Hi APDAF,
OK, so the next questions are "Have you thought of the other effects?" Oil at the price means, effectively, little to no plastics, for instance. By the time you reach $400/barrel, I think you're back at the point where whaling becomes useful as a source of hydrocarbons again. From what I've read of the NS Savannah, at that price point nuclear probably does become economic compared to oil-fired container ships, certainly for long-distance freight, but that doesn't help for the riverine bit. I know it's not the ship's primary role, but it's mentioned in the design, so I'll mention it here. As soon as you reach the coast, your nuclear container ship isn't just competing with a triple-E, it's also competing with a lorry and a train. And I suspect it loses to both of those quite substantially.
As to "Why Fast" - I assume you're using the same sort of map I've seen previously, with France displaced off to the middle-east somehow. That's an entirely separate argument, but I'd like to point out one thing. Germany, in both world wars, had a significant advantage over the british because all of the internal logistics happened over train lines. Britain, supplied heavily by sea, didn't, and was therefore vulnerable to blockade, which was promptly attempted. I know Britain's part of the Anglo-Germanic Empire you've got going on, but to be honest, you've got to secure a channel crossing of all of approx 18 nmi. With both sides friendly. A slow 5-knot journey will be less than 4 hours across that, not "next week". I don't see any other substantial journeys that *must* be made by ship, unless you're using it for offensive ops, in which case, I'd ask where? Why? I note the lack of defensive armament - I'd assumed that this was a rear-echelon ship, quite happily not ever getting shot at.
The rivers thing, everybody's mentioned because you mentioned it. Virtually anything can travel at least a little way up the amazon or other big rivers without any problems at all - heck, the germans managed to fit a battlecruiser up the River Plate in WWII! - so if it's intended for those, it's just an ordinary ship. If it's not intended for those, it's a mite big to fit, seems to be the consensus - again, coming back to "the ship needs to be rational" - in RL you will get some ships designed for a specific environment that they will never leave - Great Lakes freighters, river boats on the Rhine or the Thames - or designed to cope with a crunch point that nevertheless greatly increases the ship's utility - Panamax, Malaccamax (sp?), etc, etc - so if this is designed for a river, is it a specific one?
Again, comparison with the Triple E class, what's the ship for? If it's supposed to be a big hauler, why not the size of the triple E? If it's in a restricted environment, *which* restricted environment? The Amazon is not a particularly restriced environment.
If it sounds like I'm being mean, I'm not trying to be. I'm just trying to figure out what it is you want this ship to do? What is it's job, and why is it *this* ship that does that job and not another (like the triple-E, for instance)
Regards,
APDSmith
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