DontPissUsOff
09-08-2004, 21:18
"Hunter" class Battleship
http://img18.exs.cx/img18/1148/BBN3FinalMod1.jpg
Overview
With the completion of design work on the Frunze and Soyuz classes of Battleship, plus the complementary Tempest-class Battlecruiser, one might have forgiven the Naval Office, already by far the hardest-worked of the services, for sitting its' laurels and doing no more work on further designs for some time. Instead, the Naval Office began almost immediately to design a third Battleship type, to be produced exclusively for the Navy (as opposed to the Soyuz and Frunze, which were also available for export), and with even heavier armament and armour than the preceding classes of warships. The project was given the designation Project Mammoth. The feasibility of such a machine was widely questioned. After all, the Frunze had been enormously expensive to build, had employed the most advanced in weapons and armour technology available, and was easily the most potent ship in terms of sheer firepower and protection in the Navy. The project was not able to garner wide support within Parliament or the Ministry of Defence as a result. Parliament was reluctant to approve funding to improve the Navy, when the Navy already numbered more than 2,000 ships and 1,200 aircraft, kept in the highest possible state of training by constant exercises; the MoD had no such reservations, being instead filled with personnel from all services who were thoroughly irritated by the Navy's constant gorging of itself on funding which they felt they required more urgently. Of the latter group, the most vociferous was a cartel of high-ranking Ground Forces personnel, comprising 6 Generals and 8 Colonels, led by General Eric Morden. Morden was a firm advocate of the cessation of capital ship development, and allocation of funds to the Ground Forces and Frontal Aviation, which gained him favour within the Frontal Aviation staff. There were also Naval officers who opposed more Battleships, saying that the fleet risked becoming too unbalanced toward them. The future of the project was for 8 months extremely uncertain, as debate was pursued vigourously as to its' utility, viability and purpose.
The ending of all the uncertainty came with the perceived onset of the Cold War, initiated by Communist Mississippi. With the sudden growth in CM naval strength, DPUO's Naval Office was suddenly able to provide a powerful case for a new type of Battleship to counter the impending threat. By a skilled use of the media, and a thorough campaign to recruit high-ranking Defence Ministry and Parliamentary support, the advocates of the Mammoth project were able to generate a state of extreme public agitation concerning the construction of new vessels. They pointed out that CM was acquiring new ships and that older ships were being scrapped, although they neglected to mention that many of these ships were well past their prime, as good as useless for front-line Naval operations, and were in fact merely draining off funds and manpower for their upkeep; at the same time, they were able to persuade many MPs that if CM could be outdone in this area, not only would it provide a great measure of security for the future, but it would also be a valuable vote-winning move.
Thereafter, construction of these ships was inevitable. The Naval Office was given carte blanche by the MoD to develop a design for future operations, embodying all the experience yet gained in Naval capital ship design. The class had to be within 170,000 tonnes fully loaded displacement, and within a length of 470m, beam of 50m and draught of 11m, in order to be able to reprovision in the few ultra-large deep-water ports available. The ship was also required to mount at the least 16in guns, and have armour of at the least 460mm on all vital sectors, plus a speed of 33 knots. Once again, contracts were requested from the major ship design firms. Of these firms, two pulled out, citing that the workload far exceeded their capacity. This left the Soyuz Shipyard and Harland's Shipbuilding to complete the work. Since both were at this point engaged in full construction of the Soyuz and Frunze class ships, they expressed concern to the MoD regarding their ability to complete the number of ships they were being asked to build, even with their enormous resources. This was deeply disquieting. It was thus decided that in order to increase the possible construction capacity of the yards, new dockyards would have to be constructed for the new warships. In the meantime, the existing supertanker construction yards would be sufficient; this decision was take prior to the designs having even been submitted!
The two companies merged their resources, out of necessity, and together conceived a truly monumental warship. The class was to mount nine 20in guns, plus 12 6in secondary guns carry no less than 550mm of composite armour along the armour belt at vital points, and yet be capable of a speed of 30+ knots. How such a machine was to be built was to become apparent, to the astonishment of those who called it impossible.
