Verdant Archipelago
09-02-2005, 09:18
Saxburg Unveils Second New Warship, Analysts Gibber in Fear
John Winston
Jacksonton
Once again, the Hun has pulled a fast one on ONI. Just days after the first reports of the Admiral Jurgens dreadnaught were leaked to the public, the Kreigsmarine has announced the launch of the first in a line of fast torpedo-carrying warships.. the A-Boat.
The new A-boat isn’t merely a platform for locomotive torpedoes, oh no. It also carries four machineguns and a 3”cannon… doctrine calls for this new class of vessel to skirmish in front of the larger vessels, try to launch torpedoes at enemy capital ships, but most importantly, destroy incoming motor torpedo boats like our own Swiftshire. This torpedo-boat-destroyer, or destroyer for short, is disturbingly fleet and able to hunt down the most agile of light craft.
Oddly enough, though, it represents a regression in design, in some respects. For instance, though sheathed in a thin layer of steel, the majority of the boat’s internal structure is wooden to save weight, which is at a premium. The metal plating is only thick enough to protect the ship from machinegun fire and to discourage the unpleasant denizens of the sea.
There are only two bright points in this rather depressing development. One is that the A-Boat seems to be a thoroughly miserable craft to serve in. It is wet, behaves terribly in rough weather, and the cabin conditions have been confidentially reported as ‘appalling’. The second is that the reported trial speed of the vessel is obviously a fabrication. No ship has ever broken the 30 knot mark, and it is a sign of desperation on the part of the Prussians to lie in such a blatant way.
OOC
The frame and hull of the ship is made from several different kinds of timber native only to Verdant Archipelago. I shan’t bore you with the actual descriptions of the wood, but suffice to say that the ship isn’t about to break up under it’s own weight. Main structural members and the supports for the cannon, torpedo rack, and boiler are all made from steel, and the exterior of the hull, but not the deck, are sheathed in 5mm of steel plating.
The vessel carries 20 torpedoes that can be launched from a quintuple rack. Unfortunately, as there was only enough deck-space for a single rack, so the A-Boat must disengage after firing a spread of torpedos and stay out of range for a good 10 minutes before it can re-engage with a full rack again. Also, due to the bow cannon, the placement of the rack, and the superstructure and depth charges, the torpedoes must be launched off axis.
The torpedoes themselves are fairly standard heated torpedoes, which use a reservoir of compressed air to drive a propeller. Their explosive charge of 500 pounds of guncotton is more than enough to put down most warships, and they their internal gyroscope theoretically keeps them running straight and even out to 6km, though this has been known to malfunction… catastrophically, occasionally. A-12 pulverized itself when a torpedo it fired at a wounded kraken made a 150 degree turn and caught the hapless vessel on the port bow. In any case, the point is moot since the torpedo runs out of air after a mere 2km.
Oh. And the Saxburgers weren’t lying. It really does go 30 knots.
A-Boat
Displacement:
938 t light; 961 t standard; 1,097 t normal; 1,205 t full load
Dimensions:
90.00 m x 10.00 m x 3.50 m
- Average freeboard: 2.87 m
Armament:
75.0 mm gun cartridged rifle in a unprotected deck mount with an ammunition hoist on the bow
4 - 12.7 mm belt fed machineguns, two mounted on the superstructure, and two on the aft quarters on pintles.
Quintupple torpedo rack mounted just in front of the superstructure. Limeted to off axis launches because of bow cannon (the cannon was an afterthought) and the superstructure.
Propulsion:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines driving 1 shaft at 13000 Kw
Max speed: 31 kts
Range 2,500nm at 20.00 kts
Complement:
100 unlucky souls, condemned to a life where you have 6 inches to swing your hammock, have tinned beef and hard-tack every day, are constantly wet and seasick, and stand a good chance of capsizing in any kind of weather.
John Winston
Jacksonton
Once again, the Hun has pulled a fast one on ONI. Just days after the first reports of the Admiral Jurgens dreadnaught were leaked to the public, the Kreigsmarine has announced the launch of the first in a line of fast torpedo-carrying warships.. the A-Boat.
The new A-boat isn’t merely a platform for locomotive torpedoes, oh no. It also carries four machineguns and a 3”cannon… doctrine calls for this new class of vessel to skirmish in front of the larger vessels, try to launch torpedoes at enemy capital ships, but most importantly, destroy incoming motor torpedo boats like our own Swiftshire. This torpedo-boat-destroyer, or destroyer for short, is disturbingly fleet and able to hunt down the most agile of light craft.
Oddly enough, though, it represents a regression in design, in some respects. For instance, though sheathed in a thin layer of steel, the majority of the boat’s internal structure is wooden to save weight, which is at a premium. The metal plating is only thick enough to protect the ship from machinegun fire and to discourage the unpleasant denizens of the sea.
There are only two bright points in this rather depressing development. One is that the A-Boat seems to be a thoroughly miserable craft to serve in. It is wet, behaves terribly in rough weather, and the cabin conditions have been confidentially reported as ‘appalling’. The second is that the reported trial speed of the vessel is obviously a fabrication. No ship has ever broken the 30 knot mark, and it is a sign of desperation on the part of the Prussians to lie in such a blatant way.
OOC
The frame and hull of the ship is made from several different kinds of timber native only to Verdant Archipelago. I shan’t bore you with the actual descriptions of the wood, but suffice to say that the ship isn’t about to break up under it’s own weight. Main structural members and the supports for the cannon, torpedo rack, and boiler are all made from steel, and the exterior of the hull, but not the deck, are sheathed in 5mm of steel plating.
The vessel carries 20 torpedoes that can be launched from a quintuple rack. Unfortunately, as there was only enough deck-space for a single rack, so the A-Boat must disengage after firing a spread of torpedos and stay out of range for a good 10 minutes before it can re-engage with a full rack again. Also, due to the bow cannon, the placement of the rack, and the superstructure and depth charges, the torpedoes must be launched off axis.
The torpedoes themselves are fairly standard heated torpedoes, which use a reservoir of compressed air to drive a propeller. Their explosive charge of 500 pounds of guncotton is more than enough to put down most warships, and they their internal gyroscope theoretically keeps them running straight and even out to 6km, though this has been known to malfunction… catastrophically, occasionally. A-12 pulverized itself when a torpedo it fired at a wounded kraken made a 150 degree turn and caught the hapless vessel on the port bow. In any case, the point is moot since the torpedo runs out of air after a mere 2km.
Oh. And the Saxburgers weren’t lying. It really does go 30 knots.
A-Boat
Displacement:
938 t light; 961 t standard; 1,097 t normal; 1,205 t full load
Dimensions:
90.00 m x 10.00 m x 3.50 m
- Average freeboard: 2.87 m
Armament:
75.0 mm gun cartridged rifle in a unprotected deck mount with an ammunition hoist on the bow
4 - 12.7 mm belt fed machineguns, two mounted on the superstructure, and two on the aft quarters on pintles.
Quintupple torpedo rack mounted just in front of the superstructure. Limeted to off axis launches because of bow cannon (the cannon was an afterthought) and the superstructure.
Propulsion:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines driving 1 shaft at 13000 Kw
Max speed: 31 kts
Range 2,500nm at 20.00 kts
Complement:
100 unlucky souls, condemned to a life where you have 6 inches to swing your hammock, have tinned beef and hard-tack every day, are constantly wet and seasick, and stand a good chance of capsizing in any kind of weather.