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TzoliDesign B or the 29.000ton Diesel Battleship by Vickers was made by Fisher's and Churchill's requests for a somewhat more conventional battleship compared to the A type and to what could be done on Queen Elizabeth class's size. The result was a much better design than what was actually built. This 29.000ton version having somewhat larger displacement but much better armour, range, and armament (either the same 15"/42 or a better 16" cannons) while retain the same speed on a much reduced silhouette!
The design features most aspects of the A variant but instead of turret-top conning towers it features one large round conning tower behind the 2nd turret with the MACK just behind it. Boat handling was not clear, it could be two cranes at both sides of the boat stowage door, or a single derrick connected to the MACK. The disappearing 6" gun mounts were retained.
While the A variant was a direct replacement to the Queen Elizabeth design showing what can be done by using only diesel engines and Fisher's minimal silhouette idea, variant B improves on it with the addition of 1.500tons of displacement and voala: a battleship was born which was even more capable then the QEs:
16" instead or 13" main belt armour, same speed as design A though somewhat thinner deck armour, heavier main armament of 16" guns and more numerous torpedo tubes while it retains a single connign tower instead of the turret-top conning towers of the previous design.
The design had the following characteristics:
Dimensions: 195.07m (pp) x 27.58 meters
Displacement: 29.000tons (standard)
Armour: 406mm Belt, 64mm Deck
Engines: 56.000bhp (Equivalent to 75.000shp) Diesel engines, 4 shafts
Speed: 46km/h (25knots)
Armaments:
4x2 16"/40 (406mm/40) Vickers Mark A Cannons,
12x1 6"/50 (102mm/50) Vickers Mark R or BL Mk XIII Guns,
8x1 533mm Underwater torpedo tubes
Drawings based on official and original Vickers drawings:
i.imgur.com/Rn5mOuH.jpeg
i.imgur.com/0TgjMdZ.jpeg
2024-04-07 09:37:48 +0000