While construction of four new harbours, requiring vast amounts of labour (some 210,000 men and women were used to construct the four new harbours) was pressing ahead, labour and resources were diverted from non-vital civil applications, such as consumer goods manufacture, non-military vehicle manufacture and civil shipbuilding, and pressed into service in the two great shipyards of Soyuz and Harland. The yards cleared their supertanker slipways and graving docks and used the great influx of men and material to begin building of the new ships, which had by now been designated the Hunter class. The keel of the MSS Hunter was laid on 22nd May 2003.
General
Crew: 2,281
Displacement: 177,743 tonnes unladen, 194,733 tonnes laden
Endurance: 220 days' steaming, 90-95 days combat operations.
Dimensions: Length 459.6m, Beam 57.2m, Draught (mean) 11.95m
Armament
The main armament consists of nine DK-77M 20in 59cal rifled ETCs, firing a shell of 4,158lbs (this for an armour-piercing round). The guns have a maximum accurate range of approximately 28.3 kilometres and maximum range of 42.2 kilometres, and can fire APDS, HE-FRAG, HE and low-calibre (10-inch) guided shells, as well as rocket-assisted shells with a range of 56km and accurate an accurate range of 23.4Km biologica, nucelar (300Kt) and chemical shells. Barrel life is estimated at 500 full-charge firings per gun. The guns can elevate to 41.7 degrees and depress to -10 degrees. Rate of fire is approximately 3 RPM per gun. The turrets are laid out in A, B, X configuration.
Secondary armament is composed of 12 Ak-130 130mm fully-automatic water-cooled guns mounted in six triple-gun turrets with an elevation of 44 degrees and depression of -13 degrees. As on the Frunze-class, these have a rate of fire of 8 RPM per gun. These guns have a maximum range of 24Km and an optimum accurate range of 18Km, and can fire APHE, HE and HE-FRAG. The secondary armament can also fire smoke shells. The ship also possesses four rotatable and trainable four-round launcher boxes for the SS-N-22 SSM on the port and starboard decks between the secondary turrets, plus a quarterdeck P-190 SSM system containing 32 missiles.
Anti-aircraft protection is provided by the IULLDES Mark III system mounted on the superstructure of the ship, consisting of eight ASL-100 CIWS. Four SA-N-20 SAM launchers are mounted, two at the stern and two toward the bow. See IULLDES (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=343036) entry for further details. Six SA-N-9 launchers comprise the mid-range air defence, mounted on platforms around the superstructure. Missile feed chutes run from the missile magazines to the launchers. There is also a 10-cell S-400K VLS system in the superstructure, with an armoured missile magazine below and a vertical reloading system. Seven AO-18 CIWS guns are mounted.
Anti-submarine defences consist of the SS-N-27 ballistic-trajectory anti-submarine weapon, deployed in 4 VLS cells aft of the SA-N-6 launcher system, again with a vertical reload system from the belowdeck missile magazine, and four RBU-6000 ASW rockets mounted on the deck of the ship, two just aft of B turret and two between the after SA-N-20 launchers and AO-18 CIWS guns.
The ship also has at the stern a landing pad and a hangar bay, which can accommodate:
Up to 4 Ka-27B ASW helicopters
Up to 2 Yak-41M2 carrier-based fighters
Up to 16 Yak-061 "Shmel" UAVs
or a combination thereof.
