WWII Iowa Class' Stability, Seakeeping, Structural Strength

Warship design and construction, terminology, navigation, hydrodynamics, stability, armor schemes, damage control, etc.
MVictorP
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WWII Iowa Class' Stability, Seakeeping, Structural Strength

Post by MVictorP »

Okay I know I dwell into expert territory here, but as an amateur ship simmer (I use Rick Robinson's Spring Style and Spring Sharp), I have a problem simming a correct Iowa (whereas I have no problem simming anything else), and maybe I get get some tips here.

Using data collected here and there on the net as well as SoDak specs when Iowa's are unavailable (such as the number of shell per gun), what I obtain is a mediocre ship in term of platform stability, and a bad seaboat as well. More importantly, structural strength ends up being that of a destroyer.

Did I miss something, or were the Iowas such mediocre ships in many aspects that are not as apparent as speed, gun size and armor on paper?

I always had some doubts about the Iowas, that long and thin bow and all that top weight they had. All-or nothing armor is fine against armor-piercing fire, but what about HE shells from cruiser and destroyer guns? I wonder to which extent these could disable a Iowa, which undoubtlely has excellent armor and emergency measures, but structural strength?

I really expect to learn a thing or two here.
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tommy303
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Re: WWII Iowa Class' Stability, Seakeeping, Structural Stren

Post by tommy303 »

Some of the figures you seek which may help in the program you are using should be in Sumrall's Iowa Class Battleships: Their Weapons, Design, and Equipment, and in Stillwell's Battleship New Jersey.

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Neoconshooter
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Re: WWII Iowa Class' Stability, Seakeeping, Structural Stren

Post by Neoconshooter »

MVictorP wrote:Okay I know I dwell into expert territory here, but as an amateur ship simmer (I use Rick Robinson's Spring Style and Spring Sharp), I have a problem simming a correct Iowa (whereas I have no problem simming anything else), and maybe I get get some tips here.

Using data collected here and there on the net as well as SoDak specs when Iowa's are unavailable (such as the number of shell per gun), what I obtain is a mediocre ship in term of platform stability, and a bad seaboat as well. More importantly, structural strength ends up being that of a destroyer.

Did I miss something, or were the Iowas such mediocre ships in many aspects that are not as apparent as speed, gun size and armor on paper?

I always had some doubts about the Iowas, that long and thin bow and all that top weight they had. All-or nothing armor is fine against armor-piercing fire, but what about HE shells from cruiser and destroyer guns? I wonder to which extent these could disable a Iowa, which undoubtlely has excellent armor and emergency measures, but structural strength?

I really expect to learn a thing or two here.
Navy types, along with historians I know think that the Iowas are/were now that they are retired, the finest BBs ever built!

I also being a fan of BBs because bigger guns are more fun to shoot, and because of first hand experience with their fire power in RVN, hope that you could link to sources of the poor sea keeping/stability issues of these ships!

As an aside, I like the French style of design, which I would modify to look more like Moskva, by shortening the space between the A-B turrets, move the castle forward and shorten it, then put the flight deck on the back half of the ship. I would remove most of the side armor in the BC style leaving only the deck to stop dive bombers. Lastly, I would install high angle elevation and loading for the highest MV guns using American style super heavy shell.
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tommy303
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Re: WWII Iowa Class' Stability, Seakeeping, Structural Stren

Post by tommy303 »

The spacing in between A and B turrets in the Richelieu and Jean Bart was intentional. There was a compartment between the two so as to minimize the possibility of a fire in one turret's magazines necessitating the flooding of the other turret's magazines.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood and Earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned these defended;
And saved the sum of things for pay.
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