although with the launch of the USS America LHD plans are in place to convert all ships to USN squadrons in role as "sea control ships" as ships are rotated through SLEP and improve catapults are installed to allow operation of F-18E/F Super Hornets.

Ships in class are reputed to lose as much as 9 knots of speed during extended flight operations due to diversion of steam to catapults, making them, in the words of the the current U.S. CNO, "incapable of long term operation in a high threat combat environment". It should be noted that these comments took place during testimony before Congress when the reduction of two CVN battle groups from the active fleet were under discussion.

 

[The Mahnovite]

PNJ Kamuyhum(”Thunder” in Ainu language)

1959. - 1971.

Being one of the signs of the steady recovery of Japanese economy and military power, Thunder also symbolised the multi-ethnic nature of the new, socialist Japanese state. The first ship in the People's Navy of Japan that was named in Ainu, it also had many Ainu crewmen. Officially classified as a ”polar water patrol cruiser”, she was built to be robust and resistant to the severe conditions of the northern seas. Where other ships would falter, Thunder and her successors were meant to push on, using domestically-improved Soviet nuclear reactor designs. In peacetime, she often served as a rescue/icebreaker ship. Her legend was however, born in the “Retribution War”, in the late days of 1969.

Sent alongside the big hitters of the Northern ”Red Sun” Fleet, only Thunder, her more modern cousin Snowstorm and a few old, sturdy destroyers could go on with the mission of intercepting a US task force that was most likely heading to conduct strikes on Japanese naval bases, following a drastic worsening of the conditions in Northern Pacific. Today, it is speculated that the nuclear bombardment of Japan in WW2, later nuclear tests by new nuclear powers and a general reduction in solar activity lead to the extreme conditions that lasted for at least 25 years, which influenced the battle that made Thunder famous.

Generally inferior to American ships, Thunder was helped by the weather in a variety of ways. Ice floes restricted ship movements, blizzards and intense ice formation at high altitudes made aircraft flight extremely dangerous, while extreme temperatures crippled crewmembers and sensitive equipment alike. The crippled aircraft carrier could not free herself of the ice in time to avoid devastating gunfire from Thunder's double 150mm cannons that opened fire from a distance of 20 km. An American destroyer tried to block Thunder's path and thus save the carrier, but Captain Adano, motivated by revenge for the loss of his family in the last war, ordered the crew to ram the Americans. Thunder, even though she sustained measurable damage, split the destroyer in half before torpedoing the carrier from 5000 meters away. Rare survivors from the carrier tell of vicious Japanese sailors shouting as they gunned down the less fortunate seamen with machineguns.

Even though Thunder did not survive the end of the war, her impression on the Americans in the “Battle of Frozen Hell” led the US Navy to reduce the trust in aircraft carriers that they shared for so long. It also inspired them to create the first Western polar water patrol cruiser, the American-Canadian Hudson Bay-class.

 

[Saphroneth]

KMS Heinrich

The first true aircraft carrier operated by the Kriegsmarine, this ship was laid down in 1933 based on the experience garnered from the auxiliary seaplane tender Euler (a civilian vessel operated by the postal service but paid for by the Kriegsmarine). The Heinrich had an air group of thirty planes, formed entirely of dive bombers and fighters; her maximum speed was insufficient to operate torpedo planes.
This ship is one of three often referred to as "the Follies", because (along with light carrier KMS Peter Strasser and fleet carrier KMS Graff Zepellin) they kick-started the 1930s naval arms race. Any hope the German navy may have had of asymmetrical warfare in a future Western European war collapsed, and by 1940 the Kriegsmarine operated five aircraft carriers - but the French had three, the Italians two (in practice used as aircraft ferries), and the Royal Navy possessed a staggering fourteen of all types.



(OOC: I read that thing of Ovaron's again. I couldn't help it.)

 

[Ato]

HMS Hood CV

1920-1964

Following the battle against the Bismarck, in which Hood was heavily savaged by the more modern Battleship's guns, Hood limped back to Rosyth and began a long stretch of repairs.
In September 1942 it was decided to use the opportunity to refit the battlecruiser to a more modern fast battleship standard, work began the following month. Following the entry of the US into the war in December 1941, it was decided to transfer HMS Hood to an American yard for further work and free up space in Britain for new construction.

With partially remodeled super structure, the Hood arrived in Ne York in late January 1942. However negotiations with the US Navy to have the refit done in the New York Yards stalled, and Hood spent two months moored in New York harbour with no work done.

During this time changing priorities in Admiralty led to several senior figures questioning the utility and expense of upgrading the battleship. In April 1942 it was instead decided to convert it into a fleet carrier.

Moved down the coast to Newport News Naval Yard, the conversion refit began in May 1942, and was completed in June 1945, whereupon it began working up for eventual deployment with the British Pacific fleet for the planned invasion of Japan.
The carrier had finished its trials, and the airgroup had been delivered when the surrender of Japan was signed in August 1945.

Following the end of the war she helped transport British and commonwealth service men from around the world back to their home countries, before joining the Home Fleet alongside the newly commissioned fleet carrier HMS Vanguard, converted from the half finished battleship hull.

In 1951 she was put into refit to update the ship with more modern features such as an angled flight deck, steam catapults and up to date radar systems.

So upgraded HMS Hood participated in the 1956 Suez Crisis, launching strikes against Egyptian formations and covering the advance of the Israeli Army.

The age of her hull and machinery fit, and the Royal Navy's decreasing global commitments meant that by the mid 60s it was decided to retire the Hood in favour of refits of the more modern carriers.

In 1964 HMS Hood was decommissioned from the Royal Navy, and towed to Faslane Naval base to be broken up.

 

[Heisenberg]

RCS Assiniboia

Comissioned: 1983
Tonnage: 13,000
Length: 175 m
Beam: 20.3 m
Draught: 8.1 m

A guided missile cruiser of the Province class, the Assiniboia* has been based at CFB Chaguaramas since she was launched. One of three Province class ships in the Caribbean fleet, she was instrumental in the defence of Trinidad and Tobago from the Venezuelans during the Essequibo War, engaging and sinking the flag ship of the Venezuelan navy on April 16, 1989. She saw action during the Battle of Caracas later that year, but suffered a hit from an anti-ship missile launched from a Venezuelan Yak-40, killing 43 and injuring 51. She was laid up for two years, returing to service amidst great fanfare in 1991.

Her service record has been notably quiet since then, as she has been kept in the Caribbean to keep the Venezuelans honest.

*Assiniboia province is the OTL southern half of Saskatchewan.

 

[juanml82]

ARA Pelotas

Lenght: 12 meters
Weapons: Manually operated drill
Commissioned: 1811

A primitive submarine built for the Argentine revolutionary government by American entrepreneur Samuel Taber. It was supposed to make it to the Montevideo harbor to sink the Spanish frigates stationed there by planting explosives inside their hull. Lost with all hands due a water leakage. Gave birth to plenty of AH literary works, around the POD "What if it worked?"