Ammunition allocations
Main armament: 1,350 rounds
Secondary armament: 1,500 rounds
SS-N-22: 64 missiles
SS-N-19: 32 missiles
SA-N-20: 48 missiles
SA-N-9: 64 missiles
S-400: 80 missiles
SS-N-27: 20 missiles
RBU-6000: 480 rmortars
AO-18/ASL-100: 480,000 rounds
Compartmentation
The hull is divided by 110mm watertight bulkheads into nine compartments:
1) Sonar dome, crew accommodation, galleys, recreation area, storage, fuel storage (530 tonnes) for emergency diesels, bow sonar auxiliary computer systems;
2) Accommodation, fuel (300 tonnes);
3) A turret magazine;
4) B turret magazine; magazines protected by double-layer of 50mm composite armour with 100mm airspace, edged with 20mm thermosetting insulating foam;
5) Forward SAM and WICS magazine;
6) Forward SAM and CIWS stowage;
7) Reactor spaces, with secondary armament magazines running abreast; secondary armament magazines protected by double layer of 35mm composite with 80mm airspace with 20mm thermosetting insulating foam;
8) Main machinery spaces, containing direct-drive steam turbines, heat exchangers, turboalternators, batteries, and emergency diesel engines; transverse watertight bulkhead separates turbine sets; emergency diesels located, with turboalternators, in compartment six, so that damage/flooding to compartment five does not disable emergency diesels and/or electricity; above these spaces is secondary ammunition storage area for SS-N-22s and secondary armament;
Upper section of 8, 9) After main and secondary armament ammunition storage;
10) Accommodation, sick bays;
11) After storage for AO-18 CIWS and SA-N-20 SAMs, armoued as all other missile magazines; diesel fuel storage (1,700 tonnes) for emergency engines, crew accommodation, backup fire-control systems, P-190 cells;
12) Hangar bay, aviation fuel storage, aircraft munitions stores, aircrew accommodation, VDS spool, VDS auxiliary computer systems.
Armour
http://img82.exs.cx/img82/2444/Hull.jpg
Hull armouring: submerged.
1) The outermost layer of armour for the submerged areas of the ship's hull comprises a large anti-mine and anti-torpedo bulge. The bulge is formed of Type A composite, a composite armour designed primarily to nullify the effects of kinetic energy (for example the energy released by the detonation of a torpedo warhead). The composite is packed into individual steel cells, each designed to vent the blast from an explosive device downwards, back into the water, hence the diagonal shape. The shaping also means that the layer is formed from triangles, an inherently strong shape.
The second layer of submerged defence is the layer of liquid armour backing the composite layer. First developed by the Royal Navy following WWI experience, "liquid armour" proved highly effective at reducing the blast effects of torpedoes. Undamaged cells can also be used to allow the ship to trim herself, for example heeling herself onto one side to increase the range of her guns. In these cells, the walls are constructed to channel the force of an explosion onto the tertiary layer of submerged armour.
The tertiary layer is composed of Type B composite armour (intended primarily to neutralise the effects of thermal energy, but also able to withstand well kinetic energy) reinforced with rods of tungsten carbide coated with steel. This braces the composite layer, giving it extra strength laterally and increasing its resistance to kinetic energy damage. It is also able to aid in bracing the composite vertically, by reducing the movement generated by a detonation.
Protection against low-angle shellfire, missiles etc.
2)As the submarine protection tapers towards the waterline, a very deep strake of Kontakt-5-based ERA runs along the length of the ship. It is capped by a thin (20mm) layer of tungsten carbide to aid in de-capping APHE and armour-piercing missiles.
Behind this layer, the first layer of armour is the above-mentioned Type A composite. This generally runs to the depth of the orlop deck, although this varies with class of ship.
Behind this, and running almost to the keel, comes a deep and thick layer of Vectran plastic, providing both a high insulation capacity and a very high tensile strength capacity. This is in turn backed by a second layer of Type A composites.
Behind this layer comes a triple-sandwich design, in which non-vital communications and systems are placed in a void space, between two layers of thermosetting insulating foam plastic. This offers high resistance to explosive penetration and some resistance to kinetic energy. In the centre of this void space is a 50mm layer of steel plating.
Backing this comes an unbraced layer of Type B composites. This forms the outer wall of another section for non-vital communications, wiring and crew access passageways which become void spaces whene necessary. Since the damage of these spaces is of relatively little importance (either because the function is not important in combat or the systems running in them are duplicated elsewhere) it is not necessarily dangerous to employ them as air spaces.
The second main vertical armour layer is composed of another layer of tunsten-reinforced Type B composites.
The final line of defence is a wall of Type A composite extending to just below the waterline.
Protection from high-angle shellfire and bombs.
3) The upper deck is provided with a layer of Type A and a layer of Type B composites, between which is sandwiched a double layer of thermosetting foam plastic and another non-vital communications and wiring space. Decks Three and Four are provided with Type A composite backing layers.
