Atlantis

Hawk Class Light Carriers.

The two Cerberus cruiser hulls that had been postponed on the outbreak of war, were very quickly recast as light carriers, when the first six months of the war showed how useful the aircraft carrier was. The two hulls were required to be bulged to balance the topweight of the flight deck. No heavy AA were fitted and the only armament fitted were the radar controlled 40mm in quad and twin turrets (2x4 6x2). Only 20-24 aircraft (depending on size and type) could be fitted in the hangar, while a deck park of half a dozen extra aircraft could be accommodated when necessary.

The original propulsion system at 80,000shp, pushed the cruisers along at 32 knots. With all the additional displacement of the carrier conversion the two ships made 30-31 knots depending on what day of the week it was.

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AWS Hawk (1941)

AWS Eagle (1942)

I have had the Austro-Hungarian Project VII in my to do folder for some time but have never had the interest to do that never were. But I have always been searching for a better class of 'Frobisher' type cruiser for the British Navy. I have put this into the Atlantean Navy but it could also have easily gone into the Fisherless RN. Resurrecting that thread was not in my plans.

Apollo Class Armoured Cruisers.

The large AMC's of the German Navy had shelled the coast of Atlantis but the guard ships around the Atlantean coasts had not been fast enough to catch them. A new class of cruiser was deemed necessary to protect the coasts and also be able to range over the sea lanes as well. The 7.5" gun was viewed as the best possible weapon for the task. Firing fast enough, with a large enough range, and with a big enough shell to defeat anything except a capital ship. The hull was made big enough to take a 90,000shp propulsion unit which pushed the ship along at 33 knots in normal condition while at extreme full load of 13,500 tons the ship still made 32 knots.

My thought with these ships were for it to be a class of 3 to replace the Erebus class on page 4. Two would be completed as cruisers and the third would be the Chronos light carrier.

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The ships would be classed as Armoured Cruisers till the new rate of Heavy Cruiser is brought about by the Washington Treaty.

Displacement: 10,000 tons normal, 13,500 tons full load.
Dimensions: 605 x 63 x 22
Machinery: oil fired, geared turbines, 90,000shp, 4 shafts.
Speed: 32 knots
Endurance: 11,000 miles at 14 knots
Armour: 5.5" belt (3" upper belt), 2.5" deck, 6"/4" turrets,
Armament:
9 x 7.5" (3x3)
6 x 5.5" (6x1)
4 x 4" AA (4x1)
4 x 2pd (4x1)
6 x 21" Torpedo tubes (2x3)

Crew: 715

AWS Apollo (1918)
AWS Ariadne (1918)

Service Record AWS Apollo.

1918 First cruiser squadron at Demeter, used for coastal patrols and convoy cover from Atlantis to Gibraltar. Service till wars end.

1921 Joins International Squadron based on Singapore under League of Nations initiative to reduce the threat of South East Asian Pirates. Two years of heat and misery followed with the Apollo chasing the pirates from the sea to the coast and then having to launch ships boats to chase the pirates into the coastal waterways and mangrove swamps. Ambushes, point blank firefights and hand to hand combat. Like the Hydra, every time a nest of Pirates was destroyed, two more nests seemed to grow in their place.

1924 After a 6 month refit, Apollo rejoined the 1st cruiser Squadron. Their lot being patrols and show the flag missions on the Atlantic sea lanes and in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas.

1926 Both Apollo and Ariadne are showing the flag in the Caribbean when they receive orders to rendezvous at Kingston, Jamaica. On arrival, both ships are loaded with supplies and equipment and are ordered to ports on the Caribbean coast of Central America, which had been hit with a series of 7+ magnitude earthquakes that had devastated the lands. Both ships are used as mobile generating stations and go from port to port giving aid and succour for the next six months.

1927 Apollo returns to 1st Cruiser Squadron after Caribbean odyssey. Back to the coastal and long range patrols.

1929 Both Apollo and Ariadne are dropped from the 1st Cruiser Squadron and join the 2nd and 3rd Cruiser squadrons respectively, as flagships of four light cruisers.

1931-1936 with breaks for refits Apollo continues as flagship of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron on patrol duties.

1936 Taken in hand for major refurbishment, returning to the fleet in 1937.

1937 Neutrality patrols with the International Squadron in Spanish waters.

1939 Outbreak of war Apollo recalled from patrol to Demeter to join two ships of the Hesperus class. Designated Force P, they are sent to the South Atlantic to hunt for the Graf Spee.

