Note: If your not Telan, you probably have no clue as to what were discussing, but everyone is free to participate if they have their own opinions or facts about the ships being discussed. I felt discussions such as these belong more in a general discussion area than a R&D thread.
Ok, today's topic that I have been looking over the past couple of days, armoured cruisers. I noticed your (Telan's) comments about the Brooklyn and New York, and decided to take a general look into each navies's armoured cruisers. Just a little comparison, and I'd though I'd get your thoughts on these.
Ok, first off, the British. Working from the Devonshire class up to the Warrior class, armament wise, they have big enough guns and lots of them, but turret numbers and arrangement are poor in my estimation. Take for example the Devonshire class. Four 7.5" guns, but placed into four single turrets instead of a simple twoxtwos, and of their arrangement, three are placed forward, ahead of and on either side of the bridge. Talk about vulnerability of a major ammunition explosion.
Drake class, only two guns mounted here, with tons of secondary armament. Duke class, much better turret arrangement, but I think two twins fore and aft and two singles precisley amidships would have been better than six singles, although it would be hard to take them all out unless you just wrecked the whole ship.
Warrior class, same as Drake class, good ships, but could of been better. I think the best British ARCs were the Minotaur class.
As for the French, ok, most notable feature is, what is up with their funnel arrangements? But going into armaments, very light number wise, although guns were of a decent size in later ships, 9.4". The Renan class, very good ship, two twin 7.6" turrets fore and aft, good spacing on the secondary armament, I would rate this ship second best in the armament category for the French. Number one would be the Leon Gambetta class, same main armament, but for the secondary armament, we have twin 6" turrets, again very good spacing, a very well armed ship. Also the Dupleix I feel needs mention here, for although she has a small main armament, 6.4", they are in turrets again, 6-gun broadside, very excellent.
U.S. armoured cruisers. Very excellent armament wise, 8" guns for the main turrets. California class, twin turrets fore and aft, good secondarys, perhaps a bit overloaded armament wise, but still a good ship. Brooklyn, 8x8" guns, in four twin turrets. Six gun broadside, probably the best armoured cruiser around this time period armament wise. New York, similar, except five gun broadside with 6x8" guns.
German armoured cruisers, again very excellent ships, doing the excellent 4x8.2" armament in twin turrets fore and aft on all their ships, upgrading to the 9.4" guns in the Furst Bismarck class, etc.
Japanese ARCs, although exported from Italy and Britian, good ships. Most of them are armed with twin eight inch guns, except for the two Imported Italian cruisers, which are armed with one single ten inch gun and one twin eight inch gun turret. Finally, Russian ARCs, nothing very impressive at all in the early term, however they were the first navy to have armoured cruisers, and the Improved Bayan class is good, along with the awesome Ruirik Armoured Cruiser, considered the best armoured cruiser evar.
Ok, today's topic that I have been looking over the past couple of days, armoured cruisers. I noticed your (Telan's) comments about the Brooklyn and New York, and decided to take a general look into each navies's armoured cruisers. Just a little comparison, and I'd though I'd get your thoughts on these.
Ok, first off, the British. Working from the Devonshire class up to the Warrior class, armament wise, they have big enough guns and lots of them, but turret numbers and arrangement are poor in my estimation. Take for example the Devonshire class. Four 7.5" guns, but placed into four single turrets instead of a simple twoxtwos, and of their arrangement, three are placed forward, ahead of and on either side of the bridge. Talk about vulnerability of a major ammunition explosion.
Drake class, only two guns mounted here, with tons of secondary armament. Duke class, much better turret arrangement, but I think two twins fore and aft and two singles precisley amidships would have been better than six singles, although it would be hard to take them all out unless you just wrecked the whole ship.
Warrior class, same as Drake class, good ships, but could of been better. I think the best British ARCs were the Minotaur class.
As for the French, ok, most notable feature is, what is up with their funnel arrangements? But going into armaments, very light number wise, although guns were of a decent size in later ships, 9.4". The Renan class, very good ship, two twin 7.6" turrets fore and aft, good spacing on the secondary armament, I would rate this ship second best in the armament category for the French. Number one would be the Leon Gambetta class, same main armament, but for the secondary armament, we have twin 6" turrets, again very good spacing, a very well armed ship. Also the Dupleix I feel needs mention here, for although she has a small main armament, 6.4", they are in turrets again, 6-gun broadside, very excellent.
U.S. armoured cruisers. Very excellent armament wise, 8" guns for the main turrets. California class, twin turrets fore and aft, good secondarys, perhaps a bit overloaded armament wise, but still a good ship. Brooklyn, 8x8" guns, in four twin turrets. Six gun broadside, probably the best armoured cruiser around this time period armament wise. New York, similar, except five gun broadside with 6x8" guns.
German armoured cruisers, again very excellent ships, doing the excellent 4x8.2" armament in twin turrets fore and aft on all their ships, upgrading to the 9.4" guns in the Furst Bismarck class, etc.
Japanese ARCs, although exported from Italy and Britian, good ships. Most of them are armed with twin eight inch guns, except for the two Imported Italian cruisers, which are armed with one single ten inch gun and one twin eight inch gun turret. Finally, Russian ARCs, nothing very impressive at all in the early term, however they were the first navy to have armoured cruisers, and the Improved Bayan class is good, along with the awesome Ruirik Armoured Cruiser, considered the best armoured cruiser evar.