The second and more important layer of defence, mainly from lower-angle shellfire is a structure of three layers of Type B composites, covered with Vectran and with a core of steel. These extend downwards, cutting through the decks as they go. They are angled to allow the deflection of shells entering the ships, either upwards (if they enter at a relatively flat trajectory) or downwards and towards the water (if they enter at a relatively steep trajectory). These layers are used to form an armoured "tube" of sorts in the centre of the ship, containing the ship's most vtial equipment and spaces (magazines, reactors, machinery and so on).
The keel
4) The keel of the ship is subject to the same submerged armour as the rest of the vessel, but is provided with extra armour in the form of another airspace (through which bilge pipes run) and an extra layer of steel armour, which also acts to provide a firm base for machinery.
Deck armour of two 360mm layers of composite, upper deck of 40mm titanium alloy with 60mm Kontakt-5 ERA beneath and 80mm airspace with insulating foam.
Other armour
Main turrets carry 800mm composite frontal armour, 400 mm composite side armour, 100mm titanium alloy rear armour, 280mm composite roof armour.
Secondary turrets carry 300mm composite frontal armour, 190mm titanium alloy side armour, 200mm composite roof armour, 100mm titanium alloy rear armour.
Missile launcher boxes, SAM launchers, CIWS receive 50mm titanium alloy armour.
Superstructure receives 80mm titanium alloy armour on outer walls and first layer of inner walls.
Armoured conning tower, with 300mm composite armour.
Radar/LADAR
1 ASP-101/Top Pair 3D air/surface-search and fire-control radar suite (SSM and SAM surveillance and targeting; ASP-101 if overloaded delegates SAM operation to Top Pair system only).
1 Kite Screech for AK-130 fire-control.
2 Bass Tilt AO-18 control.
6 Sag Coat short/mid-range beam-alterable fire-control LADAR (AK-130, AO-18)
1 Sage Bag mid-range LADAR (backup SSM and SAM surveillance).
IULLDES LADAR and Radar systems (4 Osminog LADAR, 4 Oko Fire-control radar, 2 SBI-16KB surface-search radar)
2 MR-360A/Podkat-B SA-N-9 Fire-control and surveillance multi-mode radar
Garpun-Bal Improved SSM guidance/targeting radar with integral ECCM and frequency agility
The masts of the ship take the SSM fire-control and surveillance radars, while the upper superstructure holds the navigation and SAM radars.
Sonar
Zvezda-III Sonar suite, MKG-345U bow-mounted LF sonar dome, also MKG-346 conformal array
Ox Tail-S LF VDS
Fire-control
KOK-615B1 fire-control computer, measures gun angle, ship speed, target speed, wind speed, wind direction, cant angle, barrel wear and ship movement to give highly accurate fire-control for main armament and secondary armament when under manual control.
EW
Wine Glass and Bell Shroud ESM Intercept receivers
Bell Squat-B Jammer systems
Burn Eye anti-LADAR smoke generators
18 PK-10 Chaff Decoy RLs
Propulsion
4 OK-800 Hafnium-Lutetium QNRs driving four sets direct-drive steam turbines turning four titanium shafts, each to one azipod propulsor, containing one seven-bladed, variable-pitch bronze screw.
Emergency propulsion: 8 ALK-1250 28,000hp diesel engines, two per shaft, driving through four automatic gearboxes with 4 forward and 2 reverse speeds.
Maximum design speed of the class is 35/36 knots.
Miscellaneous
The hull and superstructure are 37% titanium, which saved approximately 14,000 tonnes of mass. There are more than 60 1m long ventral fins beneath the ship to ensure the greatest stability possible when firing a broadside. There is also a high-power communications array using a 256-bit encrypted satellite transceiver to transmit and receive orders and reports.
http://wmilitary.neurok.ru/ijn/yamato-f.gif
Bows-on view of Hunter.
