HMS Hephaestus
Ever since rumors emerged in November 1937 that Japanese super battleships might be armed with 18-inch guns, tensions within the Royal Navy had grown. The outbreak of the war in 1939 clearly made the London Naval Treaty a dead letter. The US Navy began to increase the displacement of the BB-65 design, and the voice of "the Royal Navy also needs a super battleship" became louder and louder. Finally, in November 1940, the second month after the construction of HMS Vanguard started, the Royal Navy decided to build a super battleship that exceeded the treaty limit to compete with the possible Japanese super battleships.
This class of battleship was redesigned on the basis of HMS Vanguard, with a total length of 267.2 meters, a waterline length of 263.1 meters, a moulded breadth of 33.5 meters, a moulded depth of 18.4 meters, a draft of 10.9 meters, and a standard displacement of 63,000 tons. It uses a heavy oil-fired boiler which transmits 280,000 horsepower to four propellers through a turbomachine to propel the giant ship to a speed of 34 knots, or travel 10,000 nmiles at the cruise speed of 15 knots. It has a transom stern, a freeboard of up to 7.5 meters and a bow sheer of 3.8 meters to improve its seaworthiness and dryness of the deck.
This class of warships is equipped with 12 16-inch 45-caliber MK4 main guns distributed in four triple-mounted turrets and 16 5.25-inch 50-caliber MK1 dual-purpose secondary guns distributed in eight double-mounted turrets.
This class of super battleship is heavily armored, with the main armor belt 4.6 meters above the water, extending 2.9 meters underwater, 18 inches thick below the main turrets and 16 inches thick in the rest. Its armor deck was 10 inches thick to deal with the likely threat of long-range firefights and dive bombers.
In order to deal with the rapidly increasing air threats, the battleships of this class are equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft guns. Including 12 Bofors six-mounted 40mm anti-aircraft guns, 10 Bofors double-mounted 40mm anti-aircraft guns, and 4 Bofors single-mounted 40mm anti-aircraft guns.
The radar and fire control equipment of this class of battleships are the same as those of the Vanguard to ensure accurate firepower projection.
The British Royal Navy named the first ship of this class of battleships "Hephaestus", which means the god of fire.
This is my first fictional battleship, I hope you enjoy the Hephaestus and please feel free to comment and give me your advice.
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WoWs Weapon collection — Steam Workshop
Assorted Modpack version 9.81 — Steam Workshop
vanguard modpack — Steam Workshop
