Bruships 61 - Ship Design; Sci-fi, Wooden & Steel, and some Naval History Questions

A Star Wars ship guide prompts a comparison between flexible carrier-like warships and more specialized, heavily armed designs.

Their real shipboard music used fiddles, drums, and other portable instruments, often for dancing, so period dance music is the closest answer.

Only if Japan could also provide trained pilots and sustain carrier operations; aircrew replacement was the more serious constraint.

They can be a major present-day hazard; a dedicated Bruships discussion covers the fuller subject.

Not by much in every case; an upgraded 15-inch gun may fit more easily, while 16 inches works best when designed into the ship from the start.

A larger initial gun calibre on HMS Dreadnought could have delayed rivals and changed subsequent British capital-ship choices.

Many more, but Japan first had to develop the technology and put it into mass production.

Codebreaking mattered, but Japan also broke some codes; American scale still made victory unlikely, although a longer war might have changed the terms of defeat.

The effect could have been large, although the brief exchange does not quantify the counterfactual.

The Blackburn Roc is presented as the result of enthusiasm for turret fighters, limited development funding, and an imposed Skua airframe.

A tanker-history book traces the ship type from early crude carriers to wartime conversions and modern scale.

Probably much better, potentially with 300-400 more horsepower early in the war, although the result depends on successful engine development.

A critique of Stargate's Destiny uses hangars, redundant weapons, physical shielding, and onboard manufacturing to test long-range ship design.

Probably about 45 calibres, with 42 calibres also plausible for the period.

Detailed plan books reveal the internal layout and design relationships of ships such as Warspite, Ark Royal, and destroyers.

The unusual X1 submarine opens into a case study of technical secrecy, experimental equipment, and a former officer's handling of classified plans.

A pilot's account follows repeated attacks by a Japanese Zero and an escape that exploits the Corsair's high-speed diving strength.

None was proved to have been passed on; the established offense was retaining classified naval documents at home.

Probably two to three dozen aircraft, including helicopters and smaller early jets such as Sea Vampires or Sea Venoms, but not large aircraft like the Sea Vixen comfortably.

He regards the field as debatable but names the F6F Hellcat as his personal favourite.

MAC ships show how wartime requirements were reduced and adapted to the limits of available merchant yards.

A production-design book shows how Colonial and Cylon spacecraft changed across the original series, the reimagining, and Blood & Chrome.

Not as a simple modification: the extra turret would add damaging weight and cost speed, so Moltke would need a broader redesign instead.

The larger three-crew Cylon Raider is interpreted as a long-range strike aircraft, while the Viper fills the compact air-defence fighter role.

Yes for corvette duties, but a larger Type 26-derived ship would better replace the broad role of Romania's Type 22 frigates.

The stern is cut down for weight and speed, placing the aft turret on a lower deck while its guns remain near the height of the other main battery.

The 11-inch armament is presented as an industrial constraint, not simply a diplomatic gesture to Britain and France.

Construction drawings and carpentry details change how viewers see the cost and complexity of sail-era fleets.

Plans of the Conte di Cavour and Duilio classes show how extensive reconstruction and ammunition stowage shaped their wartime form.

The 320 mm conversion provided a useful and cost-effective increase in firepower without a major stowage penalty.

An illustrated cutaway book is recommended as an accessible route from age-of-sail warships to ironclads and modern destroyers.

A notional fleet of 12 ships in each escort category provides predictable operational, transit, and refit capacity.

The planned Sea Ceptor addition discussed in 2021 would improve Type 45, although Mark 41 offered broader flexibility.

A Star Trek discussion argues that fleet design needs numerous smaller combatants and expendable sensors, not only large cruisers.

They may be too old for many buyers, but Chile or another existing operator could acquire one for service or spare parts.

Its 12 heavy guns and near-Bismarck speed would make serious damage or a Denmark Strait kill more likely, though battle outcomes remain uncertain.

Usually the ship carries the standard sensors, and the StanFlex module integrates with them.

Mostly against exposed systems such as radar; bursting outside the hull limits structural damage, and ordinary high explosive can serve a similar purpose.

Probably, provided her turrets and guns worked reliably; the historical ship was rushed into action before those defects were corrected.