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/miscellaneous/illustrations_and_drawings/steve_nuttall/pictures/yamato/illustr_yamato_02.jpg
Hunter painted by Steve Nuttall, just after her entry into service.
http://www.battleship.org/images/BN/turkey5.jpg
Hunter on trials off Park Island.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/battleforaustralia/webgraphics/historicalbackground/Yamato.jpg
Hunter running trials off Winter Island. In this view, the early second radar mast can be seen; angled backwards, it was intended to house the MR-710 3D search radar.
http://img18.exs.cx/img18/1148/BBN3FinalMod1.jpg
Overview
With the completion of design work on the Frunze and Soyuz classes of Battleship, plus the complementary Tempest-class Battlecruiser, one might have forgiven the Naval Office, already by far the hardest-worked of the services, for sitting its' laurels and doing no more work on further designs for some time. Instead, the Naval Office began almost immediately to design a third Battleship type, to be produced exclusively for the Navy (as opposed to the Soyuz and Frunze, which were also available for export), and with even heavier armament and armour than the preceding classes of warships. The project was given the designation Project Mammoth. The feasibility of such a machine was widely questioned. After all, the Frunze had been enormously expensive to build, had employed the most advanced in weapons and armour technology available, and was easily the most potent ship in terms of sheer firepower and protection in the Navy. The project was not able to garner wide support within Parliament or the Ministry of Defence as a result. Parliament was reluctant to approve funding to improve the Navy, when the Navy already numbered more than 2,000 ships and 1,200 aircraft, kept in the highest possible state of training by constant exercises; the MoD had no such reservations, being instead filled with personnel from all services who were thoroughly irritated by the Navy's constant gorging of itself on funding which they felt they required more urgently. Of the latter group, the most vociferous was a cartel of high-ranking Ground Forces personnel, comprising 6 Generals and 8 Colonels, led by General Eric Morden. Morden was a firm advocate of the cessation of capital ship development, and allocation of funds to the Ground Forces and Frontal Aviation, which gained him favour within the Frontal Aviation staff. There were also Naval officers who opposed more Battleships, saying that the fleet risked becoming too unbalanced toward them. The future of the project was for 8 months extremely uncertain, as debate was pursued vigourously as to its' utility, viability and purpose.
The ending of all the uncertainty came with the perceived onset of the Cold War, initiated by Communist Mississippi. With the sudden growth in CM naval strength, DPUO's Naval Office was suddenly able to provide a powerful case for a new type of Battleship to counter the impending threat. By a skilled use of the media, and a thorough campaign to recruit high-ranking Defence Ministry and Parliamentary support, the advocates of the Mammoth project were able to generate a state of extreme public agitation concerning the construction of new vessels. They pointed out that CM was acquiring new ships and that older ships were being scrapped, although they neglected to mention that many of these ships were well past their prime, as good as useless for front-line Naval operations, and were in fact merely draining off funds and manpower for their upkeep; at the same time, they were able to persuade many MPs that if CM could be outdone in this area, not only would it provide a great measure of security for the future, but it would also be a valuable vote-winning move.
Thereafter, construction of these ships was inevitable. The Naval Office was given carte blanche by the MoD to develop a design for future operations, embodying all the experience yet gained in Naval capital ship design. The class had to be within 170,000 tonnes fully loaded displacement, and within a length of 470m, beam of 50m and draught of 11m, in order to be able to reprovision in the few ultra-large deep-water ports available. The ship was also required to mount at the least 16in guns, and have armour of at the least 460mm on all vital sectors, plus a speed of 33 knots. Once again, contracts were requested from the major ship design firms. Of these firms, two pulled out, citing that the workload far exceeded their capacity. This left the Soyuz Shipyard and Harland's Shipbuilding to complete the work. Since both were at this point engaged in full construction of the Soyuz and Frunze class ships, they expressed concern to the MoD regarding their ability to complete the number of ships they were being asked to build, even with their enormous resources. This was deeply disquieting. It was thus decided that in order to increase the possible construction capacity of the yards, new dockyards would have to be constructed for the new warships. In the meantime, the existing supertanker construction yards would be sufficient; this decision was take prior to the designs having even been submitted!
The two companies merged their resources, out of necessity, and together conceived a truly monumental warship. The class was to mount nine 20in guns, plus 12 6in secondary guns carry no less than 550mm of composite armour along the armour belt at vital points, and yet be capable of a speed of 30+ knots. How such a machine was to be built was to become apparent, to the astonishment of those who called it impossible.
