Re: Re: FT-IJN Designs?

I don't like MT missiles and never use them. I was thinking a Beam-5 or
Beam-6 as a spinal mount plus a couple of Beam-4's, but 4 Beam-4's would
probably do just as well, maybe better. The key point is that the
Japanese SDN should be very well armored and very heavily armed. The
Japanese never really built large "light" cruisers like for instance the
British "Town" class or the US "Brooklyn" class. The Mogami class were
originally armed with 15-6.1in guns, but were rebuilt and rearmed before
WWII started with
10-8in guns. So I visualize the Japanese cruisers as being larger than
the other cruisers with a very heavy beam/pulse-torp armament. I presume
that your ship with 12+ MT missiles is intended as a Kitakami analog
(Kitakami was rebuilt in 1942 to carry no less than 40(!) 24-inch
torpedo tubes.) I'm working on a similar ship, but with lots of pulse
torps. Japanese destroyers should likewise be larger and more powerfully
gunned. Remember that the Japanese were building 2000-ton destroyers
with six five-inch guns when the "average" fleet destroyer displaced
1500 tons and was armed with four 4.7 or 5 inch guns. So most of the
Japanese destroyers should actually be "super-destroyers" in FT/FB
parlance. I'm planning on making all or most of the larger ships
hermaphrodites with some carrier capability (1-2 squadrons). I"m
thinking about making the heavy carrier analogous to the historical
Akagi as she was orginally completed, with say 5 squadrons and a fairly
strong beam armament (a!
 s !
originally completed Akagi carried 65 aircraft and 10 8-inch guns.), but
the "big, fast, lots of fighters" version (a Zuikaku analog) certainly
has a lot to recommend it (and would give Jon a chance to make TWO heavy
carrier models for the Japanese). I'm going to try to post some of my
designs tonight or tomorrow once I finish checking the math. 
gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu wrote:
> From: 

> Great minds do think alike. I've been thinking along those exact same
lines waiting for my Japanese fleet megadeal to arrive.

My thoughts on the IJN, based on WW2 IJN.

Small ships - "Long Lance" MT missiles, the ones with 5 range, or a Mix.
Medium ships - vast quantities of Beam-2s, a la Mogami, Chikuma etc,
which
when originally constructed had something like 15 6" guns.
At least one should have 12+ MT missiles instead of beam-2's.
Large ships - Hermaphrodite carriers a la Ise and Hiei
CVLs - fragile, slow, lots of fighters for their size, which is small.
CVAs - fast, large, not well armed or protected, rely on speed.
SuperShips - Make Komarovs look weedy. 4 Beam-4s in the forward arc
(only),
which makes a pretty powerful "spinal mount" a la Space Cruiser Yamato,
only without the need for Yet Another Vunder Veapon.

Japanese Fighters should be capable of transforming into combat walkers
:-)