Battle of the River Plate - Commodore Harwood, deploys his three cruisers to intercept the Graf Spee and contact is made just after 10am and both sides prepare for battle. The airwaves are alive with sighting reports calling for assistance. Force P, is closest, 4 hours steaming away at 20+ knots. Force P had been considered too small to tackle the Graf Spee by itself and the battleship Demeter had joined the squadron. Cutting corners and following the continued stream of reports, Force P roars toward the battle at best speed (30 knots). The reports tell the fortunes of Commodore Harwood’s ships. Exeter is badly hit and forced to withdraw, on fire and fighting bravely to survive. Ajax is sorely wounded, and with the Achillies is trying to draw the Graf Spee toward Force P. Demeter slows enough to fly off a seaplane, which reports back 5 minutes later with a true view of the battle space. Admiral Smith aboard Demeter deploys his ships to best advantage. Admiral Smith is mentally rubbing his hands, this is exactly what Demeter had been designed and built for. Ten minutes later and the battle is in sight, five minutes after that and the Graf Spee’s death arrives with the first salvo of 16”shells. Graf Spee turns to run but the Demeter is faster, bigger, better armed and armoured, it is just a matter of time. At 25,000 yards the first 16” hit is achieved and the Graf Spee visibly slows. Further hits turn the Graf Spee to a wreck. The range comes down to under 12,000 yards, point blank range. But the German flag is still flying and Admiral Smith orders the Apollo to close and finish the Graf Spee with torpedoes.

The above, while it follows a single ships first 20 years of service, parts of it really need to be repeated for the other Atlantean ships also described, Demeter, Ariadne, 2 Hesperus class cruisers. The way to do it is to eventually have all ships service records completed, then another 'One ring' Timeline to draw it all together. It is very possible to do this but it is whether the urge can be found to do it. It is why GD and BB1987's 'walls' of text are worth reading and correcting. The amount of time they have taken to produce their backstories deserves your recognition. Being a two finger typist myself. Producing my little 'wall' of text above took me two hours to type, and another hour or two to research the various happenings, and dream up the rest.

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Displacement: 10,000 tons normal, 13,500 tons full load.
Dimensions: 605 x 63 x 22
Machinery: oil fired, geared turbines, 90,000shp, 4 shafts.
Speed: 32 knots
Endurance: 11,000 miles at 14 knots
Armour: 5.5" belt (3" upper belt), 2.5" deck, 6"/4" turrets,
Armament:
9 x 7.5" (3x3)
8 x 4" (4x2)
12 x 40mm (1x4 4x2)
6 x 25.4mm (3x2)
4 x 21" torpedoes
Crew: 715

AWS Apollo (1918)
AWS Ariadne (1918)

Chronos Class Aircraft Carrier.

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Added little 'wall' of text to Post above for the Apollo class heavy cruisers.

Thansk mate, I had no idea my walltexts were such popular

All those cruiser looks very nice (the Ocean class is the one I like the most), and I love that vintage rounded look of the flight deck forward end on the carriers.

Back to where I belong.

Panacea Class Battleship.

1911, the Admiralty have the Ares and Hera under construction, but are looking to put their next battleship into production. They have the 16" gun plans on the board, but they will not be ready in time for any new ship(s) laid down now. The best the Admiralty designers could come up with was a ship with one more turret than the Ares class and make them all with a uniform triple turret. Yes an armament of fifteen 14" was being thought of. Not only thought of but put into production. With the European War looking to be about to explode, the Panacea was laid down under a double shift order. This shortened the normal 5 year cycle of production down to under 4 years. Laid down in late 1911, the Panacea was completed early in 1915.

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Because of its superior speed compared to most of Beatty's battlecrusers, the Panacea joined the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron based at Rosyth. Panacea missed the 1915 battlecruiser battles and joined in time to cover those ships that had received damage at Dogger Bank. 1916 and the Panacea is at Jutland. Placed in behind Admiral Moore's flagship HMS New Zealand in the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron the Panacea made short work of the German battlecruiser Yorck, that just could not take the concentrated fire of Panacea's fifteen 14" guns. The Yorck heeled out of the line and headed away from the battle, never to be heard of again. Sometime in the next 40-45 minutes the Yorck heeled over and sunk. The Panacea switched fire but it was now firing at ships that had other Allied ships also firing at them. This made it very difficult to spot the fall of shot and during this period of the battle the Panacea was more or less just firing for effect. The Queen Mary exploding and sinking just up the battlecruiser line had a salutary effect on the Atlantean observers. Their policy not to build the type was certainly vindicated with three of the type exploding so spectacularly around them. The Captain of Panacea (John Cook) sent in a report criticising the handling of the Battlecruiser Fleet during the Jutland action which was received, acknowledged, and sat on by the Admiralty. No taint was to smear their new hero Admiral Beatty.

During the 1920's and 1930's, the Panacea received minor modifications during its scheduled refit periods. Adding AA guns and better gunnery control optical equipment. The ship was slated for a full rebuild in 1939-40, but the outbreak of war saw the Panacea go to war in a less than satisfactory state.