While construction of four new harbours, requiring vast amounts of labour (some 210,000 men and women were used to construct the four new harbours) was pressing ahead, labour and resources were diverted from non-vital civil applications, such as consumer goods manufacture, non-military vehicle manufacture and civil shipbuilding, and pressed into service in the two great shipyards of Soyuz and Harland. The yards cleared their supertanker slipways and graving docks and used the great influx of men and material to begin building of the new ships, which had by now been designated the Hunter class. The keel of the MSS Hunter was laid on 22nd May 2003.
General
Crew: 2,281
Displacement: 177,743 tonnes unladen, 194,733 tonnes laden
Endurance: 220 days' steaming, 90-95 days combat operations.
Dimensions: Length 459.6m, Beam 57.2m, Draught (mean) 11.95m
Armament
The main armament consists of nine DK-77M 20in 59cal rifled ETCs, firing a shell of 4,158lbs (this for an armour-piercing round). The guns have a maximum accurate range of approximately 28.3 kilometres and maximum range of 42.2 kilometres, and can fire APDS, HE-FRAG, HE and low-calibre (10-inch) guided shells, as well as rocket-assisted shells with a range of 56km and accurate an accurate range of 23.4Km biologica, nucelar (300Kt) and chemical shells. Barrel life is estimated at 500 full-charge firings per gun. The guns can elevate to 41.7 degrees and depress to -10 degrees. Rate of fire is approximately 3 RPM per gun. The turrets are laid out in A, B, X configuration.
Secondary armament is composed of 12 Ak-130 130mm fully-automatic water-cooled guns mounted in six triple-gun turrets with an elevation of 44 degrees and depression of -13 degrees. As on the Frunze-class, these have a rate of fire of 8 RPM per gun. These guns have a maximum range of 24Km and an optimum accurate range of 18Km, and can fire APHE, HE and HE-FRAG. The secondary armament can also fire smoke shells. The ship also possesses four rotatable and trainable four-round launcher boxes for the SS-N-22 SSM on the port and starboard decks between the secondary turrets, plus a quarterdeck P-190 SSM system containing 32 missiles.
Anti-aircraft protection is provided by the IULLDES Mark III system mounted on the superstructure of the ship, consisting of eight ASL-100 CIWS. Four SA-N-20 SAM launchers are mounted, two at the stern and two toward the bow. See IULLDES (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=343036) entry for further details. Six SA-N-9 launchers comprise the mid-range air defence, mounted on platforms around the superstructure. Missile feed chutes run from the missile magazines to the launchers. There is also a 10-cell S-400K VLS system in the superstructure, with an armoured missile magazine below and a vertical reloading system. Seven AO-18 CIWS guns are mounted.
Anti-submarine defences consist of the SS-N-27 ballistic-trajectory anti-submarine weapon, deployed in 4 VLS cells aft of the SA-N-6 launcher system, again with a vertical reload system from the belowdeck missile magazine, and four RBU-6000 ASW rockets mounted on the deck of the ship, two just aft of B turret and two between the after SA-N-20 launchers and AO-18 CIWS guns.
The ship also has at the stern a landing pad and a hangar bay, which can accommodate:
Up to 4 Ka-27B ASW helicopters
Up to 2 Yak-41M2 carrier-based fighters
Up to 16 Yak-061 "Shmel" UAVs
or a combination thereof.
