Another World: Naval Storm

Chapter 187 Battleship converted into battlecruiser?

"Are we thinking of a code name to confuse outsiders?" Joshua suddenly asked.

"We should really think of one, a Wuwu ship? To taunt the Drake people?!" This time, Major General Degang agreed with Joshua and told him the code name he thought of.

"Woo-woo? Banshee's scream? That's fine too. Okay, let's do this. The Lone Brave class is codenamed the Woo-woo ship! Now let's discuss the most important issue, which is how to destroy the Drake Navy's increasingly powerful battlecruiser fleet!" Art said word by word.

"I have ordered all the shipyards in Talen to work in shifts around the clock and do our best to ensure the construction of three Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, four Revenge-class battleships, the Canadian White North battleship, and three Renown-class battlecruisers. We can only choose to suspend the construction of the two classes of super-dreadnoughts that are planned." Art kept reciting the information in his hand, and his voice spread throughout the room. "However, except for the Canadian White North, which can be completed ahead of schedule in June this year and put into service in October; the Queen-class Barom can be completed in August this year and will be put into service around November. The remaining two Queen-class ships will be put into service as early as May next year, the four Revenge-class ships will be around July next year, and as for the three Renown-class battlecruisers, the earliest completion date will be August next year."

Everyone realized that they were in trouble, and anxiety was spreading. What the Grand Fleet urgently needed was the main battleships that could be put into combat immediately, especially the First Battle Patrol Squadron, which was almost unable to maintain its organization! The Grand Fleet could not wait, but there was no time to build new ships!

In the Battle of the Skagerrak, the main fleet lost two battleships but still retained some vitality, while the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron could only be described as miserable.

After the fierce naval battle, none of the three Queen Elizabeth-class fast battleships of the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron were lost, but one was seriously damaged and two were slightly injured, greatly reducing their combat effectiveness; the Barbary Lion, the Indomitable and the Otello battlecruisers were all injured.

The so-called fast battleship concept of the Talen Empire has been shattered by Drake. The Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, with a single ship costing 290 million gold pounds, failed the expectations of the Royal Navy in the naval battle. They could only reach a speed of 25 knots on the design drawings under extreme overload. The incorporation of the Queen Elizabeth-class into the First Battlecruiser Squadron was undoubtedly a bad move, and their existence seriously slowed down the speed of the battlecruisers. The Barbary Lion battlecruisers, which had an elegant and beautiful appearance and a name that referred to ancient extinct beasts, were defeated in the naval battle. In the Battle of Shipwreck Bay, the Queen Mary was defeated by the pincer attack of the Moltke and the Von der Bella, and the Tiger and its improved version, the Sana Tiger battlecruisers, also died on the bottom of the North Sea. As for those old-style battlecruisers like the Indefatigable-class, they had a considerable gap in speed and protection compared with the battlecruisers built later, and were at a disadvantage in the confrontation with the Drake battleships.

How to deal with the battlecruisers of the Drake Empire's First Reconnaissance Fleet was a big problem for these high-ranking officers of the Talen Navy. The meeting was silent for more than ten minutes, and Art gave them enough time to think.

"How about converting the Queen Elizabeth class into battlecruisers?" Second Sea Lord John Casorpe's eyes lit up and dimmed, his facial expression constantly changing, and finally he still said the immature idea: "The sixth ship Warrior and the seventh ship Malaya of the Queen Elizabeth class are already in the final outfitting stage. We can convert these two fast battleships into battlecruisers. Wouldn't this increase the strength of our battlecruiser fleet in a very short time?"

"We do have experience in converting battleships into battlecruisers, like the Renown-class, but this..." Jefferson was a little embarrassed. He wanted both a battlecruiser and a battleship.

The appearance of the Renown-class battlecruisers was a last resort. The Royal Navy's battlecruisers suffered heavy losses in the war. In order to make up for the losses in the naval battle and enhance the strength of the battlecruiser fleet, the Royal Navy restarted the construction plan of two of the three Revenge-class battleships that had been abandoned, and converted them into Renown-class battlecruisers, namely Renown and Repulse.

The Revenge class is an improved version of the Queen Elizabeth class battleship. The basic layout and weaponry of the Revenge class battleship are basically the same as those of the Queen Elizabeth class. The hull length is shortened, the protection is slightly improved, and a single chimney is used. This is the most obvious difference in appearance from the Queen Elizabeth class.

However, the performance of the two ships differed greatly. As the outstanding creation of the Talen Shipyard, the average price of the six Queen-class battleships was about 290 million gold pounds. This high price made the financially strong Talen Kingdom tremble. There was no other way. The combat power must be there, and the number of warships must not be less, so they had to combine high, medium and low configurations.

In order to reduce costs, in addition to shortening the length of the Revenge class hull and reducing the tonnage, the Revenge class also abandoned the more efficient all-oil boiler design and switched to a coal-based hybrid power. The maximum speed was reduced to 21.5 knots. With so many changes, the cost was still 250 million gold pounds. It has to be said that Tarun Shipyard can really make money.

Converting a battleship into a battlecruiser is not easy. It is said that many designers turned gray overnight. Fortunately, after the designers' unremitting efforts, they finally designed a cutting-edge battlecruiser design that suits Talen's style.

Because the power compartment of the Revenge class is narrower than that of the Queen Elizabeth class, the Talens had no choice but to dismantle a twin-mounted 381mm main gun turret and use the space saved from the original turret, ammunition depot, etc. to add fuel boilers. As a result, the Renown class has as many as 40 boilers.

The Tarun people have always been obsessed with speed. In order to further increase the speed of the Revenge class, the designers modified the hull, lengthened the bow and stern, adopted a long forecastle hull type, and an outward-flared bow to reduce sailing resistance.

In order to reduce the total tonnage of the warship, the designer once again reduced a triple-mounted 102mm secondary gun turret, and the underwater torpedo tubes that were useless in naval battles were also cancelled. In this regard, the Tarun people were wiser than the Drak people. Leo had always demanded that the number of underwater torpedo tubes equipped on the main battleships be reduced, but the Drak naval designers were more stubborn than him. But now the situation is different. Leo is in power, and the main battleships built by the Drak Empire will no longer be equipped with underwater torpedo tubes.

By cutting a little here and a little there, a battleship that originally had a maximum speed of only 21.5 knots immediately soared to 28 knots. This amazing result made the Talen designers very happy. They realized that self-abuse could also produce amazing results, so many Talen warships had fatal flaws in different places. They were willing to exchange some of what they thought were insignificant aspects for advantages in other aspects of the battleship.