1941 and the Panacea is part of the Group Six force hunting for the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Group six makes contact with S&G at 3.45pm on an October afternoon under lowering skies with squalls passing through. Less than ideal conditions. The Panacea has the battleship Hephaestus with its 6x16" as force commanders ship. The two battleships should be more than a match for S&G with their 9x13.8" (see AU S&G in DPKM). Early in the battle the Hephaestus receives three hits around the aft triple 16" turret which puts it out of action, and halving its broadside. The Panacea now proved that even with its antiquated look it could deal with any of the more modern upstarts. In just four broadsides the Panacea hit Gneisenau with 12 fourteen inch shells, forcing Gneisenau to be ordered to withdraw with Scharnhorst covering. One more salvo this time at Scharnhorst hit Scharnhorst with four 14" hits causing damage that Admiral Marschall decided was enough, and ordered both S&G into the oncoming storm where their superior speed took them quickly out of sight. Panacea had not got away scot free from the battle and fires in the central superstructure took some time to contain. While both ships could still fight and searched for S&G most of the next day, the Atlantean Admiralty ordered both ships to Norfolk Navy yard where their damage would be repaired and Panacea would receive its much needed refurbishment via Lend Lease at the American yard.

As completed 1915:
Displacement: 34,500 tons standard, 41,500 tons full load.
Dimensions: 741 x 98 x 28 feet.
Machinery: 4 shaft, oil fired turbines, 90,000shp
Speed: 27 knots
Endurance: 10,000 miles at 14 knots
Armour: 13" belt, 3" deck, 14"/9" turrets.
Armament:
15 x 14" (5x3)
12 x 5.5" (12x1)
4 x 75mm AA
Crew: 1350

As rebuilt under Lend Lease 1941-42:
Displacement: 35,200 tons standard, 44,700 tons full load.
Dimensions: 741 x 98 x 28 feet
Machinery: 4 shaft, oil fired, (new) 110,000shp
Speed: 28 knots
Endurance: 12,000 miles at 14 knots.
Armour: 13" side, 6" deck, 14"/9" turrets.
Armament:
15 x 14" (5x3)
16 x 5" (8x2)
32 x 40mm (8x4)
10 x 25.4mm (5x2)
Aircraft: 4
Crew: 1420

Hi K,

That ship looks lovely, but I do query your accuracy - from figures given, your accuracy vs Gneisenau (in poor weather, no less) is 20%, good accuracy given the conditions - does Panacea have radar ranging at this point? (the '42 picture shows radar but you do mention that at the start of the war it's overdue for refit, so unsure what the actual fit at the time of the battle would be).

Also note that accuracy vs Scharnhorst - four hits from 15 shells - is just over 25%, this during the same weather with the added complication of the ship being on fire and attendant trouble from smoke obscuring optics, etc, etc.

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Maybe a golden break in the weather with all good things going for Panacea, and against the Germans. Bit of good luck on both sides me thinks.

The Panacea would have had an early surface search rather than targeting radar. Good enough for close work, no good for longer range tracking. Panacea isn't that good till after its refit, but it still has those fifteen big guns. Shooting that many guns into a small area is bound to have some pretty good returns.

Helios Class Armoured Cruisers

The Ocean class after just a couple of months in service showed the shortcomings of the design. While it had lots of guns (14) they were only 7.5" which proved too small a calibre to defeat the armour of the other armoured cruisers being built in, Japan, US, Britain, France, Germany, in fact anybody who was building big cruisers.

A complete new class of gun was instituted to be fitted into a new type of ship. The gun was to be a new 9.5" 45 calibre weapon firing a 450 pound shell 25,000 yards at 28 degrees. The type of ship was to be a dreadnought cruiser. Like a lot of other countries, Atlantis fell for the disinformation that Britain put out that the Invincibles would be armed with 9.2". The ship was to follow the layout of the new Poseidon class dreadnoughts, with superfiring guns fore and aft, but the Helios type took it one step more with three superfiring turrets aft. Two ships of the class were laid down in 1904, with another pair in 1905, with completion dates in 1908-09.

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Displacement: 18,000 tons normal, 23,600 tons full load
Dimensions: 585 x 76 x 25 feet
Machinery: 2 shaft, turbines, 56,000shp
Speed: 27 knots
Endurance: 6,700 miles at 15 knots
Armour: 7" belt, 2" deck, 6"/4" turrets
Armament:
10 x 9.5" (5x2)
4 x 4" (4x1)
4 x 2pd (4x1)
6 x 21" torpedo tubes (2x3)
Crew: 875

By 1914 the four ships had received many upgrades that changed the layout and look of the ships. New director firing equipment had been fitted, more secondary armament guns, stronger masts etc.