Ammunition allocations
Main armament: 1,350 rounds
Secondary armament: 1,500 rounds
SS-N-22: 64 missiles
SS-N-19: 32 missiles
SA-N-20: 48 missiles
SA-N-9: 64 missiles
S-400: 80 missiles
SS-N-27: 20 missiles
RBU-6000: 480 rmortars
AO-18/ASL-100: 480,000 rounds
Compartmentation
The hull is divided by 110mm watertight bulkheads into nine compartments:
1) Sonar dome, crew accommodation, galleys, recreation area, storage, fuel storage (530 tonnes) for emergency diesels, bow sonar auxiliary computer systems;
2) Accommodation, fuel (300 tonnes);
3) A turret magazine;
4) B turret magazine; magazines protected by double-layer of 50mm composite armour with 100mm airspace, edged with 20mm thermosetting insulating foam;
5) Forward SAM and WICS magazine;
6) Forward SAM and CIWS stowage;
7) Reactor spaces, with secondary armament magazines running abreast; secondary armament magazines protected by double layer of 35mm composite with 80mm airspace with 20mm thermosetting insulating foam;
8) Main machinery spaces, containing direct-drive steam turbines, heat exchangers, turboalternators, batteries, and emergency diesel engines; transverse watertight bulkhead separates turbine sets; emergency diesels located, with turboalternators, in compartment six, so that damage/flooding to compartment five does not disable emergency diesels and/or electricity; above these spaces is secondary ammunition storage area for SS-N-22s and secondary armament;
Upper section of 8, 9) After main and secondary armament ammunition storage;
10) Accommodation, sick bays;
11) After storage for AO-18 CIWS and SA-N-20 SAMs, armoued as all other missile magazines; diesel fuel storage (1,700 tonnes) for emergency engines, crew accommodation, backup fire-control systems, P-190 cells;
12) Hangar bay, aviation fuel storage, aircraft munitions stores, aircrew accommodation, VDS spool, VDS auxiliary computer systems.
Armour
http://img82.exs.cx/img82/2444/Hull.jpg
Hull armouring: submerged.
1) The outermost layer of armour for the submerged areas of the ship's hull comprises a large anti-mine and anti-torpedo bulge. The bulge is formed of Type A composite, a composite armour designed primarily to nullify the effects of kinetic energy (for example the energy released by the detonation of a torpedo warhead). The composite is packed into individual steel cells, each designed to vent the blast from an explosive device downwards, back into the water, hence the diagonal shape. The shaping also means that the layer is formed from triangles, an inherently strong shape.
The second layer of submerged defence is the layer of liquid armour backing the composite layer. First developed by the Royal Navy following WWI experience, "liquid armour" proved highly effective at reducing the blast effects of torpedoes. Undamaged cells can also be used to allow the ship to trim herself, for example heeling herself onto one side to increase the range of her guns. In these cells, the walls are constructed to channel the force of an explosion onto the tertiary layer of submerged armour.
The tertiary layer is composed of Type B composite armour (intended primarily to neutralise the effects of thermal energy, but also able to withstand well kinetic energy) reinforced with rods of tungsten carbide coated with steel. This braces the composite layer, giving it extra strength laterally and increasing its resistance to kinetic energy damage. It is also able to aid in bracing the composite vertically, by reducing the movement generated by a detonation.
Protection against low-angle shellfire, missiles etc.
2)As the submarine protection tapers towards the waterline, a very deep strake of Kontakt-5-based ERA runs along the length of the ship. It is capped by a thin (20mm) layer of tungsten carbide to aid in de-capping APHE and armour-piercing missiles.
Behind this layer, the first layer of armour is the above-mentioned Type A composite. This generally runs to the depth of the orlop deck, although this varies with class of ship.
Behind this, and running almost to the keel, comes a deep and thick layer of Vectran plastic, providing both a high insulation capacity and a very high tensile strength capacity. This is in turn backed by a second layer of Type A composites.
Behind this layer comes a triple-sandwich design, in which non-vital communications and systems are placed in a void space, between two layers of thermosetting insulating foam plastic. This offers high resistance to explosive penetration and some resistance to kinetic energy. In the centre of this void space is a 50mm layer of steel plating.
Backing this comes an unbraced layer of Type B composites. This forms the outer wall of another section for non-vital communications, wiring and crew access passageways which become void spaces whene necessary. Since the damage of these spaces is of relatively little importance (either because the function is not important in combat or the systems running in them are duplicated elsewhere) it is not necessarily dangerous to employ them as air spaces.
The second main vertical armour layer is composed of another layer of tunsten-reinforced Type B composites.
The final line of defence is a wall of Type A composite extending to just below the waterline.
Protection from high-angle shellfire and bombs.
3) The upper deck is provided with a layer of Type A and a layer of Type B composites, between which is sandwiched a double layer of thermosetting foam plastic and another non-vital communications and wiring space. Decks Three and Four are provided with Type A composite backing layers.
