Re: Campaign rules?

Hal wrote:
 
>Anyone here know how long it took to build the Bismark, or any of the
US 
>battleships?  Better yet, what about the world war I ships?  Generally 
>speaking, I figure the ratios will be about the same.	Assuming a
volume of 
>250 cy per hull mass, a 100 mass ship will be 25,000 cubic yards.  In
naval 
>terms, this would equate to about a 19,200+ wet navy ton ship.  I don't
have 
>enough "history background" to say what it should be, since I am
definitely 
>"wet behind the ears" <grin>.	
 
I did a little checking and got the following time periods and dates.  I
used 
the date laid down to the completion or commission dates.
 
Bismarck - 50 months (7/1/36 to 8/24/40) 
Tirpitz -52 months (10/26/36 to 2/25/41)
Gneisenau - 38 months (3/35 to 5/21/28) 
Scharnhorst - 43 months (5/16/35 to 1/7/39)
Pocket Battleships - 50, 38, and 41 months
 
Iowa - 32 months (6/27/40 to 2/22/43)
New Jersey - 32 months (9/16/40 to 5/23/43) 
Missouri - 41 months (1/6/41 to 6/11/44) 
Wisconsin - 39 months (1/25/41 to 4/16/44)
 
King George V - 45 months (1/1/37 to 10/1/40) 
Prince of Wales - 51 months (1/1/37 to 3/31/41)
 
Some Other BBs
Hood - almost 48 months
Rodeny - 60 months
Yamato - 49 months
WWI Iron Duke class and Queen Elizabeth class - about 28 to 30 months
 
Portland (CA) - 36 months (2/17/30 to 2/23/33) 
Indianapolis (CA) - 31 months (3/31/30) to 11/15/32)
Baltimore class CAs - about 24 months (1941-1943 to 1943-1946)
Admiral Hipper class German CAs - about 36 months
 
What does this all mean?  It seems that industrial capacity is very
important.  
The US construction during WWII was quick compared to other countries
and even 
their own prewar construction (CAs from 3 years to 2 years).  When a
country is 
involved in a war, construction time can drop, if they have the
industrial 
capacity to do so.  The largest BBs of WWII took about 4 years to build
(the 
Iowa's are an exception).  I did not include the tonnage but that should
be a 
factor but I was just looking for overall completion time.
 
I like Chad Taylor's idea of rolling a die each month and varying the
die 
depending on how much is spent, etc.  I would then have the amount
rolled equal 
the mass constructed that month with the non-systems mass being
completed first 
and then the selected systems completed as the total allows until the
full mass 
is met.  Then a shakedown cruise of d4 months before the ship is fully
active. 
If the ship is in combat before the shakedown, a threshold roll is
required the 
first couple times a system is used.  On a 6 it fails and is marked off
until 
repaired at a base.  Also a partially completed ship could be pulled
from 
dockyard to be included in a major battle which could lead to some
interesting 
scenarios.  Also subsequent exact copies of a ship built at the same
dockyard 
would have a +1 modifier to each construction roll.  Under these rules
with a d6
construction rate, a mass 80 ship would take about 2 years for the class
ship 
and 20 months for copies, a mass 32 cruiser not quite a year for the
original 
and 9 months.  Quick work when compared to WWII but 4 years is a lot of
game 
time to wait for a capital ship, chalk it up to advances in technology
 
Dean Gundberg
dgundberg@bcbsnd.com