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The four ships were sent to Britain and dispersed to the Battlecruiser Fleet, Grand Fleet and one even went to join the Dreadnought in the Channel Fleet for a time. Tethys joined Defence in the 1st cruiser squadron and participated in the chase of the Goeben, Tirpitz, and Breslau. The Tethys duelled with the Goeben and Tirpitz (second of the Blucher class), being the only cruiser to be able to fire the same distance as the German cruisers. The Tirpitz being the slowest of the three German ships slowly came within range of the Tethys guns and started to take damage at 20,000 yards range. One hit proved decisive as with a gout of steam the Tirpitz lost the use of a boiler room and fell into the clutches of the chasing British cruisers. Defence took a hit from Goeben and had fallen behind while Commodore Troubridge tried to run the battle from five miles distance. The signals were misread and the cruisers fell on the damaged Tirpitz, letting the Goeben and Breslau to escape. The Tirpitz lasted long enough to ensure their escape. The Tethys and the 1st CS then transferred to the Grand Fleet and went into Jutland as a crack Squadron. By the end of the battle only one of the cruisers remained above water. Tethys, Defence, Black Prince, and Warrior were all sunk when they got themselves out of position and came under the guns of the High Seas Fleet.

Atlas and Helios were with the Battlecruisers and were placed with the Panacea in the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron. Being at the rear of the line they never got a shot away at Doggerbank except to fire a broadside each at the Blucher as that poor ship was hammered by the entire Fleet. Jutland and the ships were again placed at the end of the line and fired at various German ships as they came within range, but spent much of the day playing follow-my-leader. The Atlas received damage from one 5.9" shell hit, the Helios remained undamaged.

The Styx fought a few night actions with the Channel Fleet. Damaging the G85 which was finished off with torpedoes by HMS Broke. Hit the S13 which then exploded as its torpedo warheads sympathetically detonated.

The end of the war saw the three ships return to Atlantis and join the two Ocean class in the Training Fleet. 1923 and their fate was sealed by the Washington Treaty. The ships either had to be counted as capital ship tonnage because of their size, reduced to second class units or scrapped. The two Ocean class were scrapped. The three Helios class were to be reduced to seaplane carriers and training ships (2) and the Atlas would become the Fleet Trials ship.

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The ships had been altered with the engines being upgraded to fuel oil to run the turbines so the cadets never had the pleasure of answering the cry 'coal ship'. Little was done to the ships after their conversion, money was tight and better spent on the more modern and new ships. The ships were still providing their valuable service. training cadets for the fleet, when WW2 broke out. The ships were looked at to see if they were capable of being useful seagoing units but their 30 year old machinery would not be capable of the sustained high speed cruising they would need to do as ocean escorts. Their lot was to be placed at anchor around islands where they could act as tenders to their own floatplanes and mothership to the big Sunderlands and Catalinas. Both ships saw out the war in this more than valuable service, being sold for scrap in 1946 after being used to repatriate Atlantean troops from Europe to Atlantis.

It was the Atlas that had the most exciting war. Having been used as a trials ship, it was Atlas that trialled the dual purpose 5" and then the automatic 40mm guns, and still had those mountings aboard when war broke out. A further refit in 1939 filled out a second DP 5" turret, and four more twin 40mm mountings. With that armament the ship was sent to join Force H and act as an AA cruiser to help screen the carriers. The Atlas carried out this duty for all of 1940. The first half was fairly quiet but with the Fall of France and the Italians joining the war certainly livened things up. The Atlas was part of the Fleet that sank the French ships at Mers-el Kebir. The next action saw the Atlas watch the big ships fire at each other outside the range of the ships vintage guns at Calabria. This was Atlas' last fleet action, the ships engines were too old and unreliable for the high speed running required for keeping up with Force H. Atlas became a convoy Commanders Flagship and operated with a Captain D aboard running convoy defence. Atlas operated on the Gibraltar to UK run, which was one of the most heavily fought convoy runs. The Atlas fought many convoys to and from Gibraltar, and watched many innovations come to be, joint action of the escorts, one holding the U-boat in Asdic beam while the other ran over the U-boats position. Hedgehog, where the escorts could run down the asdic beam capturing the U-boat and firing a broadside of mortar bombs ahead of the ship when the U-boat was within range. The Atlas' most important convoy was acting as AA ship protecting HMS Audacity on that ship proving of the Escort carrier concept. HG76 being the Audacity's fourth convoy and again the Atlas was acting as close AA support ship. Unfortunately while the two ships were manouvering to allow Audacity to fly off aircraft, some idiot on a merchant ship fired off a flare which highlighted the ships for the waiting U-boats. The Audacity received three torpedo hits and heeled over and sank. Atlas received two hits from torpedoes and slowly settled by the stern. Escorts from the convoy recovering 512 of the crew of 840.

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It appears you are starting to like walltexts, isn't it?

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