TzoliIn 1943 September BAD (British Admiralty Delegation) approached the USN with a design preparred by the DNC for modernizing the HMS Nelson in one of their yards.
They justified the project on the basis that the United Kingdom could only refit Rodney, but both ships were needed to fight in the Pacific. To overcome US reluctance to rebuild old ships, they emphasized that this time the modernization was of a relatively modern warship rather a WW1 one, whose armament was virtually unchanged since her completion and her scheduled 1939 modernization had been stopped by the breakout of hostilities.
The first proposal initially was a request to mount 5"/54 guns (3 per side and which guns were intended for the Montanas) but the British seems not known that such a guns were not (yet) manufactured. The 5" guns were to be controlled by four American Mark 37 directors but with British Type 275 radars (The same combo used on HMS Vanguard) in a square arrangement. (Two on supports on both sides of the bridge and two abaft the mainmast) Additionally there were to be two Auto Barrage Units for the 16" guns and the main gun director to be updated with Type 274 radars.
The design had the following characteristics:
Dimensions: 201,2 (pp) x 214,4m (wl) x 216,4 (oa) 32.3 x 10,2 meters
Displacement: 36.000tons (standard)
Engines: 45.000shp Steam Turbines engines, 2 shafts
Speed: 43km/h (23knots)
Range: 10.200km (6.500nm)
Armour: 356mm Belt over Magazines, 330mm over Machinery inclined at 15°, 159mm Deck over Magazines, 95mm over Machinery, 108mm Slopes
Armaments:
3x3 16"/45 (406mm/45) BL Mark I Cannons,
6x2 5"/54 (127mm/54) Mark 16 Guns,
10x8 40mm/39 QF Mk VIII AA Guns
4x2,48x1 20mm/70 Oerlikon Mark II AA guns
Sensors:
1x Type 273 Surface-Search Radar
2x Type 274 Gunnery Control Radars
4x Type 275 AA Gunnery Control Radars
2x Type 281 Air-Search Radars
10x Type 282 Pom-Pom Director Radars
2x Type 283 Auto Barrage Fire Radars
2025-01-07 19:40:11 +0000