Germany would claim a heroic upset, while Britain would honour Hood's sacrifice, accept the strategic trade, and probably reuse her name on a new battleship.

No; Rodney would manoeuvre to present a narrow target, and her heavily armoured hull could absorb considerable punishment.

They make much more sense for isolated spacecraft, where a single warship must carry aircraft, fight directly, and sustain itself far from support.

The fictional battlestar's ring of eight engines creates a concentrated vulnerability despite its otherwise capable carrier features.

Spread them around Britain, beginning with Liverpool and using dockyards in Wales, Scotland, the Medway, and Plymouth.

Warp, hyperdrive, and wormhole ideas have theoretical analogues, but none is presented as settled or certain physics.

It would be sensible, but a meaningful expansion is unlikely without sustained funding and political commitment.

Their shapes may make warp bubbles easier to project, while Borg cubes favour internal volume and rely on transwarp infrastructure.

Britain's post-1945 naval contraction is framed as a set of competing spending and policy decisions rather than a single story of national insolvency.

Yes; health-service design and the speed of debt repayment were policy choices, even within severe reconstruction and financing constraints.

Severe damage kept her out of a long reserve period; a maintainable ship that survived into the mid-1960s would have had a much better museum chance.

Ration books protected access and wartime wages improved purchasing power, but payment rules varied; the detailed recollection relies on family accounts.

Cost and procurement choices limit the number of close-in mounts, just as they limit a ship's main-gun battery.

Technically yes, with much better power density and lower crewing, but the conversion would be complex and costly.

It could be several times larger, with more and better escorts and carriers, but higher capability would consume part of the extra funding.

Britain would likely save and use the ship, but only with a large trusted contingent and perhaps away from especially sensitive theatres.

HMS Thunderer of 1783, a Trafalgar veteran later altered to 84 guns.

The system could work, but separate gun and ammunition families complicate logistics, making greater commonality preferable.

Later accounts often used wartime cost to explain away the economic problems and policy choices of the 1960s and 1970s.

M. J. Whitley's destroyer survey is recommended for its photographs, drawings, statistics, and cross-navy coverage.

Wings of the Navy uses one test pilot's consistent judgement to show how a conservative biplane successor lost the qualities that kept Swordfish useful.

About twenty to twenty-five years in normal service, with rebuilt destroyers serving effectively in the less demanding frigate role.

They could consider it, but could not automatically trust the enemy intelligence chief; the record also does not show exactly what he supplied or how it affected decisions.

Wartime slogans can obscure the British Empire, European allies, rearmament timing, and the international finance that sustained Britain's war effort.

It largely already has: cruiser-sized roles remain, but political and historical associations encourage navies to call the ships destroyers.

Probably many 40 mm guns, possibly with the 4-inch weapons removed and an early missile system added if timing allowed.

No: if an OPV needs that level of fire support, it is in the wrong environment; the funding would usually buy more useful frigates.

Government funding cuts stopped the class at two ships.

It was a complicated equipment problem: the planned 4.5-inch fit was delayed, while the available 4.7-inch mount lacked high-angle capability.

A personal two-chamber model combines decisive constituency elections with a national proportional voice.

Yes in a stronger and earlier Japanese force structure, but late in the war there was too little viable carrier aviation for the role to matter greatly.

Not for interwar or World War II destroyers; on very large modern destroyers they can fit, but those ships are effectively cruisers.

Roughly 600 miles southwest while retaining the Gulf Stream, ideally with a much wider English Channel to improve defensive depth.

Helping residents was rewarding, while local casework, institutional limits, candidate quality, and public scrutiny mattered more than a simple national-party label.

In the 2021 discussion, Ticonderoga and Kirov retain the cruiser name, while Type 055 and Sejong the Great perform at cruiser scale under destroyer labels.

It depends on the Lion's final armament; a 16-inch choice could lead toward a larger Conqueror-like successor.

Fit a 57 mm gun forward and consider Phalanx for close defence, while keeping the ship in its patrol role.

In this 2021 answer, generation and storage limits make nuclear power the clearest route, although navies do not want to accept it.

A discussion of government size uses defence support and Channel patrols to argue for evidence-led choices between public agencies and contractors.

Missiles first.