The second and more important layer of defence, mainly from lower-angle shellfire is a structure of three layers of Type B composites, covered with Vectran and with a core of steel. These extend downwards, cutting through the decks as they go. They are angled to allow the deflection of shells entering the ships, either upwards (if they enter at a relatively flat trajectory) or downwards and towards the water (if they enter at a relatively steep trajectory). These layers are used to form an armoured "tube" of sorts in the centre of the ship, containing the ship's most vtial equipment and spaces (magazines, reactors, machinery and so on).
The keel
4) The keel of the ship is subject to the same submerged armour as the rest of the vessel, but is provided with extra armour in the form of another airspace (through which bilge pipes run) and an extra layer of steel armour, which also acts to provide a firm base for machinery.
Deck armour of two 360mm layers of composite, upper deck of 40mm titanium alloy with 60mm Kontakt-5 ERA beneath and 80mm airspace with insulating foam.
Other armour
Main turrets carry 800mm composite frontal armour, 400 mm composite side armour, 100mm titanium alloy rear armour, 280mm composite roof armour.
Secondary turrets carry 300mm composite frontal armour, 190mm titanium alloy side armour, 200mm composite roof armour, 100mm titanium alloy rear armour.
Missile launcher boxes, SAM launchers, CIWS receive 50mm titanium alloy armour.
Superstructure receives 80mm titanium alloy armour on outer walls and first layer of inner walls.
Armoured conning tower, with 300mm composite armour.
Radar/LADAR
1 ASP-101/Top Pair 3D air/surface-search and fire-control radar suite (SSM and SAM surveillance and targeting; ASP-101 if overloaded delegates SAM operation to Top Pair system only).
1 Kite Screech for AK-130 fire-control.
2 Bass Tilt AO-18 control.
6 Sag Coat short/mid-range beam-alterable fire-control LADAR (AK-130, AO-18)
1 Sage Bag mid-range LADAR (backup SSM and SAM surveillance).
IULLDES LADAR and Radar systems (4 Osminog LADAR, 4 Oko Fire-control radar, 2 SBI-16KB surface-search radar)
2 MR-360A/Podkat-B SA-N-9 Fire-control and surveillance multi-mode radar
Garpun-Bal Improved SSM guidance/targeting radar with integral ECCM and frequency agility
The masts of the ship take the SSM fire-control and surveillance radars, while the upper superstructure holds the navigation and SAM radars.
Sonar
Zvezda-III Sonar suite, MKG-345U bow-mounted LF sonar dome, also MKG-346 conformal array
Ox Tail-S LF VDS
Fire-control
KOK-615B1 fire-control computer, measures gun angle, ship speed, target speed, wind speed, wind direction, cant angle, barrel wear and ship movement to give highly accurate fire-control for main armament and secondary armament when under manual control.
EW
Wine Glass and Bell Shroud ESM Intercept receivers
Bell Squat-B Jammer systems
Burn Eye anti-LADAR smoke generators
18 PK-10 Chaff Decoy RLs
Propulsion
4 OK-800 Hafnium-Lutetium QNRs driving four sets direct-drive steam turbines turning four titanium shafts, each to one azipod propulsor, containing one seven-bladed, variable-pitch bronze screw.
Emergency propulsion: 8 ALK-1250 28,000hp diesel engines, two per shaft, driving through four automatic gearboxes with 4 forward and 2 reverse speeds.
Maximum design speed of the class is 35/36 knots.
Miscellaneous
The hull and superstructure are 37% titanium, which saved approximately 14,000 tonnes of mass. There are more than 60 1m long ventral fins beneath the ship to ensure the greatest stability possible when firing a broadside. There is also a high-power communications array using a 256-bit encrypted satellite transceiver to transmit and receive orders and reports.
http://wmilitary.neurok.ru/ijn/yamato-f.gif
Bows-on view of Hunter.
http://www.bismarck-class.dk/miscellaneous/illustrations_and_drawings/steve_nuttall/pictures/yamato/illustr_yamato_02.jpg
Hunter painted by Steve Nuttall, just after her entry into service.
http://www.battleship.org/images/BN/turkey5.jpg
Hunter on trials off Park Island.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/battleforaustralia/webgraphics/historicalbackground/Yamato.jpg
Hunter running trials off Winter Island. In this view, the early second radar mast can be seen; angled backwards, it was intended to house the MR-710 3D search radar.